Labels of origin

Explore the rich culture and heritage of India through some of its Geographical Indication tagged goods

Have you heard of the term Geographical Indication (GI)? According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, GI is a sign which identifies a good as originating from a particular geographical region and possessing qualities associated with that origin. In other words, GI tag is similar to the protection that a Trademark or Copyright offers. For example, Banglar Rasogolla is a food item that originates in West Bengal and has a GI tag that identifies it as originating in West Bengal. The Rasogolla can be made, or come from anywhere else in the world, but the one that comes from West Bengal will have a GI tag attached to it and cannot be replicated.

GI can be used for agricultural products, food stuffs, handicrafts and industrial products, among others. In India, it is granted by the Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai grants the GI tag. There are 344 goods in India that have the GI tag. Today, let’s take a look at a few of them.

PHOTOS: Wikimedia Commons, Ritu Raj Konwar, K Ananthan, M. Moorthy, S. Siva Saravanan, P V Sivakumar and H S Manjunath,

What’s up in Broadway?

New York City’s Theatre District is where most Broadway theatres are located. Let’s take a short walk through the history of the place and musicals on offer with a memory game.

In 1836, mayor Cornelius Lawrence opened 42nd Street to expand the north, saying “move up town and enjoy the pure, clean air”. In 1883, Metropolitan Opera House moved to West 39th Street and Broadway. Oscar Hammerstein I opened his Victoria Theatre on 42nd Street in 1899. The Theatre District became more accessible after electrified trolley lines started running in 1899, followed by the opening of the New York City Subway’s first line in 1904.

“The Great White Way” is a nickname for a section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan that encompasses the Theatre District. In 1880, a stretch of Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square was illuminated by Brush arc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the U.S.

NYC’s Broadway hosts a lot of shows for kids and they guarantee an exciting experience for the whole family. Here are some of their best shows.

And while you check out the shows try your hand at this memory game too.

Love your veggies

Vegetables must always be a part of your diet. Eggplant, tomato, beans, and carrots are some of the summer veggies that you must not miss. But which one are you?

It’s summer and it is hot. You want to plonk yourself in an air-conditioned room all the time. You are listless and tired and all you want to do is drink something cold and sweet. But, have you wondered how the veggies in your garden are faring? Take this personality quiz to see what type of vegetable you are.

Planetary parade

Which planet has only two days in a year? Which one is the coldest? Find out in this quiz to test your knowledge about the planets we share our solar system with.

Our solar system is made up of eight planets which revolve around the sun. Do you know the order of these planets? One of the easiest ways to remember them is by using something like an acrostics or silly sentences, which start with the first initial of each planet’s name. Like for example:

The planets in order are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. So a silly sentence such as
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles could help.
Or perhaps, Mom Visits Every Monday, Just Stays Until Noon.

You could try create one of your own too.

How well do you know the planets? Here’s a quick quiz to find out:

Selfie in the jungle

To celebrate Gizmo’s birthday, Twitter came up with a contest. It was to be one like no other…

Read on the story to find out what happens.

Google was a jungle on an island. With all its modern facilities, it was more like a tiny town.

Google was ruled by a lion called Gizmo who was crazy about the latest gadgets. He had recently acquired a smartphone and fallen in love with its uses. He now spent most of his time clicking selfies with his wife Gazebo and his twins Geez and Goz.

One day, his most trusted friend, Twitter, the cuckoo, said, “O King! Why don’t we have a contest in Google?”

Gizmo, who was taking a selfie sitting on a rock and grinning to himself asked, “What kind of a contest?”

“It is your birthday tomorrow. On this great occasion let us have a ‘Best Selfie Contest’. All the animals can participate. You will be the judge and the winner will get a chance to take a selfie with you.”

“Sounds great, Twitter. Go ahead and organise it.”

D-Day

The next day, the animals gathered in front of Gizmo’s cave. One by one they took selfies with his smartphone. Each animal was allowed two attempts. Twitter kept the score.

Angoor, the langur was among the first. He held the phone with his tail and raised it as high as it would go. He then turned his head, smiled and clicked.

Poor Hip-hop the hippo tried to imitate Angoor but her little tail could hardly rise to the occasion. So, all that appeared in the picture was her huge backside!

Jeera, the giraffe, with his eight-foot long tail, clicked a couple of times and was greeted with a round of claps.

Zee, the chimpanzee held the cell in his hand and tried to click while jumping from one branch to the other. The phone fell from his hands but was caught in mid air by Viral, the eagle. Gizmo was furious with Zee and disqualified him.

The last contestant was Megabite, the elephant. He picked up the cell in his trunk and raising it, clicked. He then wrapped his tail round the phone and took another shot.

And the winner is…

It was now time for the results.

“Guys, it was great fun. I think all of you did a wonderful job, except of course the one who got too ambitious.”

There was a huge applause.

“It was not difficult for me to pick up the winner. There was only one animal who could get two completely different angles — one from the front and the other from the back — Megabite the Elephant. He is the winner and will be crowned the Selfie Samrat.”

The animals clapped their paws, beat their hooves and thumped their tails.

“Dear Gizmo, we have organised a special gift for you, which we hope you’ll like,” Gazebo said, handing over a ‘selfie-stick’ to her husband.

“I love it,” Gizmo declared doing high-paws with his wife.

“And now coming to Megabite’s award! The only way he can take a selfie with me is if I get on his broad back,” Gizmo said and everyone laughed.

Megabite went down on his knees and Gizmo climbed up.

A few minutes later the most unique selfie in history was taken. Gizmo was on Megabite’s back, the selfie stick in the elephant’s grip and the king and the winner were grinning from ear to ear and posing trunk to tail.

When India united in grief

It has been 100 years since the ‘Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’ — one of the most significant and painful events in India’s freedom struggle.

Hundred years is a long enough time for an event to be forgotten or become a casual reference in our history books. But not this one. ‘The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre’ — described as “the darkest stain on British rule in India” and as a “black day in the annals of British India” — continues to remain a painful reminder of the extent of British atrocities in India.It was an act so monstrous and shocking that it sowed the seed for the end of British rule in India, reviving a greater sense of nationalism and demand for independence among the citizens of India.

Here is how the events unfolded…

Lest we forget

Today, in Jallianwala Bagh, stands a memorial commemorating the massacre of a peaceful gathering of men, women, and children. While the memorial was established in 1951 by the Government of India, the garden continues to have reminders of its horrific past, including the bullet marks on the walls and the well from which 120 bodies were recovered. As a mark of the centenary, the Punjab Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to urge the central government to seek a formal apology from the British for the massacre.

A look at the monument, as it stands today. (Slide to see more images.)

Statescan – April 12, 2019

The country is geared up for the elections and almost every newspaper is full of it. However, there are other things that have been happening. Read more to find out.

British High Commissioner to India Dominic Asquith, who laid a wreath at the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial on April 13 to mark the centenary of the massacre, said Britain deeply regretted the incident that took place on this day a hundred years ago. The Nocturnal Animal house at the Kamla Nehru zoological garden abutting the Kankaria Lake in Ahmedabad, zoo, records over Rs. 3 crore yearly income. The two-floor zoo is designed to create a night-like environment in the day time and vice versa. And, according to a UN report India’s population in 2019 stood at 1.36 billion, growing from 942.2 million in 1994 and 541.5 million in 1969.

Read on to find out what else is happening.

At the amusement park

There are many rides at the amusement park that prove to be more than merely entertaining. Try your hand at this word game and see what you might encounter there.

Now that the summer vacations are underway, how about a trip to an amusement park? Unscramble the names of attractions you might find, when you visit one.

On a heritage trail

This World Heritage Day, take a trip through these fascinating landmarks of cultural significance. The interactive quiz will keep you guessing.

Did you know that there is a day of the year set aside to celebrate and promote cultural heritage? April 18 is observed as World Heritage Day. The official name for the day is International Day for Monuments and Sites.

What are World Heritage Sites?

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) selects landmarks or areas around the world which are of cultural, historic or scientific significance. In short, these are landmarks or locations that have ‘outstanding universal value’. There are currently 1,092 sites on this list, of which 37 are in India. Tracking down and visiting these sites could be an experience of a lifetime!

Take this quiz based on some iconic World Heritage Sites.

Great going!

Step up for Earth

Our planet is bearing the brunt of our activities, causing it to slowly wither away. But it’s not too late to mend our ways…

Do you know why Earth as a planet is so unique? Because it is the only one that is able to sustain life.

But Earth is not built to take all the pollution and indiscriminate use of its limited resources. This is triggering a chain of events – global warming, climate change, melting icebergs, rising sea level, flooding of low-lying cities…

Take this quiz to understand the impact of human activities on Earth and why we need to act now!

A greener way of life

So many of these facts may have shocked you. That is why the need of the hour is sustainable living. It is the practice of reducing your demand on natural resources by adopting alternative practices and products that are not harmful to the environment.

Some ways of sustainable living are:

*Reducing waste by reducing, reusing and recycling. Composting and recycling alone have prevented 85 million tons of waste to be dumped in 2010.

*Reduce carbon emissions by carpooling, taking the public transport, or switch to electric vehicles.

*Use renewable sources of energy like wind and solar energy whenever possible.

*Changing the lights in your house to CFL and using natural light will reduce your demand on energy resources.

Green challenge

Now that you have a fair idea about sustainable living, you may be ready for the next challenge.

In the image below, click on the 7 elements that point to a sustainable way of life.