

my uttarakhand news Bureau
Dehradun, 31 Dec: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has been consistently working towards rural development and farmer empowerment. In this endeavour, the Uttarakhand Regional Office, Dehradun, organized the 2nd Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) Meeting cum GI Workshop on 30 December at its office in IT Park, Dehradun. The theme of the meeting was “Leveraging GI Potential for Rural Prosperity: Post-GI Strategies for Branding, Marketing and Value Addition.”The meeting was inaugurated by Pankaj Yadav, Chief General Manager, NABARD, in the presence of senior officials from SLBC, UKSRLM, KVIC/KVIB, Agriculture & Horticulture Departments, IIT Roorkee, IIM Kashipur, UKSTCB, Rural Development Department, NGOs, and other stakeholders. Representatives from Uttarakhand Tea Board, DDMs, and channel partners also joined virtually.A key highlight was an online technical session by Padma Shri awardee Dr Rajnikant, popularly known as the GI Man of India. He explained the importance of GI registration, authorised user addition, and post-GI strategies, and lauded NABARD’s proactive role in identifying GI-worthy products, facilitating registrations, and promoting branding and marketing initiatives for artisans and farmers in Uttarakhand.During the meeting, experts shared solutions and collaborative ideas on how social media platforms and start-ups can play a pivotal role in GI promotion, branding, and expanding market reach. The meeting emphasised convergence between departments and schemes to strengthen GI-based rural prosperity.NABARD reiterated its commitment to empowering rural communities through GI promotion, branding support, training, and market linkages, ensuring that traditional crafts and produce of Uttarakhand gain national and global recognition.
