Nicobari Hodi Craft

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

The Geographical Indications Registry at Guindy, Chennai, has received an application from the Tribal Development Council, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, seeking the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the Nicobari hodi craft. This is the first application from the Union Territory seeking a tag for one its products.

About Hodi Craft

• The hodi is the Nicobari tribe’s traditional craft. 
• It is an outrigger canoe, very commonly operated in the Nicobar group of islands. 
• The technical skills for building a hodi are based on indigenous knowledge inherited by the Nicobarese from their forefathers. 
• The hodi is built using either locally available trees or from nearby islands.
• Its design varies slightly from island to island.
• The tuhet, a group of families under a headman, consider the hodi an asset. Hodi races are held between islands and villages

1,000th GI application in Chennai office

• The Geographical Indications Registry, established in Chennai in September 2003, has received over 1,000 applications. 
• An application seeking GI tag for the Banaras’ thandai (a beverage made with milk, dry fruits and spices) was the 1,000th application, which was filed two weeks ago.