The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (CGPDTM) officially handed over the GI certificate to the traditional artisans of ‘Kutch Ajrakh,’ the torchbearers of traditional craft from Gujarat’s Kutch region. GI tag is a geographical identification tag that helps identify a product/service/art as originating from a certain geographical region.
The Kutch Ajrakh art dates back 2,500 to 5,000 years and is practised in Sindh, Barmer and Kutch regions and is 100% eco-friendly and non-toxic.
Ajrakh art is mostly found on clothes made of cotton, woollen and silk textiles, traditionally made for the Maldhari (cattle herders) community for whom it was everyday wear.
Ajrakh art mainly flourishes in three villages of Kutch – Ajrakhpur, Dhamadka and Khavda. The community reportedly came to Kutch about 400 years ago and settled in Dhamadka village in Bhuj following an invitation by Raja Rao Bharmalji the first.