varanasi padma shri rajni kant a gi expert from kashi also known as the gi man of india is instrumental in getting geographical indication gi certification to 59 goods from 20 states of the country so far he has facilitated 201 goods for gi registration out of which 59 goods were granted gi tags the gi certification is a global proof of the goods that they are unique representations of a specific culture society or craftrecently two products from uttar pradesh including jalesar metal craft and agra leather footwear has joined this elite club besides five goods from rajasthan nathdwara pichhwai craft bikaner kashidakari craft bikaner usta kala craft jodhpur bandhej craft udaipur koftgari metal craft and two goods from jammu and kashmir including rajouri chikri wood craft and mushqbudji rice were also granted gi certification with his active support perhaps he is the only single individual and grassroot social worker to get this credit both the products from up jalesar metal craft and agra leather footwear are also the odop products of the state kant told toi on tuesday adding that the giant metal bell weighing 2100 kg which will be donated to the ayodhya ram mandir belongs to jalesar metal craft of etah district kant is the general secretary of the human welfare association hwa he was awarded the padma shri in 2019 for his contribution towards protecting and promoting traditional crafts and related products and linking these with sustainable livelihood and entrepreneurship and appropriate marketing through gi under intellectual property rightsaside from those that have gi tags 142 products are under the process of gi registration from up uttarakhand madhya pradesh rajasthan jammu and kashmir ladakh maharashtra odisha arunachal pradesh bihar jharkhand chhattisgarh assam dadra nagar haveli andaman nicobar island meghalaya haryana tripura sikkim and gujarat said kant adding that the national bank for agriculture and rural development nabard have actively supported in this initiativeas a promoter of these crafts kant has travelled to international events in indonesia singapore germany israel abu dhabi and turkey kant also got the national intellectual property award in 2017 the samay udyami award 2012 as the best social entrepreneur and the lokmat samman in 2018