Source - The Telegraph http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080506/jsp/siliguri/story_9231939.jsp

The Royal Bengal Tiger is more suitable than elephant, feel some of the stakeholders of the north Bengal tea industry, as far as the proposed logo for tea produced in the Terai and Dooars is concerned.

Following the Tea Board of India’s decision to feature the elephant in the logo for the brew produced in the region, a section of people associated with the sector believe that the predator is better suited than the pachyderm to indicate the area of the produce.

“The idea to feature elephant in the proposed logo that the tea board plans to bring out for branding the brew produced in the foothills of sub-Himalayan West Bengal deserves appreciation,” said Rajiv Lochan who is associated with the Siliguri Tea Traders’ Association.

“But we feel the elephant lacks uniqueness as it is found in other parts of the world like Africa. The Royal Bengal Tiger is a unique animal which truly represents our region and can be ideally featured in the logo,” said Lochan.

 
The Royal Bengal Tiger

Lochan expressed the apprehension that if the region, which produces CTC tea, is symbolised by the elephant, there are chances that the sale of Kenyan tea would increase. “As CTC tea is produced in the African country also, such a possibility cannot be ruled out. The basic objective of branding of Indian tea produced in different regions may also suffer a jolt.”

Representatives of Indian Tea Planters’ Association (ITPA) have also similar opinions. “We had earlier suggested to the tea board that the Royal Bengal tiger should be the animal to be featured in the logo designed for the Terai and Dooars tea,” said N.K. Basu, the principal advisor of the ITPA.

The board, which has assigned Lintas, an advertising firm, to create the logo, is planning to release the same by this year. This would be the fourth logo indicating the region of tea production after Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiri.

A tea board official said the logo was yet to be finalised.