{"id":32872,"date":"2023-01-02T09:35:39","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T04:05:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32872"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:48:26","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T11:18:26","slug":"the-international-year-of-millets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/the-international-year-of-millets\/","title":{"rendered":"The International Year of Millets"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are Millets?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Status of millets in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Where do millet lag?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Steps taken in India to promote millets<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Way ahead for India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Recently, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM), a proposal sponsored by the Government of India to promote these &#8220;nutri-cereals.&#8221;\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The declaration will be helpful to the Government of India in articulating its goal of making IYM 2023 a &#8220;People&#8217;s Movement&#8221; as well as presenting India as the &#8220;Global Hub for Millets,&#8221; as India produces one-fifth of the world&#8217;s millets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are Millets?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Millets are a highly varied group of <strong>small-seeded grasses<\/strong>, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for <strong>fodder and human food<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This crop is favoured due to its <strong>productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions (<\/strong>hardy and drought-resistant crops<strong>).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Millets are a powerhouse of nutrients<\/strong>, which score over rice and wheat in terms of minerals, vitamins, and dietary fibre content, as well as amino acid profile.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Though rich in both iron and zinc, wheat\u2019s protein content comprises <strong>glutens<\/strong>, known to trigger gastrointestinal and autoimmune disorders in many people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bajra (pearl millet)<\/strong>, on the other hand, has iron, zinc, and protein levels comparable to that of wheat, but it\u2019s <strong>gluten-free<\/strong> and has more fibre and which significantly addresses the problem of \u201c<strong>hidden hunger.<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Status of millets in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2>\n\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh5.googleusercontent.com\/RMO14QO0Bf4wTn4P3olew6HDFgo7iMBFXTfhYu71qqJUw1YVRSFiQE_oo6_6k_O17Ql-28eSQtmE9hCHuN7hR5r0Ie0q-x47ftbyDoYuFVr7HaBOfWwD_DWg-w-f3XV1Omk6fCx1pPndzbWDnbWOOw\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: Production of Millets in India<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They were among the first crops to be domesticated in India with several evidence of its consumption during the <strong>Indus valley civilization<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In India, millets are primarily a <strong>kharif <\/strong>crop, <strong>requiring less water and agricultural inputs<\/strong> than other similar staples.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The main millet-growing states in India are<strong> Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka<\/strong>, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Where do millets lag?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rice and wheat no longer remain aspirational foods<\/strong>. Thanks to the Green Revolution and the National Food Security Act of 2013.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Millets are not the first choice either of consumers or of farmers.<\/strong>\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>For farmers, <strong>low per-hectare yields<\/strong> (1 tonne for jowar, 1.5 for bajra and 1.7 for ragi, as against 3.5 tonnes for wheat and 4 tonnes for paddy) are a disincentive.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Also,<strong> access to assured irrigation<\/strong>, made farmers switch to rice, wheat, sugarcane, or cotton.<\/li>\n<li>For consumers, the gluten proteins make the <strong>wheat dough more cohesive and elastic<\/strong> and the resultant breads come out light and fluffy, which isn\u2019t the case with bajra or jowar.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Steps taken in India to promote millets<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pusa-1201:<\/strong> A hybrid bajra that gives an average grain yield of over 2.8 tonnes and potential of 4.5 tonnes per hectare.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>It matures in 78-80 days and is resistant to downy mildew and blast, both deadly fungal diseases.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Recognising the enormous potential of Millets, which also aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Government of India (in 2018),\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Rebranded Millets as \u201c<strong>Nutri Cereals<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Declared 2018 as the National Year of Millets, aiming at larger promotion and demand generation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Way ahead for India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Millets could be made a staple part of children\u2019s diets:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman and Saksham Anganwadi and <strong>Poshan 2.0 <\/strong>can be better leveraged by making them more millet-focused.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Besides midday meals<\/strong>, millets could be served in the form of ready-to-eat foods such as cookies, laddu, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Minimum support price (MSP) procurement of millets<\/strong> should be part of a decentralised nutritional programme specifically targeting tomorrow\u2019s citizens.<\/li>\n<li>The push to distribute coarse grains under the <strong>public distribution system (PDS)<\/strong> has to gain momentum.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Best practice: Odisha <\/strong>already has a <strong>dedicated millet mission<\/strong> that undertook procurement of 32,302 tonnes worth Rs 109.08 crore, mainly of ragi, in 2021-22.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A combination of government finance and decentralised procurement connected to nutrition goals, specifically the eradication of hidden hunger among school-age children, has the potential to do for millets what the Food Corporation of India has done for rice and wheat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-economics\/international-year-of-millets-india-farmers-united-states-pm-modi-8355579\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>The International Year of Millets: How India\u2019s govt can promote the cereals in 2023<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 <strong>|<\/strong>\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1887847\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>PIB<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UN declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets to promote these nutri-cereals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}