Budget 2024: Millets likely to be in focus; here's what PM Modi has been saying on 'Shree Anna' throughout the year

The variety of millets produced in India include jowar, ragi, bajra, kuttu and kodo, among others

Millets, the highly nutritious food grains that found a special mention in the Union Budget presented last year, is expected to be in focus in the upcoming interim Budget as well.

"India is the global hub for millets, or Shree Anna. India is at the forefront of popularising millets," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in her Budget speech last year, adding that the country is "its largest producer and second-largest exporter".

The variety of millets produced in India include jowar, ragi, bajra, kuttu and kodo, among others, she pointed out.

Considered to be a viable alternative to wheat, millets are expected to reduce pressure on India's food basket once adopted for consumption on a mass scale. The government has been aggressively promoting millet-based food diet, and observed the year 2023 as the 'International Year of Millets'.

Here's what PM Modi has been saying on millets throughout the year:

'World now understanding importance of millets'

In the January 29 edition of Mann Ki Baat, broadcasted three days before the release of last year's Budget document, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the world "has now started understanding the importance of millets".

"FPOs (farmer producer organisations) and entrepreneurs have started efforts to market millets and make them available to people," he added.

Also Read: Govt to support Hyderabad-based millet institute as centre of excellence: FM Sitharaman

The change in world's view towards millets is helping the country's small farmers who produce the food grain, he claimed.

“Just as people have made yoga and fitness a part of their lives by taking active participation on a large scale; similarly people are adopting millets on a large scale. People are now making millets a part of their diet. A huge impact of this change is also visible. On the one hand, the small farmers who traditionally used to produce millets are very excited,” the prime minister had further noted.

PM explains why millets referred to as 'Shree Anna'

In a public rally on February 6, Modi explained why millets was referred to as Shree Anna in the Budget speech by Sitharaman. "Shree Anna means the best among all the food grains," he said, adding that the term was inspired from the people of Karnataka who refer to millets as 'Siri Dhaanya'.

"People in Karnataka understand the importance of 'thick food grains' (millets). That's the reason that you all call it 'Siri Dhaanya'. The country is taking forward millets by respecting the sentiment of the people of Karnataka," news agency PTI had quoted the prime minister as saying.

Millets can tackle challenges of global food security, bad food habits: Modi

On March 18, while inaugurating the Global Millets Conference in New Delhi, Modi said that millets can help tackle challenges of global food security as well as diseases arising from bad food habits.

"We are aware that the world today is facing two types of challenges. On one hand, there is a Global South which is concerned about food security for the poor, on the other hand there is Global North where diseases related to food habits is becoming a serious problem.

"On one side, there is a challenge of food security and on the other side the problem of food habit. Both sides have expressed concern about heavy use of chemicals in farming. Shree Anna provides solutions for all such challenges," PTI had quoted him as saying.

The PM had also exhorted farm scientists to work towards increasing the share of nutri-cereals in the national food basket which then stood at around 5-6 percent.

Millets are 'superfoods' that help raising farmers' income: PM at G20 meet

Modi, while addressing the G20 Agriculture Ministers' meeting on June 16, said millets are "superfoods" that are not only healthy to consume, but also "help raise the incomes of our farmers by using less water, needing less fertilizer, and being more pest-resistant".

"Millets are not new. They have been cultivated for thousands of years. But markets and marketing had influenced our choices so much that we forgot the value of traditionally grown food crops," he had said.

'Just like yoga, millets will now go to every corner of the world'

Speaking at the World Food India 2023 summit in New Delhi on November 3, Modi said that millets are expected to go global, similar to yoga.

"I believe that just as International Yoga Day took Yoga to every corner of the world, now Millets will also reach every corner of the world," he said.

(With PTI inputs)