{"id":226736,"date":"2023-02-15T20:57:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T15:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=226736"},"modified":"2023-02-15T20:57:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T15:27:12","slug":"lets-go-against-the-grain-of-wheat-rice-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/lets-go-against-the-grain-of-wheat-rice-bias\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s Go Against the Grain of Wheat, Rice Bias"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Source<\/strong>: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s Go Against The Grain Of Wheat, Rice Bias<\/strong>\u201d published in The Times of India<\/strong> on\u00a015th<\/sup> February 2023<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>benefits of millets and measures taken to promote it<\/strong><\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: The article discusses the reasons behind the decline in the use of millets and the efforts taken by the government to revive it.<\/p>\n

What were the reasons behind the decline in the use of millets?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

One of the reasons behind the decline in the use of millets is the green revolution<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Green revolution technology and policy environment gave rice and wheat an advantage over millets and millets were considered as inferior crops<\/strong>, despite of its multiple benefits.<\/p>\n

What are the benefits of millets?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Millets are nutritious<\/strong>. They reduce – a)<\/strong> Iron deficiency anaemia, b)<\/strong> Risk of type II diabetes, c)<\/strong> BMI and obesity, d)<\/strong> Calcium deficiency e)<\/strong> helps with hyperlipidemia.<\/p>\n

Millets are also found to help overcome malnutrition. Within millets, minor millets are even more nutritious and healthy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moreover, millets are the least water demanding crops<\/strong>. They can live in harsh environments and withstand various biotic and abiotic stresses like rise in temperature, drought etc.<\/p>\n

However, the government has taken several measures to promote millets.<\/p>\n

What steps have taken by the government to promote millets?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

GoI and some states have taken some initiatives since 2012 to promote millets.<\/p>\n

Millets were officially declared as Nutri Cereals in 2018<\/strong> which was declared as the National Year of Millets.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

India has also brought millets on the global platform by getting UNGA<\/strong> to declare the year 2023 as an International Year of Millet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, despite these efforts, there is hardly any improvement in the consumption of millets.<\/p>\n

As per NSSO\u2019s consumer expenditure survey, <\/strong>the consumption of millets amongst the lower section of the society has declined from 1. 59 kg millets\/ month per capita in 1993-94 to 0. 27 kg by 2011-2012.<\/p>\n

However, the budget 2023-24 has tried to address the issues related to millets.<\/p>\n

What are some efforts announced in the Budget 2023-24 for millets?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The budget has designated millets as \u201cShree Anna\u201d.<\/strong> Therefore, emphasis needs to be given to expand the area under millet and increase their productivity by making them attractive to the producers.<\/p>\n

The budget has also announced support for R&D in millets<\/strong> through a centre of excellence to be set up in Indian Institute of Millets Research, Hyderabad.<\/p>\n

What can be the way ahead?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

First,<\/strong> India needs to speed up technological development for millets. Millet specific machines and equipment need to be developed to handle large scale production.<\/p>\n

Second,<\/strong> Producers need to be empowered through FPOs, SHGs and cooperatives, to take advantage of rising consumer preference and willingness to pay better prices for millets.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/strong>Millet Production in India – Explained<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cLet\u2019s Go Against The Grain Of Wheat, Rice Bias\u201d published in The Times of India on\u00a015th February 2023. Syllabus: GS 3 \u2013 Agriculture Relevance: benefits of millets and measures taken to promote it News: The article discusses the reasons behind the decline in the use of millets and… Continue reading Let\u2019s Go Against the Grain of Wheat, Rice Bias<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10496],"class_list":["post-226736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-times-of-india","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700571901},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}