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Millets seem to be making a cautious comeback in India following renewed spotlight and government support. Here, ragi or finger millet fields near Lohardaga in Jharkhand come alive during harvest.
India, along with 72 other countries, had proposed that the United Nations declare 2023 ‘the International Year of Millets’.
The UN agreed to the proposal and 2023 was observed as one that celebrated these ancient crops.
Millets have been around for a long time in the Indian subcontinent. In fact, they date back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. They are considered to have an older presence in India than rice or wheat.
But with the Government of India focusing on high-yielding rice and wheat in the Green Revolution of the 1960s, the consumption of millets declined across the country. Till 2021, when the Centre decided to bring the focus back on millets.