By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 15 May: Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, environmentalist Dr Anil Joshi and Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi inaugurated the third day of the ongoing Shri Anna Festival dedicated to promotion of millets in the state. The Shri Anna Mahotsav 2023 has been organised by the Agriculture Department of Uttarakhand. On this occasion, all the guests present at the festival inspected various stalls based on Millets.
Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi welcomed all the guests by giving them mountain caps, shawls and bouquets, etc.
The Chief Guest, former Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari said that the best thing he noticed during the inspection of the stalls was the fact that these were all managed by the women. Koshyari thanked Prime Minister Modi for naming the millets as Shri Anna, which has divinity attached to it. Reminiscing about his village, he said that, in childhood, he used to get wheat roti and his sisters were getting Mandua roti and because of this, his stomach remained upset very frequently and is easily upset even now. He said that the coarse grains are very good for women and very viable crops for the hills. He also reminded that only coarse grains can be produced in Mana and Gunji. He said that, in the Maharashtra Raj Bhavan, he had made only Mandua biscuits mandatory for guests keeping in mind their health benefits.
Ganesh Joshi suggested that Mandua biscuits should be made mandatory in Uttarakhand as well so that good health can be achieved by the consumers and the farmers could also benefit. He said that without talking about the figures, he would like to request all present to move towards agriculture and horticulture. He said that the top priority should be to empower the farmers of the state. Giving a new slogan, he said that by increasing the consumption of local coarse grains like Koda and Jhingora, Uttarakhand would take a major step towards becoming self-reliant.
Special guest, Padma Bhushan awardee Dr Anil Joshi said that agriculture is the only means for the progress of Uttarakhand Pradesh and, for this, there is a need to think from a new angle and a new strategy should be worked out. He reiterated the slogan of “Koda-Jhingora khayenge, Pahari Rajya banayenge”. Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi, he said he was grateful to Modi for naming the coarse grains as Shri Anna. He said that Uttarakhand is world famous for millet and minor millet crops. He said that the Japanese also believe that the coarse grains of Uttarakhand are very beneficial for baby food as they contain calcium in abundance. He congratulated the Agriculture Minister for the programme.
Agriculture Minister Ganesh Joshi said in his address that Shri Anna is part of the traditional farming of Uttarakhand. It is so beneficial from the point of view of health that what used to be the food of the poor, has now become a part of the plate of the rich. Joshi said that special efforts are being made under the leadership of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for the promotion of Shri Anna. Under the State Millet Mission, a provision of Rs 73 crores has been made in the budget. Joshi also reiterated the department’s resolve to improve the economic condition of the farmers by promoting crops like Mandua and Jhingora in the hills.
On this occasion Agriculture Director Gaurishankar, Rural Development Commissioner Anand Swaroop, District Panchayat Vice President Deepak Pundir, Aditya Chauhan, Jogendra Pundir, Jyoti Kotia, Veer Singh, Pradeep Pandey, Vivek Upadhyay, Mohammad Aslam, Additional Director KC Pathak, Joint Director Dinesh Kumar were also present along with a large number of farmers from across the state.
