Gwalior:

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Sunday that there are some differences among the BJP workers over ticket distribution, but everything is under the party’s control. The angry protest by BJP workers started after the party on Saturday released its fifth list of 92 candidates for Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Narendra Singh Tomar told ANI, “The list of all BJP candidates except two seats has been released. All are good candidates. All the party workers have started their work. There are some differences because there are many people asking for tickets. The BJP has the entire situation under control. We will form the government.”

He further said that the Congress can claim its victory, but we are seeking votes on the basis of what we have done.

The BJP on Saturday evening released its fifth list of 92 candidates for the assembly polls, and now the party has declared candidates for 228 out of 230 seats. It is yet to declare candidates for the Guna (scheduled caste) and Vidisha seats.

Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Singh Patel have been fielded from the Dimani and Narsinghpur constituencies respectively. Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste will contest from the Niwas seat.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to hold elections this year. The state is scheduled to vote on November 17, with the vote count taking place on December 3.

Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

In the last 2018 assembly elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 40.89 per cent while the BJP came second and managed to win 109 seats. Its vote share was 41.02 per cent. The Congress came to power with Kamal Nath taking oath as the chief minister but Jyotiraditya Scindia, along with 22 loyalist MLAs, switched over to BJP in 2020.

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“The area under cultivation of various millets in India has been declining and the underlying reasons behind it could be attributed to the promotion of rice and wheat vis-a-vis millet production and lack of suitable initiatives towards millets,” a Niti Aayog report said.

The government think tank NITI Aayog released a report on April 26 titled Promoting Millets in Diets: Best Practices across States, UTs of India. Millets which were once an integral part of the Indian diet have been almost forgotten due to various demand and supply challenges.

India produces all the nine commonly known traditional millets viz. Sorghum, Pearl Millet, Finger Millet, Foxtail Millet, Proso Millet, Little Millet, Barnyard Millet, Brown top Millet and Kodo Millet. Millets are also the most secure crops for small farmers as they are resilient and climate-adaptable in both hot and drought environments.

Millets are nutritionally superior to other food grains owing to their higher protein levels and a more balanced amino acid profile. Millets also contain various phytochemicals which exert therapeutic properties owing to their anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties.

“The reasons for the decline can be attributed to the promotion of rice and wheat vis-a-vis millet production and lack of suitable initiatives towards millets…” the Niti Aayog report stated.

“Despite the benefits of growing millets, over the years, Indian farmers have made a slow but steady shift in their cereal growing preferences away from millets,” it further stated.” The total area of cropland harvesting the three major millet crops i.e. jowar, bajra and ragi grown in India has almost halved across the country since 1966,” it said, adding thousands of hectares of land under millet production have shifted to other crops.

The Niti Aayog in its report also put out area, production, and crop yield data for some of the major millets during the 2010-11 to 2020-21 period. Data showed the area under cultivation (or acreage) for finger millet (ragi), small millets, pearl millet (Bajra), and Sorghum (Jowar) combined, declined from 19,055 hectares in 2010-11 to 13,633 hectares, with a decline of 3% CAGR. Their production declined from 19,996 tonnes to 18,020 tonnes per cent CAGR. However, yield per hectare rose more than 2% to 1,322 kg.

“The low margins associated with millet production, vis-a-vis other crops, have created disincentives for millet farmers. The relatively shorter shelf life of the crops creates storage-related concerns and gives rise to risks of spoilage,” the report said. Further, it said changes in lifestyle and consumer tastes, coupled with the unavailability of ready-to-eat millets have contributed to lower demand.

Considering the potential nutritional role of millets in public health, the Central government declared millets as Nutri-Cereals in 2018 and celebrated the National Year of Millets in 2018. The government of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi spearheaded the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution for declaring the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets and the proposal of India was supported by 72 countries.

India being the largest producer of millets and proposer of the International Year of Millets-2023, the Niti Aayog report called for a greater need for India to exercise the leadership in reviving millets through scaling up and replicating the millets value chain in other countries to leverage the emerging demand from global markets.

Recently, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has directed its agency National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) to promote the ‘International Year of Millets 2023’ on a global scale.Accordingly, NAFED has started extending marketing linkage to millet-centric startups, setting up a millet corner in NAFED Bazaar Retail Stores, and installing of millet vending machines across Delhi NCR.

Minister Tomar said all Central Ministries, and State governments including leading food and beverage industries, both public and private, should pitch in. India held its first mega-global event Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference in Delhi to celebrate 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYM).

The aim of the United Nations to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets on India’s initiative is to elevate awareness of millets for food security and nutrition, enhance investment in R&D and extension, and inspire stakeholders towards improving production, productivity and quality of millets.

A ministerial round table of millets was held post-inaugural session of the Global Millets (Shree Anna) Conference in New Delhi in March. Ministers from Guyana, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname and Zambia; Permanent Secretary, Agriculture of Gambia and Maldives and Director General, Millets Initiative, Nigeria participated in the meeting.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. File
| Photo Credit: ANI

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said India is a rising star in the global economy primarily due to agriculture and agri-based industry, and stressed that the country’s rise is “unstoppable”.

Addressing the 61st convocation of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Mr. Dhankhar said: “In September 2022, India became the 5th largest economy in the world. It has not come easily. It has been a cesarean.” Indeed, it is a milestone achievement and the agriculture sector had a significant contribution in India’s global rise, he said.

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. It is primarily because of the agriculture and agri-based industry, India is a rising star in the global economy, he added.

Mr. Dhankhar further said, India that everyone is seeing today is wonderful. “India’s rise is unstoppable… We are the most favourite destination of opportunities and investment,” he noted.

Such an ecosystem has been developed that affirmative policies are in place to attract talent and investment, he said.

“By the end of the decade, India will be the third largest economy in the world,” he said and urged young Indians to lay the foundation for 2047 when India enters the centenary of its independence.

Asserting that value addition to agri-produce can bring economic revolution, the Vice President said IARI has the capacity and intellect to add value to farm produce.

He also asked the institute to bring a new dimension in agri-education which should become the epicentre of entrepreneurship that should result in research and innovation.

Mr. Dhankhar also expressed confidence that IARI will continue to serve the nation with innovations, quality human resource and technological adaptations in the farm sector.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary, ICAR Director General Himanshu Pathak, among other officials were present at the event.

IARI Director A.K. Singh said IARI — seat of India’s Green Revolution — continues to play a pivotal role in the livelihood security of billions of people in the country.

It is a matter of immense pride that even in the face of the global crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, IARI has excelled in its stride towards excellence in research for enhancing farmers’ income through improving crop varieties and technologies.

He said science-led innovation in agricultural research, education and extension is IARI’s primary motto to meet the sustainable development goals.

“We pledge our commitment towards prosperous India through development of technologies for promoting eco-friendly and sustainable agriculture,” he added.

About 402 students, including 14 foreign students, received the degrees on the successful completion of their masters and doctoral programs.

The Union government expects a record production of 342.33 million tonnes of fruits and vegetables in 2021-22. It is an increase of about 7.73 million tonnes (2.3%) over the production in 2020-21.

The area of cultivation could increase to 28.08 million hectares from 27.48 million hectares in 2020-21, according to the third advance estimates of the area and production of various horticultural crops for 2021-22 released by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare here on Thursday.

Releasing the estimates, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has congratulated the farmers, scientists and officers of horticulture for the achievement. The third advance estimates were compiled on the basis of information received from States and Union Territories.

The production of fruits is estimated to be 107.24 million tonnes against 102.48 million tonnes in 2020-21. Similarly, the production of vegetables is estimated to be 204.84 million tonnes compared with 200.45 million tonnes in 2020-21.

However, potato and tomato production is estimated to have declined.

Potato production is pegged at 53.39 million tonnes against 56.17 million tonnes last season, while tomato production is estimated to be 20.33 million tonnes as against 21.18 million tonnes in 2020-21.

While the estimate of foodgrains production is 315.72 million tonnes, the production of rice is expected at 130.29 million tonnes. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Union Agriculture Ministry released on August 17 the fourth advance estimates of production of major agricultural crops for 2021-22. The Ministry said the production of foodgrains in the country is estimated at 315.72 million tonnes which is higher by 4.98 million tonnes than 2020-21.

Also read | A critical look at Tamil Nadu as a rice-providing State

A government release said the production during 2021-22 is higher by 25 million tonnes than the previous five years’ (2016-17 to 2020-21) average production of foodgrains. “Record production is estimated of rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane,” it said. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the record production of so many crops is the result of the farmer-friendly policies of the Centre and the hard work of the farmers and the diligence of the scientists.

While the estimate of foodgrains production is 315.72 million tonnes, the production of rice is expected at 130.29 million tonnes, which, according to the Centre, is a record. Wheat production could touch 106.84 million tonnes and for nutri/coarse cereals it could be 50.90 million tonnes.

“Total production of Rice during 2021-22 is estimated at record 130.29 million tonnes. It is higher by 13.85 million tonnes than the last five years’ average production of 116.44 million tonnes. Production of Wheat during 2021-22 is estimated at 106.84 million tonnes. It is higher by 2.96 million tonnes than the last five years’ average wheat production of 103.88 million tonnes,” the release said.

“The assessment of production of various crops is based on the data received from States and validated with information available from other sources,” the Ministry said.