Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday shared a song on millets titled, Mandia, composed by musician Ricky Kej, who caught the world’s attention last month by winning his third Grammy award.
He thanked Kej and Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Empowerment for the song on Mandia to popularise millets. This assumes significance since the state through Odisha Millets Mission has been reviving millets in farms and on plates since 2017.
#OdishaMilletMission is a pioneering initiative to bring back climate resilient grain in our fields & plates. Thank #GrammyAward winner & composer-producer Mr. @rickykej & @krushibibhag for the beautiful song on #Mandia to popularize the planet friendly, nutritious millet. @FAO pic.twitter.com/eSv8uXWMkJ
— Naveen Patnaik (@Naveen_Odisha) March 1, 2023
And this song, conceived and produced by Nila Madhav Panda, is part of this massive initiative of the Odisha government, Kej had tweeted last week after meeting the CM. A strong advocate and champion of environmental consciousness and sustainability, he wrote: “Thrilled to have met the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha – Mr Naveen Patnaik. Presented our song on Millets, as part of his massive initiative. We discussed music and the huge benefits of Millets, for our health and for the environment.”
The millet narrative in the state also caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he lauded the women SHGs associated with Odisha Millets Mission in his first Mann Ki Baat of 2023.
Notably, the first commercial consignment of millets, including Kodo millet rice, Little Millet rice, Ragi grain, Sorghum grain, foxtail millet rice, Bajra (pearl millet) grain along with flour of these six millets, from Odisha reached the international market in January this year. It was sourced from women-managed farmer producer organisations (FPOs) Shaktimayee Ward Mission Shakti Mahasangha to export it to Dubai.
On the occasion of ‘Mandia Dibasa’ in November last year, the mission was extended to all 30 districts and the government announced to spend Rs 2,800 crore under this programme in five years. Currently, around 2 lakh farmers, 82 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and 1,200 Mission Shakti groups are under the mission.
