The fair was celebrated to honor the crop of millet, to toast the acceptance of the proposal of India, which was supported by 72 nations and thus accepted by the United Nations declares 2023 as the International Year of Millets (IYoM) and to generate demand for millets and to provide an extra rate to the farmers so farmers could grow more millets. The International Year of Millets offers an innovative opportunity to promote millets as an essential part of the food basket by boosting global production, ensuring efficient processing and consumption, encouraging improved crop rotation, and encouraging greater connectedness across food systems. The Government of India wishes to commemorate IYOM in 2023 and utilize the opportunity to increase the acceptance and awareness of Indian millets, recipes, and value-added products globally.

The Millet Jatra tried to bring to light widely ignored whole grain – millet, which has been part of our culture and civilization for a long time but is being ignored by the recent generation in their diets. The crop is preferred because of its high yield and short growing season, even under high hot and dry climates, and holds many benefits for human health. Including millets in daily diet has several health-related benefits:-

•  Good For Heart Health :

Beta-glucans, flavonoids, anthocyanidins, tannins, lignans, and policosanols are just a few of the outstanding antioxidants found in millets. These antioxidants are essential for decreasing total and LDL cholesterol as well as for keeping blood arteries healthy and

removing clots, which reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke.

• Assist in Digestion:

Millets are a rich source of dietary fibre, which helps the digestive system operate better. It treats irregular bowel movements, gas, bloating, and cramps. It also strengthens the immune system and enhances the general health of other crucial organs, including the liver and kidneys.

•  Fight Cancer Cells:

Research has shown that millets, including the foxtail and proso kinds, are efficient at slowing the formation of malignant cells in a variety of tissues. Millets include phytochemicals that have antiproliferative properties and reduce the growth of cancer cells in the colon, breast, and liver without harming healthy cells.

• Promote Weight Loss:

For anybody trying to lose weight and drop a few extra pounds, millets are a boon. The BMI of obese people may be significantly reduced by including millets into the normal diet, such as millet flour or by eating millets for breakfast. Daily substitution of millets for rice may enhance intestinal health, reduce fat storage, and aid in long-term weight reduction.

Despite these many health benefits millets are being overlooked both by the producers and the consumers because post-harvest challenges abound in the primary processing of minor millets, along with reliable market linkages for farmers and FPOs. Storage and shelf life of raw grains are better, but once de-hulled/de-husked or processed into flour, it becomes a challenge. Though tremendous opportunities exist in farm gate processing, mechanization, sorting, grading, destoning, de-hulling/de-husking, etc. Schemes are available for processing machinery from Government programs like the PMFME scheme, the awareness about all this is low, and SHG, FPOs need sufficient hand holding to avail and go ahead with it. On the consumer side, a significant awareness initiative is needed to highlight the nutritional and health benefits of various millets, specifically the minor millets.