Chandigarh, January 1: Moving ahead on the initiative of Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi to celebrate the year 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal started the New Year with millets breakfast. The Chief Minister said that millets are essential for both health and environment.

The Haryana IAS Officers Association today organized ‘Millets Breakfast’ at Haryana Niwas, Chandigarh, to spread the message of promoting the use of millets. On this occasion, Governor of Haryana, Sh. Bandaru Dattatraya, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal, along with Cabinet Ministers, MLAs and top officials enjoyed the delicacies made from millets.

Appreciating the initiative of the Haryana IAS Officers' Association, Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal said that delicacies made from millet are not only beneficial for health, but today the farmers are also becoming financially strong by selling products made from it. This initiative of the Prime Minister will certainly prove effective in making the countrymen healthy, he added.

On the initiative of the Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi, the United Nations has declared the year 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’. The Prime Minister has appealed to the countrymen to make maximum use of millets and on this call; the Haryana IAS Officers Association organized a millets breakfast.

Governor of Haryana, Sh. Bandaru Dattatraya said that millets have been the identity of our heritage for centuries and it is equally useful in today's time. The state government is making continuous efforts to promote the cultivation of these crops and use of products made from them, he said.

Continuously emphasizing this effort of the Prime Minister to promote millets crops i.e., Jowar, Bajra, Ragi etc, the Haryana government, on the one hand, is encouraging the farmers to cultivate these crops and at the same time, the people are also being made aware of the use of millets. The state government under the leadership of the Chief Minister exhorted the farmers to adopt crop diversification apart from cultivating traditional crops. An incentive amount is also being provided to the farmers cultivating millet instead of paddy in the state.

The millets breakfast consisted of many dishes including millet snacks, kheer and khichdi made from coarse grains including millet. All the dishes of the breakfast were prepared by the Kheti Virasat Mission. The culinary team was led by Executive Director of the Mission, Umendra Dutt, and well-known Millets Chef from Hyderabad, Rambabu.

Earlier, during the recently concluded winter session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, a special millets lunch was organized for all the members, in which delicious dishes of bajra, ragi and other millets were served.

President, Haryana IAS Officers Association and Chief Secretary, Sh. Sanjeev Kaushal said that the association organizes seminars and training programmes from time to time to enhance administrative efficiency. In this series, an event has been organized today in compliance with Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi's call to celebrate the year 2023 as International Millets Year. The Haryana IAS Officers’ Association will continue to perform its role towards society by organizing such programmes in future also, he added.