Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi took a meeting regarding preparations for Shri Anna Mahotsav 2023

Uttarakhand. Cabinet Minister Ganesh Joshi held a review meeting regarding preparations for Shri Anna Mahotsav 2023 at the Secretariat on Monday. This festival is proposed on 13-14 May 2023 at Survey of India, Hathibarkala, Dehradun. The objective of Shree Anna Mahotsav, organized by the Department of Agriculture, is to increase public awareness about the healthful benefits of millets in line with the concept of the International Year of Millets declared by the United Nations. Visitors to the festival will be able to peruse local food stalls from different states of India. Along with this, discussions on the usefulness of millets, scientific sessions, presentations on millets by related institutions, universities and startups, etc. will be organized in this festival. This Millets Festival is a collective effort involving various stakeholders promoting the cultivation and use of millets. In this, the Agriculture Department and other departments of the Government of Uttarakhand, Indian Institute of Millets Research Hyderabad, State Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes, Agricultural Colleges, Hotels, Restaurants, Farmers Groups, FPOs, Self Help Groups, Cooperative Societies, Startups, Private Companies And agricultural investors will be involved. Agriculture ministers of the central government and all the states will also participate in this millets festival. In the meeting, Cabinet Minister Shri Ganesh Joshi said that organizing Shri Anna Mahotsav 2023 in Uttarakhand is an achievement for the state. To make the festival a success, the concerned departments will have to make coordinated efforts and work seriously. He directed that a painting and essay competition based on millets should also be organized for school children during this festival. Full care should be taken of the facilities of all the visitors participating in the festival. The cabinet minister said that 2.0 lakh metric tonnes of nutritious grains were produced in Uttarakhand in the year 2021-22, which shows the increasing popularity of millets and its huge demand in the market. Uttarakhand has favorable climate and ideal conditions for the production of millets. Uttarakhand Millets Mission has been proposed by the state government to promote the cultivation of millets and to encourage their maximum use. Under this, assistance will be given to millets farmers and market linkage will be created for millets based products. Additional Secretaries Pooja Garbyal, Nikita Khandelwal, Manuj Goyal, Director Agriculture Gauri Shankar, Registrar Cooperative Alok Kumar Pandey, Chief Development Officer Jharna Kamthan and other senior officers were present in the meeting.