Millets should be introduced in early childhood nutritional care, says Smriti Irani

CHENNAI: Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani on Monday said her ministry has consistently been insisting that millets be introduced in early childhood nutritional care.

Calling for efforts to enhance the production of millets to meet the nutrition programmes of the government, she said millet ('Shree Anna') is benevolent, sustainable, nourishing and a harbinger of sustainable change.

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"The ministry has incessantly and consistently demanded that millets be infused (sic) in early childhood nutritional care," she said while speaking at the international conference on ‘Mighty millets for food, nutrition, and health security’ held under the aegis of MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) here.

One of the greatest challenges was the procurement of millets in government systems, she said, virtually addressing the gathering from the capital. The farm sector should be inundated with requests to step up the production and states should procure millets to meet the increasing demand generated by government nutrition programmes like the Poshan Abhiyan, she said. Millets should become a part of the diet and also be supplied in ration shops, she added.

“Make millets a people’s movement, because when one speaks of health security and millets, one should not be restrained and believe that it is only the security of individual health, but it is equally dedicated to the health of the soil and ecology,” the minister said. Speaking on the many programmes run by the centre to ensure better delivery of nutrition among vulnerable populations, she said, “Apart from government intervention, there is a pressing need for societal knowledge that requires the engagement of young mothers on eating habits that helps to ingrain the life cycle of better nutrition in a child.”

"Delighted to share insights with Dr M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, emphasising the vital role of Shree Anna as a nourishing, sustainable solution for global health security," the minister said in a tweet.