From bajre ka raabri to ragi dosa and jowar halwa, members of Parliament were in for a special ‘millet only’ lunch today. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar hosted a special lunch for members of both houses of Parliament today to mark the International Year of Millet (IYOM) 2023. The United Nations declared 2023 as the International Year of Millet following a request by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chefs arrived from Karnataka to make ragi specialities such as idli and ragi dosa, news agency ANI reported quoting sources.

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The menu had Foxtail Millet Bisibelebath, Foxtail Millet Curd Rice, Bajra and Jowar Khichdi, Joladha Roti, Ragi Halwa, Bajra Kheer and Bajra Cake.

Today's millet lunch menu |Food items made of millet included in today's menu for lunch at Parliament

Earlier today, at BJP Parliamentary Party meeting PM laid emphasis on celebration of International Millet Year 2023 & suggested ways to promote nutrition campaign through millet pic.twitter.com/yCG0TZ5gfp— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2022

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hosted a similar five-course millet luncheon in New York that was attended by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and members of the Security Council.

According to Jaishankar, the luncheon would help to “familiarise the members of the Security Council” with “all the virtues of millets”, CNN-News18 reported.

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The Indian government had notified millet as a nutritious -cereal in 2018 and it was included in the Poshan Mission campaign.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the BJP parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi that good health was associated with millet and sports. He asked MPs to work to promote millets, grown by most small farmers in the country, PTI reported. The PM also said that foreign delegates attending meetings associated with the G-20 chaired by India will also be served delicacies made of millet. He said these can also be used in anganwadis, schools, homes and government meetings.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)