Millets are surely stealing the limelight in 2023. The United Nations declared 2023 as the International Year of the Millet after a proposal by India. Now, Zerodha CEO Nithin Kamath has shared the ‘healthy and tasty’ benefits of adding millet or ragi to wheat flour and dosa batter. Millets do not harm the planet as they require less water and pesticides, he added, urging everyone to include the grain in their meals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been encouraging the consumption and production of the superfood, also upvoted Kamath’s thread.
“We add millet (ragi) to wheat flour and dosa batter at home. It’s healthier & tastier. Most of us don’t know that millets are also good for the planet because they consume much less water & pesticides. The reason why everyone should introduce millet & talk about it too,” Kamath tweeted.
Talking about India’s future as a ‘global millet hub’, the co-founder of the online trading firm said that it will boost the creation of ‘green jobs locally’. Sharing an explainer by Zerodha’s non-profit organisation Rainmatter Foundation on the ecological benefits of millets, he added that its local production can help prevent carbon emissions from food transportation. “If millets are distributed through government programmes and mid-day meal initiatives, Indians would get more nutrition and would also have less diabetes risk,” he wrote.
Retweeting Kamath’s post, PM Modi expressed his happiness on reading the thread. He also requested people to incorporate the desi superfood in regular meals. ‘Good to read this! Let us all make Shree Ann a part of our lives,’ the PM said. ‘Shree Anna’ – meaning mother of all grains – was a term used by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2023 budget speech.
According to Kamath, the Rainmatter Foundation in collaboration with The Locavore launched the Millet Revival Project 2023, which aims to provide simple solutions to encourage people to switch to millet-friendly meals.
Kamath’s latest post comes just a day after he shared his new fitness goal after meeting PM Modi in Bengaluru for Aero India 2023. Praising the PM for interacting with him and his brother Nikhil Kamath for over 30 minutes – despite his busy schedule – he wrote: “My new health and fitness goal is to be able to operate at his intensity when I am 72. He spent almost 30 mins late in the night interacting with Nikhil Kamath and me, despite all his meetings and travels through the day.”
