NEW DELHI: At a time when the world is celebrating the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s endeavours to promote the campaign saw dishes of millets being cooked using energy-efficient solar cook tops.
Sharing his comments on Twitter, Puri wrote, “Faster than Pasta! PM Sh @narendramodi Ji’s vision of sustainable alternative source of energy & his initiative towards #InternationalYearofMillets is now a reality!” Chef Brar informed us that millets taking a long time to cook was a myth - this khichdi was ready in 7 mins, faster than pasta!”(sic)
Spearheaded by the PM, it was the Government of India that had sponsored the proposal for International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 which was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). PM Modi has also shared his vision to make IYM 2023 a ‘People’s Movement’ alongside positioning India as the ‘Global Hub for Millets’.
Also, it was in pursuance to the challenge given by Hon’ble Prime Minister in his address to the officials of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in September 2017 to develop a viable solar solution to power our kitchens, IndianOil and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas have developed an indigenous solar cook top “Surya Nutan”.
Surya Nutan is stationary, rechargeable, and always kitchen-connected indoor solar cooking. It’s a patented product designed and developed by IndianOil R&D Centre, Faridabad. As per the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare ‘millets’ were among the first crops to be domesticated in India with several evidence of its consumption during the Indus valley civilization.