Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi released commemorative coins of Rs 75 denomination to mark the 75th Anniversary of FAO today through video conferencing. He dedicated to the nation, 17 recently developed biofortified varieties of crops.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister greeted the people across the world who are constantly working to remove malnutrition. He said, our Kisan Saathi - our Annadata, our Agricultural Scientist, our Anganwadi ASHA workers, are the basis of the movement against malnutrition. While they have filled the granary of India with their hard work, they are also helping the government in reaching the poorest of the poor. He added, due to all these efforts, India is fighting a strong fight against malnutrition even in this crisis of Corona.
The Prime Minister said over the years, FAO helped to increase agricultural production and eradicate hunger all over the world, including India and has played a huge role in increasing nutrition and its service is respected by more than 130 crore Indians. He said this year's Nobel Peace Prize to the World Food Program is also a major achievement for the FAO. He remarked that India is happy with the partnership and engagement which has been historic.
The Prime Minister said the world food program was started by FAO under the leadership of Dr Binay Ranjan Sen when he was the Director General in FAO. He had felt the pain of famine and starvation very closely and the scale of his work is still useful for the whole world. He said the FAO has also closely watched India's fight against malnutrition in the past decades but its scope had many constraints. He said for reasons such as getting pregnant at a young age, lack of education, lack of information, inadequate access to drinking water, lack of cleanliness, etc. we could not get the expected results.
The Prime Minister remarked that with years of experience fresh efforts were made in the country after 2014. He said with an integrated approach Government took a holistic approach and ended all the silos to work on a multi-dimensional strategy. He listed the initiatives by the Government to fight malnutrition such as National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan), construction of toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission, Mission Rainbow, Jal Jeevan mission, distribution of low cost Sanitation pads, etc. He highlighted the outcome of such efforts like Gross Enrollment Ratio of girls exceeding the Ratio for boys, etc. He said important work is done to tackle malnutrition like promoting coarse grains and crops rich in nutrition like protein, iron, zinc, etc.
The Prime Minister expressed thanks to FAO for fully supporting India's proposal to declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. He said this will encourage intake of nutritious food, increase their availability further and benefit small farmers a lot. He said the small and medium farmers mostly grow coarse grains on their land where there is a problem of water and the land is not so fertile. He added this will benefit not only to India but the whole world.
The Prime Minister remarked the common variety of some crops lacks some micronutrients and thus bio-fortified varieties were developed to overcome these shortcomings. He added today 17 bio-fortified seed varieties of several local and traditional crops including wheat and paddy are being made available to the farmers which is an important step to strengthen the nutrition campaign.
The Prime Minister said experts around the world were concerned about starvation & malnutrition in India owing to the Corona pandemic. He said amid these concerns, during the past 7-8 months, India has distributed food grains worth about Rs 1.5 crore to the 80 crore poor free of cost, to fight starvation & malnutrition. He added special care was taken to include rice or wheat along with lentils in the ration, as India’s commitment towards food security.
The Prime Minister said until 2014 the Food Security Act was in force only in 11 states and only after that it was implemented effectively in the entire country. He said while the whole world is struggling due to Corona, Indian farmers made a record production of food grains and the government also made new records in procurement of food grains like wheat, paddy and pulses. He said reforms are being done continuously in India which shows its commitment towards Global Food security. He listed various agricultural reforms being done to increase the income of farmers. He said the goal of the amendments made to the APMC Act is to make it more competitive. He added several steps have been taken to ensure that farmers get one and a half times the cost as MSP. MSP and government procurement are an important part of ensuring the country's food security. So it is natural for them to continue
The Prime Minister said to give strength to small farmers, a large network of Farmer Producer Organizations i.e. FPOs are being developed in the country. Grain wastage has always been a major problem in India and amendments in the Essential Commodities Act will change this condition. Now the government as well as private players would get more opportunity to build better infrastructure in villages.
The Prime Minister while elaborating about the amendment to APMC Act, said when the farmer makes an agreement with any private company or industry, the price of the produce will be decided even before sowing. It will also provide relief from the price fluctuations and will encourage new technology in farming. He added apart from giving more options to the farmer, legal protection has been given to the farmer. If the farmer wants to break the agreement for any reason, then he will not have to pay any penalty. But if the institution that compromises the farmer breaks the agreement, he will have to pay a fine. He said the agreement will be only on the yield and there will not be any kind of crisis on the land of the farmer. That is, every type of protection to the farmer has been ensured through these reforms.
The Prime Minister concluded when the Indian farmers become strong their income will increase, so the campaign against malnutrition will get equal strength. He wished that increasing synergy between India and FAO will give further momentum to the campaign.
World Food Day के अवसर पर आप सभी को बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
दुनियाभर में जो लोग कुपोषण को दूर करने के लिए लगातार काम कर रहे हैं, मैं उन्हें भी बधाई देता हूं: PM @narendramodi
भारत के हमारे किसान साथी- हमारे अन्नदाता, हमारे कृषि वैज्ञानिक, हमारे आंगनबाड़ी-आशा कार्यकर्ता, कुपोषण के खिलाफ आंदोलन का आधार हैं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
इन्होंने अपने परिश्रम से जहां भारत का अन्न भंडार भर रखा है, वहीं दूर-सुदूर, गरीब से गरीब तक पहुंचने में ये सरकार की मदद भी कर रहे हैं: PM
इन सभी के प्रयासों से ही भारत कोरोना के इस संकटकाल में भी कुपोषण के खिलाफ मजबूत लड़ाई लड़ रहा है: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
FAO के World Food Program को इस वर्ष का नोबल शांति पुरस्कार मिलना भी एक बड़ी उपलब्धि है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
और भारत को खुशी है कि इसमें भी हमारी साझेदारी और हमारा जुड़ाव ऐतिहासिक रहा है: PM @narendramodi
2014 के बाद देश में नए सिरे से प्रयास शुरू किए गए।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
हम Integrated approach लेकर आगे बढ़े, होलिस्टिक अप्रोच लेकर आगे बढ़े।
तमाम Silos को समाप्त करके हमने एक Multi-Dimensional रणनीति पर काम शुरू किया: PM @narendramodi highlights India’s fight against malnutrition
कुपोषण से निपटने के लिए एक और महत्वपूर्ण दिशा में काम हो रहा है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
अब देश में ऐसी फसलों को बढ़ावा दिया जा रहा है जिसमें पौष्टिक पदार्थ- जैसे प्रोटीन, आयरन, जिंक इत्यादि ज्यादा होते हैं: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
मैं आज FAO को विशेष धन्यवाद देता हूं कि उसने वर्ष 2023 को International Year of Millets घोषित करने के भारत के प्रस्ताव को पूरा समर्थन दिया है: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
वर्ष 2023 को International Year of Millets घोषित करने के प्रस्ताव के पीछे भी कुछ इसी तरह की भावना है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
इससे भारत ही नहीं विश्व भर को दो बड़े फायदे होंगे:
एक तो पौष्टिक आहार प्रोत्साहित होंगे, उनकी उपलब्धता और बढ़ेगी।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
और दूसरा- जो छोटे किसान होते हैं, जिनके पास कम जमीन होती है, उन्हें बहुत लाभ होगा: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
भारत में पोषण अभियान को ताकत देने वाला एक और अहम कदम आज उठाया गया है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
आज गेहूं और धान सहित अनेक फसलों के 17 नए बीजों की वैरायटी, देश के किसानों को उपलब्ध कराई जा रही हैं: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
बीते कुछ महीनों में पूरे विश्व में कोरोना संकट के दौरान भुखमरी-कुपोषण को लेकर अनेक तरह की चर्चाएं हो रही हैं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
बड़े-बड़े एक्सपर्ट्स अपनी चिंताएं जता रहे हैं कि क्या होगा, कैसे होगा?
इन चिंताओं के बीच, भारत पिछले 7-8 महीनों से लगभग 80 करोड़ गरीबों को मुफ्त राशन उपलब्ध करा रहा है।
इस दौरान भारत ने करीब-करीब डेढ़ लाख करोड़ रुपए का खाद्यान्न गरीबों को मुफ्त बांटा है: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
क्या आप जानते हैं कि कोरोना के कारण जहां पूरी दुनिया संघर्ष कर रही है, वहीं भारत के किसानों ने इस बार पिछले साल के प्रोडक्शन के रिकॉर्ड को भी तोड़ दिया?
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
क्या आप जानते हैं कि सरकार ने गेहूं, धान और दालें सभी प्रकार के खाद्यान्न की खरीद के अपने पुराने रिकॉर्ड तोड़ दिए हैं: PM
आज भारत में निरंतर ऐसे रिफॉर्म्स किए जा रहे हैं जो Global Food Security के प्रति भारत के Commitment को दिखाते हैं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
खेती और किसान को सशक्त करने से लेकर भारत के Public Distribution System तक में एक के बाद एक सुधार किए जा रहे हैं: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
किसानों को लागत का डेढ़ गुणा दाम MSP के रूप में मिले, इसके लिए अनेक कदम उठाए गए हैं।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
MSP और सरकारी खरीद, देश की फूड सिक्योरिटी का अहम हिस्सा हैं।
इसलिए इनका जारी रहना स्वभाविक है: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
छोटे किसानों को ताकत देने के लिए, Farmer Producer Organizations यानि FPOs का एक बड़ा नेटवर्क देश में तैयार किया जा रहा है: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
भारत में अनाज की बर्बादी हमेशा से बहुत बड़ी समस्या रही है।
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) October 16, 2020
अब जब Essential Commodities Act में संशोधन किया गया है, इससे स्थितियां बदलेंगी: PM @narendramodi #SahiPoshanDeshRoshan
