Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Ladies Organisation (FLO) , Coimbatore Chapter celebrates “International Year of the Millets, 2023

New Delhi: FICCI ladies Organisation (FLO ) the women’s wing of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Coimbatore Chapter celebrated “International Year of the Millets, 2023”, in presence of Padma Shri Dr.Khadar Valli, popularly called ‘Millet Man of India’ and FLO national president Sudha Shivkumar in Coimbatore .

The theme selected by FLO for this year is RISE & Reach out to the Community. With Her main focus is on Women Education, & Skill Development, Women Led Business, Legal & Policy Advocacy, Women in Leadership Roles.

The Chief Guest for the occasion was Dr.Khadar Valli, Padma Shri Awardee, Independent Scientist, Food & Health while the Guest of Honors were Ms. Sudha Shivkumar, President, FICCI FLO and Ms. Sangeeta Chetan, Event Chair. Other members present on the occasion were Rama Rajasekaran, Chairperson-FLO Coimbatore and Executive Committee Members. The event began with a prayer song followed by lighting of the lamp and felicitation of the Chief Guest Dr.Khadar Valli.

The Welcome Address was delivered by Rama Rajashekran who said, “Today is a special day. I am very happy to welcome Padma Shri awardee Dr.Khadar Valli who has opened our eyes towards the importance of millets and its health impact today especially to the community. We have a lot of take home from him. He is really great at the millet movement in not just our country but the whole world. As our favorite Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam had said, the nation will never be empowered if the women are not playing a very important role. FLO has lot of important role in promoting millets in the sense even at the grass root level. This year, I think it’s going to take a long road for us and also how to introduce technology, have more start-up’s and I’m sure it’s going to be very interesting for us and for the other FLO Chapters too”.

The Guest of Honor, Sudha Shivkumar, National President-FICCI FLO in her address stated, “In a few months into the FLO Year, together we stand to understand breadth and width of this organization. As already said, we are 9,600 with 19 Chapters; strongest in South-Asia. I urge everyone of you to involve yourself in the might map of FLO 2023 to help educational schemes for women, support women led businesses through SME’s and start-up’s, encourage leadership, excellence through talks; knowledge exchange, involvement research and policy suggestions. With an aim to create awareness and increased production and consumption of Millets as already told, India’s initiative with 70 other countries, the UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Helping millets combat is not just popularized or neglected or an underutilized crop but it is also an effort to achieve sustainable development.”

“In his recent speech at the global millet conference Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had said, that Millet will bring income to small farmers of the country, solve issues of food security, curb lifestyle diseases and help in climate change precedence. The global branding of millets will help India’s 2.5 Crore small and marginal farmers who are dependent on crops. More than 500 start-up have been set up for millets”.Ms Sudha Shivkumar said .

The Chief Guest Padma Shri Dr.Khadar Valli in his address stated, “All women in different parts of the world, it is the women who made human race economically stable. It is they who invented agriculture. The first domesticated class on millets was discovered by women from all across the continent, all women different parts of the world. The credit of agriculture has never been given to great, nurturing, nourishing, loving mothers of the past and even today.”.

Padma Shri Dr.Khadar Valli addressed the audience on “Multi-Dimensional Problems of the World, only solution- Millets” while also highlighting aspects on food security, how to grow, easy availability, accessibility and most importantly can be grown on any type of farm with less water.

He has worked hard to revive five different types of millets that were fast disappearing. In the process of consuming each of these millets, he discovered that the healing properties present in them could cure even deadly diseases. Hence, he named these five millets Siridhanya. To cultivate them naturally, Dr. Khadar propounded a method called ‘Kadu Krishi’, also known as Jungle Farming.

FLO,s Various Activities with focus on Women Education & Skill Development, Women led Businesses, Legal & Policy Advocacy, Women in Leadership Roles was highlighted, while staying committed to the society at the grass root level, middle level and to the members was shared to all. We at FLO, are committed towards the Adoption of our TRIBAL VILLAGE, at SENGULI, Annakatti, where we teach them different skills, (Vermi compost, Tailoring, Herbal Powder and will start on Digital Literacy. For women entrepreneurs, we are holding their hands especially for START UP’s and guiding them to access funds from MSME of the Government.