Indian-origin woman chosen as US lieutenant governor
- President Joe Biden's Democratic candidates have won the governor and lieutenant governor races. Wes Moore as governor and Indian-origin Aruna Miller, 58, as lieutenant governor.
- President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in support of Aruna. Aruna Miller, who will be sworn in as the Deputy Governor of Maryland, was born in the city of Hyderabad in the Telangana state of our country. His parents immigrated to America with the family in 1972.
- Aruna completed her schooling there and graduated in science from the university there. Aruna is married to American David Miller and has three children.
India hosted the 2nd meeting of Agriculture Ministers of BIMSTEC countries under the chairmanship of Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
- India hosted the second Agriculture Ministerial Meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation chaired by Union Agriculture Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
- Agriculture Ministers of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in this meeting. Addressing the meeting through video-conferencing, Mr. Tomar urged member states to cooperate in establishing a comprehensive regional action plan to strengthen cooperation on agricultural transformation.
- Mentioning the importance of small grains, he said it is nutritious. He highlighted India's efforts to popularize small grains. With 2023 being the International Year of Small Grains, he urged Member States to adopt sustainable agriculture and provide healthy food for all.
- He asked for cooperation in India's efforts to popularize small grains as a food. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that natural and ecological agriculture should conserve agro-biodiversity and reduce chemical use.
The central government has formulated a plan to increase exports of small grains and value-added products
- To boost exports of nutritious grains, the Union Ministry of Industry and Commerce through its apex agricultural export promotion body, the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Promotion Authority, has prepared a comprehensive plan to boost India's small grains exports in December.
- This small grains export development plan comes in the backdrop of India's proposal being supported by 72 countries of the UN General Assembly on March 5, 2021 declaring 2023 as the International Year of Small Grains.
- The government is currently organizing the International Year of Small Grains 2023 at domestic and international levels to popularize Indian small grains and their value-added products all over the world and turn them into a people's movement.
- The central government has planned participation of exporters, farmers and traders in 16 international trade fairs and buyers' and sellers' meetings to increase Indian small grains exports.
- One of the world's leading producers of small grains, India's production of small grains has increased by 27 percent in 2021-22 over 2020-21.
- Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat are major producers of small grains. 1 percent of the total small grains production is exported. The market size of small grains is estimated to increase from USD 9 billion to USD 12 billion by 2025.
- The government is also encouraging new industries to increase exports of ready-to-eat, ready-to-serve value-added products such as noodles, pasta, breakfast cereals, biscuits, desserts, condiments.
- Small grains of India America, Britain, Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Nepal, United Arab Emirates are the countries where small grains are exported from India. 16 types of small grains including rye, sorghum, millet, groundnut are exported from India.
