PM Modi Ties Up With Grammy Winner For Song Promoting Millet

The Government of India has been putting a lot of emphasis on consumption of millet, christened as "Sri Anna", projecting it as an alternative staple for the common people across the globe, especially the poor, to mitigate hunger in the world.

To promote the vision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has collaborated with Falguni Shah 'Falu', a Grammy Award-winning Indian-American singer, and come out with a special song "Abundance in Millets" to highlight the benefits of millet and its potential to alleviate world hunger.

Mumbai-born singer-songwriter Falguni, better known by her stage name Falu, and her and singer husband Gaurav Shah released the "Abundance of Millets" song yesterday. "Prime Minister Modi has written the song, written in English and Hindi, with me and my husband Gaurav Shah," news agency PTI quoted Falu as saying.

In a quote retweet of Falu's Twitter post in this regard, PM Modi has praised the song saying "creativity has blended with an important cause of food security and removing hunger." There is abundance of health and well-being in Shree Ann or millets, he added.

Falu, who did the number inspired by the Prime Minister's initiative to get UN declare 2023 as the International Year of Millets. She tweeted about collaborating with the Prime Minister to write a song to promote millets, help farmers grow it and help end world hunger.

Falu, who received the Grammy Award for Best Children's Album in 2022 for her album ''A Colorful World'', said the idea to write a song about millets came to her when she met the Prime Minister in New Delhi last year after her Grammy win. She was also invited to Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad wherein she performed during India and Australia match earlier this year.

Falu said PM Modi suggested to her that she should write a song with a message of ending global hunger during their discussion on the power of music. Since music transcends boundaries, Prime Minister Modi suggested writing a song on millets, she said.

She said Modi told her that India promotes millet because it is a super grain and has immense health and nutritional value. She said she very "naively," asked the prime minister if he would write the song with her and he agreed, the Mint said in its report.

Sharing her experience with PM Modi, Falu said, "It's one thing to write for him and it's one thing to write with him. In the middle of the song, you will hear the speech that he has written and narrated in his own voice." She added, ''It is a lifetime opportunity for any artist."

Millets were among the first crops to be domesticated in India with several evidences of its consumption during the Indus Valley civilisation. Grown in more than 130 countries at present, millet is considered traditional food for more than half a billion people across Asia and Africa.

The year 2023 has been designated as the 'International Year of Millets' after a proposal for it was brought forward by India and endorsed by member-nations of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Governing Bodies, as well as by the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly.