India has proposed to UN to declare 2018 as the ‘International Year of Millets’.

• India has done so to raise awareness about millets in consumers, policy makers, industry and R&D sector.
• Millet is a common term to categorise small-seeded grasses that are often termed nutri-cereals or dryland-cereals.
• It includes sorghum, ragi, pearl millet, small millet, proso millet, foxtail millet, barnyard millet, kodo millet and other millets.

The benefits of millets include nutritional superiority, health benefits, income and livelihood source to the farmer, making agriculture climate resilient among others.