Revision summary
Rice, wheat, and sugarcane expanded because MSP, FCI, mills, and irrigation paid for them. Millets lost area even on dry land as diets and PDS favoured fine cereals. Millets fit rainfed India and a nutrition plate, and policy now names them nutri-cereals with MSP and NFSM support. Consumption will not follow unless PDS, schools, and processed foods take the grain. Diversification needs real procurement and less subsidy for paddy in falling aquifers.
Model answer
Flow diagram
flowchart TD E[MSP irrigation PDS] --> RW[Rice wheat cane area] E --> D[Millets lose area] N[Nutrition water stress] --> M[Nutri-cereal push] M --> P[Seed MSP procurement] M --> C[PDS MDM urban food] P --> PAT[Drier healthier pattern] C --> PAT
Conclusion
- Pay MSP with actual lifting of millets in rainfed districts, not only a price on paper.
- Cut the paddy lock-in where aquifers fall: direct seeding, crop diversification payments, and honest power pricing.
- Put millets in PDS, ICDS, and MDM with local procurement so consumption and production move together.
- Support FPOs for dehulling and branding so the farmer is not stuck with an unprocessed grain nobody in the city can cook.
Emphasis on rice, wheat, and cane, backed by water and procurement, remade India’s cropping map and pushed millets to the margin. A new emphasis on millet production and consumption is right for water and nutrition, but it will stick only when the State buys, schools cook, and mills process the grain as seriously as it does paddy.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Why is there so much activity in the field of biotechnology in our country? How has this activity benefitted the field of biopharma? (250 Words, 15 Marks).
Next question on this syllabus topic (2018 · Q15). View answer →
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If millets are hardy, why did farmers stop growing them?
Because rice and wheat paid through PDS and procurement, and consumers shifted to fine grain. Hardiness without a buyer is not a livelihood.
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Is a millet year on the UN calendar enough?
It helps awareness. Area and diet change only when seed, MSP lifting, and kitchens move together.
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