Indus Valley Times

By Nalini Sahu

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 6: Global leaders assembling for the G20 summit in New Delhi are all set relish lip-smacking delicious millet dishes from Odisha, thanks to tribal leaders Raimati Ghiuria and Subhash Mahanta from tribal-dominated districts of Koraput and Mayurbhanj districts, respectively.

The two tribal leaders will represent Odisha and elaborate on the benefits of the highly nutritious coarse grains to the world leaders and delegates attending the G20 summit at the Bharat Mandapam.

Raimati and Subash are participating as millet brand ambassadors and also elaborate on the lifestyle of the tribals (Adivasis) and will focus on their hardships to preserve millet.

Raimati, a resident from Kundura in Koraput district in South Odisha, has collected dozens of varieties of millets. Apart from preserving millets, her objective is to ensure the supply of safe and clean drinking water in the vulnerable 500 tribal and poor (BPL) households in and around her village. She aims to harvest rainwater and store it in the village ponds for domestic and livestock utilization.

“Since my childhood, I have been nourishing a passion to save the millets for the future generations. I am taking all my collections to showcase them to the world leaders so that they can also contribute in their own ways to save these crops which carry high nutritional value for good health. I hope I will be able to represent Odisha properly and win the hearts of the guests,” said Raimati.

The tribal lady also focuses on preservation of the green forest cover and vegetation on hills for regular rains.

“If we can maintain our green forest cover and ensure that trees are not felled on hilltops

“It is a moment of immense pride for all Odias as our tribal sister is going to represent our state in the G20 summit. She will be accompanied with another tribal sister Subhasha Mahanta,” said Prasant Parida, an agriculture scientist at MS Swaminath Research Centre, Jeypore.