Ever since millets were crowned “National Pride,” we've seen more social media reels than rotis. From food festivals to Insta influencers — it looked like millets were going to conquer our kitchens. But fast forward a year... and where are they? Mostly back in cattle feed bins — or on the fringes of fancy buffets, served with a garnish of guilt.
The poor? Still stuck with subsidized wheat and rice — millets are too pricey for their plate. The rich? They barely eat enough grain anyway for it to matter — adding 2–3 kg of millets a year is like putting a tulsi leaf on a junk food burger. Health-conscious folks? They’d love to embrace millets… if only we didn’t drown every millet dish in ghee, butter, and dahi. And snacks? Don’t even go there — millet puffs with 3% actual millet won’t save anyone.
So what’s left? The farmer. Who grows it. And ends up feeding it to his cattle because there’s no real market demand.
Millets didn’t fail the system. The system tokenized millets. And now we're chewing on pride, not produce.
