NEW YORK: For a special song to promote the advantages of millets and their potential to reduce world hunger, Prime Minister Narendra Modi teamed up with Grammy Award-winning Indian-American musician Falu.

The song "Abundance in Millets," performed by Mumbai-born singer-songwriter Falguni Shah and her husband, vocalist Gaurav Shah, will be made available on streaming services on June 16.

A request for it from India was accepted by members of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Governing Bodies and the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, leading to the designation of 2023 as the "International Year of Millets."

Prior to the song's debut, Falu told PTI, "Prime Minister Modi has written a song with me and my husband Gaurav Shah."

She claimed that the song, which was written in both Hindi and English and emphasises the strength of millets, will be made available to everyone.

"In honour of the International Year of the Millets, Falu and Gaurav Shah will release the song 'Abundance in Millets' on June 16, 2023, featuring the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to a statement on Falu's website, "Abundance in Millets" was developed to increase awareness of the super grain as a potential means of reducing global hunger.

Falu, who won the Grammy for Best Children's Album in 2022 for her album A Colourful World, claimed that meeting Modi in New Delhi the year before her Grammy triumph gave her the inspiration to write a song on millets.

She claimed that during their conversation about the ability of music to effect change and elevate humanity, Prime Minister Modi proposed to her that she write a song with a message of eradicating hunger. She remarked that Prime Minister Modi suggested recording a song about millets because music knows no bounds. Falu said, Modi informed her that India promotes millets as a supergrain with exceptional nutritional and health benefits.She said that the prime minister accepted when she "naively" asked him to cowrite the song with her. We worked together on the song, which will be released as a single on June 16 and will be available worldwide on all streaming services, she said.

Falu announced that the song would be made available in Hindi and English as well as other regional tongues to ensure a wide audience. Falu admitted that she was initially anxious about creating the song with the prime minister, but that everything came together really naturally.

Writing for him and writing alongside him are two different things. You will hear the monologue that he wrote and told in his own voice in the middle of the song," she stated. Falu stated that she is "humbled" and "honoured" to have worked with Modi on the millets song. For every artist, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she said.

The New York-based musician emphasised that the song's goals are to promote millets, aid farmers in increasing crop production, and work to eradicate hunger throughout the world. What better way to convey the idea that we can genuinely end hunger in the world than with a song and some music," she asked.

"If we can provide millets to the world, which is a very simple method of farming and growing, this grain can really help end the world's biggest problem, which is hunger, and also uplift farmers, local and smaller farms," she said.

There are numerous examples of millets being consumed during the Indus Valley civilization, making millets one of the first crops to be domesticated in India.

Millets are currently grown in more than 130 countries and are a staple diet for more than 500 million people in Asia and Africa.

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