PM Modi Congratulates Kanpur MP Ramesh Awasthi For Bharat Mango Festival; Calls It A Model For Farmer Innovation And Recognition News24 –
New Delhi: The 18th Bharat Mango Festival at Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium, organised by Kanpur BJP MP Ramesh Awasthi, received a congratulatory letter from Prime Minister Narendra Modi describing the event as an inspiring example of agricultural innovation and farmer empowerment. The letter, read out at the venue, said festivals like this promote agricultural diversity and help strengthen farmer incomes through better marketing and technology access. Modi specifically noted that such platforms align with government schemes like PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and e-NAM, which aim to provide direct financial support and online trading opportunities to cultivators, reducing middlemen and increasing transparency in agricultural transactions.
The festival traces its origins to an initiative Ramesh Awasthi launched 18 years ago to give mango growers a national platform—first to exhibit diversity, then to access university research, cold-chain and storage know-how, and buyer-seller linkages. Over successive editions, the Delhi showcase expanded from a regional exhibition to a national forum with 350+ varieties and structured farmer sessions, while keeping an annual farmer felicitation as a core feature. In Delhi, the event has consistently been opened by constitutional or senior administrative dignitaries—this year by Delhi LG VK Saxena—while the dais typically features multiple Union ministers and cross-party MPs; earlier editions saw participation from ministers across portfolios and even foreign envoys, reflecting the show’s growth beyond a display into an agri-public forum with cultural programming and farmer awards.
Attendance included more than 18 Union ministers—specifically BL Verma, Ramdas Athawale, Shripad Naik, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Bhagirath Choudhary, S P Singh Baghel, Virendra Kumar, Savitri Thakur, Prataprao Jadhav, Rajbhushan Chaudhary, Harsh Malhotra, Token Sahu, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Ramnath Thakur, Ajay Tamta, Durga Das, Nimuben Patel, and Anurag Thakur—and over 200 MPs from across parties, along with former President Ram Nath Kovind. Eminent personalities from cinema, literature, education, art, science, law, journalism, and spirituality were present, creating a diverse gathering that extended beyond politics to include figures like poet Kumar Vishwas, singer Ankit Tiwari, poet Kavita Tiwari, and actor Arbaaz Khan, who participated in cultural segments.
Organisers said over 350 mango varieties were exhibited, including Dasheri, Chausa, Alphonso, Banganpalli, Kesar, Safeda, Fazli, Neelam, and Mallika; the ‘Modi Mango’ drew steady interest for its colour and aroma, with attendees noting its unique appeal in blending traditional cultivation with modern naming. A farmer felicitation ceremony recognised over 50 cultivators from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and West Bengal, several credited with organic and bio-fertiliser practices and export-led efforts. Sessions paired farmers with horticulture researchers and agricultural universities on storage, quality, and market access, featuring practical demonstrations on cold-chain logistics, pest management, and digital tools for tracking produce from farm to buyer.
A millet-focused community lunch was included in the programme, placed by organisers as a nod to the national “Shree Anna” movement championed by the Prime Minister during and after the UN’s International Year of Millets in 2023. Government communication around that initiative has framed millets as nutrition-dense, climate-resilient crops that support farmer incomes and reduce input costs; the festival’s millet service follows that template by pairing a high-footfall food event with awareness for Shree Anna choices, with participants discussing how millets can complement mango farming in crop rotation for soil health.
A letter from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also shared, praising the event as the “taste of Atmanirbhar Bharat.” Awasthi said the Prime Minister’s endorsement belongs to every farmer whose work sustains the country, and that the festival’s purpose is to keep farmer voices central to policy and markets, building on 18 years of connecting rural producers with urban opportunities and expert knowledge.
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