Context:
- On 29th August 2019, which is a National Sports Day, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi launched ‘Fit India Movement‘ (Fit India Abhiyan) to encourage people to adopt a fit & healthy lifestyle.
Benefits of Fit India Movement:
- The proliferation of technology made our lives much easier and much better, but at the same time, it made many people turn to a sedentary lifestyle. Earlier people used to walk to schools or offices. But now, technological innovations decreased the necessity of physical activities. Technologies like food ordering apps, cab booking services, washing machines and online shopping enabled us to get things done without much physical activity. So, there is a need to take effective steps to turn to an active lifestyle to protect our health. So, ‘Fit India Movement’ was launched at the right time and encourages people to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- Due to the inactive lifestyle and stressful lives, many people are getting lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension etc. Fit India Movement can encourage people to consume healthy food and to maintain physical and mental fitness.
- With high-quality advertisements and marketing practices, junk food manufacturers are manipulating children to buy their foods. This Fit India Movement will make children think about the negative consequences of junk food. As a result, this movement will encourage children to consume healthy food.
- Some parents put too much stress on children to study. They send their children to tuition after school or just make them sit to do homework forgetting the importance of free time to play. This movement has the potential to change their minds and as a result, they may encourage their children to go out and play.
- Some people are already focusing on fitness. We can observe this with the increasing number of fitness startups. But that is a small proportion of people. Generally, many people want to maintain an active lifestyle, but all they need is some encouragement. So, this movement constantly reminds people to focus on fitness goals just like Swachh Bharat reminds us of the importance of keeping our surroundings clean.
- This movement has the potential to make more people embrace traditional Indian martial art forms like Kathi Samu, Musti Yudha etc, and traditional dance forms and also healthy Indian snacks. And as a byproduct, this may result in creating some jobs.
Challenges:
- ‘Fit India Movement’ may not reach the people of below poverty line. To maintain a healthy lifestyle, both physical activity and nutritious food are necessary. But in India, still many people are malnourished and some people do not have access to safe drinking water. So, without solving the issue of poverty and lack of access to affordable nutritious food, a section of people in India will not be able to take advantage of this movement.
- The motivation to maintain fitness should start from childhood. But in India, many schools lack playgrounds. Lack of playgrounds may push children to turn into an inactive lifestyle.
Best practices worldwide:
- In 2007, a report by the ‘International Association for the study of Obesity’ stated that Germans are the most overweight people when compared with the people of other European countries. This was like a wake-up call for the Germany. So, they immediately launched ‘Fit instead of Fat‘ program to promote an active lifestyle and also to stop increasing obesity rates among children by 2020.
- In 2016, The government of China introduced a program called, ‘Healthy China 2030‘ to encourage people to be healthy.
Conclusion:
Fit India movement is a necessary initiative considering the increasing number of people turning to a sedentary lifestyle. And there is a need to take steps to make healthy food affordable and accessible.
Your Turn…
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