Twin fit campaign

Twin fit campaign

While some Indians could surely do with weight loss, others really need more food.

Fitness is 0% investment with infinite returns, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said yesterday as he launched the Fit India Movement. He pointed to the modern challenge where lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension are surging. The irony he underlined is that the very technology that has created a work-life ecosystem where we walk lesser than ever, tells us that we are not walking enough. Actually this initiative builds upon a growing conversation about the need for behavioural change in our cities and towns and urban villages, where obesity is stoutly on the rise. Reversing this trend is a socio-economic imperative.

Once upon a time was fitness an integral part of our culture? Traditions like Kalaripayattu and Thang-ta which are still alive in Kerala and Manipur respectively, testify in the affirmative. But not all of our sedentariness is because of lifestyle changes, a significant part also comes from environment changes. Once upon a time the people of Delhi would have swum in the Yamuna river and the people of Bengaluru in the Bellandur lake, but intense pollution has made that a lost case. Everywhere, the footpaths are tenanted by others, pedestrians are pushed out.

Citizens must make a greater effort to live a healthy life, but civic authorities must also do the needful. Public spaces should provide a conducive environment for an active life. But India is at a peculiarly difficult intersection where even as weight-loss surgeries have risen hundredfold in 15 years, undernutrition remains a serious problem in several states like Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It was linked to the AES outbreak in Muzaffarpur that took around 150 lives this summer. The point is that getting fit is a multi-dimensional issue, policy focus on it has to be equally complex and coordinated.