New Delhi: Tokyo Olympic silver medallist weightlifter Mirabai Chanu has said that she is feeling honoured to join the ‘fight against obesity’ campaign launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Monday, PM Modi, highlighting the urgent need to combat rising obesity rates, nominated ten prominent individuals to champion the cause of reducing edible oil consumption. He also urged them to nominate 10 more people to further expand the movement.
“As mentioned in yesterday’s #MannKiBaat, I would like to nominate the following people to help strengthen the fight against obesity and spread awareness on reducing edible oil consumption in food,” PM Modi wrote on X while tagging Anand Mahindra, Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, Manu Bhaker, Mirabai Chanu, Mohanlal, Nandan Nilekani, Omar Abdullah, Madhavan, Shreya Ghoshal and Sudha Murty.
“I also request them to nominate 10 people each so that our movement gets bigger! Collectively, let us make India fitter and healthier. #FightObesity,” the post further read.
“I am extremely honoured to be nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to spread awareness in the fight against obesity. This is a major health concern that can be eliminated by making the right lifestyle choices and choosing to be active, healthy and fit. We need India to move in this direction to support and enhance our growth journey,” Mirabai said.
“Making small changes to our daily lives can result in a huge transformation for the country and help us move towards achieving our dream of making a Fit India,” she added.
As a part of the initiative, the star weightlifter further nominated world chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju, London Olympic bronze medallist shuttler Saina Nehwal, London 2012 bronze medal-winning shooter Gagan Narang, former hockey captains Rani Rampal & Manpreet Singh, tennis great Leander Paes, two-time Olympic medallist shuttler PV Sindhu, paddler Manika Batra, Paris 2024 bronze medallist Sarabjot Singh and two-time Paralympic champion shooter Avani Lekhara.
During an address in the 119th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, PM Modi discussed rising cases of obesity and said, “To become a fit and healthy nation, we will certainly have to deal with the problem of obesity. According to a study, one in every eight people today is troubled by the problem of obesity. Cases of obesity have doubled in the past years, but, what is even more worrying is that the problem of obesity has increased fourfold even among children. WHO data shows that in 2022, about 250 crore people around the world were overweight; that is, they had more weight than required.”
“We can together deal with this challenge with minor efforts. For example, one method I suggested was ‘reducing the consumption of edible oil by ten per cent’. Decide that you will use 10 per cent less oil every month. You can decide that while buying oil for cooking, you will buy 10 per cent less oil. This will be an important step towards reducing obesity,” he added.
IANS
