Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of leveraging 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi has inspired the FSSAI and so it will conduct various activities under the ‘Eat Right India’ Movement. The planned activities will be in two phases of 150 days each and Swasth Bharat Yatra will be part of the first phase. The first phase will culminate by end-January, 2019 and the other activities at the National/State level will include Eat Right Melas, Conventions and National Poster Competition. The 2nd phase will commence immediately thereafter and the events and outreach activities will be organized by the States/UTs to reach out to various stakeholders and the citizens up to district and sub-district level with regard to the eating right.
Under Swasth Bharat Yatra, which is an outreach of ‘Eat Right India’ Movement there will be a pan-India cyclothon. This will involve participation from 150 ‘Volunteer-Cyclists’ along with the ‘Eat Right Mobile Unit’ and ‘Mobile Food Testing Unit’. As they travel across the country for over 100 days they will engage with citizens on issues of food safety, how to combat food adulteration and consume healthy diets. The cyclothon is likely to be flagged off today on World Food Day from six different locations. After covering over 2000 locations, the cyclothon will culminate at New Delhi on 27th January 2019. Swasth Bharat Yatra would provide the trigger for cascading the message of Eat Right India to every corner of the country. Swasth Bharat Yatra is being termed as a nationwide, jan-bhaagidari movement that will rekindle the nation’s imagination about the role of food in every Indian’s health. The aim of the Swasth Bharat Yatra is to promote the Eat Right India Movement – Eat Healthy, Eat Safe, Eat Fortified, No Food Waste and to build trust in food that people get in the market through common food testing.
‘Eat Right India‘ movement has been launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This was launched because of food safety and healthy diets are critical in the context of India’s high burden of foodborne diseases, under-nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and growing incidence of obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The ‘Eat Right India’ movement is a collective effort of key stakeholders and citizens and is aligned with Government’s recent focus on public health through its three key programmes, namely ‘Ayushman Bharat’, ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, and ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’. ‘Swasth Bharat Yatra’ is a key element of the Eat Right India movement.
Swasth Bharat Yatra has been given the slogan ‘Dandi Se Handi Tak’ which has been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi March and ‘Salt Satyagraha’ of 1930 and to sync the Swasth Bharat Yatra with the 150the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Through his tireless yatras, Mahatma Gandhi led the nation towards freedom from colonial rule. The Swaths Bharat Yatra would also lead the nation towards freedom from diseases by relaying the message of “Eat Right” India to every corner of the nation. The 150 volunteer cyclists will cover 50-60 kilometers and will halt at two to three towns and cities on their route. Volunteer cyclists will hand over the symbolic relay baton to the next batch of cyclists at the stopover points and return while the new relay cyclists do their round and convey the message of Swasth Bharat. Cyclists will cycle on alternate days and activations will be organized in-transit and on the interim days when the baton is relayed to the next batch of cyclists at a flag off the event. The last batch of cyclists will converge in New Delhi on 27th January 2019, concluding the Swasth Bharat Yatra in the first phase of the Eat Right India movement.
Theresa says
Great effort to improve health and nutritional status and prevention of NCD.
Theresa
Child development project officer
Alanganallur
Proud to welcome the team on 29th October.