'Sundays on Cycle': Sports ministry does its bit to fight India's obesity crisis

India's aggressive push to become a global sporting heavyweight could literally be weighed down by a population that is staring at an obesity crisis in the next two decades.

And well aware of the looming threat, the sports ministry's 'Fit India' campaign has been trying to create the mass movement that India desperately needs to avoid a health crisis which will also have massive economic repercussions due to loss of productivity if research is to be believed.

To ensure that the significance of a healthy lifestyle is driven home in a manner that's less preachy and more fun, sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya has been actively leading the initiative of 'Sundays on Cycle' that was launched in December last year.

Various groups representing the civil society, sportspersons, and prominent public figures come together across venues in India to cycle early morning on Sundays, campaigning for a healthier lifestyle and push for decreased carbon footprint.

"More than two lakh people across 5,000 locations have participated in this campaign so far. Our partners have included ITBP, Indian Army, sports clubs, specific cycling clubs and FICCI among others," Sports Authority of India's Deputy Director General Mayank Srivastava declares with pride in an interaction with PTI.

Olympic medal-winning athletes such as weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, boxer Lovlina Borgohain, and actor and Rugby Federation of India head Rahul Bose are among the prominent names that have shown up at 7am on different Sunday mornings to cycle with the minister and hundreds of other enthusiasts.

Those who turn up include children as young as 10, accompanied by parents and sometimes even grandparents, well into the late 60s or 70s. The cycles are provided by SAI at the venue itself and the fun element is brought through activities like Zumba.

"See, youngsters or for that matter anyone would show up for an event like this only if it's fun and cool. It should be something that they can flaunt on social media and SAI has tried to ensure that we give them that carnival atmosphere in a healthy way," said a SAI official, gushing about the success that the initiative has been.

There is still time before an assessment can be done on how far this initiative will help improve the fitness standards in the country. But it is welcome considering that India, along with China and the USA, is on course to have the world's largest overweight and obese population by 2050.

"At present there is no metric to assess because it's been just a few months but eventually there will be an assessment to understand the impact," the SAI official said.

As per available estimates, 24 per cent of Indian women and 23 per cent of men are either overweight or obese (a condition that is at the core of life-threatening health problems like cardiovascular diseases and cancer).

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS), childhood obesity is also rising alarmingly. The number of overweight children under five years of age has increased from 2.1 percent to 3.4 percent in its latest survey. Some more number-crunching by NFHS revealed that in the age group of 15 to 49, 6.4 per cent of women and 4 per cent of men are obese.

In 2019, the economic cost of obesity for India was pegged at USD 28.95 billion (1.02 per cent of the country's GDP) and by 2030, it could go up to 1.57 per cent of GDP, according to the Global Obesity Observatory.

"Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing for a healthier lifestyle and more recently he advised people to cut their average oil consumption by 10 per cent. With 'Sundays on Cycle', the sports ministry is just taking forward the message of a healthy lifestyle," Srivastava explains.

But there is also the obvious question of the sparse infrastructure to encourage cycling and whether people can truly be connected to a movement without any tangible incentives.

"We have already started the carbon credit count in the Fit India app. Going forward, the plan is to tie up with companies to provide financial incentives for the carbon credits that a person accumulates by cycling," Srivastava.

"As for infrastructure, that's not our domain but we can always make pleas to the relevant departments for dedicated cycling lanes," he added.

This Sunday's event was postponed as a mark of respect for the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack but the juggernaut will start rolling once again from May 25 after a short break.

However, given the peak summer heat that Delhi is bracing up for, will it be possible to avoid another pause soon?

"There might be a break in June because at that time, the high early morning temperatures and the humidity can lead to a few breakdowns which we do not want. For now, the mornings are pleasant, so there should not be a problem," said another SAI official.