Swasth Bharat Yatra hits a century – Delhites are all geared up for the Eat Right Weekend

New Delhi, 28th Jan 2019: The coming weekend will be an Eat Right Treat for Delhites with a grand welcome of Swasth Bharat Yatra in the city of hearts. The Yatra hits a century today with completion of 100 days by covering about 2,000 locations across 1,000+ cities & towns with support of over 21,000 cyclists (Eat Right Champions) spreading awareness on the importance of eating safe and healthy. The unprecedented enthusiasm in several parts of the country, with the Swasth Bharat Yatra cyclothon is a testimony to a large scale massive awareness campaign touching 8 lakh citizens directly and 2.5 crore indirectly through community outreach across 33 states and UTs.

Last year, on the occasion of the World Food Day (16th October 2018), the Swasth Bharat Yatra was launched simultaneously from 6 different tracks including Leh (in Jammu & Kashmir), Panaji (in Goa), Thiruvananthapuram (in Kerala), Puducherry, Ranchi (in Jharkhand) and Agarthala (in Tripura). This Yatra has re-energised food safety ecosystems across states, created a network of partners and Eat Right Champions and brought to the fore the critical importance of right eating habits as the cornerstone of preventive healthcare. Wherever Yatra was passing, it was joined by people from a wide cross section of society including State Food Authorities, Children, NCC cadets, NSS volunteers, NYK supporters, local businesses, and consumer & professional organisations etc., participating in this massive awareness drive. The journey of Swasth Bharat Yatra brought together several memorable highlights including on-the-spot testing of food products through mobile food safety on wheels; organisation of ‘prabhat pheris’ mobilizing over 1,000 people on every location; creating eat right champions in schools and colleges by organizing small skits/ quizzes and seminars on the topics of food safety and nutrition.

Now, the culmination of Yatra will put people of Delhi into action as the Eat Right Convoys along with cyclists is reaching Delhi on 27th of January 2019. Altogether, about 150 cyclists will be arriving at six different locations across the city after cycling about 50 km or more moving from one city to another in a relay format. Swasth Bharat Yatra in the city would include spreading the message of ‘eating right’ by carrying out ‘prabhat pheris’ on 27th January, at various activation points in six districts across Delhi including Loni Border (North-East), Singhu Border (North), Kapashera Border (South-West), Badarpur Border (South-East), Ghazipur Border (Shahdara) and Akshardham Area (East).

To engage Delhites, various activities like Eat Right Quiz/ Dance and other physical activities will be planned with a view to amplify and deepen engagement with various stakeholders, particularly with our young people and children. On 28th January, the core cyclists along with a convoy of vehicles for education, awareness and food safety would cycle further with the exchange of batons and spread awareness by mobilizing the masses from 5 different districts (Central, South, North, West, and North-West) of Delhi.

Shri Pawan Agarwal, CEO FSSAI highlighted that “FSSAI along with Food Safety Department, Delhi is proud to welcome the final leg of the Swasth Bharat Yatra in Delhi. The Eat Right India Movement is a one-of-a-kind public health movement in India that would fundamentally transform the way India eats. This Yatra aims to build awareness around food safety, combating food adulteration and healthy diets to make this a household habit and culture”

Shri. L.R. Garg, Commissioner, Department of Food Safety highlighted that “Department of Food safety, Delhi Government, in collaboration with FSSAI, under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is already geared up to organize a grand welcome for the Swasth Bharat Yatra in the city. Driven by passion and a clear vision, the mission of Swasth Bharat Yatra is to connect a country of 130 crore citizens physically and in thought, bringing alive Mahatma Gandhi’s dream of a healthier India.”

The ‘Eat Right India’ movement is focused on preventive healthcare as per the National Health Policy 2017 and is at the heart of the Government’s flagship programmes like the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anaemia Mukt Bharat and Swacch Bharat Mission. The movement is completely aligned with our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision that all programmes associated with the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi should be designed around the theme of ‘Karyanjali” – “Gandhi in action”. The ‘Eat Right’ movement and the ‘Swasth Bharat Yatra’ are planned to reach the masses, which are the real engines of change.

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