In News: Recently, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan will launch “Aahaar Kranti”.
About Aahaar Kranti
- Ministry: Health Ministry
- Mission aimed at spreading the message of the need for a nutritionally balanced diet and to understand the importance of accessibility to all local fruits and vegetables.
- Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) and Global Indian Scientists’ and Technocrats’ Forum (GIST) have come together to launch the mission.
- Motto for mission “Good Diet-Good Cognition”.
- The Aahaar Kranti movement is designed to address the peculiar problem being faced by India and the world called “hunger and diseases in abundance”.
- The programme will focus on training teachers, who, in turn, will pass on the message to the multitudes of students, and through them to their families and finally the society at large.
Why do we need Aahaar Kranti ?
- Studies estimate that India produces as much as two times the amount of calories that it consumes.
- However, many in the country are still malnourished. The root cause of this strange phenomenon is a lack of nutritional awareness in all sections of our society.
- There is also a need for a nutritionally balanced diet in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
- A healthy body would be able to handle the infection much better with greater immunity and higher resilience.
- The movement proposes to address the current situation of hunger in abundance by working to rouse the people to the values of India’s traditional diet, to the healing powers of local fruits and vegetables, and to the miracles of a balanced diet.
- It will renew the focus on nutritionally balanced diets (Uttam Evam Santulit Aahaar) replete in locally sourced fruits and vegetables
Vijnana Bharati
- Swadeshi Science Movement was started in Indian Institute of Science- (Bengaluru) by a few eminent scientists under the guidance of Prof. K I Vasu.
- This movement gradually gained momentum and emerged as an organization with national presence. In 1991(Oct 20-21) at the Nagpur meet, it was decided to launch the Swadeshi Science Movement at all India Level and named it as Vijnanabharati.
- Vijnanabharati has units in 22 states across the country and contacts in 4 states.
- It is working in 11 different areas through autonomous institutions, independent organizations & also as project entities.
Principle of VIBHA
- As a vibrant movement for the development of Swadeshi Sciences
- As a dynamic Science Movement with a Swadeshi Spirit, interlinking traditional and modern sciences on the one hand, and natural and spiritual sciences on the other hand
- As a Swadeshi Movement with modern sciences adapted to national needs.
Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats(GIST)
- GIST is an autonomous platform created by Vijnana Bharati to link global Indians with the underprivileged (40 crore) masses in the country, mostly residing in more than three lakh villages.
- GIST was officially launched by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on 26 December 2010 at Pune.
- Dr. Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of Dept. of Atomic Energy is the guiding spirit behind this noble vision.
- As India makes rapid economic progress, the need for inclusive development covering the larger fraction of our weaker population has become far more critical.
Source: LiveMint
