Mission of Fit India Movement is to move towards more physically active lifestyle: Rijiju

Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, in a written reply, informed Lok Sabha on Thursday that the mission of the Fit India movement is to move towards a more physically active lifestyle.

"Fit India Movement was launched on August 29, 2019, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a view to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives. The mission of the Fit India Movement is to bring about behavioural changes and move towards a more physically active lifestyle," said Rijiju in his written reply in the lower house.

Towards achieving this mission, this Ministry has been taking various initiatives and conducted events to achieve some objectives. Among these objectives, one is to promote fitness as easy fun, and free. The other objective is to spread awareness on fitness and various physical activities that promote fitness through focused campaigns.

To achieve the vision of the Prime Minister, the objective has been laid out to encourage indigenous sports. Rijiju also informed that the ministry has been actively spreading awareness about fitness through various activities and campaigns in association with various stakeholders.

Few of the celebrities have been identified as Fit India Icons. These celebrities include l Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Shahid Kapoor, Vidyut Jammwal, Ranvijay Singh, Chetan Bhagat, Milind Soman, etc.

In addition to the support of various Central and State Government agencies, many private orgsations like Transtadia, FICCI, CII, SPEFL, GOQii, etc. are also supporting the Fit India Movement in reaching out to the masses.

In his written reply, Rijiju also informed that the promotion of specific sports discipline is the responsibility of the concerned National Sports Federation (NSF).

"For promotion and development of the sport of football at the national level, the government has recognised All India Football Federation (AIFF) as the NSF. As per AIFF, it is a common practice globally where foreign players are drafted in teams. However, recently there has been a huge reduction in appearances in the Indian National Football League (I-League) and Indian Super League (ISL) as per the tournament regulations in hiring foreign players by the clubs and there are more Indian players in the teams than foreigners," Rijiju said in his reply.

"Under the Khelo India - National Programme for Development of Sports, various initiatives have been undertaken to set up training facilities across India including the northeastern states. Academies are accredited for support under the vertical 'Support for National/Regional/State Academies'. National Centre of Excellence, Guwahati and National Centre of Excellence, Imphal having football discipline under the Khelo India Scheme are operational in northeastern states," the minister added.

Apart from this, five Khelo India Centres (KICs) are operational in the northeastern states for various disciplines including football.

( With inputs from ANI )