He appointed 10 distinguished individuals from various fields to support the country's efforts in combating obesity and promoting awareness.

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked in his monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat on February 23, he expressed concerns over obesity epidemic that has so much spread in India. In his monthly radio show, this time PM Modi also made a reference of WHO data, according to which, in 2022 around 250 crore people were overweight globally. 

“These statistics are very serious and force all of us to think why this is happening. Excess weight or obesity gives rise to many kinds of problems and diseases,” he said in his Mann ki Baat. 

He advised that consuming less oil and coping with obesity is not just a lifestyle, but a matter of responsibility towards one's family. He appointed 10 distinguished individuals from various fields to support the country's efforts in combating obesity and promoting awareness. 

“As mentioned in yesterday’s #MannKiBaat, I would like to nominate the following people to help strengthen the fight against obesity and spread awareness on reducing edible oil consumption in food. I also request them to nominate 10 people each so that our movement gets bigger!” He wrote on X social media platform. 

These are the 10 people that PM Modi nominated for the task: 

Anand Mahindra -- Mahindra Group chairman 

Sudha Murty -- Infosys Foundation chairperson, author, and Rajya Sabha MP 

Nandan Nilekani -- Infosys co-founder, former UIDAI chairman 

Mirabai Chanu -- Olympic-winning weightlifter 

R Madhavan – Actor 

Manu Bhaker -- Olympic-winning shooter 

Nirahua Hindustani -- Actor and BJP MP 

Omar Abdullah -- Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister 

Mohanlal -- Actor and producer 

Shreya Ghoshal – Singer 

1 out of 8 obese in India

PM Modi also highlighted the fact that one out of every 8 persons has obesity and that it is a big concern that this issue has been increasingly found among children as well. “To become a fit and healthy nation, we have to tackle the problem of obesity. Cases have doubled in the past few years, but what is even more worrying is that the problem among children has also increased 4-fold.” 

He was joined by Olympian Neeraj Chopra and boxing champion Nikhat Zareen.  

According to a Lancet study,a surprising 70% of India's urban and rural population is categorised as obese or overweight. This is the reason why India is behind only two other nations in terms of obesity-US and China.