Aahaar Kranti

Ministry of Science & Technology

Context:

Aahaar Kranti launched as a public movement on the first day of Ma Annapurna’s Chaitra Navaratri

Key Highlights:

• Union Minister for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family launched “Aahaar Kranti”, a mission dedicated to spreading awareness about nutrition and accessible to all locally available nutritious food, fruits, and vegetables in India.
• Vijnana Bharati (Vibha), ‘Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats’ Forum (GIST), Vigyan Prasar, and Pravasi Bharatiya Academic and Scientific Sampark (PRABHASS) have come together to launch the mission “Aahaar Kranti”, with the motto of ‘Uttam Aahaar- Uttam Vichaar’ or `Good Diet-Good Cognition’.
• The `AahaarKranti’ movement is designed to address the peculiar problem being faced by India and the world-`hunger and diseases in abundance’. Studies estimate that India produces as much as two times the amount of calories it consumes. However, many in the country are still malnourished. The root cause of this strange phenomenon is a lack of nutritional awareness.
• The movement proposes to address the problem by working to rouse the people to the values and richness 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 replete in locally sourced fruits and vegetables.
• While Vijnana Bharati (Vibha) and ‘Global Indian Scientists and Technocrats’ Forum initiated the programme, several other agencies have also joined hands and have agreed to pool in their expertise and resources. Besides various central and state government ministries and agencies, the Department of Science and Technology’s autonomous body VigyanPrasar, and Pravasi Bharatiya Academic and Scientific Sampark (PRABHASS) are a part of this collaborative effort.

Objective:

• It will seek to promote better awareness,
• better nutrition and better agriculture
• The messages will be imparted through the curriculum in the form of `what’s and `why’s of nutrition, or through the forms of games or as instructions such as `how to’; and the content will be provided both online and offline, in all vernacular languages besides English and Hindi. T
• 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”.