New Delhi [India], July 19 : With 65 per cent of the country's population below the age of 35 years, substance abuse poses one of the gravest threats confronting India's youth, trapping them at a pivotal stage of life and posing a challenge to national progress. Keeping this in mind, Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Mansukh Mandaviya will be leading the special edition 'Nasha Mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat' of nationwide 'Fit India Sundays on Cycle' on July 20 from the Banaras Hindu University campus in Varanasi.
The 32nd edition of the Fit India Sundays on Cycle will be organised at 6000 locations across the country in partnership with several educational institutions, including Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), DAV College Management Committee, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and Bal Bharati Public School.
Mandaviya has given a clarion call to 15 lakh schools across the country to pedal for health and a drug-free Viksit Bharat. Started by the Union Sports Minister in December 2024, the 'FIT India Sundays on Cycle' has transformed into a mass movement and has been organised in thousands of locations across the country with the participation of more than 50,000 individuals every week.
In New Delhi, the event will be flagged off at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium along with thousands of children from schools in the National Capital Region (NCR).
"Youth are the nation builders of tomorrow. A healthy youth can only take the nation towards prosperity. As envisioned by our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, India can transform into a Viksit Bharat by 2047 only when our youth are healthy and fit. Today, addiction and substance abuse have become big threats for the development of our youth. I will urge children of all ages and each and every school throughout the sub-continent to take up the cause of Nasha-Mukt Viksit Bharat and cycle for health and an obesity-free India," Mandaviya said as quoted from a press release by SAI Media.
The 'Fit India Sundays on Cycle' is organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), in collaboration with the Cycling Federation of India (CFI), My Bikes and MY Bharat. The cycling drive is organised simultaneously in the capitals of all States and Union Territories besides SAI Regional Centres, National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs), SAI Training Centres (STCs), Khelo India State Centres of Excellence (KISCEs) and Khelo India centres (KICs) across various age groups.
Previously, the cycling event witnessed participation of Indian Army jawans, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Goods & Services Tax Council, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Physical Education Foundation of India (PEFI), and prominent sports stars like the Great Khali, Lovlina Borgohain, Priyanka Goswami, Rani Rampal, Rodali Barua, Sangram Singh, Shanky Singh, Nitu Ghanghas, Saweety Boora, Paris Paralympics medallists Nitesh Kumar, Manisha Ramadass, Rubina Francis and Simran Sharma (para world champion) apart from celebrities like Amit Sial, Rahul Bose, Madhurima Tuli, Mia Maelzer and Gul Panag, to name a few.