After Yoga, Modi govt wants babus to take up adventure sports

NEW DELHI: After Yoga, the Modi government now wants babus to take up adventure sports like rock-climbing, trekking, paragliding, rafting and snorkelling so as to "create and foster spirit of risk-taking" and tackle the "impact of sedentary life".

The government will also set up a gymnasium in each of its central department as it believes "healthy employees are happy employees".



This is part of two new schemes drawn up by the PM-headed Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for promotion of adventure sports and physical fitness amongst central government employees. All ministries were informed of the same on Wednesday.

"The scheme would tackle the alarming situation of stress and impact of sedentary life on government servants as highlighted in several studies. It would provide a creative outlet to central government employees...," the scheme on promoting adventure sports reads.

The government will also spend up to Rs 10 lakh on each gymnasium which employees can use after work hours . "Constant work stress and frustration can lower productivity, so giving employees a convenient means through fitness programmes can result in decreased absenteeism and reduced usage of sick leave," the scheme reads.

"The workload of government servants has increased manifold. Their sedentary behaviour can have many detrimental effects," the scheme document on gymnasiums says.