Dozens of cops Stand in front of a scale and then measure its height. The scene is repeating itself these days in the state Assamin the northeast of Indiawhere the authorities Record the weight of 67,000 agents with an ultimatum: those who are considered obese You have three months to lose weight or “voluntarily” retire..
“Body Mass Index (BMI) Registration of All Police Personnel of Dhemaji District goes smoothly”reported the police of this area of Assam this Thursday on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.
The exercise began last Wednesday and will continue until August 31, said the director-general of Assam Police. Gyanendra Pratap Singhwith the intention to “Improving Employee Health”.
Those police officers who register a body mass index over 30, considered as obesity According to the World Health Organization (WHO), they have until November to lose weight or “voluntarily” retire, Singh said in statements by the Indian Express newspaper during a press conference.
“We will try to get your BMI below 30 at a health camp. The move may make some of our members uncomfortable, but it will help them in the long run.”he added before clarifying that the authorities would excuse these medical issues.
The plan comes as no surprise, since it was launched by the country’s head of government, Himanta Biswa Sarmalast May.
Other Indian police forces have tried to tackle obesity in their ranks in the past. The Northern State Haryana also promised last May to assign overweight police officers to their living quarters until they pick up.
In a study of 245 police officers in the northern city sitapore Created in 2017, the authors noted more than 77% of them were obeseas well as 56% of agents at various stations in East Bengal state studied by other researchers in 2010.
The overweight of police officers is attributed to a in the 2017 study sedentary work environmentand inadequate nutrition However, among others, it is not an exclusive phenomenon in India and has been studied in other countries as well.