WATCH: Parliamentarians Engage in Friendly Cricket Match at Delhi’s Major Dhyan Chand Stadium

New Delhi: A friendly cricket match between Parliamentarians under Rajya Sabha Chairman XI and Lok Sabha Speaker XI is being played at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Sunday.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur captained Lok Sabha Speaker XI while Union Minister Kiren Rijiju led Rajya Sabha Chairman XI. The friendly affair has been named 'TB Mukt Bharat awareness cricket match'.

Speaking to ANI, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju says, "Several of our MP colleagues have come here. With the mantra of fitness...this event has been scheduled to fill people with vigour through sports. I believe everyone will play with energy. Our mantra is 'TB Free India' and 'Fit India Movement''

"Without fitness, you cannot serve the country. You have to be fit mentally and physically," he added. "PM Modi has given the goal of making India TB-free by 2025, the global goal is 2030. If you see from 2015 till date, there has been a 38 per cent drop in TB-related deaths in India.

There has been an 18 per cent drop in new cases. This number is around 8 per cent globally. This means India is doing better than the rest of the world. But India is the most populated country. There is a treatment for it. The government provides free medicines and provides Rs 1000 for it.

The cases are tracked as well," BJP MP Anurag Thakur said while speaking to reporters. AAP MP Raghav Chadha hailed the initiative and said, "This is a good initiative. The match is being played for a good cause. I think the awareness of this cause will reach every corner of the country through this match."

"Besides this, elections end but the animosity in the political arena between leaders continues even after that. I think that through such teamwork initiatives animosity will be diluted and we will work as a team of Bharat Mata to take the country forward," Chadha said while speaking to ANI. BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy feels the effort of the MPs towards TB-free India is unique. "This is a unique effort by MPs towards TB-free India.

The Captain of our team is Anurag Thakur. He had been the Sports Minister. This is another face of MPs. Cricket is the most interesting sport in the world," he said. BJP MP Manoj Tiwari stated that through this friendly match, they want to create awareness about TB and told reporters, "We want to give a message that we are MPs, still we will run on the ground, play this match and try to create awareness against TB.

"TB can be defeated with a little awareness. Who wins today's match is a different matter but we have to defeat TB and make the country win."

Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu added, "Very happy to be participating, especially with all the MPs today participating here. I would like to congratulate all the organisers for putting up a great event today. The PM has very committedly said that we have to defeat TB by 2025 and a long series of events have been done based on this and today, taking it one step forward again to create more awareness in the country and to bring in all the people together in this fight against TB, we are holding this cricket match. We can see a great enthusiasm here."

Former India captain and Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin remarked, "It is a matter of joy that you get to meet everyone like this and MPs get an outing like this. The country should indeed be TB-free. It should be eradicated at the earliest. I am happy that I am participating today."

BJP MP Ravi Kishan gave his take on the "historic match" while speaking to ANI and said, "This will be a historic match. The youth has to be awoken, they have to be freed of drugs and TB. We will be able to fulfil the dreams of PM Modi when we create awareness among our children over TB." The Government's commitment to "End TB by 2025" was first articulated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the "End TB Summit" held in New Delhi in March 2018 and was reaffirmed at the "One World TB Summit" in Varanasi on World TB Day 2023, as per an official release. At this summit, the Prime Minister emphasized the need for a decisive and revitalized response to TB. Additionally, India is a signatory to the Gandhinagar Declaration, the joint declaration by the Health Ministers and WHO South-East Asian Regional Office (SEARO), which was signed at the high-level ministerial meeting on "Sustain, Accelerate and Innovate to End TB" in the South-East Asia Region by 2030 in August 2023.

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