New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took note of the potential contributions and benefits of "plogging" — jogging while picking up litter— in his "Mann ki Baat" address on Sunday, and lauded Ripu Daman, India's first plogger.
Plogging is a fitness trend that began in Sweden in 2016. It was given its name by Erik Ahlström, who is a ski and running enthusiast. The word combines “jogging” and “plocka upp,” which is Swedish for “pick up".
Daman is a marathon runner and the founder of Ploggers of India, the objective of which is to build a community "with a mission to make India litter free". He started the initiative in 2017, when he was looking for a channel to contribute to society and the environment.
According to the Facebook page for Ploggers of India, Daman's interest in the activity takes root in his love for travel and running. The page quotes him as saying that we must learn to "Leave our footprints, and not carbon footprints".
Among his many initiatives is organising India's first plogging bus at a 25 km run with Tata Steel Kolkata. He also plogged at a marathon organised by Tata in Mumbai, which was for 48 km, making it the longest non-stop plogging in the world.
Other than this initiative, Daman pursues a career in sales and marketing management, and has had a successful journey with start-ups. With founding Ploggers of India, he quit a start-up whose operations in Asia he was leading, to focus full time on the environmental initiative.
On Facebook, he was quoted as saying that plogging is a means to an end, and that his initiative was open to children and adults alike. He was also quoted saying that he wants to make "cleaning up other people's shit the coolest thing to do in India".
PM Modi acknowledged Daman's efforts towards both Swachh Bharat and the Fit India movement while speaking during "Mann ki Baat" on Sunday.
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