Air India cutting flab

The national carrier, Air India, had given a chance to around 600 "overweight" cabin crew members, mostly women, last year to "shape up" within a specific time frame. Maintaining the required Body Mass Index (BMI) was made a pre-requisite for continuing flight duty.

But after the deadline lapsed earlier this month, Air India decided to crack the whip and decided layoffs were the best answer and decided to sack the overweight crew members citing safety concerns.

This followed a directive from the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines to ensure that no overweight person continues as a flight steward or an air hostess. Tests were then conducted screening air hostesses who were 50-years-old or above.

"We have to take them off flying," a senior DGCA official told DW on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. "Many of them are permanently unfit and within a few months some will reassigned as ground staff while in many cases we need to find replacements."

The mass grounding is just the latest in a long tug-of-war between the airline and its larger flight attendants. In 2009, the carrier sacked nine women attendants, who took the company to court, which backed the airline.

With a view to project a trim and smart airline, the latest move is seen as a move to get rid of weighty attendants who could prove to be a safety and health hazard in a highly competitive airline industry.

The grounding of the air hostesses has also brought to sharp focus urban India's greatest super-size health problem: Obesity.

India's strong economy has given rise to modern comforts and the result is many people, especially in big cities, are becoming fatter due to inactive lifestyles. Although millions of people suffer from malnutrition, studies list an alarming 70 percent of India's urban population in the overweight or obese category.

Obesity a serious cause for concern

Consecutive National Family Health Surveys conducted between 2002 and 2010 pegged obesity in India between 8 percent and 15 percent of the general population.

"It's only growing. India's strong economy has given rise to modern comforts and the result is many people, especially in big cities, are becoming fatter due to sedentary lifestyles," Dr Umesh Deshmukh, an anesthesiologist in a Delhi hospital, told DW.

He further pointed out that obesity rates would only increase amongst India's youth population in cities if dramatic steps were not taken.

Another study by the National Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation of India also confirmed these findings. It said the prevalence of overweight and obesity was higher among urban women than their rural counterparts in India. While more than 23 percent of women in urban areas are either overweight or obese compared to only 7 percent of women in rural areas.

Increasingly, many middle class Indians especially from the metropolitan cities are following a fashionable trend that seems to have captured the imagination of urban India where they are increasingly opting for bariatric surgery. The procedure reduces the size of the stomach using various techniques, resulting in less appetite and a reduced intake of food.

"Overall, rates of obesity in India have been increasing in tandem with rising prosperity. And that is why more and more middle class Indians are opting for weight loss surgery. It is paradoxical but one in every five Indian men and women are either obese or overweight," Dr Atul Peters, a bariatric surgeon told DW.

Last year, a study published in the noted medical journal Lancet, India was just behind US and China in this global hazard list of top 10 countries with highest number of obese people.India's national carrier, Air India is expected to ground around 125 cabin crew, including airhostesses, for their failure to maintain weight requirements. For a country where millions of people suffer from malnutrition, studies list an alarming 70 per cent of India's urban population in the overweight or obese category.