New Delhi, April 23: In an embarrassment for the government, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Monday removed a tweet that asked people "What's your choice?" based on a photo that displayed two women -- one overweight, depicting non-veg and processed food items and the other lean with fruits and vegetables.
Twitterati immediately slammed the tweet, some calling it "stupidity at its highest" while others "fat shaming".
While the fat woman depicted food items such as sausage, poultry, meat, burger, donuts, french fries, cola and alcohol, the lean woman showed fruits and green vegetables, along with the tweet from the ministry: "Good nutrition is one of the keys to a #healthy life. Choose wisely, live well".
"Both veg and non veg can be healthy or unhealthy depending upon their origin, methods of production, distribution, storage etc and in this country, the less said the better about those standards. That's what you should be focusing on @MoHFW_INDIA," reacted one user to the ministry's tweet.
Another user said: "This is fat shaming. Now that you've posted it, hope your women Ministers take the lead and set an example!"
"Stupidity at highest!!! Is Egg ?? and Cheese ?? unhealthy? which scientific study proved it? Moreover where do Poor Indians get Kiwi/Avocado Fruits and Berries? Or is it ment to be for RICH People? ?? As far as all scientific study all packaged foods are bad or unhealthy!!!," tweeted another user.
One user went further and found the source of the image.
"So, Ministry of Health @MoHFW_INDIA picks up a stock photo which portray eggs, poultry, meat and bread as unhealthy and tweets that as health advice," the user tweeted.
The photo, copyrighted to Tatsiana Tsyhanova from Belarus, was taken from https://www.123rf.com which offers millions of stock photos but with copyright.
"And they've quietly deleted their tweet now," the user added.
A recent study from the University of Eastern Finland, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, said that a relatively high intake of dietary cholesterol, or eating one egg every day, are not associated with an elevated risk of coronary heart disease.
A University of Connecticut study suggests that eating eggs may actually have favourable effects on good cholesterol metabolism in men and women with diabetes and heart disease.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismisses defence minister in surprise announcement
Jerusalem, Nov 5: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday dismissed his popular defence minister, Yoav Gallant, in a surprise announcement that came as the country is embroiled in wars on multiple fronts across the region.
Netanyahu and Gallant have repeatedly been at odds over the war in Gaza. But Netanyahu had avoided firing his rival. Netanyahu cited “significant gaps” and a “crisis of trust” between the men in his Tuesday evening announcement.
“In the midst of a war, more than ever, full trust is required between the prime minister and defence minister,” Netanyahu said. “Unfortunately, although in the first months of the campaign there was such trust and there was very fruitful work, during the last months this trust cracked between me and the defence minister.”
In the early days of the war, Israel's leadership presented a unified front as it responded to Hamas' October 7, 2023, attack. But as the war dragged on and spread to Lebanon, key policy differences have emerged. While Netanyahu has called for continued military pressure on Hamas, Gallant had taken a more pragmatic approach, saying that military force has created the necessary conditions for a diplomatic deal that could bring home hostages held by the Hamas group.
Gallant, a former general who has gained public respect with a gruff, no-nonsense personality, said in a statement: “The security of the state of Israel always was, and will always remain, my life's mission."
Gallant has worn a simple, black buttoned shirt throughout the war in a sign of sorrow over the October 7 attack and developed a strong relationship with his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
A previous attempt by Netanyahu to fire Gallant in March 2023 sparked widespread street protests against Netanyahu. He also flirted with the idea of dismissing Gallant over the summer but held off until Tuesday's announcement.
Gallant will be replaced by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, a Netanyahu loyalist and veteran Cabinet minister who was a junior officer in the military. Gideon Saar, a former Netanyahu rival who recently rejoined the government, will take the foreign affairs post.
Netanyahu has a long history of neutralising his rivals. In his statement, he claimed he had made “many attempts” to bridge the gaps with Gallant.
“But they kept getting wider. They also came to the knowledge of the public in an unacceptable way, and worse than that, they came to the knowledge of the enemy - our enemies enjoyed it and derived a lot of benefit from it,” he said.
