New Delhi: Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has taken another step in his attempt to ensure that India is well on its way to becoming a healthy country.

After attempting to ban colas in schools, smoking on screen and advocating making yoga compulsory in schools, he has now said that he would like to ban junk food in all educational institutions.

"I have spoken to the chief ministers of all states to all and also to health ministers and have told them that junk food should be lifted from educational institutions. These things should be banned," says he.

Ramadoss said the country faced a "galloping" rise in heart disease, diabetes and cancer as India's 300-million-strong and increasingly wealthy middle class ate more junk food and lived more sedentary lives.

In October this year, Ramadoss had tried to get the HRD ministry to make Yoga mandatory in all schools. He had said that Yoga would go a long way in reducing hypertension and staving off diabetes.

Ramadoss said health and lifestyle classes would be introduced in schools along with yoga to teach everything from nutrition to AIDS awareness.

The Health Ministry had also stated that they were looking for teachers who they would train and who would in turn conduct Yoga, healthcare and lifestyle classes in schools.

Citing official statistics, Ramadoss had said that India is the diabetes capital of the world with 37 million diabetics, many of them obese children, and unless action was taken, there could be 80 million diabetics in India by 2030.

New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital recently conducted a study of 7-to-14-year-olds and found 23 per cent were obese and 17 per cent were hypertensive. The hospital had blamed junk food and lack of exercise for the condition of the youngsters.

Keeping these figures in mind, Ramadoss had earlier advocated a ban on soft drinks and cola company products in schools.

On Monday, PepsiCo CEO and President, Indra Nooyi, who is in India had agreed with the concerns of the health ministry that colas and other snacks produced by her company can lead to obesity in children.

She had said that her company would like to work alongside the Government to wean away students from high-calorie drinks.

Nooyi claims that PepsiCo has anticipated the growing outcry against transfats and taken pre-emptive action.

"Pepsi is the first company to be transfat free and we use 25 per cent less oil in our chips and namkeens (fatty snacks)," she stated. She also said that the company is selling fewer calories now than before, as it tries to strike a balance between sin, fun and pure wellness.