Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio broadcast, Mann Ki Baat, marked its 10th year on Sunday with its 114th episode.
Beginning a day after he launched the Swachh Bharat campaign on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on October 2, 2014, Modi on Sunday also spoke of success stories from across the country related to that campaign.
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According to data posted on the government’s MyGov platform, which the PM also shared on social media, 1 billion people have listened to the broadcast since its first episode on October 3, 2014, to the latest.
“Mann Ki Baat started on the day of Vijayadashami on October 3. And what a divine coincidence it is that this year on October 3, when 10 years of Mann Ki Baat are completed, it will be the first day of Navratri,” Modi said in his Sunday morning broadcast.
MyGov posted on X that Mann Ki Baat has “more than 230 million regular and 410 million occasional listeners” and has “reached the hearts of 96 per cent of India”.
It also said that over the years, the broadcast has witnessed the participation of hundreds of Indians, including personalities as US President Barack Obama in 2015 and playback singer Lata Mangeshkar in 2019.
Modi said the success of Mann Ki Baat has dispelled “the commonly held belief” that “spicy or negative conversations” are needed to get attention. “But Mann Ki Baat has proved how hungry the people of the country are for positive information. People like positive stories, inspiring examples, encouraging stories,” he said.
The broadcast can be heard in the country’s 22 languages, besides 12 foreign languages. The PM said the listeners are the real anchors of this show. “I love it when people say that they listened to the Mann Ki Baat programme in their local language,” the PM said.
Modi noted that the Swachh Bharat Mission is completing 10 years, and the ‘Waste to Wealth’ mantra is becoming popular among people. People have started talking about Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle, he said.
First Published: Sep 29 2024 | 7:44 PM IST
