Indic languages to civilisational tourism, read the highlights from the 104th episode of PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat

On Sunday, 27th August 2023, PM Modi addressed the nation in the 104th episode of his talk show ‘Mann Ki Baat‘. In his talk, PM Modi talked about various topics ranging from Chandrayaan-3 to the upcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan. PM Modi also emphasised the importance of Indic languages like Telugu and Sanskrit, while also underlining the importance of preserving and revereing one’s mother tongue. PM Modi also discussed various aspects of civilisational tourism and innovative ways to support the logistics related to the dairy business.

Chandrayaan 3

PM Modi started his Mann Ki Baat with praise for the Chandrayaan-3 mission of ISRO which successfully touched down its lander Vikram on the lunar surface on 23rd August 2023. He said, “I don’t recall if it has ever happened that in the month of Sawan, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ program was held twice, but, this time, the same is happening. Sawan means the month of Mahashiv, the month of festivities and fervour. The success of Chandrayaan has enhanced this atmosphere of celebration manifold. It has been more than three days that Chandrayaan has reached the moon. This success is so grand that any amount of discussion about it would be inadequate.”

He added, “Mission Chandrayaan has become a symbol of the spirit of New India, which wants to ensure victory, and also knows how to win in any situation.”

PM Modi praised India’s Women Power

PM Modi also underlined the role of women scientists in the Chandrayaan-3 success. He said, “Friends, there has been one aspect of this mission which I especially want to discuss with all of you today. You might remember this time I expressed from the Red Fort that we have to strengthen women-led development as a national characteristic. Where the might of women’s power is added, the impossible can also be made possible. India’s Mission Chandrayaan is also a live example of woman power. Many women scientists and engineers have been directly involved in this entire mission. They have handled many important responsibilities like project director, and project manager of different systems. The daughters of India are now challenging even the Space which is considered infinite. When the daughters of a country become so ambitious, who can stop that country from becoming developed!”

The G-20 Summit in Delhi

PM Modi also informed the countrymen about the G-20 leaders’ summit scheduled to take place in Delhi in September 2023. He said, “My family members, the month of September is going to be witness to the potential of India. India is fully prepared for the G-20 Leaders Summit to be held next month. Heads of 40 countries and many global organisations are coming to the capital Delhi to participate in this event. This will be the biggest participation ever in the history of the G-20 Summit.”

Further, the Prime Minister added, “During her presidency, India has made G-20 a more inclusive forum. The African Union also joined the G-20 on India’s invitation and the voice of the people of Africa reached this important platform of the world. Friends, since India took over the presidency of the G-20 in Bali last year, so much has happened that it fills us with pride. Moving away from the tradition of holding big events in Delhi, we took them to different cities of the country. About 200 meetings related to this were organized in 60 cities across the country. Wherever the G-20 Delegates went, people warmly welcomed them. These delegates were very impressed, seeing the diversity of our country and our vibrant democracy. They also realised that there are so many possibilities in India.”

People’s Participation in the G-20 Presidency

PM Modi added, “Our Presidency of the G-20 is a People’s Presidency, in which the spirit of public participation is at the forefront. Among the eleven Engagement Groups of G-20, Academia, Civil Society, Youth, Women, our Parliamentarians, Entrepreneurs and people associated with Urban Administration played an important role. In one way or the other, more than 1.5 crore people are associated with the events being organised across the country.

He further informed, “In this effort of ours for public participation, not just one, but two world records have also been created. The participation of 1.25 lakh students from 800 schools in the G-20 Quiz held in Varanasi became a new world record. At the same time, the Lambani artisans also did wonders. 450 artisans have showcased their skill and craftsmanship by creating an amazing collection of around 1800 unique patches. Every representative who came to the G-20 was amazed to see the artistic diversity of our country. One such grand program was organised in Surat. 15,000 women from 15 states participated in the ‘Saree Walkathon’ held there. This program not only gave a boost to Surat’s Textile Industry but ‘Vocal for Local’ also got a fillip and paved the way for local to become global. After the G-20 meeting in Srinagar, a huge increase in the number of tourists to Kashmir is being seen.”

World University Games

PM Modi also interacted with four medalists of the World University Games and discussed with them their sources of inspiration, the background they come from and the aims they have in their lives. The medalist students also thanked the Prime Minister for the support they received on the institutional levels and various training programs and facilities in their respective sports.

PM Modi said, “India should bloom a lot in the world of sports but hockey, football, kabaddi, kho-kho, these are games rooted to our land, in these, we should never lag behind. I’m observing that our people are doing well in archery, and they are doing well in shooting.

In every game, wherever our children are going, they return after accomplishing something or the other for the country. And such news is shown prominently in the country today…is also conveyed and also discussed in schools and colleges.”

‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ and ‘Meri Mati, Mera Desh’ campaigns

PM Modi also lauded the participation of the people of India in the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign. He said, “The efforts of all the countrymen turned the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan’ into a ‘Har Man Tiranga Abhiyan’. Many records were also made during this campaign. The countrymen purchased tricolours in crores. Around 1.5 crore tricolours were sold through 1.5 lakh post offices. Through that, our workers, weavers, and especially women have also earned hundreds of crores of rupees.”

PM Modi also informed about the new garden to be made in New Delhi using the soil of every village in the country. He said, “At present, the campaign to evoke the spirit of patriotism ‘Meri Mati, Mera Desh’ is in full swing in the country. In the month of September, there will be a campaign to collect soil from every house in every village in the country. The holy soil of the country will be deposited in thousands of Amrit Kalash urns. At the end of October, thousands will reach the country’s capital Delhi with the Amrit Kalash Yatra. Amrit Vatika will be built in Delhi from this soil.”

Focus on Sanskrit, Telugu, and mother tongues

PM Narendra Modi mentioned that since the full moon day of the month of Saawan is celebrated as ‘World Sanskrit Day’, he has received many letters written in the Sanskrit language. He wished all the countrymen on this occasion and said, “We all know that Sanskrit is one of the oldest languages in the world. It is also called the mother of many modern languages. Sanskrit is known for its antiquity as well as its scientificity and grammar. Much ancient knowledge of India has been preserved in the Sanskrit language for thousands of years. People doing research on subjects like Yoga, Ayurveda and philosophy are now learning Sanskrit more and more. Many institutes are also doing very good work in this direction. Sanskrit Promotion Foundation runs many courses like Sanskrit for Yog, Sanskrit for Ayurveda and Sanskrit for Buddhism. ‘Sanskrit Bharti’ runs a campaign to teach Sanskrit to people. In this, you can participate in a 10-day ‘Sanskrit Conversation Camp’. I am happy that today awareness and pride in Sanskrit have increased among people.”

Emphasising the importance of the mother tongue, he said, “Friends, you must have often experienced one thing, in order to connect with the roots, to connect with our culture, our tradition, there’s is a very powerful medium – our mother tongue. When we connect with our mother tongue, we naturally connect with our culture. We get connected with our Sanskars, we get connected with our tradition, we get connected with our ancient splendour. Similarly, India has another mother tongue, the glorious Telugu language. 29 August will be celebrated as Telugu Day.”

Exploring his thoughts more about the Telugu language, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Many priceless gems of Indian culture are hidden in the literature and heritage of Telugu language. Many efforts are also being made to ensure that the whole country gets the benefit of this heritage of Telugu.”

Civilisational Tourism

PM Modi further said, “Seeing things or places in person, understanding and living them for a few moments, offers a different experience. No matter how much someone describes the ocean, we cannot feel its vastness without seeing the ocean. No matter how much one talks about the Himalayas, we cannot assess its beauty without seeing the Himalayas. That’s why I often urge all of you that whenever we get a chance, we must go to see the beauty and diversity of our country. Often we also see one more thing…despite having searched every corner of the world, we are unaware of many best places and things in our own city or state.”

PM Modi gave two examples to explain his point. One from Bengaluru and the other from Meghalaya. He said, “Many times it happens that people do not know much about the historical places of their own city. Something similar happened with Dhanpal ji. Dhanapal ji used to work as a driver in the Transport Office of Bangalore. About 17 years ago, he was given a responsibility in the Sightseeing wing. Now people know it by the name of Bengaluru Darshini. Dhanpal ji used to take tourists to various tourist places in the city. On one such trip, a tourist asked him why the tank in Bangalore is called Senki Tank. He felt very bad that he did not know the answer. In such a situation, he focused on enhancing his own knowledge. In his passion to know his heritage, he found many stones and inscriptions. Dhanpal ji’s mind was so absorbed in this task that he also did a Diploma in epigraphy i.e. the subject related to inscriptions. Though he is now retired, his passion to explore the history of Bengaluru is still alive.”

PM Modi further said, “Friends, I am very happy to tell you about Brian D. Kharpran. He is a resident of Meghalaya and has a great interest in speleology. In simple language, it means – the study of caves. Years ago, this interest arose in him when he read several story books. In 1964, he did his first exploration as a schoolboy. In 1990, he, along with his friend, established an association and through this, he started to find out about the unknown caves of Meghalaya. Within no time, he, along with his team, discovered more than 1700 caves in Meghalaya and put the state on the World Cave Map. Some of the longest and deepest caves in India are present in Meghalaya. Brian Ji and his team have also documented the Cave Fauna, which is not found anywhere else in the world. I appreciate the efforts of this entire team, as well as I urge you to make a plan to visit the caves of Meghalaya.”

Meghalaya’s Brian D. Kharpran has a great interest in speleology. He along with his team discovered more than 1700 caves and put the state on the World Cave Map. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/HrolSQksOc

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) August 27, 2023

Innovative Logistics solutions for Dairy Business

In his talk PM Modi also mentioned the importance of the dairy business in India and how people are coming up with innovative solutions for various challenges faced by this sector. He said, “My family members, you all know that the Dairy Sector is one of the most important sectors of our country. It has played a very important role in bringing a big change in the lives of our mothers and sisters. Just a few days ago, I came to know about an interesting initiative of Banas Dairy of Gujarat. Banas Dairy is considered to be the biggest Dairy in Asia. On average, 75 lakh litres of milk is processed here every day. After this, it is also sent to other states. For the timely delivery of milk here to other states, until now the support of tankers or milk trains was availed of. But there were no less challenges in that too. Firstly, loading and unloading used to take a lot of time and often the milk also used to get spoilt.”

He added, “To overcome this problem, Indian Railways did a new experiment. Railways started a Truck-on-Track facility from Palanpur to New Rewari. In this, milk trucks are directly loaded onto the train. That is, the major problem of transportation has been overcome by this. The results of the Truck-on-Track facility have been very satisfactory. Earlier the milk which used to take 30 hours to reach is now reaching in less than half the time. Due to this, whereas the pollution caused by fuel has stopped, the cost of fuel is also saved. Drivers of trucks have also benefited a lot from this, their life has become easier.”

PM Modi especially mentioned an engineer turned dairy businessman Amanpreet Singh from Kota in Rajasthan. He said, “Friends, today there are many people who are diversifying by adopting dairy. You must also know about Amanpreet Singh, who is running a dairy farm in Kota, Rajasthan. Along with dairy, he also focused on biogas and set up two biogas plants. Due to this, their expenditure on electricity has reduced by about 70 per cent. This effort of his is going to inspire dairy farmers across the country. Today many big dairies are focusing on biogas. This type of community-driven value addition is very exciting. I am sure that such trends will continue throughout the country.”

While concluding the episode of Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi wished the countrymen for the upcoming Raksha Bandhan and the entire festive season. He appealed to the people to focus on “Vocal for Local” during these festivals and keep the holy places including all the temples and surroundings clean.