10 years of ‘Mann Ki Baat’: How Uttarakhand featured in PM Modi’s monthly radio broadcast
New Delhi, Sep 30 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the monthly radio program, is set to complete ten years on October 3, the day marking the commencement of Navratri.
In the 114th edition of the program, broadcasted this Sunday, PM Modi spoke about the importance of keeping a balance between persevering in the country’s heritage and spurring development.
In the past ten years of Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi has addressed a wide array of issues and spoken about multiple challenges before the nation, his reference to Uttarakhand is something that has garnered the attention of Devbhoomi residents.
PM Modi’s references to the Char Dham Yatra and the subsequent jump in pilgrimage to the holy shrines are no secret. There are multiple instances when PM Modi acknowledged and appreciated the earnest endeavour of some individuals of Devbhoomi, which has been pioneering and path-breaking.
Here is an account of his references to Devbhoomi in Mann Ki Baat address:
Dhanyavad Prakriti Abhiyan should start in every village
In the 114th edition of Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi mentioned Jhala, a border village of Uttarkashi district. The villagers of this village spend two-three hours every day cleaning the village. All the garbage in the village is picked up and placed at a designated place outside the village. The villagers have named it Dhanyavad Prakriti Abhiyan. PM Modi praised the ground-breaking initiative of villagers and called for its replication in every village of the country.
Women revived water sources in Jakholi
Women in Luthiag village panchayat of Jakholi block of Rudraprayag district took a commendable initiative towards water conservation. Rainwater was conserved by making Chal-Khal (a small lake). With the revival of dried natural water sources in the village due to this campaign, the shortage of drinking water was overcome to a great extent. PM Modi praised these efforts as earlier, women had to walk 3 km on feet to collect drinking water.
5-7 km walk for administering Corona vaccines
In one of the episodes, PM Modi appreciated Poonam Nautiyal of Bageshwar for going beyond the call of duty to administer the vaccine during the Coronavirus outbreak. Poonam travelled 5 to 7 km on foot every day to give vaccines to residents of the hilly state. PM Modi also spoke to Poonam and patted back for the initiative.
Ran Samaj’s effort to save local dialect and language
PM Modi mentioned the name of Ran Samaj of Dharchula in one of the episodes and praised his efforts for trying to save the local dialect.
Manoj cleaned the holy places, removed plastic wastes
Manoj Bainjwal of Rudraprayag, who cleaned the ghats littered with garbage and also cleaned the holy shrines earned praise from the Prime Minister. After removing garbage from the ghats, he started performing aarti there. He also started a campaign to free the bugyals of Tungnath, Basukital etc. from garbage.
Horse library for children
Some youth in the Nainital district started a unique horse library for children. PM Modi acknowledged and admired this in one of the episodes. The speciality of this library is that books started reaching children even in the most remote areas through this service, absolutely free. 12 villages of Nainital have been covered under it.
Greenery on school campus
The experiment done for water conservation by Santosh Negi, a mathematics teacher at Government Inter College Kotdwar, was appreciated by the Prime Minister. Santosh Negi made two hundred pits in the college campus and collected rainwater in them, due to which the entire campus was filled with greenery.
Revival of drains that remained dried for years
Retired teacher Sachidanand Bharti, a resident of Ufrekhal of Bironkhal block of Pauri district, conserved rainwater by making Chaal Khal in Ufrekhal in the year 1989. He made more than 30,000 Chaal-Khal and planted Oak and Rhododendron trees. The result was that the drain that remained dry for 10 years was revived.
