Our Correspondent
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today recollected the turbulent times that played out in 1975, the time of Emergency in Mann Ki Baat. He asked people to work towards strengthening democracy. He stressed that democracy is not only a value system, but also a part of the Indian ethos, and we must preserve and strengthen it.
In the 33rd edition of this programme Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi greeted the nation on the occasion of Eid and Jagannath Yatra, and said that, diversity makes India unique.
He called on people to follow the example of Mubarakpur village in Uttar Pradesh. Villagers there worked towards turning their village Open Defecation Free in the month of Ramzan.
PM Modi said till now five states have been declared Open Defecation Free in the country. He congratulated everyone involved in accomplishing this great feat.
The Prime Minister also hailed the Swachhta Mission which is rapidly turning into a people’s movement. He also congratulated people of Vijayanagaram district of Andhra Pradesh who have achieved the target of building 10 thousand domestic toilets in 71 village Panchayats, in 100 hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the people to use Government -E- Marketplace, E-GEM portal to sell their products or services to the government.
Prime Minister said, the E-GEM portal is an excellent example of minimum government and maximum governance. He said, its objective is minimum price and maximum ease, efficiency and transparency. The Prime Minister referred to the experience of a lady from Madurai in Tamil Nadu, who had got money from the MUDRA Scheme for starting her business through this portal. She used the portal to sell her products. He said, had she not written to him, he would not have realised that because of E-GEM, a housewife running a small business can have the items on her inventory purchased directly by the Prime Minister’s Office.
On International Day of Yoga which was celebrated just a few days back, Mr Modi said, Yoga has permeated the entire world and its threads have bound everyone together and have become the means to unite the world. He said, in a small country like Singapore , programmes were organised at 70 places with a week-long campaign and the United Nations released ten stamps on this day. He said, Yoga has created a world record again this time with Ahmedabad setting a new record where around 55 thousand people performed Yoga together. Referring to the benefits of practicing Yoga, Mr Modi said, now the health conscious society is taking steps from fitness to wellness realising that Yoga is the best way for true wellness.
Referring to landmark achievements in space science, the Prime Minister said whereas Indians have their feet firmly on the ground with Yoga, they have also their dreams to soar beyond horizons to far away skies.He said, India’s flag is flying high not only on earth but also in space and just two days ago, ISRO launched 30 nano Satellites with Cartosat-2 series. He said, the Satellites will give a lot of help in the field of agriculture and dealing with natural disasters. The Prime Minister also mentioned Mars Mission which has completed one thousand days in orbit. He said, the mission which had a life of six months, has not only crossed its life- span but even after thousand days Mangalyaan Mission is at work sending images, providing information and collating scientific data.
On increasing inclination of youth to the field of sports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, if children are interested in sports they should be encouraged and supported by the school, college and family. He said, promotion of sports creates spirit of sportsmanship and it has a great significance in overall development of personality. Mr Modi said, every Indian sportsman should nurture dreams for the next Olympics. He also congratulated Badminton player Kidambi Shrikant for winning Indonesia Open.
On cleanliness drive, Mr Modi said, it has become a mass movement and is no longer confined to being a government programme. Referring to Mubarakpur village of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh which has set an example of constructing toilets out of their own resources, the Prime Minister felicitated the residents of the village for transforming the pious occasion of Ramadan into opportunity for social welfare. He said, the village returned the 17 lakh rupees financial assistance received from the government saying this sum be used for other facilities in the village. He also thanked the people and administration of Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttarakhand and Haryana for achieving the objective of Open Defecation Free status.
Mr Modi also referred to another example of Vizianagaram District of Andhra Pradesh where District administration constructed 10 thousand household toilets with public participation in one hundred hours making 71 villages Open Defecation Free.
The Prime Minister called for further fortification of the strength and spirit of democracy which pervades the very being of Indian. In this context, he mentioned a letter written by Prakash Tripathi reminiscing about the emergency which was imposed on 25th of June in 1975. He said, democracy is not only a system but also a sanskar a part of ethos. Mr Modi said, there is a need to be constantly alert about democracy and the events that inflicted harm upon democracy must be remembered. He reminded that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. He said, 25th June 1975 was a dark night which no one can ever forget.