Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi Bats for Agricultural Reforms, Healthcare
In the 42nd edition of his monthly radio programme, PM Narendra Modi will address the nation on Sunday, 25 March.
While addressing his monthly radio programme "Mann Ki Baat", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a major decision was taken in this year's budget to ensure adequate agricultural reforms for farmers. He also pressed for preventive healthcare during his 42nd address.
- The show airs simultaneously on All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Narendra Modi YouTube app and YouTube channel
New India is Ambedkar's India: Modi
Calling it B R Ambedkar's India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the “New India” belonged to the poor and the backward.
The Prime Minister said Ambedkar showed that it was not necessary for a person to be born in a rich family in order to succeed, but even those born in poor families can dare to dream and realise those dreams.
“Many people mocked Baba Saheb Ambedkar, tried to pull him back and made every possible effort to ensure that the son of an impoverished and backward family would not progress in life, be something and succeed in life,” Modi said. “But, the picture of New India is altogether different. It is an India which is Ambedkar's India, of the poor and the backward.”
Modi said Ambedkar was an “inspiration for millions of people like me, who belong to backward classes”. He said to honour the architect of India's constitution, the government would begin the 'Gram-Swaraj Abhiyan' on his birth anniversary on 14 April which will go on till 5 May.
“Under the aegis of this campaign, separate programmes on village development, poverty amelioration and social justice will be held throughout India,” he said.
Modi said in the era of 1940s, when the whole world was focused on the Second World War, the looming Cold War and the partition of the sub-continent, Ambedkar laid the foundation of "Team India's spirit" as he talked about federalism, and on Centre and states working together for the upliftment of the country.
“Today, we have adopted in all aspects of governance the mantra of co-operative federalism and going a step further, we have adopted competitive cooperative federalism,” he added.
PM Modi Hails Hardworking Citizens
Narenda Modi thanked ordinary hard-working Indians for inspiring many through their selfless service and mentioned the names of some of such personalities.
Addressing the nation, the PM praised one doctor, Ajit Mohan Chaudhary, from Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district, who has been treating patients for free for past one month.
“When I heard the story of Dr Ajit Mohan Choudhary, of how he visits the underprivileged on footpaths and offers free medicines to them, it gives one an opportunity to feel the sense of brotherhood that prevails in the country.”
Prime Minister Modi also lauded Ahmed Ali, a rickshaw-puller from Karimgunj district of Assam, who has established nine schools in his area.
“When I read in letters sent by you that how a rickshaw puller from Assam’s Karimganj, Ahmed Ali built nine schools for poor children, it gives me a glimpse into the nation's willpower,” the Prime Minister said.
Prime Minister Modi also hailed a taxi driver, Mohammad Saidul Laskar, who had built an affordable hospital at Punri village nearly 40 kilometres from Kolkata, after Saidul's only sister Marufa Khatoon died a few years ago since they could not afford treatment in a hospital.
“13 years ago, Saidul Laskar lost his sister as she could not get the medical facility in time. He then decided to build a hospital so that no poor ever die due to an absence of medical facility. In this mission, Saidul sold jewellery from his home and collected money through donations. His customers also donated to him generously. After 12 years, Saidul built a 30-bed hospital in Punri village near Kolkata. This is the power of new India,” he said.
Mentioning an example of women power, the Prime Minister said, “In Uttar Pradesh, when a woman builds 125 toilets after overcoming steep challenges, inspiring women to exercise their due rights, it gives us a glimpse of 'Matri-Shakti', the power of maternal love and caring.”
Modi ended this segment by saying that innumerable shining examples like these are the hallmark of our country.
PM Modi Stresses on Preventive Healthcare
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the people to be more conscious about preventive healthcare because prevention was not only beneficial for a person but also for their and society.
To be healthy, the Prime Minister also stressed on the need for sanitisation because "a healthy India is as vital as clean India".
“I believe that a healthy India and a clean India are related to each other. The country has moved ahead in the health sector with an unconventional approach. Earlier, every health-related work was the only responsibility of the Union Health Ministry. But in the current scenario, every department, state governments and other departments are working together for healthy India.”
Modi said yoga was a form of preventive healthcare and urged people to start a movement from right now.
Modi said the government had opened over 3,000 'Jan Aushadhi Kendra' (people's medicine centres) and was working on it continuously to open more such centres.
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PM Modi Talks About Agricultural Reforms
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that each and every expense incurred by a farmer will be considered, including his labour, while fixing the new minimum support price (MSP) at 1.5 times the input cost.
He said a major decision was taken in this year's budget to ensure adequate returns to farmers when the government decided to give at least one-and-a-half times the input costs as MSP for the scheduled crops.
Modi said while calculating the MSP, the input cost to be cosidered will include the labour cost, expenditure on machines and animals-also including machine and animals on hire-cost of seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, land revenue, interest on working capital, rent of leased land and even the labour cost of the farmer and his family.
The Prime Minister added that in order to ensure that farmers do not have to go far to sell their produce, village haats are being upgraded to agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) and being integrated with e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) platform.
"Farmers do not have to go far enough to sell their products - this will be integrated with Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and e-NAM platform, upgrading the country's 22,000 rural haat with the required infrastructure.Such a system is being evolved that farms can be connected to any market in the country," Modi added.
Talking about the need for agricultural reforms, PM Modi said, “Great people like Mahatma Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri ji, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Ji, Chaudhary Charan Singh Ji and Chaudhary Devi Lal ji spoke about the importance of agriculture and welfare of farmers.”
He also recalled a quote of Mahatma Gandhi for the farmers and said the latter's attachment to the soil was known to all. The prime minister also recalled Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ram Manohar Lohiya's efforts to improve the situation of the farmers of the country.
“I feel that each farmer should get connected to Kisan Channel of Doordarshan, view it and adopt those practices in his or her own farm,” he suggested. He even congratulated the farmers of Meghalaya for achieving record production in the year 2015-16.
His Previous Address: Daily Safety, Women Empowerment, Technology
In his last address, the Prime Minister touched upon the issues of daily safety, women empowerment and "technology for welfare".
He also urged the people to become conscious and aware of their own safety and said technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) must ensure the welfare of the poor, the underprivileged and the needy.
Stressing on the need to organise awareness campaign about safety, the Prime Minister said that thousands of people used to die due to heat wave few years ago but after the NDMA organised workshops on heat wave management, as part of a campaign to raise awareness among people, the death count in 2017 was dropped to around 220.
(With inputs from agencies)
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