NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the importance of radio for the country, noting that he had been able to implement many new ideas given to him because of his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcasts.
He said during his broadcast (on 20 September) that the broadcasts were particularly useful for the visually impaired who had sent in suggestions to him in large numbers.
He said that thanks to these broadcasts, several initiatives had been taken place without spending crores of rupees on advertisements in newspapers or television. These included his plea to people to buy khadi that was made in his first broadcast and which had led to doubling of sales of khadi.
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While turning down a suggestion to make his broadcasts weekly, he said the monthly broadcasts meant a lot of hard work. He thanked the All India Radio (AIR) personnel for their patience, as they often had to wait for several hours for him.
He noted that he had now completed a year of these monthly broadcasts since the first one had been on 3 October last year. He said he had learnt a lot from the effort that went into preparing himself for these broadcasts.
He said that he had received around 55,000 phone calls for this month. Furthermore, his suggestion to people to record their messages (some of which he played during the broadcast) had lent a new energy to the attempt to reach out to the people through radio.
He referred to the importance given by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose to radio. Netaji had commenced an Indian National Army Radio from Germany with a weekly news broadcast in different Indian languages.
He also referred to the use of new media to spread awareness and referred to his suggestion a few months earlier for fathers to click selfies with their daughters and send them to him which had led to people realising the importance of daughters.
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