Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ focused on the acute water crisis in the country and water conservation when it returned on Sunday after a five-month hiatus.
Modi, who returned to address his monthly radio broadcast after a sweeping victory in the General Elections that ended last month, called upon celebrities from the field of sports, films and others to join the water conservation movement.
He spoke of his monthly broadcast saying: “There came a moment when I felt the need to reach out to you immediately after General Elections concluded. Then I thought No! The established Sunday sequence should be maintained”.
As vast swathes of the country reel under drought, he spoke about the urgent need to conserve water, saying that “the latest figures show India conserves only 8 per cent of the total rainfall the country receives”.
“With this in mind I had written to all Panchyats highlighting the need to do something to make water available to their villages. I felt happy to see on June 22 Panchayat leaderships called meeting of gram sabhas across the country and discussed ways to conserve water,” he said. For instance, he said, Punjab was working on its water drainage system and Lupung Panchayat in Katakmansadi village in Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district has taken up projects to conserve water.
He said India could rely on traditional knowledge about water conservation, developed over thousands of years.
“We need to know and share them with each other and request everyone to post such knowledge on jansakti4jalsakti app,” he said, and spoke about water conservation department under the Centre, or the Jal Shakti Mantralaya”.
He also spoke about books, specifically renowned Hindi author Munshi Premchand.
“Just recently, someone gave me a book that had popular short stories by Premchand. It was a great feeling. While reading one of his stories, ‘Nashaa’, I couldn’t help but notice the scourge of economic disparity plaguing society. The moral of this story featuring the landlord’s son Eeshwari and Beer from a poor family is that if you are not careful enough, you will never know when the bane of bad company engulfs you,” he said. He also mentioned Premchand’s other story ‘Eidgah’.
On his Kedarnath visit in the midst of electioneering, the PM said: “For me, it was an opportunity to meet myself. In a way, I undertook the journey to meet my inner self. I shall not reveal other things today, but I certainly want to tell you that perhaps in that solitary cave, I got an opportunity to fill up the vacuum caused due to the long pause that Mann ki Baat had to go through”.
Talking about the Emergency, Modi said: “When it was imposed, resistance against it was not limited to the political arena or politicians and the movement was not curtailed to the confines of prison cells. There was an outrage in the conscience of one and all”.
This is his first boardcast since his stunning victory that handed him a second term.
Highlights
He thanked the country and the world for making Yoga Day a success.
I request three things from the country. Like Swacch Bharat abhiyan became a movement, lets make water conservation another movement. Bring awareness among people. I request people from different walks of life to address the water crisis and spread awareness about conservation. My second request is to use traditional methods to save water. Use the knowlege that those working for water conservation to spread awareness. Let’s build a database of such organisations to help conserve water. Use the hashtag #Janashaktiforjalshakti to write your solutions: Modi
There can’t be one formula to fight the crisis. Different states are trying out different solutions. But the goal is only one—to savewater: Modi
Prime Minister speaks about water crisis in the country.
This is the first time that 78 women MPs were elected into Parliament: Modi
2019 elections were the largest referendum in the history of the world: Modi
This is the first time since 1977 since the general public voted to keep democracy alive: PM
When emergency was imposed, resistance against it was not just in political circles or politicians; the movement was not limited to the jails. There was anger in the conscience of everyone: Modi
Will not reveal other things today, but I want to tell you that perhaps in that solitary cave, I got an opportunity to fill the vacuum caused due to the long gap of MannKiBaat. I undertook Kedarnath journey to meet my inner self. Some ppl politicized my trip: PM
I get many letters, but not many people complain. Can you imagine that people who write to the prime minister don’t ask anything for themselves: PM
There’s no lack of talent in the country: PM
Sometimes people who write to me talk about their problems and also their solutions:
