The pleasure of understanding is one of the purest things available to man, and the passion of the Indian for it burns in the bright flame of the mind.

                — Dr S Radhakrishnan

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY (Volume I)

Radio has a chequered history vis-à-vis literature. In 1956, BBC approached Samuel Beckett to pen script for radio production. Radio appealed to Beckett and he brought out five plays. Exploring the relationship between Beckett’s these plays and radio, literary critic Nicholas Johnson wrote a piece in 2016 in Irish Times stressing importance of radio in the context of internet: “The newer, stronger and younger mass medium.” Not oblivious of unifying role of radio, Johnson concluded, “Listening is again turned into an active and sensory occasion… It is a throwback to an era where families tuned in together.”

Radio and Mann Ki Baat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivers “Mann Ki Baat” every month through Radio: a medium of communication that was almost consigned to the debris of the past. This is what the Prime Minister said in “Mann Ki Baat” (November 2018) about selection of radio. He recalled: As party worker in 1998 he was travelling in Himachal Pradesh and in the evening stopped for tea at a wayside “Dhaba”. The tea seller first offered him sweet, a “Laddoo”. He asked about the reason for this. The tea seller replied, “It is a momentous and joyous moment. India has exploded the bomb today!… Sir, just listen to the radio.” It was the topic of discussion on the radio. The tea seller informed how then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had announced on the radio about bomb explosion. The tea seller heard it and went jubilant. The PM then stated, “Watching that particular impact of the news on the radio led me to realise and internalise that this was the medium truly connected with the masses and was a mighty means of reaching out.”

Prime Minister Modi is a poet. His poetry book “a Journey” originally written in Gujarati was translated in English by Ravi Mantha. While “a Journey” is “evocative and poignant… and awakens the mind to bloom, expand and glow” (Modi’s Metaphysical Musings, published in The Pioneer on May 18, 2014); “Mann Ki Baat” is mass experimentation with thinking and thoughts-sharing process. One basic feature of “Mann Ki Baat” made abundantly clear by the PM (November 2018) is “…this programme has remained apolitical. When ‘Mann Ki Baat’ started, I had firmly decided that it would carry nothing political.” Thus “Mann Ki Baat” is not political in nature.

As “Mann Ki Baat” necessarily involves thinking, it is pertinent to talk of psychologists John Radford and Andrew Burton’s work on thinking (1974) where they deal with three activities (i) self-observation: one aims to observe his experiences; (ii) self-reports: one relates experiences and (iii) thinking aloud: one attempts to provide a running commentary on some mental activities as it proceeds. It seems all these three activities get employed in “Mann Ki Baat”, making it akin to “introspective contemplation.” Space being a constraint, a very limited attempt is made here to put forth a few illustrative aspects of “Mann Ki Baat” by culling out some material from selected months.

First, “Mann Ki Baat” aims at empowering people. Professor AK Sen records in his book, The Argumentative Indian, his conversation with “a barely literate” and “certainly very poor” villager telling him, “It is not very hard to silence us, but that is not because we cannot speak.” The power to exchange ideas and thoughts was tilted towards, to use Professor Sen’s words, “the powerful” and “well-schooled”…even though “the most interesting accounts of arguments involve members of disadvantaged groups. “Mann Ki Baat” caters to the broader requirements of plurality and heterodoxy empowering even the most disadvantaged members of the society to reach the Prime Minister.

Methodology employed in “Mann Ki Baat” involves: The PM reaching out to people, enabling people to reach out to him with their suggestions/comments; sharing of experiences and suggestions of people as conveyed to the Prime Minister; discussion about books; narration of tales and stories, etc. Acknowledging people’s suggestions for “Mann Ki Baat”, Prime Minister said (August 2017) “My dear countrymen, I want to express my gratitude and indebtedness as millions of people from across the country come together with “Mann Ki Baat”. Even the smallest of your suggestions help us think anew on a wide variety of subjects.” Again (September 2016) “…for me, Mann Ki Baat is a means to feel the strength of my 125 crore countrymen.” He reiterated (November 2018) “Honestly speaking, ‘Mann Ki Baat’ carries my voice but the examples, emotions and spirit represent my countrymen.” (June 2019) “This is my journey from ‘I’ to ‘We’. Many a time your words work as a catalyst to my thought.”

In the first episode (October 2014) after saying, “We have forgotten ourselves. We have become hopeless”, PM Modi set the ball rolling by telling what Swami Vivekananda used to say. Once a lioness, with her two cubs, spotted a flock of sheep. She chased the flock with one cub accompanying it and other left behind. The left behind cub was reared up by a mother sheep. Growing up along with other sheep, he started speaking sheep’s language adapting to their ways of life. Once the fully grown cub met the left behind brother and was shocked to hear him speak like a sheep. “What are you doing, brother? You are a lion,” he said. But the left-behind brother refused to believe, “No, I am a sheep; I speak like a sheep. I am brought up by them.” The lion took his left-behind brother to a well and both of them saw their face in the water. As soon as the lion saw similarity of faces, his self-esteem got awakened and he attained his self-realisation. After narrating this, the PM continued, “My countrymen, we 125 crore Indians have tremendous strength and capabilities. We need to understand ourselves…carry our self-respect… move forward in life and be successful,” which “will make our country a winning and successful country.” This is a startling way to begin and make people realise their strength. It tantamounts to empowering them.

Second, immutably linked with empowerment is quality of life. Multiple indices to fathom quality of life exist. Such an effective participation by masses in “Mann Ki Baat” unquestionably adds to their quality of life. They have effective say and their viewpoints are heard at the top. Can there be any more satisfying parameter enhancing quality of life? For example, he talked (December 2015) of “Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme” to provide subsidy directly in the bank accounts of beneficiaries. This scheme got a place in Guinness Book of World Records as the largest “DBT Scheme” “which has been successfully implemented.” “Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan” through which both physical and virtual infrastructure would be improved for “Divyang persons”. (April 2016) Quality of education, shifting priority from literacy campaigns to quality education; from “outlay for education” to “outcome of it.” From “Enrolment! Enrolment! Enrolment!” to providing “a good and worthy education”. One crore families have voluntarily given up their subsidy on gas cylinders. “Retired teachers, retired clerks, farmers and small shopkeepers. These are middle-class and lower-middle-class families that have given up their subsidy.” (March 2016) “Kisan Suvidha App” to enable farmers get agricultural and weather related information on mobile.

(July 2016) Lives of pregnant women. “Anaemia during or after pregnancy, pregnancy-related infections, high BP, any such complication can have devastating effects.” Talking of a new campaign, “Prime Minister Safe Motherhood Campaign”, under which, on the 9th of every month, all pregnant get a free check-up at Government health centres, the PM urged poor families to avail of this benefit so that the lives of both mother and child remain safe. (January 2018), “Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana” is concerned with making healthcare affordable and encouraging ease of living. Medicines at Jan Aushadhi Centres are 50 to 90 per cent cheaper than branded drugs in the market. “This is a great help for common people, especially for senior citizens requiring medicines on a daily basis, and results in a lot of savings.”

(August 2017) Of Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, financial inclusion, the PM said, “On 28th August, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana will complete three years. Thirty crore new families have been linked to this scheme; bank accounts have been opened. This number is larger than the population of many countries of the world.” “…the last man on the fringes of society has become a part of the mainstream economy of the country.” He goes to bank and is financially secure. “There is now an air of prudence.” A poor person having a RuPay card in his pocket gives him “a sense of dignity”. In the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, underprivileged people have deposited almost 65,000 crore rupees in banks. He said, “In a way, this is a saving for the poor, this is his empowerment for the future. And those who opened their accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana have received the benefit of insurance as well.” The PM explained many schemes like Suraksha Bima Yojna, Start Up Yojna, Stand Up Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna, etc. (January 2018) Nari Shakti: contribution of woman power towards positive transformation in the country and society these days. He referred to Matunga railway station in Mumbai being the first station in India, run by an all-women staff. (January 2016) A novel experiment in Haryana and Gujarat, where from every village the most educated daughters were invited to do flag-hosting in Government schools. (August 2015) in one year, 1,31,000 Financial Literacy camps organised for linking banking sector, economy and poor people. (August 2017) On sensitivity towards environment, he asked, “Are your activities eco-friendly or otherwise?” Not being environment-friendly meant being unacceptable in society. “I find that the “eco-friendly Ganapati” in this Ganesh Festival has turned into a huge campaign. A “massive and pleasant transformation”. (February 2019) Shared his experience about meeting with beneficiaries of PMJAY scheme under Ayushman Bharat’s umbrella, “about 12 lakh poor families have benefitted from this scheme over a period of last five months”, bringing about a “transformation in the life of the poor”. (January 2016) Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana: its benefits to farmers left in lurch due to natural calamities got the focus. In New Beema Yojana, for the Kharif crop premium will be 2 per cent and for the Rabi crop 1.5 per cent.  Swachchh Bharat Mission with examples from various places found mention several times. Initiation of “Swachchh Bharat” Abhiyan on October 2, 2014. (September 2017) Emphasising “we shall connect people through cleanliness”, the PM informed that during first four days of Swachchhata Hi Sewa Abhiyan, more than “75 lakh people joined these activities with more than 40,000 initiatives.” In February 2018, organisation of hygiene campaign for one month under Swachchh Bharat Mission by 15 lakh women in Jharkhand where they constructed 1,70,000 toilets in just twenty days. In October 2019, “Swachchh Siachen” campaign where the temperature drops from zero to minus 50-60 degrees Celsius, Indian soldiers are running this campaign with positive consequences like clean water in the river. “…to remove 130 tons and more of garbage from the glacier and its surrounding area’s fragile eco-system is a great service.”

Similarly many more welfare enhancing measures were explained in different months by PM Modi, in simple language, for the knowledge of people, especially poor and downtrodden.

Third, PM Modi’s love for youth and students is exhibited at many places. “Mann Ki Baat” acts as an effective platform for sharing concerns and anxiety thereby working as a safety valve. “Mann Ki Baat” provides solution to what psychologists call “functional fixidity” or “blinding effect” where only a few fixed set of solutions are thought of. There are ways in “Mann Ki Baat” how to look beyond. For example, PM Modi dealt with (February 2015) examination pressure on students telling them, “Examinations are not the end of the world. Exams are not the test of your life.” For “self-development competition with oneself is more important.” He gave the example of athlete Sergei Bubka, who broke his own record 35 times. The PM suggested a new technique: “I say Desire + Stability = Resolution and Resolution + Action = Achievements.” Followed by a novel suggestion: “Cannot we celebrate a week-long exam festival twice a year?” There should be poetry sessions, debates, lectures on psychological facets of examinations, cartoon competitions, debate competition. “Be successful not to defeat others, but to overcome your own challenges,” he advised students. PM Modi referred to (May 2015) former President Dr APJ Kalam’s book “My Journey-Transforming Dreams Into Action”, where the late President narrated how his dream to become a pilot failed. He became the President of India and made a big contribution to atomic power of the country. “Failure is a kind of opportunity… Fighting with failures gives us strength to live our lives.” He told (January 2017) students, “Knowledge, skill, confidence and willpower matter more in life,” rather than earning more marks. (February 2019) He talked about “Pariksha Pe Charcha” organised in Delhi where “there were open discussions” about “various topics related to examination” which would be “useful for the students.”

(March 2017) The issue of depression and dealing with it collectively. Expression of depression instead of its suppression is the first mantra. Creating “a psychological environment for its cure” should be a beginning. What happens to one should be shared with colleagues, friends, parents, brothers and teachers. Another way: “If you are unable to express yourself to your family and friends, then do one thing you can serve those in need around you. Devote yourself with all your heart into helping others and sharing their joys and sorrows... Your own inner sufferings will begin to disappear.” (December 2014) Drug abuse by children. PM Modi said, “Drug addiction is a 3D problem: Darkness, Destruction and Devastation.” He posed a question to the youth caught in the drug trap: if they ever thought where money used for buying drugs go to? What if the money is spent by terrorists for weapons? And with these weapons, the same terrorists might be pumping bullets in the hearts of our soldiers. He told people to “foster ambition in children, make them dreamers and individuals with a desire to achieve something in life.” He cautioned (September 2019) people against getting addicted to tobacco which causes high-risk diseases and also against e-cigarette which have dangerous chemicals that affect health badly. 

Fourth, it’s about unity and world vision. Talking of World Yoga Day: 21st June, PM Modi said (May 2017), “At a time when disruptive forces are raising their ugly heads, this has been India’s great gift to the world. We have successfully united the whole world through yoga.” (June 2015), Photo of a Vietnamese child doing yoga invited world attention. Yoga’s unifying role got highlighted. (June 2019) “Promoting Yoga is a great social service.” He said, on Yoga Day, “the world appeared like one big, happy family”. Sharing is an old Indian tradition: it brings people closer. One way to unite is to share with each other. (January 2016) He gave an example of ocean and said, “In Sanskrit, the sea is called ‘Sagar’ it means endless abundance. Borders and land may be separating us, but water connects us, sea connects us.” (October 2016). He talked of Indian festivals, their widespread effect, depth and reach to individuals which are all interlinked with “one sprit”: “Evolution from the ‘self’’ to the ‘whole’, the collective existence. The underlying idea is development of individuals and their personalities, while scope of thinking must expand and cover “society” as well as “the whole universe”. The overall theme is unity with world vision. (May 2018) He stated, “World has experienced the message of ‘Yoga for Unity and Harmonious Society’ in past years.”

Aware that unity of the country is threatened by menace of terrorism, PM Modi talked (November 2017) of it as a global threat and said India gave the message of love and non-violence to the world. His advice for Armed Forces Flag Day was to invite people from forces to schools and colleges “to share information about the forces” so that new generation gets an opportunity “to be aware of armed forces.”

Solemnly remembering Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, PM Modi said (October 2018), “…if we are able to see a United India” it was totally because “of the statesmanship and acumen of Sardar Patel”. He further said that on 31st October, 2018, “We shall dedicate the Statue of Unity (the world’s tallest skyscraping statue) to the nation as a true homage to Sardar Patel. (October 2019) “Run for Unity symbolises that nation is one.”

Such integrative thoughts indeed produce invigorating impact on the psyche of people.

Fifth, it aims at inculcating creativity and expanding personality. He spoke (May 2016) about role of satisfaction in life. “There is an environment to find dissatisfaction in everything that has happened. This is another form of negativity… But if you are not satisfied with what you have got, you will never be able to do new things.” (May 2015) He told people when they travel, they should record things: seen and heard and share their travelling experiences with him. “I will share your experiences with others.” (March 2016) Talking of creative urge, he requested people to upload the photographs of places visited. “But this time, please write and send a small piece about the place displaying your creative prowess.” Things we cannot learn in classroom, or from family and friends, we learn these “from travel.” Holidays to be utilised for adding one more attribute and skill to personality. “If you don’t know swimming, resolve to learn it, cycling, resolve to learn… There are so many skills for personality development. Why not add to our strength?” (April 2017). Talking of benefits of travel in a second class unreserved compartment for 24 hours, PM Modi said “You will learn more in this 24-hour journey than a year’s study.” Such experiences teach tolerance, add skills and enrich personality. He invited (July 2019) young students to participate in quiz competition relating to space, India’s space mission and matters relating to science and technology. “Students with maximum scores from each State will be invited to visit Sriharikota with expenses borne by Government.” It’s an amazing way to enhance creativity in children. PM Modi talked (July 2019) about sharing of some facets of books read by people through the Narendra Modi App. (June 2017), he told about a programme run by PN Panicker Foundation in Kerala, encouraging people to organise celebrations like “Reading Day” and “Reading Months”. He talked of gifting books or khadi handkerchiefs rather than bouquets. “Earlier (October 2014) people were encouraged to buy Khadi, I don’t tell you to use only Khadi products. I am insisting you to use at least one khadi product: a handkerchief, a bath towel, a bed sheet, a pillow cover, a curtain…..because when you buy a Khadi product, it helps poor people light lamps in Diwali.”

Sixth, it’s about innovations and innovative thinking. (July 2016) Saying, “The future is technology driven and technology is fickle”, PM Modi talked of “Atal Innovation Mission”, to create an ecosystem in the country to forge “a chain of innovation, experiment and entrepreneurship; generating new employment opportunities.” For developing the next generation innovators, children must be linked with it. “That is why the initiative of Atal Tinkering Labs”. Schools having these labs would get Rs 10 lakh and further Rs 10 lakh for maintenance over a period of five years. (April 2016) Meeting of Prime Minster with chiefs of NCC, NSS, Bharat Scouts and Guides, Red Cross and Nehru Yuva Kendra where they informed that this was the first such meeting since independence which made the PM realise “huge need for greater coordination”. (March 2018) Involvement, in case of health sector, of all concerned Ministries rather than involvement of Health Ministry alone as was the conventional approach earlier. A harmonious synchronisation. (February 2018) He talked of importance of Artificial Intelligence for “improving the lives of underprivileged” and other uses like predicting disasters, providing assistance to farmers on crop yield, etc. (October 2018) Self4Society App. “A novel spirit of  IT to society, from I to We is imbibed in this.’ (June 2019), He informed about creation of a new Ministry — Jal Shakti —for fast decisions on water related issues. For water conservation, he shared his experience of writing letters to Sarpanchs and Gram Pradhans. Consequently, people in villages resolved to accumulate every single drop of rainwater and got involved in competition for raising “water temple.” (February 2017) He talked of an innovation for poor fishermen. A simple mobile app but capable of providing guidance for direction to locate most productive fishing zones, wind conditions, tides, etc. Such information would help fisherman, “earn their livelihood in a better manner.”

(July 2019) PM Modi shared a comment by one Muhammad Aslam of Jammu & Kashmir who played an active role in organising community mobilisation programme — Back to Village in June where public directly entered into a dialogue with the Government. The PM said, “People of Kashmir are avid to join the national mainstream and their enthusiasm is reflected in the mechanism of this programme.” He added for the first time, senior officials reached the villages directly and were available to the villagers at their doorsteps, to “find the obstacles in the path of progress and to remove the hurdles”.

Last but not the least, it is about land of wonder, kindness and joy. PM Modi gave many examples. (September 2017) A retired teacher Shriman Chandrakant Kulkarni donating 51 post-dated cheques of Rs 5000, each for the cleanliness drive out of his monthly total pension of Rs 16,000. (July 2016) Shared his experience of meeting children who brought photo album to show pictures of beautification of Aligarh railway station. These children drew artistic paintings on the station. They collected “plastic bottles and oil cans lying in the garbage in the villages”, and filled those with soil and planting saplings and thus “transformed those pots into a vertical garden”. “This is a prime example of huge transformation.” (December 2015) He shared a news story about Dileep Singh Malviya, a mason by profession, from Bhojpura village in Sehore district who when provided with material, renders his labour free of cost for constructing toilets and he had constructed 100 toilets. “This is the hope of the nation and these are the things which carry the nation forward.” (October 2015) Efforts of girls of Saint Mary Upper-Primary School, Chittoor, Kerala for public awareness about organ donation. “Organ donation is a habit and an instinct.” (May 2018) About D Prakash Rao, a tea vendor from Cuttack who opened a school “Asha Ashvaasan” for more than 70 children living in slums and hutments providing them from his meagre income “education, health and meals”. (October 2019) About “A 92-year old woman offering free drinking water to passengers at Gwalior railway Station.”

Umpteen number of such examples fill us with positivity telling us so much of the country around is kind, wondrous, and beautiful.

To round off, the most rejuvenating thread emerging off and on in “Mann Ki Baat” is a firm belief that temporary setbacks must never be allowed to deceive clear eyes as the ruckus disheveling the serenity of our existence is set at rest through tranquility of our faith and karma. With “collective thoughts” forming the warp and woof of “Mann Ki Baat”, it has come to represent an unprecedented oneness between the PM and the people of the country and vice versa. Decades later when subsequent generations would look back at “Mann Ki Baat”, they will be reminded of Rabindranath Tagore’s lines in GITANJALI, “When…new melodies break forth from the heart; and where the old tracks are lost, new country is revealed with its wonders’. We, the people, welcome A NEW INDIA.

(Born in Gorakhpur in 1960, KK Srivastava did his Masters in Economics from Gorakhpur University in 1980 and joined Indian Audit & Accounts Service in 1983. Author of three volumes of poetry, his poems have been translated into Hindi (Andhere Se Nikli Kavitayen — VANI PRAKASHAN (2017) and his book “Shadows of the Real” into Russian by veteran Russian poet Adolf Shvedchikov. His fourth book “Soliloquy of a Small Town Uncivil Servant”: a literary non-fiction was published in March 2019 by Rupa Publications, New Delhi. Currently he is Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General in the office of Comptroller & Auditor General of India. Views expressed here are his personal views.)