The people in the country have taken cues from PM Modi’s illustrative persuasion for the adoption of actionable agenda to address environment issues
India is at the forefront of tackling climate change. The world has often looked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for leadership in tackling the hardships caused by climate change. India has demonstrated a people-led action agenda to deal with climate change. Unlike some, India is not waiting for the developed world to own up to the responsibility to launch one of the largest people-led mass movements to heal and repair the environment.
While the 100th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ is being awaited with anticipation, it’s worthwhile to look back to reflect on the contributions of the monthly radio broadcast to help in building the mass movement for the wellbeing of the environment. Global warming, with a 1.5-2 degree Celsius rise in the global temperature compared to pre-industrial levels, is threatening to melt glaciers. Accompanying rising sea levels may jeopardize the lives of millions of people living in Island nations and coastal regions.
In the 14th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, PM Modi said: “The earth’s temperature should not rise anymore. This is everyone’s concern and responsibility. To prevent rising temperatures, the first step is energy conservation.” This set up an ambitious task in rolling the initiatives by the Central government in the direction of energy conservation. In his trademark conversational style, PM Modi spoke of cutting down on energy usage through the use of L.E.D bulbs and even switching off street lights on full moon nights. PM Modi shared an anecdote of Noor Jahan from Kanpur, who with the help of solar power lighted 500 homes for Rs three per day per home. This was a remarkable tale that reached the ears of millions of people all across the country, who in turn adopted similar measures.
India being a vast country with diverse climatic conditions has regions that are prone to droughts and the consequent ware scarcity. The government through ambitious schemes is working to make potable water available in each home. But the people in the country have taken cues from PM Modi’s illustrative persuasion for the adoption of an actionable agenda to address the issue of water scarcity.
In the 19th episode of Mann Ki Baat, PM Modi mentioned farmers from the Hivrebazaar Gram Panchayat in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, who tackled the issue of water scarcity by changing the cropping pattern and foregoing the crops that demanded excessive amounts of water, such as sugarcane and banana.
In the Devas district of Madhya Pradesh, the Gorwa Gram Panchayat undertook a drive to create 27 farm ponds, increasing the groundwater level and boosting agricultural production by 20 per cent. PM Modi’s illustrative persuasion to nudge the people to adopt and adapt to a better environment has been the hallmark of the 99 episodes of Mann Ki Baat.
The Namami Ganga programme is close to the heart of PM Modi, while also being crucial for the rejuvenation of India’s sacred rivers, which nursed civilization for centuries. The government effort is helping to free the Ganga River of 3 to 11 tonnes of garbage daily. But PM Modi enlisted the support of the people to make the mission successful. The Mann Ki Baatthus has been instrumental in heralding ‘Jan Shakti’ to achieve national goals.
Tales of individual and collective efforts continue to pour from all across the country in the direction of water conservation, which found mentions in the voice of PM Modi in Mann Ki Baat, which included one of Santosh Negi from PauriGarhwal, Uttarakhand, who before the onset of Monsoon dug 250 small trenches four feet deep alongside the playground to save the rainwater, managing to save crores of litres of rainwater which fell on the playfield.
The significance of such efforts was driven home by persuasive PM Modi who stressed that only eight per cent of rainwater was conserved per year across India, but if it was improved with the help of the people the crisis of water shortage could be dealt with effectively.
Thus, age-old examples of water conservation such as ‘Vav’ or step-wells in Gujarat became well known across the country because of Mann Ki Baat. This led PM Modi to call for the rejuvenation of 75 AmritSarovars across India. Mission AmritSarovar is a government initiative launched in April 2022 to construct and rejuvenate at least 75 AmritSarovars in each district. The mission aims to overcome the water crisis in rural areas and has set the target to construct 50,000 AmritSarovars by August 15, 2023. By February 8, 2023, 60 per cent of this target, or over 30,000 AmritSarovars, has already been met.
Jan Shakti is the lifeline of Jantantra or Loktantra (democracy), and Mann Ki Baat has truly been instrumental in making the people take charge of the pressing crises faced by the country.
(Author is a policy analyst)