What's the story behind Mann Ki Baat? Here's what PM Modi said in the 1st episode

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann ki Baat is set to complete its 100th episode on April 30, here is the story of how the resourceful program began and what exactly led to its commencement.

Mann Ki Baat is an Indian radio program that is presented by PM Modi every month where he addresses the people of the country. The first episode was released on October 3, 2014, and the main purpose of the program is to "establish a dialogue with the citizens on issues of day-to-day governance."

Why Mann Ki Baat began?

In his first episode PM Modi explained why he is starting Mann Ki Baat and said that he wanted all the citizens to work together for the country for the betterment and progress of the country.

He said, "I have only one intention in speaking with you all, come, let us serve our Mother India. Let us all take our nation to the new heights. Let us all take a step forward. If you take one step, our nation takes 125 crore steps to move forward, and for this purpose, on this auspicious occasion of Vijay Dashami, we all need to defeat all of our inner evils and decide to start doing something good for the nation. Today is the fortunate beginning for me. I will be sharing my heartfelt thoughts with one and all. Today, I have shared all the thoughts coming directly from my heart. I will meet you all next at 11 am on Sundays, but I trust our journey shall never end and will continue receiving love and suggestions from you."

Since then, PM's program airs once a month where he reaches out to the citizens and addresses all the issues and concerns related to the country.

Radio: Medium to deliver PM's voice and ideas to citizens

The programme's objective is to send PM Modi's voice and ideas to the masses. Radio was chosen to be the medium for the programme as even today, there are areas in the country where there is no accessibility of television, especially in the less developed and the rural areas. Thus, radio was chosen to be the exclusive medium for the programme because of its wider coverage. An estimated 90% of the total Indian population is reachable via the medium.

100 crore people listened to Mann ki Baat

A survey by IIM Rohtak stated that over 100 crore people have listened to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann Ki Baat at least once. The survey also displayed that around 23 crore people are regular listeners of the PM’s monthly radio broadcast, which aired for the first time in 2014.