‘Mann Ki Baat’ is India’s biggest online influencer

IIM, IIT professors used data analytics to prove the popularity of PM’s radio programme.

 

Bengaluru: Prime Minster Narendra Modi has hit the right note with his “Mann Ki Baat” radio programme over the last five years. The evidence is there for all to notice. On Teacher’s Day, average interest in “Googling” increases 1.8 times on an average and maximum 2,500 times when surfers want to know about teachers or the commemoration.

Due to mention in “Mann Ki Baat”, interest has grown up to 5,000 times and remained on an average four times higher in the following few weeks!

This is the fascinating bit of information collated by three professors from India’s premier institutes, among other interesting inferences. Prof Pulak Ghosh of IIM-Bangalore, V. Kamakoti of IIT Madras, and Bhuvanesh Pareek from IIM Indore have used data analytics and algorithms applied to key words and brought information that proves beyond doubt that Modi has been the single biggest influencer online in India.

Over the last five years, the Prime minister has conducted over 50 “Mann Ki Baat” programmes, touching on topics from personalities, health issues, hygiene, Swaccha Bharat, Mudra, among dozens of government programmes. And every time he talks about something, it is “Googled” and continues to be “Googled” for at least four weeks.

The research lays to rest criticism from the Opposition that “Mann Ki Baat” was a mere public relations stunt, a one-way communication and a waste of time.

Prof Pulak Ghosh told The Sunday Guardian: “A couple of episodes after Mann Ki Baat, I witnessed euphoria among people and they started talking a lot about this programme. I felt this programme was impacting the society at large and I felt I should quantify it to simply find out the success of it. Over 50 episodes, the Prime Minister’s outreach can be catagorised into three buckets—personalities-based where such personalities have brought change in society, social awareness and government programmes. The radio programme has been a great achiever touching all generations.”

Asked how they drew the inference and collated the data, Prof Ghosh said he “took the script of all the 50 episodes form DD News, applied algorithms on Google key words and connotations across India. When the PM spoke about dengue, the searches showed upward spike on the graph as people checked Google on what dengue was and how to take precautions and so on. It is the bottom -up approach of the Prime Minister that has found large sections of the society tuned into his programme.”

The data analysis also found that the Prime Minister’s most frequently used words are “India”, “country”, and “people” and most talked-about topic was development. With the BJP returning to power with a thumping majority, “Mann Ki Baat 2.0” is all set to return on radio.