Mann ki Baat: Every citizen creates the India story

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Mann ki Baat” will soon enter its hundredth episode. In homes and in roadside restaurants, people listen to what each episode is about. The consistent message of his broadcasts is that we citizens of India are a special people, and need to have the confidence to act in a manner that assists in pushing forward the forward trajectory of India. That governance is not merely about government, in that every citizen has the ability to improve things not only for himself or herself but for others. In a family where the elders spend time educating the young about the importance of issues such as cleanliness, such efforts are an investment in a better future for the country. Efforts could be made to take care that trash bins are easily accessible in a neighbourhood and that those living there avoid littering their surroundings. A clean house by itself will not keep away pathogens unless the areas surrounding it are also hygienically maintained. In 2020, when Covid-19 spread across the world, the importance of personal hygiene became apparent to hundreds of millions across the world. There are countries such as Japan, where for generations, those with a cold wear masks to try and avoid infecting others. Wearing a mask is not just about protecting oneself from infection, it is about taking care not to transfer a virus to others. Those who attentively listen to multiple episodes of Mann ki Baat know that social responsibility is the duty of every citizen. A Zero Sum outcome refers to an individual gaining because another has lost as a consequence of the former’s actions. A Zero Sum world was created during the era of colonisation, when countries were drained of their wealth by external conquerors. An example is India, a country that saw an uncontrolled rise in illiteracy, early mortality and disease during the last hundred and fifty years of colonial rule. Only if “civilisation” means starvation, early death and a wretched existence for the colonised are colonial-era history books that glorify such conquest as anything other than falsehood. In those times, pride among the people in the ancient civilization of India was sought to be extinguished through belittling ancient history as myth and surviving traditions as superstition. Through his Mann ki Baat, the PM’s effort is to remind the people of India that they are the inheritors of a living civilisation that has braved impossible odds to survive, and to now thrive.
Those who are “house proud” work hard at ensuring that a dwelling is kept in an atmosphere that is dirt-free, that the housework runs in the manner of clockwork, and that an ambience conducive to calm and learning is created. In a sense, the entire country may be regarded as the home of each of the 1.38 billion citizens of the Republic of India. A growing awareness of the entirety of India’s history and learnings has created a sense of pride in being Indian that those who continue to look upon the people through a colonial-era lens dislike. Yet it is this pride in civilisational roots, this self-assurance in individual capabilities, that have made settlers from India among the most vibrant and successful citizens of the countries in which they have settled. The disposal of litter in containers rather than having it strewn about is an important element of overall cleanliness. Just as there are groups of occupants in each high rise building that ensure that service remains prompt and efficient, there needs to be similar groups of citizens in every locality who take it upon themselves to ensure that their neighbourhood is kept clean. There are times and places when civic authorities fail to ensure such a situation, and rather than remain inactive or wait for such authorities to be more responsive to the call of duty, what is needed is for citizens living within a location to join in the effort to ensure that every town, every city, finally every village, becomes a model of cleanliness. Were media to depute staff to find out which locations have been the most negligent, and which the most outstanding, the resultant publicity would impel others to avoid being negligent, and incentivise them into working harder at making their own neighbourhood a model that is a source of pride for all residents. Litterbugs could be videographed and streamed without comment, as can those who are the opposite, those who care about the message enunciated again and again in Mann ki Baat, which is that each citizen needs to work towards ensuring an India that becomes a model for the world. As was eloquently expressed by Jawaharlal Nehru on August 15, 1947, “long years ago”, this country’s “tryst with destiny” began. From the start, India was a full democracy with universal suffrage, and has remained so ever since. This is a matter of pride, as is our country’s steady climb up the ladder of economic and technological prowess, a path that is expected to culminate in India becoming the world’s third superpower within a decade. A.P.J Abdul Kalam often spoke of “igniting minds”. That is precisely what is needed, the igniting in all of us the confidence needed to make an energetic effort at making a difference in the weaving of the India story.
MDN