The People's Programme - By, for and of the people

Last year, as India was celebrating 75 years of Independence, almost every household hoisted the national Tricolour in their homes between August 13 and August 15. Since its conception, the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign was meant to maximise public participation. Of the many steps that were taken to ensure jan bhagidari (public participation), one crucial step that ensured participation at population scale was Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking about Har Ghar Tiranga in his monthly radio address — Mann Ki Baat.

Last year in the 91st edition of his monthly radio address on July 31, in the run up to India’s Independence Day celebrations, the Prime Minister used the reach and the apolitical nature of Mann Ki Baat to urge every Indian to hoist the National Flag in their homes. The results are there for everybody to see.

Government missions such as Swachh Bharat, Atmanirbhar Bharat and social topics such as education of girls and women led development were covered several times by the Prime Minister in his programme. This has brought about immense visible behavioural change in our outlook towards hygiene, in our consumption patterns, and in correction of the skewed sex ratio. In one of the early episodes of the programme, PM Modi mentioned Khadi products and urged people to use them. In the last eight years, the production in the Khadi sector has increased by 191 per cent while sales have increased by 332 per cent.

Why do government ministries and departments in spite of well-endowed publicity and marketing budgets wish for the Prime Minister to cover their initiatives in the monthly radio address? As the Prime Minister delivers his 100th Mann Ki Baat on April 30, it is worth analysing the reasons for the success of the programme. In my view, the most compelling explanation seems to be three interrelated reasons — credible content, consistent communication, and consumer-and-community centricity.

Credible Content — apolitical and positive platform

A recent study on Mann Ki Baat revealed that 96 per cent of the country's population is aware of Mann Ki Baat and 100 crore people have listened to it at least once. Over 23 crore people listen to Mann Ki Baat regularly and 75 per cent of the listeners were optimistic about the programme. The apolitical nature of the programme, and positive stories and incidents have established an emotional connection with the audience. Further, the Prime Minister’s empathetic approach and he directly addressing every citizen has reinforced credibility of the programme. Studies suggest that nearly 71 per cent of the respondents believe Mann Ki Baat to be an effective medium for the Prime Minister to communicate with the citizens.

One of the primary reasons for these staggering numbers is that the content infuses a sense of hope and triumph against adversities. Increasingly, in a world where news coverage delves on strife and despair, the air of positivity instils a sense of proportion that a lot of good continues to take place in this country. Moreover, this good is driven by the common person on the ground.

Consistent communication

In today’s world, attention spans are short. Many marketing strategies suggest that long running programmes could lead to audience attrition. However, Mann Ki Baat has bucked this trend. As the head of the nation, the Prime Minister is always on the move. People are aware of the Prime Minister’s punishing schedule and his attention to detail. In spite of this, people feel that he consistently shows up at a fixed time — the last Sunday of every month to engage with them one-on-one. PM Modi’s ability to prioritise the programme and show up consistently have often led to people asking the question — If the Prime Minister can show up every month consistently then what is stopping me from listening in?

Also, Mann Ki Baat has been able to break linguistic and geographical barriers in multiple ways. It is broadcast in multiple languages as it is translated by All India Radio (AIR) into 22 Indian languages, 29 dialects, and 11 foreign languages, apart from English. It, therefore, reaches remote areas and enables personal connections, ensuring that consistent communication is met with familiarity of one’s language.

Community Centricity

Many of the stories in Mann Ki Baat are picked up by the Prime Minister first hand when common citizens write to him about interesting events or accomplishments. Furthermore, the achievements that are spoken about are also usually of common people and localised events that relate to local communities. This mesh of contributors and consumers being common people with the Prime Minister himself providing a platform to interact has been a key reason for the enduring popularity of the programme.

In the 98th edition of Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister announced the winners of the competitions organised by the ministry of culture — 'Geet' - Patriotic Songs, 'Lullabies' and 'Rangoli'. He recognised one of the winners — Sachin Narendra Avsari from Sangli, Maharashtra — for depicting the Jallianwala Bagh massacre and highlighted the bravery of Udham Singh. The fact that the Prime Minister announced the name of a normal person who won a competition created a great deal of interest. Many more would now want to unleash their creative skills after hearing about the winner.

The many themes discussed by the Prime Minister also resonate with our largest demographic — the youth. The topics covered by the Prime Minister also include issues that are not usually discussed in family settings such as depression and mental health, and drug abuse. The Prime Minister has often spoken about exam stress, the youth’s contribution in entrepreneurship and technology advancement and in bringing laurels in the sporting domain.

The success of Mann Ki Baat may not be easy for others to replicate as the ingredients of credible content, consistent communication, and consumer and community centricity are topped up with PM Modi’s own personal charisma. Therefore this century is a milestone that indeed needs to be lauded.

(G Kishan Reddy is the Union minister of tourism, culture and DoNER and represents the Secunderabad Constituency in the Lok Sabha)