Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the people of the country to strive to further the momentum, the field of sports has gained through the recent Olympics and contribute whatever they can to promote sports culture in the country.
He said, the nation must garner expertise in a variety of sports taking advantage of this opportunity.
In his Mann Ki Baat Programme on All India Radio today, Mr Modi said, sports competitions should be held everywhere including remote villages and other parts of the country as it is only through competition that sports shall evolve.
He added that this time, the Olympics has created a major impact on the mindset of the people and whatever India earned in Olympics may be lesser in comparison with the world, but enough has happened to boost the confidence and belief of Indians.
The Prime Minister said, today, it is not that the youth is just watching sports, they are also looking at possibilities of getting associated with it. He said, now sports has begun to be discussed in every family.
Stressing on the need to accord permanence to this momentum, the Prime Minister said, at home or elsewhere, in villages or cities, the playgrounds must be full of activities.He asserted that it is only through collective endeavour of all that India can attain glorious heights in Sports.
Remembering Major Dhyan Chand on his birth anniversary today, Mr. Modi, while referring to Indian Hockey teams’ performance in Tokyo Olympics, said, wherever Major Dhyan Chand ji’s soul must be at this moment, it must be feeling overjoyed since it was his hockey that brought glory to India in the whole world. And four decades later, the youth of India, once again infused vitality in Indian hockey.
The Prime Minister said the mind of the youth has undergone a transformation and today’s young minds, shunning obsolete, age old methods and patterns and want to do something new altogether. They do not want to tread the ready-made beaten paths but want to carve out newer paths. In this context, Mr. Modi gave the example of how college students and young people working in the Universities and the private sector enthusiastically came forward, when India opened its Space Sector some time ago.
Mr. Modi expressed confidence that in the coming days, a large number of satellites will be of those developed by Indian youth. He added that similarly, now young people are moving away from family traditions and expressing the wish to do a startup and willing to take a risk. The Prime Minister said the startup culture is expanding even to smaller cities which is an indication of a bright future.
Talking about Janmashtami, which will be celebrated through out the nation tomorrow, the Prime Minister shared his recent experience and said someone had left an art book for him outside his residence. In this book, there were many forms and many magnificent pictures of Bhagwan Shri Krishna. Mr. Modi met Jaduarani Dasi, who has left the book outside his home. Born and brought up in America, Jadurani Dasi is connected to ISKCON and is well trained in Bhakti Arts. Mr. Modi also shared his conversation with her.
Highlighting the importance of the cleanliness campaign, Mr. Modi said that today, when the country is celebrating the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence, it has to remember that it should never let the resolve of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan diminish.
He lauded Indore for its cleanliness drive saying the city has created a special identity of its own in relation to cleanliness. He said, now the people of Indore have decided to maintain a Water Plus City and are striving for it with all their might. The greater the number of cities which are Water Plus in the country, cleanliness will increase further, rivers will also become clean.
Mr Modi also discussed the Sukhet Model of Dr. Rajendra Prasad Agricultural University of BIHAR. The purpose of this model is to reduce pollution in the villages. Under this model, dung and other household waste is collected from the farmers of the village and in return the villagers are given money for cooking gas cylinders. The Prime Minister urged every panchayat of the country to think of doing something like this in their villages.
Mr. Modi also gave the example of the Kanjirangal Panchayat of Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu where the Gram Panchayat along with the local people has started an indigenous project to generate electricity from waste in their village. The garbage is collected from the entire village, electricity is generated from it and the residual products are also sold as pesticides.
In his monthly address, the Prime Minister also highlighted the need to create awareness about Sanskrit saying it is our collective duty to cherish our heritage, preserve it and pass it on to the new generation. Mr Modi also shared an audio in which a group of Radio Jockeys are talking in Sanskrit. They run the Community Radio Initiative, Radio Unity 90 FM and talk to their listeners in Sanskrit language.
The Prime Minister said, through its thoughts and medium of literary texts, Sanskrit helps nurture knowledge and also strengthens national unity. Mr. Modi also said, he recently got to know about many such people who are engaged in the inspirational work of teaching Sanskrit in foreign countries.
On Vishwakarma Jayanti to be celebrated in the next few days, the Prime Minister said, Bhagwan Vishwakarma is considered as the symbol of creative power behind the genesis of the world. He said, even though skill is being recognized in a new way in the world today, our sages and seers have emphasized on skill and scale for thousands of years.
He said, whichever great creations are there, whatever new and big works have been done, our scriptures ascribe them to Bhagwan Vishwakarma.
It is in a way a symbol of the thought that whatever development and innovation is happening in the world happens only through skills. The Prime Minister said, in the view of our scriptures, all the skilled, talented people engaged in the process of creation and building are the legacy of Bhagwan Vishwakarma and people lives without such individuals would be unfathomable. He added that but during the long period of slavery and subjugation, the feeling that gave such respect to skill gradually faded into oblivion. The thinking became such that skill based tasks were considered inferior. And now the whole world is emphasizing the most on skill.
The Prime Minister said the worship of Bhagwan Vishwakarma is also not to be completed only with formalities. People have to respect the talent and work hard to be skilled. The Prime Minister said, there is no dearth of opportunities for skilled people in the world today.
In view of COVID-19, the Prime Minister reminded people about the mantra of Dawai Bhi, Kadai Bhi and urged them to vaccinate and take precautions. He said, more than 62 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country, but still people have to be careful and vigilant.
