Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday spoke to the nation on his radio show Mann ki Baat. Speaking about plastic waste, he urged people to observe the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year as a day to make India plastic-free. He also exhorted municipalities, NGOs and the corporate sector to come up with ways for safe disposal of accumulated plastic waste before Diwali. The call for a mass movement came days after Modi's Independence Day's address in which he had urged people to shun 'single-use' plastic to protect the environment. Pm in his Independence day address had said: "Can we free India from single-use plastic? The time for implementing such an idea has come. May teams be mobilised to work in this direction. Let a significant step be made on 2nd October." 

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PM Modi's request on Mann ki Baat for Gandhi Jayanti

In his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat', the prime minister also urged people to participate in the annual 'Swachhta Hi Seva' or 'the quest for cleanliness is service' campaign. He informed the listeners that the annual even will begin on September 11 this year.  He said that along with being open defecation free India should move towards being a plastic-free nation as it spoils the environment. "This year, on Gandhi Jayati, when we celebrate Bapu's 150th birth anniversary, we shall not only dedicate to him an India that is open defecation-free but also shall lay the foundation of a new revolution against plastic, by people themselves, throughout the country," he said. He said people from all strata of the society should celebrate Gandhi Jayanti this year as a day to make "Mother India plastic-free".

Mann Ki Baat: 'World leaders want to discuss Yoga with me' - PM Modi

The prime minister urged all municipalities, municipal corporations, district administrations, gram panchayats, government and non-governmental bodies to work towards ensuring adequate arrangement for collection and storage of plastic waste. "I also appeal to the corporate sector to come out with ways and means for appropriate disposal of all accumulated plastic. It can be recycled; it can be transformed into fuel. This way we can accomplish our task of ensuring safe disposal of plastic waste before this Diwali," he said. Diwali festival this year falls on October 27. He said all that is required to take up the challenge is resolve and "what can be a greater inspiration than Gandhi?".

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PM Narendra Modi on Yoga being a hot topic among world leaders

PM Narendra Modi in his latest edition of Mann Ki Baat on Sunday said that most world leaders he met during his travels as the Prime Minister wanted to discuss Yoga with him. PM Modi credited to this level of awareness on Yoga to the 'International Yoga Day', an event recognised by the United Nations under PM Modi's governance.PM Modi said wherever he went across the globe, people wanted to talk about yoga for at least five-seven minutes. He also said that in recent times the conversation has also begun about Wildlife Conservation and Climate Change. Speaking during his Mann Ki Baat address, PM Narendra Modi said, "I have seen that whenever I have had the opportunity to go as Prime Minister, and of course credit also goes to International Yoga Day, the situation now is that wherever I go in the world or interact with someone, people invariably spend close to five-seven minutes asking questions on yoga. There must hardly be a major world leader who has not discussed yoga with me and this has been my experience all over the world. But these days I’m experiencing something new. Whoever I meet or wherever there is a chance to talk, the focus is on Wildlife, discussions about the environment, the Tiger, the Asiatic Lion, evolution etc. and I am amazed how interested people are in nature."

FULL MANN KI BAAT: Watch and read as PM Narendra Modi addresses the first Mann Ki Baat 2.0 since winning the 2019 Lok Sabha elections