MODI’S PASSION PIONEERS PROGRESS!

The narrators recount instances showcasing PM Narendra Modi’s enduring love and profound passion for technology, which has continuously propelled him ahead of his time. Since his earliest days, Modi has consistently marked September 17 each year as a day to celebrate his birthday among the people, emphasising their care, welfare, and myriad other concerns.

Modi’s love for technology makes him stay ahead of times - Amrut Patel, Ahmedabad

In my area, Bapu Nagar, there is Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium. A winter camp of the RSS was once organised there. Being in charge of the area, I had a lot of responsibilities on my head for smooth conduct of the event. This was in 1978 and all the tents were in place two-three days before the beginning of the camp. Back then, telephones were not common, not even in anyone’s home. In my area, to make a phone call, I had to go the post office. Such were the times, when I saw Modi sitting with some people at the ground with all the arrangements for a telephone connection at the venue. Telephone lines were to be installed in the camp. But Modi ji was not thinking about one telephone connection. He was thinking beyond that. The camp was planned in a way that there were different tents spread all across the stadium, each with its own responsibilities and functions. For instance, there was a pandal set up only for meetings. Another was rigged up for dining and cooking related facilities. There was yet another tent that was meant for handling medical emergencies of the attendees and likewise, more such separate departments were set up at the venue. Now, what Modi ji ideated was to provide each of these entities, a telephone connection, that would be connected to the main telephone. Simply speaking, it was the concept of extension lines or extension numbers as we know it today. But at that time, it was a novel concept which none of us had thought or known of. It was never done before in any programme of Sangh, simply because no one had thought of it or realised its importance. Modi’s love and deep passion for technology has always made him stand ahead in time.

Modi’s b’days have always been dedicated to the nation

For Modi, birthday means selfless service. He is very strict about work and duties. Be it a minister or a party worker, Modi ji’s yardstick is the same. When once asked if a minister could celebrate his birthday and skip a cabinet meeting on a particular day, he strictly refused to give permission and said, a birthday is to be celebrated by the people. What is there to celebrate our own birthday? Our first priority is work and we must stick to that. It is Modi ji who gave us the idea of adopting a tribal child and taking care of his/her health and education on the birthday of our children in the family. So we started to celebrate every birthday or birth of our children by adopting one poor child instead of spending extravagantly on fun and frolic.

On his birthday in 2015, the PM visited the military exhibition Shauryanjali to mark the golden jubilee of the 1965 IndoPak war. In 2016, he visited Navsari and celebrated his birthday by attending an event organised for aid-distribution to the differently-abled persons. On his birthday in 2017, Modi ji inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam project and also spent the day with school children in Varanasi. In 2019, he released scores of colourful butterflies at Butterfly Garden in Kevadia. He also visited the Cactus Garden and river rafting sports facility at the place. In 2022, after the Covid-induced lockdown, Modi ji celebrated his birthday by introducing the Cheetah in India at Kuno in MP.

Modi ji says, over 1 billion Indians march a step ahead of me. Their hard work and dedication inspires me and gives me immense happiness to dedicate my life at their service. That is why he makes it a point every year to celebrate his birthday on September 17 amidst people, in their care and welfare.

Country’s edu landscape saw paradigm shift under Modi’s leadership

Modi ji had said, if we have to stand tall in the 21st century world with our heads held high, there can be no compromise in education. It is our great responsibility to watch out how we are nurturing and preparing our children of today who would take up the responsibility of the nation 15-20 years from now. He was always concerned that all children should go to school. For this, he started the Shala Pravesh Utsav, under which a silent movement was started in the villages, especially during the admission season every year, to ensure not one child was left out from school admission in any village. Ministers, chief ministers all came down to the villages and created such an atmosphere that today we have achieved 100% success in school admissions. His concern was also the greater participation of the girl child in education.

Once, he had a huge collection of mementos, shawls, and such other gifts he had received during his visits to different places, which he wanted to bring to some good use. He then asked what to do with them and finally himself decided that those articles should be auctioned and the money generated from the same be spent on the education of the girl child. When he came to Dang, he was told that the ashram shalas for the tribal students were not in that great shape and if they could be upgraded with more funding and better infrastructure, children would get quality education. Modi ji immediately upgraded all the ashram shalas in Eklavya Model schools that seminally changed the education scenario in the tribal belt. In Gujarat the dropout ratio was almost as high as 22% in 2003.

All the collectors, SPs, secretaries and ministers were involved and given the task to ensure that children were brought to schools. Drop-out ratio dropped to less than 1%. And importantly, there is now greater accountability on teachers and principals to ensure all are present and quality education is imparted and fourth, school infrastructure has improved a lot under the initiatives. Also, people’s participation has increased in school management that has in turn, increased accountability as well as transparency.

When the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme was launched in 2014, we didn’t have any brand ambassadors. But our brand ambassadors were common people, people present in nook and corner of every non-descript village in the country, who were working tirelessly and carrying forward the torch of education to enlighten the lives of millions of children for a bright future of India.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY SHASHIKANT SHARMA