‘India is With Nepal in This Hour of Crisis,’ Says PM Modi in ‘Mann ki Baat’

NEW DELHI: In his monthly radio address Mann ki Baat today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at length of the Saturday’s devastating quake, which claimed over 1800 lives in neighbouring Nepal in 53 lives in India.
“I did not feel like conducting the Mann ki Baat today. I felt anguished… it appears as if a series of national disasters have started,” the Prime Minister said at the outset.
Last week, a cyclonic storm in Bihar killed over 50 people and in March and April, unseasonal rains have destroyed crops worth crores in India. Saturday’s quake has killed over 1800 people in Nepal and 53 in India.
“India is with Nepal in this hour of crisis. Nepal’s pain is India’s pain,” he said. “The first thing is to beef up rescue operation. Relief and rehabilitation operations will continue.”
India has dispatched military aircraft and personal to help in rescue and relief efforts. The Prime Minister himself is monitoring the operations.
“I had seen the 2001 quake in Gujarat’s Kutch from close quarters… I know how devastating earthquakes can be,” he said. “I can imagine what the people of Nepal must be going through.”The world will feel that India’s motto is service, he said, mentioning in this context the rescue operations in Yemen.
The half-hour address was cut down to 15 minutes, with the Prime Minister dispensing with the question-answer session, in which addresses queries from the people. This was the seventh time PM Modi was addressing the nation on radio.
On March 22, he had addressed the farmers’ concerns in the light of crop losses due to unseasonal rain and the protests against the government’s proposed land acquisition reforms.
Earlier, the Prime Minister had addressed students ahead of the exam season, the youth regarding drug abuse, India’s successful Mars Orbiter Mission, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and other government programmes and initiatives.
On January 27, there had been joint-address with US President Barack Obama, who was at visiting India at the time as the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations.