Through 'Mann Ki Baat', I have become like a member of every family: Modi

New Delhi, May 28: Answering the critics of his 'Mann Ki Baat' radio broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he had not thought it would be viewed politically when he launched the programme more than two years back.

He said through the programme, he had "become like a member of every household" of the country, conversing with "my family" about routine issues.

He said that like "an ordinary citizen", he too gets influenced by good or bad things.

"Some people take 'Mann Ki Baat' as a monologue and some criticise it from a political angle," Modi said in his radio programme, the first after the completion of three years of his government.

He was clearly answering criticism by the opposition parties which have been alleging that he only says what he wants to and does not listen to the people's voices.

"When I started 'Mann Ki Baat', I had not thought so," he said about the programme launched on October 2, 2014.

Through the programme, he said he felt like he was conversing with "my family while sitting at home".
He added that there are many families who have written to him these very feelings.

The prime minister then referred to the launch by President Pranab Mukherjee of an analytical book on 'Mann Ki Baat' two days back in the presence of Vice President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and a number of other dignitaries.

Expressing gratitude to the President, the Vice President and the Speaker, he said, "As an ordinary citizen and as an individual, this was very inspirational event for me."

He said the event had given a new dimension to 'Mann Ki Baat'.

While talking about the book, he had praise for Akbar, an artist living in Abu Dhabi, who had offered to sketch the topics on which various episodes of 'Mann Ki Baat' without taking a single rupee.

"Akbar sahab transformed 'Mann Ki Baat' into art as a gesture of his love. I am grateful to Akbar Sahab," Modi said.

During the 30-minute programme, he also emphasised the importance of preserving the environment, laid thrust on cleanliness and waste management, spoke about the importance of yoga and talked about freedom fighters.

Mentioning about environment and cleanliness, he said the central government, with the help of state governments and people's representatives, will launch a major campaign for waste management from June 5, the World Environment Day.

Under the campaign, means for collecting solid and liquid waste will be launched in 4000 cities across the country.

In the context of cleanliness, the prime minister said Reasi block, a far-flung area of Jammu and Kashmir, has been declared as 'open defecation free' and hailed the people, particularly women, and administrators of the area for it.

Referring to the upcoming 3rd International Yoga Day on June 21, Modi invited selfies of three generations of a family -- grandparents, parents and children -- on the pattern of 'selfie with daughter' campaign earlier.

Noting that today was the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, the prime minister said, "Countless great men spent their youth in jails. Several youngsters went to the gallows."

He said the freedom fighters had suffered "despicable miseries and that is how we can now breathe in a free India."

In this context, he referred to the cellular jail of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and said the younger generation should visit it to understand the trouble and torture the freedom fighters had to suffer to achieve freedom.

"Once we go there, we realise why it was called 'Kaala Paani' (dark waters)," he said.

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Average age of school children picking up drugs, smoking habit in 10 Indian cities around 13 years!

News Network

December 13,2025

New Delhi: School-going children are picking up drug and smoking habits and engaging in consumption of alcohol, with the average age of introduction to such harmful substances found to be around 13 years, suggesting a need for earlier interventions as early as primary school, a multi-city survey by AIIMS-Delhi said.

The findings also showed substance use increased in higher grades, with grade XI/XII students two times more likely to report use of substances when compared with grade VIII students. This emphasised the importance of continued prevention and intervention through middle and high school.

The study led by Dr Anju Dhawan of AIIMS's National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, published in the National Medical Journal of India this month, looks at adolescent substance use across diverse regions.

The survey included 5,920 students from classes 8, 9, 11 and 12 in urban government, private and rural schools across 10 cities -- Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Dibrugarh, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jammu, Lucknow, Mumbai, and Ranchi. The data were collected between May 2018 and June 2019.

The average age of initiation for any substance was 12.9 (2.8) years. It was lowest for inhalants (11.3 years) followed by heroin (12.3 years) and opioid pharmaceuticals (without prescription; 12.5 years).

Overall, 15.1 per cent of participants reported lifetime use, 10.3 per cent reported past year use, and 7.2 per cent reported use in the past month of any substance, the study found.

The most common substances used in the past year, after tobacco (4 per cent) and alcohol (3.8 per cent), were opioids (2.8 per cent), followed by cannabis (2 per cent) and inhalants (1.9 per cent). Use of non-prescribed pharmaceutical opioids was most common among opioid users (90.2 per cent).

On being asked, 'Do you think this substance is easily available for a person of your age' separately for each substance category, nearly half the students (46.3 per cent) endorsed that tobacco products and more than one-third of the students (36.5 per cent) agreed that a person of their age can easily procure alcohol products.

Similarly, for Bhang (21.9 per cent), ganja/charas (16.1 per cent), inhalants (15.2 per cent), sedatives (13.7 per cent), opium and heroin (10 per cent each), the students endorsed that these can be easily procured.

About 95 per cent of the children, irrespective of their grade, agreed with the statement that 'drug use is harmful'.

The rates of substance use (any) among boys were significantly higher than those of girls for substance use (ever), use in the past year and use in the past 30 days. Compared to grade VIII students, grade IX students were more likely, and grade XI/XII students were twice as likely to have used any substance (ever).

The likelihood of past-year use of any substance was also higher for grade IX students and for grade XI/XII students as compared to grade VIII students.

About 40 per cent of students mentioned that they had a family member who used tobacco or alcohol each. The use of cannabis (any product) and opioid (any product) by a family member was reported by 8.2 per cent and 3.9 per cent of students, respectively, while the use of other substances, such as inhalants/sedatives by family was 2-3 per cent, the study found.

A relatively smaller percentage of students reported use of tobacco or alcohol among peers as compared to among family members, while a higher percentage reported inhalants, sedatives, cannabis or opioid use among peers.

Children using substances (past year) compared to non-users reported significantly higher any substance use by their family members and peers.

There were 25.7 per cent students who replied 'yes' to the question 'conflicts/fights often occur in your family'. Most students also replied affirmatively to 'family members are aware of how their time is being spent' and 'damily members are aware of with whom they spend their time'.

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