‘People should be safe, the pace of economic activities of the country should be maintained,’ he said in his address to the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said about 60% of the youth in the age group of 15 to 18 years had got vaccinated against COVID-19 within three to four weeks. It would help them continue with their studies. Till now, close to 4.50 crore children had been inoculated.“Another good thing is that within 20 days, one crore people have taken the precaution dose as well…now the cases of Corona infection have also started decreasing, this is a very positive sign. People should be safe, the pace of economic activities of the country should be maintained,” said Mr. Modi, during his “Mann Ki Baat” address to the nation.Paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, the Prime Minister said now the Republic Day functions would start from January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and continue till January 30.
Astro-turf stadium
Mr. Modi said Ladakh would soon get an open synthetic track and astro-turf football stadium, certified by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Being built at a height of more than 10,000 feet, the stadium — with a capacity of 30,000 spectators — would have a synthetic track with eight lanes and a hostel with one thousand beds. It would create many job opportunities.Stating that as part of Amrit Mahotsav, many national awards were given away, Mr. Modi said the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Baal Puraskaar were conferred on the children who rendered courageous and inspirational work.Many of the Padma awardees this year were “unsung heroes”. They included Basanti Devi (Uttarakhand), who worked for environment protection and women empowerment; Lorembam Beino Devi (Manipur), who had been conserving the Liba textile art of Manipur; Arjun Singh (Madhya Pradesh), who promoted the art of Baiga tribal dance; and Amai Mahalinga Naik, the “tunnel man” from Karnataka who made innovations in agriculture.Mr. Modi said he received “Mann Ki Baat” post cards from over one crore children, many also from abroad. He shared the thoughts expressed by Riddhima Swargiyari (Guwahati), Navya Verma (Prayagraj), Mohammed Ibrahim (Chennai), Bhavna (Madhya Pradesh) and Laurencio Pereira (Goa). The Prime Minister also got 75 cards from the students of the School of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, Croatia.Recounting the contributions of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Sardar Patel, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Maharaja Gaikwad, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh in building educational institutions, Mr. Modi said the same spirit was reflected in the ₹1-lakh donation by Taimmal, from Udumalpet in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruppur district, to the school where her children were enrolled. Her family sells tender coconut for a living.A similar donation, of about ₹7.50 crore, was made by IIT BHU alumnus, Jai Chaudhary, to the IIT BHU Foundation, said Mr. Modi, adding that to further enhance such efforts, from September last year, Vidyanjali Abhiyan had been started.Mr. Modi congratulated Thounaojam Niranjoy Singh from Manipur for setting up a record of 109 push-ups in a minute.Stating that love for nature and compassion for every living being was India’s culture, the Prime Minister said when a tigress recently passed away in Madhya Pradesh’s Pench Tiger Reserve, people bid her an emotional farewell. The tigress gave birth to 29 cubs in her lifetime and raised 25 of them to maturity. He also mentioned about the charger mount of the President’s Bodyguard, Virat, who took part in his last Republic Day parade this year.On the issue of animal protection, while referring to a song of Bharat Ratna Bhupen Hazarika about Kaziranga, Mr. Modi said due to the Assam government’s efforts, the killings of rhinoceros had gone down from 37 in 2013 to just one in 2021.Talking about Indian culture, the Prime Minister said it always attracted people from all over the world. Reminiscing his 2018 visit to Argentina, he highlighted the works of an organisation, Hastinapur Foundation, which propagated Indian Vedic traditions. Founded 40 years ago by Professor Aida Albrecht, who turned 90 on Sunday, the foundation now had over 40,000 members and about 30 branches in Argentina and other Latin American countries. It had published more than 100 Vedic and philosophical texts in Spanish language.