Bill Gates said Mann ki Baat has catalysed community-led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment 
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Bill Gates said Mann ki Baat has catalysed community-led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Saturday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on completing 100 episodes of his popular radio show ‘Mann ki Baat.’ The 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’ will be broadcasted this Sunday.
‘Mann ki Baat’ was started in 2014 to establish a dialogue with the citizens on issues of day-to-day governance. In this programme, PM Modi speaks on many pressing issues such as government policies and reforms, students and education patterns, cultural diversity, sports, extraordinary citizens, and others. It has been the genesis, medium, and amplifier of social changes like Swachh Bharat, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Water conservation, Vocal for Local, etc.
Speaking about ‘Mann ki Baat’s reach, Gates said: "Mann ki Baat has catalysed community-led action on sanitation, health, women’s economic empowerment & other issues linked to the Sustainable Development Goals."
Mann ki Baat 100th episode
The BJP is going all out to make the 100th episode of PM Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcast an "unprecedented" mass outreach programme and has planned to organise facilities at 100 venues on average in every assembly constituency across the country for people to listen to it. BJP sources said the party will make arrangements at around four lakh places, including abroad, for people to hear Modi's address, with party president J P Nadda overseeing the entire exercise to make it a "historic" success.
The party's overseas units and several non-political organisations have also been roped in to ensure that the radio broadcast has the maximum outreach.
In all Raj Bhawans, official residences of governors, and the homes of chief ministers from the BJP or its allies, arrangements have been made for eminent citizens to listen to the programme, they said.
Padma awardees from all states have been invited to attend the events at Raj Bhavans, they said.
Mann ki Baat's reach and popularity
A recent study by Indian Insitute of Mass Communications (IIMC) stated that around 76% of Indian media persons believe the popular radio programme Mann Ki Baat has played a significant role in introducing the real Bharat to countrymen.
The study highlighted that the special radio programme has initiated a trend where people are now more aware of the things in other parts of the country and they have started appreciating them.
In a separate survey, the Indian Institute of Management, Rohtak, found that nearly 23 crore people tune in to the 'Mann ki Baat' programme, which goes on air on the last Sunday of every month with 65 per cent of listeners preferring to hear the talk in Hindi.
The survey also found that the 'Mann ki Baat' programme is heard more on TV channels followed by mobile phones, with radio listeners accounting for 17.6 per cent of the total listenership.
It found that more than 100 crore people have listened to the programme at least once, while around 41 crore were occasional listeners.
Prasar Bharti Chief Executive Officer Gaurav Dwivedi said apart from 22 Indian languages and 29 dialects, 'Mann Ki Baat' is broadcast in 11 foreign languages such as French, Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Arabic, Pashtu, Persian, Dari and Swahili.
Dwivedi said the programme is being broadcast by more than 500 centres of the All India Radio.
The survey found that 18 per cent of the respondents chose to listen to the programme in English, four per cent in Urdu, and two per cent each in Dogri and Tamil.
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