Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 137th episode of Mann Ki Baat on 30 August 2026, speaking to citizens about citizen-led initiatives that are reshaping how India understands its history, tackles drug addiction, empowers street vendors, and maintains public cleanliness. The broadcast showcased stories of individual effort making national impact across multiple sectors.
What was discussed
History website: The Prime Minister highlighted bharatrajya.com, created by Krishna Seshadri from Mumbai. The website allows citizens to select any year and discover which rulers governed different regions of India at that time. Seshadri, an engineer and MBA graduate who works in marketing, built the platform to make Indian history more engaging by covering lesser-known empires like the Cholas, Pallavas, Karkota dynasty and Ahoms, which the Prime Minister noted are often underrepresented in school curricula.
Drug prevention campaign: The Prime Minister called on content creators, musicians, students and theatre groups to develop slogans, songs, plays and social media content promoting drug-free youth under the ‘Nasha-mukt Yuva for Viksit Bharat’ campaign, with contributions to be shared using the hashtag #NashaMuktYuva.
Street vendor support: Around 35 lakh women comprise approximately 46 percent of beneficiaries under the PM SVANidhi Yojana, which provides capital to street vendors. The Prime Minister cited examples including Babita Sharma of Ghaziabad, who expanded her worship materials stall into a proper shop, and T.S. Ningamma of Bengaluru, who grew her food business enough to improve her children’s education.
Public cleanliness: The Prime Minister celebrated local efforts including youth volunteers in Patwai village, Rampur, who removed over one tonne of plastic waste from Ganga ghats, and the Amarnath pilgrimage sanitation drive which collected over 400 metric tonnes of waste. During the pilgrimage, over 16,000 pilgrims took cleanliness pledges and more than 10,000 received ‘Responsible Yatri’ certificates. Waste from pilgrimage animals was converted into biogas for the ‘Swachh Jyot’ lighting initiative.
What this means for you
Citizens now have a public-facing tool to explore India’s complex regional history. If you run a street vending business, the PM SVANidhi scheme remains available to help expand operations with capital support. Young people interested in social campaigns have a platform to contribute creative content on drug prevention. Communities can replicate cleanliness models demonstrated during the Amarnath pilgrimage or by village groups like those in Patwai.