Mann Ki Baat: PM Modi urges people to come forward for organ donation

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged the people to come forward for organ donation and said those who have done organ donation, their families, have actually accomplished a lot of “Punya”.

“Friends, in this era of modern medical science, organ donation has become a very important means of imparting life to someone” he said, while addressing his 99th episode Mann Ki Baat on Sunday.

Prime Minister Modi said, “It is said that when a person donates one’s body after death, it creates a possibility for eight to nine people to get a new life”..adding that it is a matter of satisfaction, that today awareness about Organ Donation is also rising in the country.

“In the year 2013, there were less than five thousand cases of organ donation in our country; but in 2022, this number will increase to more than fifteen thousand,” he said.

He noted that in India, selfless charity, also known as Parmarth, has been placed so high that people do not hesitate to donate their all for the happiness of others.

He expressed satisfaction that his government is working on a uniform policy in the country for organ donation and added that it has been decided to remove the condition of domicile of the states.

It will enable patients to go to any state and register for receiving organs. The government has also decided to abolish the age limit of below 65 years for organ donation.

The Prime Minister spoke of his long-standing desire to know the Mann Ki Baat of people who do such noble deeds. In today’s Mann Ki Baat, he spoke to the parents who donated the organs of their 39 day old baby girl after she passed away. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and his wife Supreet Kaur are residents of Amritsar in Punjab.

They were blessed with a beautiful girl child who they named Ababat Kaur. Sukhbir ji told Prime Minister Modi that the baby had a bunch of nerves in her brain due to which the size of her heart got bigger.

When she was only 39 days old, she suffered a heart attack. Sukhbir ji told Modi that they felt that the child had some purpose in being born and decided to donate her organs.

The Prime Minister praised them for their good deeds saying many people will come forward to save someone’s life after hearing their story.

Sukhbir ji said that they held their heads high with pride when the doctors told them that their daughter had become the youngest donor in India whose organs had been successfully transplanted.

The Prime Minister also had a conversation with Abhijit Chaudhary, son of Snehlata Chaudhary of Jharkhand, who donated her heart, kidney and liver at 63 years of age.

Abhijeet ji told the Prime Minister that four people got their lives back due to the organ donation and two people got back their eyesight. Mr. Modi saluted them for their service to the society.

Touching upon the subject of renewable energy, Modi said that the speed with which India is moving forward in the field of solar energy is a big achievement.

He said that there is a lot of talk about clean energy and renewable energy all over the world these days. He added that people across the world are talking about India’s phenomenal success in this field.

Modi said the people of India have had a special relationship with the Sun for centuries. He pointed out that the scientific understanding Indians have about the power of the Sun, and the traditions of worshiping the Sun, are rarely seen at other places.

The Prime Minster also hailed these efforts, adding that these show how sensitive Indians are about environment and nature. 

Prime Minister mentioned a number of women achievers on the occasion of Navratri.

He said women power has a big role in the New India that is emerging and said Asia’s first female loco pilot Surekha Yadav, has set another record.

She has also become the first woman loco pilot of Vande Bharat Express. Mr Modi took the names of producer Guneet Monga and director Kartiki Gonsalves who brought laurels to the country by winning an Oscar for their documentary, ‘The Elephant Whisperers’.

Jyotirmayi Mohanty, Scientist of Bhabha Atomic Research Center has received a special award from IUPAC in the field of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Mr Modi said that India’s Under-19 women’s cricket team created history by winning the T-20 World Cup.

He mentioned that in Nagaland, for the first time in 75 years, two women legislators have reached the state assembly through their victory. One of them has also been made a minister in the Nagaland government. Mr Modi stressed that for the first time, the people of the state have got a woman minister.

The Prime Minister added that recently, he had met the brave women of NDRF contingent who went to help the people of the earthquake hit Turkiye. India has also deployed a Women-only Platoon in the Peacekeeping Force under the UN Mission.

Mr Modi praised the daughters of the country for raising the flag of their bravery in all three armed forces. Group Captain Shalija Dhami has become the first woman Air Force officer to get a Command Appointment in a Combat Unit. She has a flying experience of about 3000 hours.

Similarly, the Prime Minister mentioned Captain Shiva Chauhan of the Indian Army who has become the first woman officer to be posted at Siachen. Shiva will be stationed for three months in Siachen where the temperature drops to minus sixty degrees.

The Prime Minister added that this energy of women power is the oxygen of a developed India.

Touching upon the topic of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, Mr Modi spoke about the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, in Kashi. The centuries-old historical and cultural ties between Kashi and the Tamil region were celebrated during the event.

The Prime Minister informed that with the spirit of unity, ‘Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam’ will be held in different parts of Gujarat next month.

The ‘Saurashtra-Tamil Sangamam’ will run from 17th to 30th April. Mr Modi elaborated that centuries ago, many people from Saurashtra had settled in different parts of Tamil Nadu. These people are still known as ‘Saurashtri Tamil’. Even today, some glimpses of Saurashtra can be found in their food habits, lifestyle and social rituals.