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What is Mann Ki Baat?
First broadcast on October 3, 2014, Mann Ki Baat is an Indian radio programme in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses citizens on various issues and ideas pertaining to national importance. As of November 29, 2020, there have been 71 episodes of Mann Ki Baat.
As television is not widely available in India yet, especially in isolated rural regions, All India Radio (AIR) was chosen to be the official medium to reach the population.
In 2015, former US President Barack Obama was part of a special Mann Ki Baat show, who had arrived in India to be a part of the Republic Day Parade.
EPISODES
Over 61,000 ideas were received on the Mann Ki Baat website in the first fifteen addresses from which few were selected to become part of the show every month.
The episodes are expected to be 20 to 30 minutes long and aired every month. In the year 2018, there were only 2 episodes of Mann Ki Baat where PM Modi spoke on Yoga and another on the Constitution of India.
In 2017, an AIR survey found that the maximum listeners came from Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh; while the states of Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh had the lowest awareness.
Since 2017, Mann Ki Baat has been available in regional dialects to expand its reach.
The 50th episode of Mann Ki Baat was aired on November 25, 2018.
REVENUE
Since its beginning, the show became a major source of revenue for All India Radio as 10-second advertisement slots earned AIR Rs 200,000.
The show commands much higher advertising rates than any other programme on AIR, including live commentary of the India-Pakistan world cup match, which is usually rated at Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
Over 500,000 dislikes were marked for the 68th episode on August 30, 2020 in BJP's YouTube channel for not addressing issues of JEE(Mains) postponement and NEET(UG) examinations.
The video later became one of the most disliked videos with over 1.2 million thumbs down.