PM Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' programme has 23 cr regular listeners: Survey

Nearly 23 crore people tune in to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Mann ki Baat' programme on the last Sunday of every month with 65 per cent listeners preferring to hear the talk in Hindi, according to a survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Management-Rohtak.

The survey also found that the 'Mann ki Baat' programme, the 100th edition of which will be broadcast this coming Sunday, is heard more on television 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.

"As many as 44.7 per cent of the total listeners hear the programme on television sets, while 37.6 per cent tune in on mobile phones," Dheeraj P Sharma, Director of IIM-Rohtak, told reporters here on Monday.

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, conducted by the students of IIM-Rohtak, reached out to 10,003 respondents in four zones -- North, South, East and West -- and across various age groups, with a majority of them being self-employed and those in the informal sector.

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.

Listeners of other languages such as Mizo, Maithili, Assamese, Kashmiri, Telugu, Odia, Gujarati and Bengali together accounted for nine per cent of the total listenership, it found.

The survey found that 73 per cent respondents felt optimistic about the government's working and the country's progress, while 58 per cent said their living conditions have improved. As many as 59 per cent have reported increased trust in the government.

The general sentiment towards the government can be gauged from the fact that 63 per cent respondents said their approach to the government has become positive and 60 per cent have shown interest in working for nation building, it found.

The survey found that the most popular themes of the 'Mann ki Baat' programme were scientific achievements of India, stories of common citizens, gallantry of the armed forces, issues related to the youth, environment and natural resources.