Mann Ki Baat kiosks to come up in 8 cities this month

New Delhi, July 11: In an effort to include more public participation in prime minister Narendra Modi's radio programme, Mann ki Baat, the government has decided to set up kiosks in eight cities.

According to a report in Economic Times, Modi's aides handling the programme have said that kiosks will be set up in 8 cities-Haridwar, Gorakhpur, Indore, Puducherry, Dehradun, Udaipur, Bhilwara and Chennai.

The government earlier used to take up suggestions via toll-free number and website. By installing kiosks, more people will be encouraged to call in before the broadcast of the programme and it will also help the government to gauge the mood at the grassroot level.

In each of his programmes, Modi refers to calls made by people and letter written to him from different states.

The government has been strict about avoiding political potshots during the programme and focusses only on people's stories and anecdotes.

"The PM does not want Mann ki Baat to be about day-to-day governance matters," an aide was quoted in the report. The programme gets close to 50,000 calls every month on the toll-free number and about 1,200 letter to AIR.

OneIndia News