‘Our health workers, through their tireless efforts and resolve, set a new example…they established a new benchmark in service to humanity,’ the PM said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday credited the success of administering 100 crore vaccine doses to the country’s healthcare workers.

“I had developed the belief that this campaign would achieve such a huge success! I had this firm faith, since I am well acquainted with the capabilities of my country and her people. I knew that our healthcare workers would leave no stone unturned in the vaccination of our countrymen. Our health workers, through their tireless efforts and resolve, set a new example…they established a new benchmark in service to humanity through innovation and sheer determination,” Prime Minister Modi said in his monthly radio programme ‘Man Ki Baat.’

He added: “The figure of 100 crore vaccine doses might surely be enormous, but there are lakhs of tiny inspirational and pride-evoking experiences, numerous examples that are associated with it.”

On Saturday, PM Modi interacted with domestic vaccine manufacturers and appreciated their hard work and confidence given by them during the pandemic. While asking them to institutionalize the best practices learnt during the last one-and- a- half-year and modify practices in tune with the global standards, he said the entire world is looking up to India, in the backdrop of the success of the vaccination drive.

However, in his ‘Man Ki Baat’ programme, PM Modi also drew the attention of listeners towards India’s first Home Minister Sarder Patel’s birth anniversary on October 31.

Stating that India celebrates October 31 as ‘National Unity Day,’ PM Modi appealed to countrymen that “We must associate ourselves with some activity that conveys the message of national unity. You must have noticed that recently Gujarat Police took out a Bike rally from the Lakhpat Fort in Kutch to the Statue of Unity. To celebrate Unity Day the personnel of Tripura Police are organising a Bike Rally from Tripura to the Statue of Unity… That is connecting the country from East to West. Personnel of Jammu- Kashmir police too are giving this message of unity of the country by taking out a similar Bike Rally from Uri to Pathankot.”

To convey the point of national unity, PM Modi quoted Sardar Patel as saying that “We can take our country to loftier heights only through our united efforts. If we don’t have unity amongst ourselves, we will get entangled in ever new calamities.”

PM Modi also highlighted humans’ desire for continuous progress, stating, “Howsoever science may advance, howsoever much the pace of progress may be, howsoever grand the buildings may be, life feels incomplete. But when song-music, art, drama-dance, literature is added to these, their aura, their liveliness increases many times.”

PM Modi also talked about doubling of women participation in the Central Armed Police Forces in the last seven years and their undertaking the most difficult training of Specialized Jungle Warfare Commandos.