Prime Minister Narendra Modi has complimented a farmer from Telangana, Chintala Venkat Reddy, for developing breeds of rice and wheat with vitamin D and getting patent rights for it from the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Speaking to people over All India Radio on Sunday as part of the 21st episode of his ‘Mann ki Baat’ 2.0 programme, he termed the achievement of Mr. Venkat Reddy as one of the innumerable examples of people contributing to ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’, which he said has become a sentiment flowing in the hearts of the common folk. “When we talk of science, then many a time people restrict it to physics-chemistry or labs. But, the spread of science is much more than that and there is a lot of contribution of the power of science in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign”, the Prime Minister said underscoring the need to move science forward with the mantra of ‘Lab to Land’ .
The Prime Minister stated a doctor friend of Mr. Venkat Reddy had told him (the farmer) about the diseases caused by deficiency of vitamin D and the dangers thereof. An innovative farmer he is, Mr. Venkat Reddy thought what he could do about solving this problem. The problem made him work on developing breeds of wheat and rice that contain vitamin D and he succeeded in his efforts, the Prime Minister said, adding that Mr. Venkat Reddy had received patent for his breeds of rice and wheat with vitamin D content from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, Geneva, this month itself. “Our government is fortunate that Mr. Venkat Reddy was also honoured with Padmashri award last year,” the Prime Minister mentioned.
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Making mention of Hyderabad again, Mr. Modi said that even a very small and simple question rankles the mind sometimes. “Although such questions are not very long and are very simple, they make us think. A few days ago one Aparna Reddy of Hyderabad had asked me one such question”.
She asked: “You have been PM for so many years and were CM for so many years. Do you ever feel that something is missing?” Her question seems simple but was equally difficult. “I pondered this over and told myself that one of my shortcomings was that I could not make much effort to learn Tamil, one of the oldest languages in the world,” Mr. Modi said.
The Prime Minister stated that he could not make himself learn Tamil. Many people had told him a lot about the quality of Tamil literature and the depth of the poems written in it.
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On the ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ to be held in March he requested all exam warriors (students), parents and teachers to share their experiences and tips on “MyGov” platform and Narendra Modi app. Along with the youth, parents and teachers were also invited to ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ this time, the Prime Minister noted.