On October 3, 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began to speak to the country by radio in a program called Mann Ki Baat, “words from the heart.” It airs on the last Sunday of every month at 11 a.m. Radio was chosen because television does not reach everywhere, and an estimated 90 percent of Indians can be reached by radio.
Audience figures conflict. A survey by IIM Rohtak put regular listeners and viewers at no fewer than 230 million. A CSDS study in 2022 found that about 5 percent listened monthly and that at least 60 percent had never listened.