Soon after the Union Cabinet decided to ban red beacons on VIP cars, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said people must also move away from the mindset of VIP culture.
“In the New India concept, instead of VIP, there has to be EIP or Every Person is Important,” he said in his monthly radio broadcast Mann Ki Baat .
Stressing that if every person is considered important in a country of 1.25 billion people, he said India can achieve great things.
Starting Monday or May 1, the red beacon light on top of cars of dignitaries and government officials will be banned. A blue beacon will only be used for emergency services such as ambulances and vehicles of the fire service, police, and army.
The Prime Minister also raised concern over climate change, which he noted was not only an issue of seminars and conferences but was also being experienced now.
“Nature has changed. The heat we felt in May and June is now felt in March and April,” he said while urging citizens to take care of their health and also take care of animals and birds by putting water outside their houses.
With examinations now over, the Prime Minister also encouraged students to move out of their “comfort zone” to learn new skills like a language or a musical instrument, auto driving or swimming or travel across the country.
Urging them not to just immerse themselves in technology, he said that the youth must use “out of the box” ideas to spend their summer vacations.
He also said the youth can help in popularising the BHIM App and Digital India and also earn money through it. For every referral that joins the BHIM App and makes three transactions, a person gets Rs 10 in their account.
“You will help Digital India through the scheme Refer and Earn,” he said, adding that this can be done by traders and merchants also.