Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the nation through his monthly radio show Mann Ki Baat. It was the 46th edition of the show.

PM Modi, in today’s edition of Mann ki Baat, appealed to the nation to care for the environment, celebrate eco-friendly Ganesh Utsav and encouraged the youth to instill and revive their spirit to serve the nation.

The prime minister applauded athletes, Hima Das and Ekta Bhyan saying that that they went against their adverse conditions to achieve success and are an inspiration for the people.

Here are the top quotes from PM Modi’s address:

• I came across news of a student Asharam Chowdhary from Madhya Pradesh belonging to an extremely poor family. He cleared exam in the first attempt to get admission in MBBS at Jodhpur AIIMS. His father is a rag-picker. I congratulate him on his success: PM Modi
• Recently, famous poet Neeraj ji passed away. He always exuded hope, faith, resolve confidence. We can draw a lot of inspiration from him: PM Modi
• PM Modi hailed the achievements of athletes Hima Das and Ekta Bhyan saying that, “In Junior U-20 World Athletics Championship, India’s brave daughter Hima Das made history by winning a gold medal in 400m race event. Ekta Bhyan, another daughter of the country, has won gold & bronze medals in World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2018”.
• Talking about the environmental-friendly practices PM Modi said, “My dear countrymen, I had requested last time too and now, while remembering Lokmanya Tilak, I will once again urge all of you to celebrate Ganesh Utsav with great enthusiasm but insist on keeping these celebrations eco-friendly.”
• “We remember and pay our homage to Tilak ji on his birth anniversary on 23rd July and his death anniversary on August 1. Lokmanya Tilak was full of courage and self-confidence. He had the courage to show a mirror to the British about their wrong doings,” PM said.
• Lokmanya Tilak was full of courage & self-confidence. He had courage to show a mirror to the British about their wrongdoings. The British were so afraid of Lok Manya Tilak that they tried to charge him of sedition thrice in 2 decades; this is no small thing,” he said.
• PM Modi also spoke about the Thai cave rescue and said, “Recently, an incident pertaining to natural disaster attracted global attention. In Thailand, a team of 12 teenaged football players, their coach went on excursion to cave. On one hand, they were struggling against all odds; on the other, the world over, humanity joined hands in expressing the noblest and the most righteous of human virtues.”
• Anyway, good news of their safe exit spread sigh of relief, sense of inner calm. But I feel like viewing entire sequence of events from another perspective, i.e, how the operation was conducted! During operation, a sailor from Thailand Navy sacrificed his life,” he added.
• Let us be lovers of nature, protectors of Nature, conservers of Nature and thus ensure spontaneous balance in her myriad bounty.