Dear Friends, 

Last Sunday, on the 27th of February, in his मन की बात, our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi spoke on a wide variety of subjects. He spoke on India's heritage, Indian music that is being sung in Tanzania, our mother tongues - their diversity and their importance, Ayurveda, and many more issues. 

In many ways we are working on these issues.  I firmly believe in the importance of the mother tongue.  Languages are a storehouse of our culture and our knowledge, and while we must know and be proficient in English, we should have proficiency and appreciation of our languages.

On Ayurveda, we have established a garden in Mumbai (http://www.vanaspatyam.in/en) that grows Ayurvedic plants and also have a centre within our hospital for treatment of diseases using Ayurveda.

He also spoke on cleanliness.  When he spoke on the importance of cleanliness and gave examples from across the country, we were delighted that he spoke of the efforts of students of Somaiya Vidyavihar (NSS students of the K. J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce) in cleaning and beautifying the Kalyan railway station (Minute 21:20 in the attached youtube video). I am so happy that the work of our students and institution have caught his attention as we try our best to work towards a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable India.

We have always taken pride in our campus and particularly how pretty it is and how green it is.  Keeping a campus clean and green takes planning, execution, and a desire to keep it that way in all our thoughts and action.  The staff of Bhumi work diligently and with pride to keep it looking beautiful, and I have often mentioned to my friends, that all our students, staff, faculty, walkers, and visitors take utmost care to keep it that way.  As the campus has reopened, it is beautiful to see it once again come alive with students, their study, laughter and music.

I have often imagined that Mumbai, Maharashtra, and India could be so beautiful if we all could think like that for our environment.  In that context, the NSS students of the K J Somaiya College of Science and Commerce have shown, that their thoughts and action go beyond our campus to other parts if the city, and so they worked to beautify Kalyan railway station.

A warm congratulations to them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaKVFwk6sU4