{"id":321596,"date":"2020-03-29T07:28:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T07:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=321596"},"modified":"2020-03-29T07:28:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-29T07:28:27","slug":"mann-ki-baat-tough-measures-needed-to-curb-spread-of-covid-19-says-pm-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/mann-ki-baat-tough-measures-needed-to-curb-spread-of-covid-19-says-pm-modi\/","title":{"rendered":"Mann Ki Baat: Tough measures needed to curb spread of COVID-19, says PM Modi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-316566 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1016\" height=\"556\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01.jpg 1016w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01-768x420.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01-696x381.jpg 696w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/11\/Screenshot_20191111-005858__01-767x420.jpg 767w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/>Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday apologised to the nation for taking such a hard decision of a complete lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">&#8220;I apologize to nation for taking these harsh steps which have caused inconvenience in your lives, especially the poor. \u00a0But these measures were needed to win this battle against the deadly pandemic,\u201d PM Modi said in his \u2018Mann ki Baat\u2019 address to the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">PM Modi said that he knew some of you would be angry with him. But these tough measures were needed to win this battle.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cThe battle against COVID-19 is tough and it did require some tough decisions. It is important to keep the people of India safe,\u201d said Modi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cTogether, India will defeat COVID-19. The Lockdown will keep you as well as your families safe,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Prime Minister said, \u201cWe should take inspiration from all front-line soldiers in the fight against coronavirus, especially nurses, doctors, paramedics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">India honours our Daily Life Heroes. They are doing so much so that we can lead our lives normally. \u201cWe salute those at the forefront of fighting COVID-19,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Modi asked Indians to show courage and follow Lakshman Rekha for several days more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Modi said social distance does not mean emotional distance, \u201cWe have to maintain social distance, not emotional and human distance,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Prime Minister said, \u201cMany have gone into quarantine despite having no symptoms. I applaud them for their spirit of responsibility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday apologised to the nation for taking such a hard decision of a complete lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. &#8220;I apologize to nation for taking these harsh steps which have caused inconvenience in your lives, especially the poor. \u00a0But these measures were needed to win this battle against [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":316566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36],"tags":[3187,316],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321596"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":321598,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321596\/revisions\/321598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/316566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}