New Delhi: In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with senior journalists from the print media, including Ramoji Group of Companies Chairperson, Ramoji Rao, who gave his valuable suggestions in India's fight against the virus outbreak.
Ramoji Rao, who represented India's leading regional daily, Eenadu, put forth three suggestions, to which the Prime Minister expressed his gratitude.
Rao stressed upon the urgent need to "insulate" rural India, which constitutes around 65 per cent of the nation's total population.
"We should take steps to ensure that all villages are insulated. Media will do its job to inform people, but I feel more stringent measures are required. Once we insulate 65 per cent of our population, we can reduce the burden on our healthcare system," he said.
In his second suggestion, Rao asked the Prime Minister to take the assistance of India's "robust" pharmacy industry and provide them with adequate support in their quest for a vaccine against COVID-19.
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In line with the suggestion, Prime Minister Modi said that he had already interacted with people from the pharmacy industry via video conferencing. "The entire world has expectations from India in this regard. I have full belief that the private sector will be able to deliver," Modi said.
Finally, Rao said that India should learn from the experiences of China and Italy - two countries worst-hit by the pandemic.
"Experts from the government can study what steps these nations have taken, and what we can do to stop the outbreak from hurting India," he said.
The Prime Minister interacted with around twenty senior journalists from fourteen different locations across India. The participants represented both national and regional media houses.
During the interaction, Modi asked the media to act as a link between the government and people and provide continuous feedback at both national and regional levels.
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