Fish farmers Raju Shivalingappa Huddar and Shivalingappa Satappa Huddar of Bodkyanatti village in Belagavi district, whose success was mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mann Ki Baat on Sunday. | Photo credit: PK BADIGER
Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Bengaluru-based Prayoga Institute of Education Research and Belagavi-based fish farmer during his Mann Ki Baat speech on Sunday.
Mr. Modi spoke about Prayoga’s efforts in popularizing science education at the school level and its educational research project Anveshana.
“I came to know about a unique education-related initiative in Bengaluru. The team here runs the Prayoga Institute of Education Research. This team specializes in research projects. This team is involved in popularizing science education at the school level. They have launched an experiment called Anveshana, which gives students from classes 9 to 12 an opportunity to innovate in fields like chemistry, earth science and wellness,” said Mr. Modi.
He added that this initiative provides students with a very good research experience and a platform to publish their projects.
“Friends, during our Pareeksha Pe Charcha, some students told me that they wanted to study science, but it also scared them. The efforts of the Prayoga team in this direction are commendable. This initiative gives students an opportunity to engage in science and demonstrate practical experience. When we try something first hand, curiosity and interest arise. Who knows, maybe it could be one of these great friends of mine.”
Prayoga founder and lead mentor HS Nagaraja said, “At Prayoga, our focus extends to more than 12,000 government school students, enabling them to learn science through hands-on, experiential methods. These are opportunities that were once unavailable at the school level, and we have made them available. Importantly, all this is provided free of charge through limited education and ensuring access to quality research.”
The institute recently said that four young students from rural Karnataka proved to be a strong reflection of the program’s impact at the local level. As part of Anveshana, they undertook a research project in green chemistry focused on the synthesis of copper oxide nanoparticles using plant extracts.
Fish breeder
Young Raju Shivalingappa Huddar and his father Shivalingappa Satappa Huddar of Bodkyanatti village in Belagavi district achieved significant success in inland agriculture. The people of Bodkyanatti village were very happy that Mr. Modi mentions the success story of Mr. Raju Huddar during Mann Ki Baat.
They grow eel or mudfish using high density aquaculture biofloc. Mr. Raju and his father have been raising fish since 2024. They have built four farm ponds on one acre. They brought the cubs from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and spent around ₹ 30 lakh as initial investment. They earn around ₹20,000 every 10 months. The fertility of their soil has increased as they use the waste water from the farm pond to irrigate their four-acre farm.
Published – 30 Mar 2026 0:29 IST
