Assam's forests are doing something remarkable — and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said so on national radio. Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday, September 27, 2026, credited the Prime Minister for shining a spotlight on the state's conservation milestones — from the painstaking recovery of the Pygmy Hog to elephant protection efforts inside Sonai-Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary — during the latest episode of Mann Ki Baat.

What Modi spotlighted in Mann Ki Baat

Mann Ki Baat, the Prime Minister's monthly radio address launched in 2014, has become a platform for amplifying grassroots success stories that rarely break through the national news cycle. In Sunday's episode, the programme turned its lens on Assam — celebrating the state's wildlife protectors whose work often unfolds in remote terrain far from public attention. Sonowal's post echoed the sentiment directly: 'gratitude to Hon'ble PM for celebrating the state's conservation triumphs.'

The recognition carries weight. Assam sits at the heart of India's northeastern biodiversity arc, home to sanctuaries, elephant corridors, and some of the subcontinent's most threatened species. A mention on a programme that reaches tens of millions of listeners is, effectively, a conservation endorsement broadcast to the entire country.

The Pygmy Hog — a comeback written in the tall grass

The Pygmy Hog — the world's smallest and one of its most endangered wild pigs — was once declared functionally extinct before a small population was found surviving in Assam's terai grasslands. The Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme, active in the state since the 1990s, combines captive breeding with phased release into protected habitats. Every animal reintroduced into the wild represents years of painstaking husbandry by forest staff and scientists working largely without public fanfare. Modi's national acknowledgement of that effort gives the programme a visibility it rarely commands.

Sonai-Rupai and the elephant corridor challenge

Sonai-Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam is a critical node in the state's elephant protection network. Elephants, listed as a scheduled species under India's Wildlife Protection Act, require vast contiguous habitat — and maintaining those corridors against encroachment and fragmentation is a constant administrative and ecological challenge. Project Elephant, launched nationally in 1992, provides the policy backbone, but the on-ground enforcement falls on sanctuary staff and local communities who live alongside these animals. Their work, Sonowal noted, deserves to be called 'inspiring.'

Why a radio mention matters for Assam's green agenda

The central government's pattern of flagging state biodiversity wins through Mann Ki Baat is not merely ceremonial. Such mentions historically coincide with continued funding flows and policy attention toward northeastern states' environmental initiatives. For Assam, a spotlight now could translate into sustained support — whether in the form of sanctuary budgets, species-recovery allocations, or new wildlife corridor designations — in the months ahead.

The forest guards, the hog breeders, the communities around Sonai-Rupai who choose coexistence over conflict — they got their moment on national radio. Now the question is whether that moment becomes momentum.