When Narendra Modi used his December 28, 2025 Mann Ki Baat broadcast to flag antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a “matter of concern”, it marked a rare moment when a looming public health crisis entered mass political discourse. For years, AMR has been discussed largely within hospitals, laboratories and policy documents. The Prime Minister’s remarks have raised expectations that this could be the long-awaited inflection point for India’s response to what many doctors describe as the country’s biggest emerging health threat.
What the Prime Minister actually said — and why it matters
In the 129th edition of Mann Ki Baat, Mr. Modi cited data from the Indian Council of Medical Research, warning that antibiotics are becoming less effective against common infections such as pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Crucially, he identified the core driver of the crisis in India: the “thoughtless and indiscriminate use of antibiotics by people”.
By directly cautioning citizens against self-medication — “Avoid taking medicines by yourself, particularly antibiotics” — the Prime Minister translated a technical medical concern into an everyday behavioural issue. This public articulation from the highest political office is what makes the intervention distinctive.
Why AMR has remained a silent crisis so far
AMR in India is not new. Irrational antibiotic use — often described as misuse and overuse — has long been recognised as the primary accelerant. Easy over-the-counter access, incomplete treatment courses, and antibiotics being treated as quick fixes for all ailments have collectively fuelled resistance.
Yet, despite policy measures such as the National Action Plan on AMR and bans on specific antibiotics like colistin as a growth promoter, the issue remained confined to expert circles. Public awareness lagged far behind scientific alarm. Mr. Modi’s remarks potentially change this dynamic by pulling AMR into the mainstream, linking national risk to individual behaviour.
The limits of awareness alone
While public awareness is indispensable, experts caution that India has moved too far along the AMR pathway for awareness alone to reverse the trend. AMR today resembles a multi-headed challenge — spanning human health, animal husbandry, agriculture and the environment. This is why a One Health approach, which recognises the interconnectedness of these domains, is now seen as unavoidable rather than aspirational.
Without coordinated action across sectors, behavioural change at the individual level risks being overwhelmed by systemic drivers of resistance.
Surveillance gaps: the missing national picture
A critical weakness in India’s AMR response lies in surveillance. Tracking resistance patterns is essential to designing targeted interventions, yet India lacks a dataset that truly represents its diversity. Existing surveillance sites are concentrated in urban, tertiary-care hospitals, skewing national averages and leaving vast non-urban populations invisible.
India’s National AMR Surveillance Network (NARS-Net), established in 2013, currently comprises 60 sentinel medical college laboratories. For the most recent reporting cycle to the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) of the World Health Organization, data came from just 41 sites across 31 States and Union Territories. While valuable, this falls short of capturing community-level prevalence.
Why inclusion beyond government hospitals is essential
Experts argue that relying primarily on government tertiary-care centres distorts the resistance picture. Secondary, primary and private healthcare facilities treat a vast majority of patients in India, yet remain largely outside formal surveillance. Calls have intensified to expand NARS-Net to include private hospitals and non-urban centres, thereby producing more balanced and credible national data.
Such expansion would demand sustained investment, trained personnel, and regulatory oversight — areas where political commitment matters as much as technical design.
Global frameworks and India’s unfinished agenda
The 2015 WHO Global Action Plan on AMR laid out five pillars: improving awareness, strengthening surveillance and research, reducing infections, optimising antimicrobial use, and ensuring sustained investment in new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines. Mr. Modi’s speech directly advances the first pillar. The challenge is whether it will catalyse movement on the others.
Surveillance expansion, infection prevention, and stewardship programmes are resource-intensive and politically less visible than public appeals. Yet without them, awareness risks becoming symbolic rather than transformative.
What to note for Prelims?
- Definition and causes of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Role of ICMR and NARS-Net in AMR surveillance
- WHO’s GLASS and Global Action Plan on AMR
- Concept of One Health approach
What to note for Mains?
- Behavioural versus systemic drivers of AMR in India
- Limits of awareness campaigns without institutional follow-through
- Challenges in AMR surveillance and data representativeness
- Political leadership and public health governance
Mr. Modi’s words have undeniably pushed antimicrobial resistance into the public imagination. Whether this moment becomes a genuine anagnorisis — a turning point — will depend on whether awareness is followed by investment, surveillance reform and cross-sectoral action. Without that, India risks recognising the monster too late, even after naming it aloud.
