Watch: PM Modi shares lesson on hard work vs smart work using this classic tale at 'Pariksha Pe Charcha'

PM Modi, in response to a question on hard work versus smart work, took the example of the classic tale of ‘the thirsty crow’ where the bird uses pebbles to raise the water level in a pitcher to quench its thirst.

At the 6th edition of ‘Pariksha Pe Charcha’ – the annual event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with the students appearing for board examinations held Friday in New Delhi– he spoke about the various keys to exam preparation and emphasised doing smart work over hard work as he explained the difference between them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Pariksha Pe Charcha 2023 event held in New Delhi on Friday.

In a video shared by Gujarat BJP official Pradipsinh Vaghela, PM Modi, in response to a question on the same, took the example of the classic tale of ‘the thirsty crow’ where the bird uses pebbles to raise the water level in a pitcher to quench its thirst. Citing the story, the PM asked, “what would you call this? Hard work or smart work?” to which the students, parents, and teachers in the audience murmured, “smart work”.

He explained, "there are some people who hardly do smart work but there are also those who smartly do the hard work like the crow in the story…”. He said that the key to smart work is understanding the situation by breaking it down stepwise and then acting on it. “Some people start working even before they have understood the problem and despite rigorous hard work and efforts, they are unable to yield any concrete results.”

Remembering a personal experience from his days when he was 'working in a tribal belt', PM Modi recalled an incident when he had to travel to an ‘interior location’. “An old jeep of its time had been arranged for us…we had to leave by 5:30 am but the jeep wouldn’t start despite all our efforts…it was around 7:30 am when a mechanic arrived and it hardly took him 2 minutes to fix the vehicle.” When the mechanic demanded ₹200 for his services, PM Modi was curious about the 'overestimated' bill for the 'two-minute job' and questioned the mechanic. Although he soon realised the lesson when the mechanic responded, “the money isn’t worth the two minutes job but the years of experience that I have gained to be able to fix the issue in minutes”.

At the event, PM Modi also spoke about self-introspection, and handling pressure, and asked the students to learn time management from their mothers who are able to ‘micro-manage everything with utmost efficiency’.

This year, around 38.8 lakh students, more than twice compared to last year, registered for the event, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. Over 20 lakh questions were received this year from which NCERT shortlisted various topics ranging from family pressure, stress management, prevention of unfair means, how to stay healthy and fit, career selection, etc, the minister further added.