Tracking the Gadkari School of Environmental Law
The senior minister recently called for an overhaul of India’s environment laws. Has he finally dropped the facade?
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Editor's note: I have lately taken an interest in hearing speeches made in Parliament. Not so much the ones delivered by opposition leaders or the prime minister, which are high on rhetoric and flourish but low on new information. Instead, I like speeches by ministers. Many fumble like normal humans and read out pages marked with multicoloured Post-it notes. They speak about the performance and plans of their ministries. It is here that you get to hear what the government is actually doing and what it is hard-selling as actions to build a better India. The recently concluded budget session did not disappoint. I’m still not finished, but my first watch was quite something. It was a speech by road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, on 22 March. Gadkari never fails to entertain, with his characteristic candour and Marathi-inspired Hindi (for example, he kept addressing the Speaker as adhyaksh maharaj instead of the official Hindi adhyaksh mahoday, drawing smiles from Hindi belt MPs). Gadkari is also a great marketer, and shared a bedazzling amount of information on the number of highways …
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