While Ashok Gehlot accuses the BJP-led governments in the Centre and Rajasthan of conspiring to hand over the Aravalli Hills to mining mafias, citing the Centre’s ‘0.019% mining area’ argument, in 2002, the Gehlot government itself wanted to open the Aravallis for mining.
Recently, the case of a pregnant elephant from Palakkad, Kerala dying after consuming a jaggery coated explosive came to the fore and led to widespread outrage
The Union Minister announced that Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs have been successful in developing various environment-friendly fireworks such as sound-emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar and sparklers.