The diversified Adani Group presents a classic case of a group that continues to flout environment laws but gets by through political patronage. The Mundra port, for instance, has considerably scarred the surrounding areas. The government explanation for not imposing a Rs 200-crore fine for violations, as suggested by a panel, does not cut ice. Rules have been tweaked and not made more stringent, as claimed by the ministry. As it has not put the “stringent” rules and the penalties for specific violations in writing, the government has clearly left loopholes for culprits to go scot free.
After a stony silence for the last few months, the promoters of the Freedom 251 mobile phone have raised their heads again to say that they will start the delivery of India’s cheapest phone this month. Although they initially said the phones would be manufactured overseas, they now say they will be made in India. They claim that to start with, they would send about 200,000 phones by a draw of lots to people who have booked them. The company has already failed in meeting the last two deadlines. Let us see if it can keep this latest one.
