New motor vehicles act made stricter to make people respect rules: Nitin Gadkari
Nagpur: Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday defended the high penalty under the new motor vehicles act, saying the idea behind it is to make people conform to rules, and asked what is more important lives or money.
Speaking during a programme in Nagpur, Gadkari tried to address the criticism of the high penalties under the new law, saying only those who were breaking the law were paying fines. "If one does not break the law, why will he need to pay a fine?"
"We are jumping red signals, accidents are happening everyday, people are losing their lives. If people will have fear of law, only then will they follow rules," he said.
"What is more important people's lives or money," Gadkari asked, when pointed out the high penalty provisions under the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
Earlier, he said, people did not take road safety rules seriously and used to get away by paying a small amount. This attitude won't stop until strict rules are made, the minister added.
"Now people are applying for licences, insurances and purchasing helmets and this would save lives of thousands of people," he said.
During the programme, Gadkari also spoke on various aspects of his life, his childhood, family, politics, his vision for the country. And shared is ideas on his social, innovative projects.
He said people often make fun of his innovative ideas and mock him. Citing an example, he said once he had spoken about collecting 'urine in plastic bags', which, he added, if done on a massive scale, could decrease the load of urea import on the country.
Gadkari also talked about his meeting with a person researching on "gold" coming out of cow dung and human faeces. He did not name the person.
He said a lot changes are taking place today and, "I feel more emphasis should be put on research as such things coming out of research.
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ISRO successfully conducts second integrated air drop test for Gaganyaan mission
New Delhi (PTI): Space agency ISRO has successfully conducted the second integrated air drop test (IADT-02) for the upcoming Gaganyaan mission at the space station in Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
The system is essential to ensure a safe recovery of the crew module -- the capsule in which astronauts sit during a human flight -- during re-entry and landing.
Union minister Jitendra Singh congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for successfully conducting the test.
"Congratulations #ISRO for the successful accomplishment of Second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) for #Gaganyaan, India's first Human Space flight scheduled next year. The second Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-02) was successfully conducted at Satish Dhawan Space Station Sriharikota," Singh said in a post on X.
The IADT-02 follows the successful completion of the first IADT, which took place on August 24, 2025, at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
Air drop tests recreate the last leg of a spacecraft's return to Earth. An aircraft or helicopter drops the spacecraft from a height to test various systems under different scenarios.
These are the deployment of the parachute system in case the mission is aborted mid-flight, system performance when one parachute fails to open and the spacecraft's orientation and safety during splashdown etc.
In the IADT-02 test, a simulated crew module, weighing about 5.7 tonnes, was lifted by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about three kilometres and released over a designated drop zone in the sea, near the Sriharikota coast.
In a statement, the ISRO said, "Ten parachutes of four types were deployed in a precise sequence during the descent of the crew module, gradually reducing the velocity for safe touchdown. Subsequently, the simulated crew module was successfully recovered in coordination with the Indian Navy."
