Ministerial speeches at conferences tend to be lengthy, anodyne stuff written by speech writers and lightly vetted by the minister concerned. So the audience at the fifth conference of state power ministers was widely appreciative of Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s decision not to deliver his speech but use the time to interact with participants. As Shinde explained it, to laughter and applause, the state ministers would have ample time to read his speech while they rested during the day-long conference. Later, a copy of the minister’s 10-page speech was duly distributed.
