The Centre is believed to have stalled proposals from Maharashtra and Gujarat to declare the wild boar - the mighty comic character's favourite delicacy - and the nilgai as "vermin". Environment ministry sources said junior minister Anil Madhav Dave, who took over from Prakash Javadekar in July, was unlikely to sign the proposals to treat the wild boar and the nilgai as vermin. Javadekar had issued three notifications declaring as vermin monkeys in Himachal Pradesh, wild boar and nilgai in Bihar and wild boar in Uttarakhand. But Maharashtra's proposal for a similar designation for the wild boar and the nilgai and Gujarat's for the nilgai are pending. Not that Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttarakhand share with Obelix his passion for roasted wild boar.

Source: The Telegraph October 23, 2016 21:56 UTC