India's minister of transport is declaring war on the noise on Indian roads in an unusual way.
Minister Nitin Gadkari recently told reporters at the inauguration ceremony of a motorway in Nashik, near the financial metropolis of Mumbai, that he is planning a law that only traditional Indian music will be allowed as a sound for car horns.
He's also considering replacing ambulance and police car sirens with nicer sounds to make people feel better.
A candidate for such sounds is a piece he heard on the radio.
He thinks loud sirens are annoying and they impair hearing.
The sounds of flutes, Indian tabla drums, violin, harmonica and harmonium could be used as substitute sounds for the horns.
The noise on Indian roads is often huge.
There are rickshaws, big cars, small cars, taxis, scooters, dogs, cows - and people.
For many people in India, the horn is one of the most important functions in the car.
Because without honking there is almost no getting through.
Even at red lights, people behind the wheel honk incessantly.
Last year - even before Corona - the street noise apparently annoyed the police so much that they started a special campaign.
They installed decibel measuring devices at traffic junctions and connected the traffic lights to them.
The traffic lights stayed red longer if more than 85 decibels were measured.
The usual honking stopped.
A video of the test spread quickly.
But after the end of the campaign, the noise level rose again.