Nitin Gadkari from the beginning of his youth was impressed deeply by the philosophy of “Antyodyay” reflecting his concerns for society in its various facets.

His deep concern about improving purchasing power of rural folk –by getting the fair prices to farmers – – leading to improvement in life standards and removal of poverty - led him to take up and support many initiatives like his own agro based Purti Group. His concern for unemployment of youth rural as well as urban has led him to conceptualize and take it to final fruition projects like MIHAN (Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur ) where lacs of youth will get employment.

His deep belief is that unless the last rung of the society gets the benefits of the schemes of government, and improves its life standards, the society and nation as a whole cannot progress and take its rightful place in the world order. This thinking has led him realize the importance of rural road connectivity, to produce a report for the Central Govt’s intervention into village roads ( which by that time was totally a state subject) and led to the announcement of “Pradhan-Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana” in the time of Vajpayeeji led BJP Govt.

He is concerned about the education being imparted to youth today – which does not lead to direct employment. He strongly feels that the education should be more vocation oriented so as to make our large human resource to contribute in national economy, there by improving their standard of living. He firmly believes that the system should be suitably modified to take out anomalies like, 12th standard students appearing for 3-4 exams apart from their board exams to get into professional courses, Or graduates with BA / B.Com degrees need retraining for available jobs. His concern about making our women more and more active on the work field has led him to take up many schemes for woman employment development – being 50% human force of our country their effective involvement in the work arena is a must for any country to progress . Apart from the direct work contribution - women higher education will lead to a stronger, educated next generation.

In health sector his understanding for the un-affordability of many of the life saving treatments by the poor led to him to do some basic contributions in the field of heart and cancer treatments. He has also taken up cause for primary health facilities to be provided to many needy people.

He feels that the biggest challenge faced by the country today is “Security”. The internal threat by naxalizm is much more serious then external terrorism. These two in connivance possess a colossal threat to our social fabric. He feels that these issues originate from imbalanced economic development and lopsided infrastructure facilities within the society – leading to unemployment , exploitation, which becomes a breeding ground for antinational feelings. He feels that the issue need to be handled sensitively but firmly. He ponders deeply about how to reach the roots of the problem and ensure that these misguided forces can be ultimately brought back in the mainstream of society, by planning an all inclusive and balanced economic development program not only for rural India but also for the “Vanvasi – Adivasi ” citizens.

His synergy with Youth and profound understanding of their problems gives him deeper insight not only for unemployment problem among youth but also their character building and awareness about the cultural and historical heritage of our civilization. This led him to conduct shows like “Azadi-50 & Azadi 60”, a music drama depicting the freedom struggle and heroes who have sacrificed everything and suffered to make our nation free.

He understands & deeply moved by the daunting issues haunting the mankind as a whole like global warming, forest and wildlife conservation, growing man- animal conflict, carbon cuts, use of plastic are equally “important” although they may not appear “urgent” today, and hence could get neglected. His commitment to causes of everything Green is very visible in his various endeavors like power from bio-mass, bio-diesel, solar energy, solar fencing for the farms etc. in his own ventures.
He feels that the society as a whole is becoming more and more intolerant towards one another. This is one of the greatest challenges to be faced by all of us. The basic tenants of Indian culture – its tolerance, acceptance and brotherhood towards all sections of the society, irrespective of mode of worship, cast, creed - has made our society survive and flourish since historical times. This sentiment of respect, towards each other forming an all inclusive society is his dream, & most important challenge, as well as concern.