As we praise the acheivements of Mr.Ratan Tata & Co in accomplishing one of the greatest manufacturing miracles of our times,only few people care about the impact that it is going to create on the environment and traffic congestion.We dont actually look at a broader perspective on the advent of this cheapest car.We look into the price of the car and say it is affordable even to the family. which can afford a two-wheeler but we forget the fact that it is going to need the same maintainance cost as a 20-lakh Benz.
Nano and India
I happened to read the interview of Sunita Narain,the famous environmentalist and she emphasises the need to improve our public transport system and reduce the number of cars immediately before the situation gets out of our control...Read full interview here.
Some key issues...
As already metioned in one of my previous posts, a large number of people depend on public transport and the fact that less than 10 percent of the pople use cars but the reality that it consumes 70 percent of the road space really haunts us.Add to it, that a car is two times more polluting than the bus and a person who goes in a bus has to pay more tax than the one going in his car!
Another loophole is the exploitation of the government money in the form of diesel cars.Look how a person who can afford a 22 lakh Mercedes Benz is happy to use the diesel that the government provides subsidy, for the benefit of poor . Diesel is the most polluting fuel and everyone is eagerly expecting the Diesel Nano and the worst part is that the quality of the fuel we are using in India is seven times worse than the standards.
The solution to the problems of congestion and pollution lies in encouraging the usage of public transport and improve it drastically investing a huge amount of money and planning into it and make the rich people to use public transport.The question remains that why should we marvel at something that has nothing to do with the common man,create more health problems and bring higher altitude between the rich and the poor....Mr.Tata,our country would ve been prouder and more greatful if u would ve created a one-lakh bus rather than the nano...
2 comments:
First of all, I really like the gadget on the bottom-right side of ur screen. I'm the lonely german flag :-)
Right now, I'm writing about India as an emerging marketing and would like to use the Tata Nano as a case study for innovative technology. I found some of ur thoughts interesting concerning the accomplishment of the Tata and wanted to share some of mine.
In my opinion, I think Tata nano is something to marvel about. As a private company, Tata has found an innovative way to offer a high-tech device (car) to people that never would have dreamed about buying such a thing. I feel that this would really stimulate the relationship between rural and urban areas, and maybe put more pressure on infrastructure investments and action. Another point is about finding a way to find consumers in lower socioeconomic classes. This is Tata marvel and hopefully it will have a spillover effect or at least add pressure on other companies to make innovative products for the masses of the emerging middle classes.
Of course a bus would be better for the environment, but like u said, most of the roads are covered by vehicles that people own. The tata is cleaner (meeting European standards) than many cars and scooters and has the capacity to carry 5 people. Isn't that a step forward?
Finally I just want to comment about remark about how the Tata will be just as expensive to replace as a Benz. I remember when the idea of electric vehicles (EVs) were becoming somewhat popular in the USA. From what I learned watching a documentary, the EVs were so well-manufactured that the car companies would lose money in the repair sector....this apparently compiles a lot of profit. So maybe this is one reason why someone pulled the plug of the EVs.
Thanks for sharing ur thoughts
@ Mr.Mikey
Thank u very much for the comment.
To make my point of view clear,here are some points
*I wonder and appreciate the efforts of Mr.Tata and his team as a fan of innovative technology and their brilliance at manufacturing such a car.
*The point I would like to stress is the Nano is going to cut only the capital cost and the maintainnace cost,repairing cost,fuel cost,parking cost etc are still the same for every car that runs on the road.So the middle class is not affordable for that costs yet.
*As far as India is concerned ,there are still only 12 million cars and the point is there is an enormous contention of the people who cannot even afford a two-wheeler and its post-buying expenses.All they need a better public transport.
*Added to this,comes the environmental factor that the car is twice as much polluting as the bus,which in this case becomes 5 people traveling pollute the earth twice as 60 people do..Ironically,these 60 people are the one who live in less protected areas are going to suffer the most because of the natural disasters caused by these pollution and the traffic congestion....
Thanks for the comment again and all the very best for ur writing about India as an emerging marketing....
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