Unless you have been living under a rock recently (hey, nice way to start a blog post, insult your reader(s)), you must have heard of the Tata Nano, the much ballyhooed cheapest car ever built. People ask me (after all, I am Indian and pretend to know a lot about the environment) what I think of the Nano. Well, it’s hard to summarize in an elevator pitch. Obviously, given the state of public transportation in the cities, people want private vehicles to travel in, more convenient, fewer people to jostle against, etc. People previously riding scooters and motorcycles (and carrying entire families in a two wheeler) would prefer this car. But, traffic’s going to get worse, and cars occupy a lot of road space while not carrying that many people.
Anyway, my thoughts aside, Sunita Narain (one of India’s most famous environmental activists) and director of The Center for Science and Environment (India’s most active Environmental NGO) writes one of her typically insightful editorials in Down to Earth, the CSE’s flagship publication.
Let’s take the ‘affordability’ question first. The fact is that cars—small or big—are heavily subsidized. The problem is that when economists (including those who run the government) fret and fume about mounting subsidy bills, they think of farmers—fertilizer, electricity and food—not our cars. But subsidy is what they unquestionably get.The subsidy begins with the manufacture of cars. When we read about the Singur farmers’ struggle to stop government from acquiring their land for the Tata car factory we don’t join the dots. We don’t see this as the first big subsidy to motorization. The fact is, in Singur the manufacturer got cheap land, interest-free capital and perhaps other concessions—the Left Front government in West Bengal never made public full details of its attractive package. This brought down the cost of production and allowed the manufacturer to price the Nano at Rs 1 lakh
The Nano-flyover syndrome | Editor’s Page | Down To Earth magazine
All very true. Cars are heavily subsidized, taxation, parking, you name it, money quote…
Since cars take up over 75 per cent of the road space, even though they move less than 20 per cent of the people, it is obvious whom this expenditure benefits the most.
Yes, cars are not a very efficient way to move people, they’re convenient because Indian cities are not being planned to prioritize public transport that is convenient, safe and clean. India’s per capita income (nominal) is about a $1000 per year and the nano, even in its cheapest form, is about 3 years worth of the average income. So, your average Indian, even if she lives in a city and makes twice this average, will not buy this car. So, she’s stuck on the bus which crawls ever so slowly due to all these nanos flitting about. Or, she’s on a scooter/bike facing ever increasing pollution due to these cars and risking life and limb as traffic pushes vehicles closer and closer together.
But of course, this seems to be the pattern of development and optimists will argue that at some point in time, the infrastructure will catch up to the point that there will be room for all these cars and money for all the people to buy all these cars. But as Ms. Narain points out, 20% of Delhi is already covered with roads (hard to get that number in context though, I have no idea what percent of NYC is road covered, for instance!), so finding room to build more roads is going to be hard.
Something’s gotta give, I don’t know what!
Tags: Tatanano, India, development, Sunita Narain
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
sushil_yadav
Europe has perfected the art of “progress” on the backs of the South. It was industrial progress at one time (Switzerland, I’m looking at you too) and now it’s a clean surroundings for some at the cost of others.
America is even better since it doesn’t even see the need to pretend anything. I met the local congresswoman the other day and she wanted to know what I thought of her plan to remove the oil rigs from just off the coast of SB. When I asked her where they were to go, her answer was “Oh! We’ll move them to Mexico!” That’s it. That thing too seeks a spot under the umbrella of environmentalism.
One of the most depressing sights I’ve seen is the slum just next to the domestic terminal in the Mumbai airport. Imagine living a few meters from the taxiway in a shaky tin and plastic dwelling. That’s got to be one of the most noise-polluted neighborhoods on earth. I guess that has no relevance here, but I was just reminded of that scene out of my plane window when I thought of enivronmental cost borne by the poorest for our
“progress”.
Hey B, why is noise pollution so often ignored?
Sorry for the all-over-the-place comment.
Hey Mr Morphsim-ism:
Why is Noise pollution ignored? Good question. From a cynical perspective (Do I ever have any other perspective?!), it is a one variable problem, just plonk that decibel meter down and measure away. Scientists and researchers are understandably bored by doing this repeatedly, don’t write grants to fund measurements, and so the work never gets done. Do you have a better explanation?
Hmmm.. That sounds good. I don’t have a “better” explanation. I didn’t mean scientific research into it. Just people’s reaction.
Could it be that the effects of noise pollution are long term whereas other types of pollution (air, water) are usually associated with disease that does damage in the (relatively) short term?