NANO: ASPIRATION OF AAM AADMI

By Shilpi Aggarwal

Million of Indians look forward to Tata’s Nano as the fulfillment of their deepest desire for four wheelers. The excitement and euphoria among people could easily be judged by the recent Auto Expo, where people thronged in a large number to get the first glimpse of this world’s cheapest car. The car, which is called Nano has become the centre stage of discussion of people of all walks of life.

There are people who are welcoming this innovation with open arms. And, there are other sections of people who feel the car is a nightmare for already over burdened Indian roads and deteroiting air quality. Without a doubt, there is a growing possibility for such things to happen. Although the company has maintained that the car fulfils all the Indian safety norms and European emission standards, easy affordability translates into hundreds of cars on roads, creating unmanageable traffic menace, law and order problems and worst pollution.

But, let’s face the reality; the car is not simply the means of mobility for Indians. It is the aspiration of an average Indian.

Who are we, sitting in palatial bungalows, working in high rise building, driving the flashy cars, to make comments that the car is bad for the environment, thus the people shouldn’t buy it; companies should not come out with such innovations? Aren’t they have right to upgrade themselves, raise their standard of living, fulfill their ambitions (in India, the car is the symbol of prestige and social strata).

They are asked to stop harboring such aspirations just because they are bad for environment. Aren't we biased in distrubting the aspirations?

Such innovations will continue to come and heralding the world into a whole new phase. And, banning such innovations is not a solution. We may have to work on providing better public transport, quality mass transit systems etc.

Such measures, if properly well laid out and properly implemented, work. This is clearly evident from delhi metro, which has been quite successful in solving the delhi traffic management woes. Most people have increasingly started opting metro rather private vehicles in the wake of comfort and pollution free travel. In fact, traffic statistics have shown a dip of about one percent in motor vehicle accidents since the implementation of Phase I of Metro in Delhi. Even now, High capacity buses are also running on green fuel on delhi roads, which are high on comfort and green issues. More such mass transit systems are required with many other things in order to successfully counter the evils that Nano is expected to bring along with it.