Tata recently launched the cheapest car in the world named Tata Nano. Nano was made with a novel concept that every citizen has a right to live a comfortably life. But I strongly argue with the way they have achieved their dream. Nano though is less polluting, but the scale with which it will come into the Indian market is a point of worry. Nano is priced at Rs 1 lack and at this price it makes itself affordable to huge market of bottom level of middle class. It is said that anyone who can buy a bike will think again and would wait and buy a nano. But this large number is something which is worrying me. Tata said they were concerned with the safety of Indian people travelling on bike. This problem could be easily solved by the introduction of mass transit system. Also this would have made a more ecological solution. Just think if there were say 40 nano travelling on indian road instead of a bus , how much more pollution and congestion will it cause. Tata’s say that nano is less polluting vehicle and conforms to the environment standards of India, but let’s not forget that the environment standards of India is lesser than European standard (which is what is actually required ) and with the massive production of nano it is bound to bring pollution to a next higher level. Selling of nano does not end at people who have bike, even second time car buyers will be buying it. Reva Electric Car Company’s deputy chairman Chetan Maini points out that five years ago, 22 percent of cars sold in India were a family's second vehicle; today that number is nearly 40 percent. "The highest growth is in [the] second car buyer [market]." Most people pine for status and luxury of a car all their own; these people will definitely go for nano. Also many will buy Nano just for the sake of keeping another vehicle after all it’s so cheap to fit in their pockets. With the launch of Nano, Tata’s have significantly reduced the chances of government introducing a mass transit system. Nano will introduce congestion on road and to stop that government will have to invest in public transport and raise road taxes on cars to reflect the true cost of driving.
Many people argue that every people on this earth have an equal right to live a comfortable life. On the basis of this argument people argue that government should not stop people from buying cheap cars. I do agree on this argument, but living a comfortable life does not mean buying cars that could pollute your environment and keep your future in danger. Nano is basically a solution of present and not of future. When government can stop the sale of toxic plastic goods from China, why can’t it stop the sale of Nano? Consider a case where a group of people lived together and they had only a mango tree from which they can eat fruit and sustain themselves. At the current rate of their consumption they can sustain themselves with the mangoes from the tree. Now there are some people in the group who waste a lot of mangoes while eating, here I am calling it as a luxurious way of living. Now the leader of the group cannot allow other members of the group to live luxuriously as the output from the mango tree is just sufficient to support them. A prudent decision here would be to stop the people from living a luxurious live rather than allowing other people to live luxuriously. The leader should always have an aim of increasing the number of mangoes in the tree so they can sustain themselves a longer period of time. Our current environment condition is also similar to this. We live in a just balanced environmental condition where we are allowed to put only a certain fixed number of carbon footprints in the nature. If we increase our carbon footprints we invariably are putting our future in danger. Many people are not aware of this point. If we allow people to live luxurious life, we normally do this by increasing our carbon footprints. This brings me back to my main point- “Tata’s have not achieved their dream in the correct way”. Their dream –“to give every person a safe, cheap mode of transport”. They are trying to achieve their dream by selling world’s cheapest car, but here is the pinch, the car is a petrol car and could easily increase the carbon footprints and thus put our future in dark waters. I salute the efforts of Tata to produce the world’s cheapest car. This is a triumph of homegrown engineering and proved the Tata’s ability to produce economic solutions. But it is important to understand that this effort is not enough as it is not ecologically feasible considering the future. I would have been happy had Tata launched an electric version of Nano at this price. The electric version of Nano, E-Nano, is being built in cooperation with the Norwegian electric car specialist firm Miljoebil Grenland. But if by the time E-Nano is launched in the market at the price of Nano, the Nano has captured the market then it could mean a disaster for all of us. I only hope E-Nano is launched at the earliest. Tata Motors has signed an agreement with MDI of France for application in India of MDI’s path-breaking technology for engines powered by air. They are capable of doing it, they just need to put another extra effort and they should not be satisfied by the success of Nano. Since the success of Nano may mean the failure of human society to produce ecological solution. Success of E-Nano is what we need and this should be the aim of any prudent leader.
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