[sustran] Re: Indian official calls German cars 'criminal'

[Lee Schipper]

Would also emphasize that what Ashok wrote is particularly important. Western governments are so hung up on fuel economy as a way of dodging the more important transport issues he describes 

Lee Schipper
Global Met Studies  UC Berkeley
Precourt En Eff Center Stanford



On Nov 14, 2010, at 10:44, "Ashok Sreenivas" <ashok.sreenivas at gmail.com> wrote:

> Agree with Bina. I happen to have been at the "conference" where he made the
> statement. What he said was about the differential taxation on diesel and
> petrol in India promoting the use of diesel vehicles, particularly larger
> SUVs - which definitely needs to be curbed. Mr. Ramesh is easily one of the
> more respected ministers in the current Indian government and generally has
> progressive views.
> 
> However, I must also add that in the matter of transportation, his view
> currently seemed to rather purely technology-centric as he spoke primarily
> only about fuel economy standards, better fuels, electric vehicles etc. All
> important no doubt, but only a (small?) part of the solution with other
> components such as integrated neighbourhoods, walking, cycling, very good,
> affordable, reliable public transport and an integration among these being
> much more important. I was particularly disappointed when he said that he
> thought that [and I paraphrase here] building cities for walking and cycling
> was "romantic".
> 
> Ashok
> 
> On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Bina C.Balakrishnan <binacb at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>> Thats not good reporting.
>> 
>> What the Minister said is "Use of these cars is criminal", not that German
>> cars are criminal. That is a huge difference.
>> 
>> I read the original article when it came out inthe Indian newspapers.
>> I am one hundred percent with Mr. Jairam Ramesh about the use of SUVs on
>> Indian streets - or urban streets, for that matter. These are very large
>> vehicles, and their presence in the traffic stream does cause interference.
>> Besides these large vehicles are not required for purposes of urban
>> movement. And they DO consume a lot of gas.
>> 
>> Bina C. Balakrishnan
>> Consultant -
>> Sustainable Transportation Policy, Planning & Management
>> Mumbai, India
>> 
>> Cell:    +91 98339 00108
>> 
>> Home: +91 22 23630572
>> Fax:    +91 22 23692673
>> e-mail: binacb at gmail.com
>>          binac at rediffmail.com
>> web : www.binabalakrishnan.com
>> skype: binacb
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> On Sun, Nov 14, 2010 at 12:12 AM, Todd Edelman <edelman at greenidea.eu>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Indian official calls German cars 'criminal'
>>> http://www.thelocal.de/national/20101112-31139.html
>>> 
>>> India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh attacked German automakers on
>>> Friday, saying driving big-engined luxury models from BMW and
>>> Mercedes-Benz in his country was “criminal.”
>>> 
>>> Expressing his wish for better fuel efficiency in India, Ramesh said
>>> people should not be encouraged to buy vehicles such as powerful German
>>> luxury cars and gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles.
>>> 
>>> “The luxurious growth of large-size vehicles like SUVs is really a
>>> growth of concern, use of vehicles like SUVs and BMW in countries like
>>> India is criminal,” he said at a UN function in New Delhi, according to
>>> news agency IANS.
>>> 
>>> "I think we seriously need to think about fuel policy regime," he added,
>>> suggesting that these luxury models were still made because they run on
>>> subsidised diesel fuel, making the real beneficiaries the owners of
>>> "BMWs, the Benzs and Hondas," IANS reported.
>>> 
>>> The country should levy extra fees and mandatory fuel efficiency
>>> standards on these cars, the minister suggested.
>>> 
>>> "We cannot ask people to buy or not to buy a particular car. But through
>>> an effective fiscal policy, we can certainly have an impact," he said.
>>> 
>>> A new committee on national transport plans to give recommendations for
>>> such a program in just over a year, he added.
>>> 
>>> India’s auto market is among the fastest growing in the world,
>>> particularly in the luxury sector, with German carmakers expanding their
>>> operations there significantly in recent years
>>> 
>>> ***
>>> 
>>> See also
>>> 
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/edelman/2163265797/in/set-72157602171242536/
>>> 
>>> --
>>> 
>>> Todd Edelman
>>> Green Idea Factory,
>>> a member of the OPENbike team
>>> 
>>> Mobile: ++49(0)162 814 4081
>>> 
>>> edelman at greenidea.eu
>>> www.greenidea.eu
>>> todd at openbike.se
>>> www.openbike.se
>>> 
>>> Skype: toddedelman
>>> 
>>> Urbanstr. 45
>>> 10967 Berlin
>>> Germany
>>> 
>>> ***
>>> 
>>> OPENbike - Share the Perfect Fit!
>>> 
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>> 
>> 
>> 
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