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

[Anupam Gupta]

Unfortunately this seems to have diverted into an India-Germany issue. This
has come in today's papers:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Our-cars--outstanding---Germany-objects-to
-Jairam-s-SUV-swipe/710798 

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+anupam9gupta=gmail.com at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+anupam9gupta=gmail.com at list.jca.apc.org] On
Behalf Of Bina C.Balakrishnan
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2010 10:03 AM
To: Lee Schipper
Cc: Sustran List
Subject: [sustran] Re: Indian official calls German cars 'criminal'

That would be a great help, Lee, if you could pass them on.

Thanks and regards

Bina
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 9:18 AM, Lee Schipper <schipper at wri.org> wrote:

> Agree with Bina and Ashok.  Cheap diesel hurts and its pollution 
> kills. The same thing with cheap diesel happened in Europe as new 
> diesels grew in size and power much faster than new petrol cars until 
> the higher prices for both fuels brought diesel back to its roots. 
> Happy to circulate publications on these recent trends
>
> 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-721576021712425
> 36/
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>>
> >>> 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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