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

[bruun at seas.upenn.edu]

It also occurs to me that it might be self-serving to advocate for  
smaller cars. Don't forget
that the Indian auto industry might benefit from making foreign  
designs more expensive to operate.

Eric

Quoting Lee Schipper <schipper at wri.org>:

> 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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>> --------------------------------------------------------
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> --------------------------------------------------------
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> equitable and sustainable transport with a focus on developing  
> countries (the 'Global South').