Ban-Ban-Bangs-galore! This time it’s not the BJP, but the AAP Govt in Delhi that is subscribing to the Big Ban theory; from which even the Supreme Court seems to have taken a cue. The BJP banned beef and eggs. In France the hijab is banned. Recently Whatsapp was temporarily banned in Brazil. Now cars in Delhi will be banned for 15 days depending on whether they have odd or even numbers. The Supreme Court has then gone and banned the sale of 2000+ cc diesel SUVs for three months in Delhi.
Ironically, when the BJP earlier tried to ban porn websites the literati and liberati cried foul, with the Govt quickly capitulating! Are we then to believe that we Indians, cutting across religious and party lines, value our porn more than our corn? But for the endangered environment we won’t mourn.
In the present instance in Delhi the alarm bells rang because of suffocating air pollution, accentuated with the onset of the winter fog. The jury is still out on which type of vehicles are the real polluters. What we have forgotten is that the sudden increase in air pollution was occasioned by Diwali crackers, and the burning of paddy stubble in the Capital’s agricultural hinterland. Earlier paddy was manually harvested with a sickle at ground level and the straw used for fodder or thatched houses. Now paddy in Punjab and Haryana is harvested by huge combine harvesters, which leave half the straw in the fields. This hinders ploughing for the winter sowing. So farmers resort to burning the stubble, polluting the air and also depleting the soil of precious nutrients. But I have not heard of any Govt or court banning firecrackers or damaging agricultural practices.
Be that as it may, Delhi’s air pollution is largely a man made disaster; because of society’s callous attitude and successive Govt’s lopsided planning. Does anybody remember the Tata Nano that had an attractive introductory price of just Rupees One Lakh? It bombed. Why? Because we Indians, especially in the north, are obsessed with everything big – big fat weddings, big bellies, big boobs, and yes, big cars. No nano stuff please. SUVs are offroaders, and advertised as such on TV. But the urban rich use them; though they may occasionally offroad to mow down poor people sleeping on the pavements. They are also a status symbol for politicians, the environment be damned. The Govt or the courts cannot change peoples’ mindset.
But Govts can do macro planning and introduce disincentives. Remember the “good old days” where we had just three models – Ambassador, Fiat and Standard Herald? About 30 years ago the Maruti 800 burst on the horizon, as a refreshing alternative. Now we have countless car manufacturers, models and variants. We have cars, but no roads parking space or trees to absorb the toxic emissions.
In contrast what is our production of mass rapid transport systems (MRTS) – trains, buses and metros? In the 68 years after Independence we have added barely 25% of rail track to what was laid down by the British. We still have just two manufacturers of big buses – Tata and Ashok Leyland. We have just about awoken to the utility of suburban and metro trains (and I’m not talking about the 98,000 Crore overpriced, impractical and elitist Bullet Train).
I live in Kanpur and was able to access the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the proposed Kanpur Metro. It has some interesting data. In 2011 the city’s vehicular population was 7,09,804, which climbed to 9,50,968 in 2014 (an annualized growth of 11.3%). In contrast, according to the Census of India 2011, our decadal population growth rate was 17.7% (annualized at 1.8%). This means that vehicular growth rate is 6½ times more than that of the population. With growing prosperity and social aspirations this is bound to increase further.
Lest I sound sanctimonious I must admit that my family has been road aficionados for generations. My grand father was a life member of the Royal Society of Carriage and Automobile Manufacturers, at a time when automobiles were not much different from horse-drawn carriages. He owned the first car in Kanpur, a steam fired chain driven contraption with wooden wheels, probably made by Daimler. He also owned the earliest Ford Model T. I myself enjoy long road trips, and my son is a professional biker and cyclist too.
But the time has now come to draw the line somewhere. We just cannot go on burning up scarce fossil fuels, to fuel our desires; as also wars over oil. When Pope Francis was elected two years ago he appealed to priests and nuns to stop using cars, and switch to bicycles. He is on record saying that it is a crime for them to be buying the latest models of cars. He himself uses a very small car, even when he went to the UN recently. But I have yet to see priests and nuns cycling around. Taking a cue from the Pope and, yes, from my son, I have also started using a cycle two years ago, and I motivate others to do the same.
My 12-year-old Maruti 800 is now on its last legs. I do need to buy a new car, funds permitting. Hopefully, it will be CNG. I fail to understand why the Govt cannot increase the number of CNG stations and popularize this clean fuel by reducing the excise duty on such vehicles and taxes on the gas, instead of flaring it at every oil refinery. It is a criminal waste of precious natural resources.
So on the one hand while society must take a long hard look at itself, and its expensive/ expansive choices, Govts must also come up with far reaching policies to increase the MRTS, encourage cleaner fuels, and deter private vehicles. A sure fire deterrent would be to ban (haha – ban) banks from giving loans for the purchase of private vehicles, be they two or four wheelers. Till then the odds will even out on bans galore.
DECEMBER 2015
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