Mr Ramesh is unlikely to have sought to criticise German automobile technology per se as polluting. In all likelihood, he mentioned brands like Mercedes and BMW because they have become synonymous with luxury cars, a space in which not only have the US auto majors lost out, but even fine names like Volvo and Jaguar are not top of the mind. In fact, Mr Ramesh should use another occasion soon to acknowledge what European and Japanese auto makers have done for compact, fuel-efficient cars — a segment that excludes SUVs.
Â
Mr Ramesh's point is simple and irrefutable. A subsidy meant to help the poor who use public transport, farmers who grow food to ensure national food security and goods transport is obviously not efficiently designed if it benefits rich people who own big, posh cars, deliberately styled heavily to convey a sense of power as an SUV is. Neither should it benefit rich farmers — they don't even pay any income tax — who profit by selling groundwater, raised by using subsidised diesel, to neighbouring farmers. SUVs in particular, sporting pointless heavy, shiny fenders, have legitimately been pilloried for being over-designed ever since global warming became an issue. There is no need, in the present context, to go into the controversy over whether diesel is more polluting than petrol because petrol is not subsidised. It is also a bit self-serving for Indian auto makers to argue for a “cash for clunkers" scheme, which will boost sales through subsidies, when the specific issue is large cars which are inherent gas guzzlers. A subsidy for scrapping old cars that are energy-inefficient makes some sense, though not much. The top priority in this regard should be to go after car and truck owners who do not meet emission norms. When were you last stopped and asked to produce a valid emission test certificate? Read the full report here.
Source: by Business Standard Reporter, Business Standard Motoring, New Delhi.
