The Indian $2,500 car - 30 years too late

The time for a people's car in India was way back in the 70's. At that time, a genuine attempt but by a corrupt political administration resulted in a prototype - kinda based on the Citroen and Volkswagen model after the second world war. However, it really came to fruition in the mid-eighties when Indian government collaborated with Japanese car maker - Suzuki to start the largest car manufacturing plant in India. The price at that time was maybe around $2,000 - but the real wages at the time were very low - making it seem like a princely sum.

Anyway, had we built a cheap car then our economy would have turned out different. But hindsight is always 20-20 :-) Building a $2,500 car now is nothing but a time bomb - India, unlike US has very little oil reserves - almost all crude oil is imported - making it very vulnerable to oil price changes. An economic policy with incentives for energy efficient transportation - in form of mass transit, electric and hybrid, etc. would be critical for India to keep its momentum. I think we should tax the hell out of all cars - including the Tata $2,500 car and put that money in cheap, heavily subsidized mass transit.

Earth Day, Going Green and the Little Things

The Earth Day went by this week. Lots of people talked about lots of big ideas and initiatives - good soundbytes, little action. Everyone's talking about energy related issues - the extinction of cheap hydrocarbons, the lack of progress on renewables, etc.

One of the thing that amazes me is the low attention that another environment issue - which is at least as important if not more - that is the amazing waste of water and drought affecting most of the highly populated metropolitan centers around the world.

At the same time, the green crowd goes around drinking Evian and Dassani and Perrier.

Drinkable tap water is a great asset that any developed nation has. USA has had the advantage of having this resource for over a century now. Yet, there is no stopping the trend towards bottled water. Most of it is driven by high visibility advertising that has made bottled water a part of the fashion cuisine. And it's partly driven by fear mongering - creating scare about municipal water; even though in many lab tests, tap water usually beats bottled water in all areas - not only purity but also taste.

I think the Dutch have the right idea about it - there a voluntary agency is selling empty bottles branded as Neau - patrons buy these empty bottles at about the same price that they would pay for a Dassani and then they fill up with refreshing tap water. The money generated by sales of Neau is being used to provide basic potable water infrastructure in poor countries.

http://www.finewaters.com/Newsletter/November_2005/Neau_-_No_Water.asp

http://www.slate.com/id/2165124/fr/rss/