[Reader-list] Fwd: Turtles, Tatas and Reva

[Aman Sethi]

Hmm,
And on further persual - it seems that the govt of india does offer a
REva subsidy - that website says :

The Government of India in its effort to encourage and popularize new
and environment friendly technologies towards reducing vehicular
pollution and thus consequently improving quality of urban air, has
announced a Central Subsidy of upto Rs. 75,000 for each REVA Electric
Car.

The beneficiaries of this subsidy are Public Institutions included
Government organisation and departments, Public Sector Undertakings,
Educational institutions, Hospitals, Tourism and Archaeological sites.

Based on the specific requirements of the public institutions as per
the direction of the Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources
(MNES), REVA has introduced a modified range of models named the "REVA
Eco" which is eligible for the subsidy.

Some of our esteemed customers who have availed this benefit include :
ISRO, APEDA, ITPO, KSRTC, BMTC, KSDL, NSTL Vizag, Maharishi
Educational Society, Nerlikar Hospital. etc.

Best
a.
On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 8:01 PM, Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com> wrote:
> I had sent this only to Shuddha by clicking 'Reply'. Should have
>  clicked 'Reply All'.
>
>  Tapas
>
>  ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>  From: Tapas Ray <tapasrayx at gmail.com>
>  Date: 22 Apr 2008 08:35
>  Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Turtles, Tatas and Reva
>  To: Shuddhabrata Sengupta <shuddha at sarai.net>
>
>
>  Aman, Sonia, Shuddha, Radhika and others,
>
>   Aman is spot on. An electric car simply shifts the point of pollution
>  from the car exhaust to the power plant. It does nothing to reduce our
>  dependence on energy. In fact, by looking like a "green alternative",
>  it probably encourages well-meaning people to use more energy.
>  Interested parties can then make huge profits building and operating
>  nuclear and hydrocarbon-based power plants, large river dams, etc.,
>  with various environmental consequences, of which we are probably only
>  partially aware. And of course, Country A invades Country B to
>  "promote democracy", and arms manufacturers have a field day.
>
>   One could argue on these lines for other areas of life, too, such as
>  health care. It relies, very profitably for the pharmaceuticals
>  industry, on an unimaginably large and rapidly expanding variety of
>  complex drugs, each with its own set of negative consequences ("side
>  effects"), which have to be dealt with through the use of other drugs,
>  which in turn have their own side effects, and so on. And then there
>  are the space-age technologies being used in diagnostics and treatment
>  - again very profitably for their manufacturers and with some negative
>  consequences for the patient's health. Apart from other things, this
>  approach to health care puts it beyond the reach of the vast majority
>  of people in these times of market-driven life.
>
>   The same goes for agriculture. As Vandana Shiva has shown, the
>  technology and profit-driven Green Revolution led to various extremely
>  negative consequences and in fact contributed to the bloodbath we saw
>  for several years in Punjab not so long ago.
>
>   The answer probably has to be "low-tech". In transport, as Aman
>  points out, it means bicycles, rickshaws, etc., and good old walking.
>  Also public transport that relies on renewable and non-polluting
>  energy sources. But changes like these entail deep-going changes in
>  other areas. As Shuddha notes, it means a different kind of plan for
>  cities. In the USA, for instance, the growth of spread-out suburbia
>  and exurbia has to do with the car industry.
>
>   Therefore, such changes would mean reversing the developmentalism we
>  have bought into so enthusiastically, and confronting corporate
>  interests. The trouble is, the force that once claimed such
>  confrontations as its raison d'etre - the Left - is as much enamoured
>  of this developmentalism, and has bought such a comfortable peace with
>  these corporate interests, that there is no force of any consequence
>  willing or able to work for the changes we need. It's probably upto us
>  to create such a force.
>
>   Just my two-bit.
>
>   Tapas
>
>
>
>
>   Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:
>
>  > Dear Aman,
>  >
>  > You wrote - "Our utopian city should not be one full of REVAs, and it  should not
>  > be one full of Nanos either .. it should ideally be full of bicycles  and public transport ..and roads designed for cyclists and rickshaw  pullers rather than automobile users - perhaps the ideal vehicle  could be a cross between the Nano and Reva - small, cheap and non- polluting.We could call it the Never"
>  >
>
>
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