More on Nano…and blindspots – from Sheshabalaya

Ashutosh Sheshabalaya ,whom I quoted in my earlier post, has followed up with another brilliant piece of writing in The Globalist in which he talks about Nano and India’s impact on the larger global economy…

Some excerpts:

…And yet, all that Western media manage to see is that  the planet is doomed once millions of Indians and Chinese get their own cars  – even though there is only one car for approximately every 1,000 Indians, while in the United States the ratio is three cars for every four people.

…Such ingrained Marie Antoinettesque assumptions – having one’s cake and eating it too – are, of course, emblematic of the entire debate in the Western media about shifting global economic powers.

…

It ignores the fact that India has its very own  “good new habits”. It already boasts one of the planet’s largest public transport systems, and Indian Railways  total annual passenger volume equals the entire world population which it transports at heavily subsidized rates to make it affordable to most Indians.

Also overlooked are India’s huge efforts to encourage alternatives to fossil fuels. These include setting up the world’s first Ministry of Renewables, accelerating to fourth place in wind power (representing a five-year lead over China) – and distributing 30 million high-efficiency stoves, which have dramatically reduced requirements for wood fuel in rural areas.

…

As far as the impact of the Nano is concerned, its impact on the world car market is going to be dwarfed by the convulsions the little car will herald in the world engineering industry. And such tremors won’t end with the car industry.

There are other cases worth noting, such as the Indian space program, which produces launchers on par with Europe’s Ariane-IV and a generation ahead of Brazil’s. And never mind that the Indian space program costs one-third Coca Cola’s advertising budget.

…

India also boasts the largest national constellation of communication, remote-sensing and special-purpose satellites, including for distance education, and the soon-to-be-launched world’s first e-Health satellite.

Once again, this monumental technological shift is occurring in the West’s “blindspot”. Not because India is hiding it, but because the Western powers that be have chosen not to look closely. They evidently prefer an India wrapped in Gandhi’s loin cloth. But the times, they are a-changing  and rapidly so.

Yes, it’s true –  the Nano only cost a fraction of what similar initiatives elsewhere would have. But the more important question before the world is this: Who other than the Tatas had thought about such matters and had the skills and capacities to see it through?

* Ashutosh Sheshabalaya is the author of the “Rising Elephant”

Image courtesy: Wikipedia