Disaster-in-the-making?

The Tata's one-lakh car project, which has promptly triggered off a mad rush amongst competitors to manufacture really cheap automobiles, is in my opinion, going to have disastrous consequences.

In an attempt to improve my feeble understanding of economics, and the way markets work the world over, I am currently reading an interesting book called The Undercover Economist, written by Tim Harford. In this book, apart from offering other fascinating insights, the author talks about how automobile owners (and of course, the automobile industry) impact the lives of people in general in a way that few other players in the global market do. Buying a car has a far greater, negative impact on the world, than say, when you buy a washing machine. In the latter transaction, your use of the machine doesn't really affect anyone else's life negatively, but with a car, you become responsible for:

• causing pollution leading to health hazards which in turn lead to fatalities,
• creating traffic congestion leading to stress to all including those who do not own automobiles,
  
• making the world unsafe for pedestrians, especially the elderly and children etc.,
  

to just cite a few examples. As a car owner, these are very difficult questions to ponder over. One might even say, it is a touch hypocritical for someone who owns a car to say these projects should not be encouraged. Hmm...tough one that! (I wish public transportation would be more efficient and convenient....with the introduction of air conditioned buses, better MRTS connections in Chennai, I look forward to the day in the near future when I need not take the car out everyday!)

India, with its poor infrastructure, is hardly ready for projects such as the Tata's. I shudder to think of how things will be on Indian roads, if there is no improvement in the public transport system, a few years from now!

Meanwhile, read this article by Thomas Friedman (author of that brilliant book, The World is Flat), on the same subject. As for myself, I think I will buy that bicycle that I have been wanting to for a while AND use it as often as I can!