A Week After the Tata Nano

Its now sinking in the effects of Tata Nano. The debate is still on. If one thing that has come to forefront in this debate is urgent need of Public Transport. I was out on the weekend to a small town of Dhule for cousin's wedding and had an opportunity to get in the views from the people of that area. This is what people in small cities feel:

• Sure there is apprehension that it will clog the streets.
• But still people would buy Tata Nano.
• Main reasons are
• To be on Four Wheel
• It provides them more protection than helmet on the Road
• The Price
• Status (In cities Nano may be symbol of reverse status, thats not the case in small towns)
• They will not use Nano as frequently as bikes, given bikes average is much more than Nano.

So it looks like to be Huge Hit is the small towns. Back yesterday night, I had c0mpuslsive feeling to go through the weekend papers to find columns on Nano. And I was not disappointed. Both ToI and IE carried columns on them. Expetedly both the columns were not about the Tata Nano itself, but its impact.

ToI's columns Second Opinion made scathing attack on those who criticized Tata for providing such a cheap car that will worsen the road situations. It said Not elitists but neo-casteists hate the Nano.

IE column was more of post analysis. Nano lessons for change. This encapsulates what I wrote on the night of Tata Nano's announcement. May be the answer lies in better public transport and unsubsidized fuel rates.

Another column I found on net was from HT. It speaks the same as above and some more. Find it here: Not 'either/or' but 'and'!

A rather old NYT column says No, No, No, Don't Follow Us. It brings to light what problem we might face if we go in for US like car-a-person model, and ponders on scale factor in public transport or mass transit system as well.