Electric Vehicles
Standalone Metro Systems Not Effective, Need Shared Mobility And Electric Vehicles: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu termed climate change as the biggest challenge facing the earth and further said that the best way to face it, is to be friendly with the nature and live in harmony with it
New Delhi: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday stressed on the need of adopting shared mobility and electric vehicles to meet increasing demands of transportation and said standalone metro systems are not effective as they require a holistic approach. Delivering a keynote address at the launch of ‘Electric Mobility Forum’ of research organisation WRI India, Mr. Naidu also suggested for a comprehensive mobility plan to meet the need of cities for a period of 30-40 years. He said,
Standalone metro systems are not effective and need a holistic approach. Globally, the mobility sector is acquiring new paradigms. Shared mobility, electric vehicles, bicycles, connected vehicles are taking the centre stage and India must also follow the same
The forum, launched by the vice president, is aimed at revolutionising electric mobility in the country and accelerate the transition towards clean electric vehicles. Mr. Naidu, citing figures, said it took 70 years to build 60,000 petrol pumps in the country and viewed that building the ecosystem for electric vehicles will take time as around five lakh charging stations will be needed to power the clean vehicles.
He termed climate change as the biggest challenge facing the earth, saying the best way to face it is to be friendly with the nature and live in harmony with it. Mr. Naidu said,
As we brace ourselves to cope with this challenge of climate change, we will have to marshal all our intelligence, knowledge, science and understanding of nature to do that
The air quality has been a matter of concern and every winter several parts of the country face ambient air quality that is extremely poor. This cannot be allowed to go on, he said,
We need to systematically identify the sources of the problem and deal with them. Otherwise this will adversely impact the health and well-being of city residents, especially our children.
Mr. Naidu also focused on the need of educating people and creating infrastructure for meeting the goals of providing adequate transportation facilities to the people while tackling the issue of pollution. He said while advocating move from private to public transport,
You have to educate people about the dangers of climate change, and create awareness about taking care of our surroundings.
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swachh India campaign lends support to the Government of India’s Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM). Helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, the campaign aims to spread awareness about hygiene and sanitation, the importance of building toilets and making India open defecation free (ODF) by October 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he launched Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014. Over the years, the campaign has widened its scope to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and menstrual hygiene. The campaign has also focused extensively on marine pollution, clean Ganga Project and rejuvenation of Yamuna, two of India’s major river bodies.