EVERY AFTERNOON, Sandrick Rebello, a municipal worker, and his wife pick up their two children from school and are forced to squeeze them on to his Hero Honda motorcycle in the Indian state of Goa. The vehicle speeds through the mind-numbing maze of buses, cars, rickshaws, motorcycles and pedestrians, through the narrow streets of Margao city, in south Goa to reach their destination in neighbouring coastal village of Benaulim.

 

Once it reaches the interior roads of the seaside village, Rebello’s vehicle zips past dogs, pigs, cows and cats, which pose danger to the control that Rebello exercises over the vehicle.

 

The four-legged animals are not the only one that he has to keep an eye, but the numerous potholes, and of course, the traffic police (you can only carry another person on a motorcycle according to the traffic rules).

 

But he has no choice; his income is not sufficient for his family of six (including his aged parents) to buy a car. The cheapest car in India, till the Nano made its entry, was the Maruti Suzuki car worth Rs 2.50 lakhs.

 

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel in the coming days. The good news for those who wish to buy a car is coming from Tata Motors, which unveiled its Rs one-lakh car (US$2500) at the 9th New Delhi Auto Exposition on January 10. The commercial launch of the car is slated for September 2008.

 

Not since1983, when Maruti launched its Maurti 800, has a new car model been more keenly awaited. And just like the Maruti brand before it, if the one-lakh car is commercially successful, it will alter the passenger car market in India beyond description.

 

World Bank studies estimate that India’s middle class (with a dream of buying a car, which is a status symbol) will expand from 50 million people today to more than 500 million by 2025. No wonder the car companies are targeting the increasing number of middle class families of India as consumers!

 

Here is an open question – “How would the increased car traffic affect the roads?” Traffic in India is already a mind-boggling, exhausting experience in the major cities.

 

In Mumbai, the financial capital of India, a 40-mile drive can easily take longer than three hours.

 

As C A Anumanna from Bangalore says, “Twenty-years back, one could travel from one end of the city (Bangalore) to another end in a reasonable time and do work or shopping. Today, to go from one locality to another even if that is merely 1-2 kms away is a nightmare. The explosion of cars has made the entire city a nightmare of traffic. And add to its parking problems, these are making every road one-way! The one-lakh cars would make every road a nightmare for the pedestrians and scooter owners.”

 

The other problem is that roads in all the major cities are often lined up with vendors hawking different items ranging from newspapers to cold drinks. Few drivers follow the road rules. No one stays in a lane, and everyone honks the horn all the time.

 

Accidental deaths in Indian state of Goa touched a high of 362 in the year 1997 as compared to 302 in 1996. In the year 1996, there were 1,376 accidents with minor injuries but the figure in 1997 touched 1467.

 

The Indian lawmakers – members of parliament – say that expanding the road network is key to attracting more multinational companies to India and for safe driving.

 

But there are other issues involved – pollution!

 

As of now, only eight of every 1,000 adult Indians own a car — compared with about 770 per 1,000 American adults — but concerns are being raised over India’s emissions of greenhouse gases, which are increasing.

 

And in a country of 1.1 billion people with more people buying cars, India emission levels could well over take America in the coming years.

 

While others think it will be disastrous for India in terms of environmental effects even as the government begins to widen roads, but one thing is certain – Rebello and his family are excited and counting on their days to lay their hands on the ‘one-lakh car’ as and when it reaches the Goa market.

 

For others, with India’s economic rise, the ‘one-lakh car’ is going to be a revolution. Only time will tell whether the revolution will take off or crash, but one thing is certain that the cheap car is certainly going to add to more chaos on the cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and smaller states like Goa.

 

 “Let me assure you and our critics that the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria,” Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Motors told Reuters about the ‘People’s Car’ in New Delhi.

 

But for environmentalists like Clinton Vaz, the correct model of cheap transport would be to develop an urban mass transit system rather than develop cheap modes of personal transport.