24th March

The Nano Effect

The article talks about the launch of Nano and the change it has brought in the Indian auto industry. However, it expresses concern over the abysmal infrastructure that is inadequate to cater such revolution. 

Nano is finally real from the time Ratan Tata dreamt of it in 2003. Had everything went well, it was scheduled to be launched from Singur plant in WB in end-October 2008, but the land raw made the Tatas to move from Singur to Sanand, Gujarat. While Bajaj plans to roll out its own model in 2011 with a price slightly higher then Nano due to better fuel efficiency, Maruti awaits Nano performance before framing the response. Hyundai, Toyota and Honda are coming up with their own responses. Used car segment has felt that heat as demand dips 25-30% just before the Nano launch. Small car models of Maruti and Hyundai are also expected to fall in price. In all these, the major beneficiary is the ‘aam-aadmi’, millions of whom aspire to shift up from 2-wheelers to 4-wheelers. Thus, Nano truly reflects India’s domestic demand-driven economy. 

However, one of the major concerns for Nano is the awful infrastructure in terms of weight of vehicular traffic on Indian roads, traffic congestion and vehicular pollution. While creating prohibitively expensive cars is socially unacceptable phenomenon in a country like India, improving the road infrastructure and user-friendly mass transport system is the only way out.

Take It Forward

The article appreciates the paradigm shift in the US policies towards Iran, especially after the mess created by the preceding government, as Obama tries to resolve the differences between the two nations through dialogue and partnership. 

As Hillary Clinton makes a point to make a stop at Tehran, Obama initiated a paradigm shift in the relations between the two nations by stating that Iran should take the rightful place in the community of nations. Expectedly, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed the statement, it’s neither a surprise nor should it discourage the improvement in bilateral ties between the two nations. US and Iran have been in bad terms since decades and it cannot be resolved overnight. But the two nations are inching towards the negotiating table as Iran considers US invitation to conference on Afghanistan. With three fold problems surrounding Iran i.e. rising instability in Iraq, bellicosity of Israel and Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, there are enough issues for Iran to worry. US stands to gain by engaging Iran in its battle against Taliban and broad-base its Middle East policy. Although Iran’s nuclear program might be a hurdle, it could not prevent any sort of deals between the two. 

So far, Obama has walked the talk about cleaning up the mess created by his predecessors with respect to foreign policy. But at the same time he would need to revisit some of the long-held American positions like balancing relations with Israel while dealing with Iran.