Every other citizen of India is worried about the recent price rice. With the inflation rates touching two digit mark, families are planning to cut short their expenses. Here are my thoughts to the situation.
The govt. at present is trying hard to subsidise crude oil, so that its affordable to the common man. The money for subsidising this comes from the Tax which we pay. Only 10% of Indians pay taxes, which means the tax money goes into the benefit of the rest 90% of the population. So if you are not a tax payer, well you are a gainer.
But instead the govt. should try to find alternative fuels and spend the tax money for it rather than subsidising the crude oil. One of the alternative fuel is the Natural Gas, which is available in plenty along the Krishna-Godavari basin. Compressed Natural Gas or CNG is now used in limited places like Mumbai and Delhi. If the public transport, like the buses, auto-ricshaw etc could be made to run on CNG, then the dependency on crude oil will get significantly reducued.The advantage of CNG over gasoline is that it burns much cleaner, so the average converted car would create about 10% of the pollution that it created while running on gasoline. Also, because the natural gas burns so much more cleanly, the engine would run significantly longer than it would with gasoline. The only downside is that CNG does not release as much energy as gasoline, so the same engine would generate less power. I have also heard that some CNG cars have trouble starting in cold weather. Converting to CNG will cost you around 60,000 provided you use standard components only. We have CNG vehicles- like Ambassodor and not wagonR and optras (comes with LPG kits only). Companies like Maruti-Suzuki and Hyundai are planning to introduce their CNG variant of the popular models. Hyundai's 'Accent' has recently introduced it's CNG variant.
Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is planning to invest Rs 32 crore in setting up CNG stations along the highways and has also identified 230 cities for the gas distribution.
If the govt. makes an initiative to fasten the conversion of transport system into CNG, then perhaps India could be more self relient for it's enrgy needs and the inflation rate could be soon brought under control.
But instead the govt. should try to find alternative fuels and spend the tax money for it rather than subsidising the crude oil. One of the alternative fuel is the Natural Gas, which is available in plenty along the Krishna-Godavari basin. Compressed Natural Gas or CNG is now used in limited places like Mumbai and Delhi. If the public transport, like the buses, auto-ricshaw etc could be made to run on CNG, then the dependency on crude oil will get significantly reducued.The advantage of CNG over gasoline is that it burns much cleaner, so the average converted car would create about 10% of the pollution that it created while running on gasoline. Also, because the natural gas burns so much more cleanly, the engine would run significantly longer than it would with gasoline. The only downside is that CNG does not release as much energy as gasoline, so the same engine would generate less power. I have also heard that some CNG cars have trouble starting in cold weather. Converting to CNG will cost you around 60,000 provided you use standard components only. We have CNG vehicles- like Ambassodor and not wagonR and optras (comes with LPG kits only). Companies like Maruti-Suzuki and Hyundai are planning to introduce their CNG variant of the popular models. Hyundai's 'Accent' has recently introduced it's CNG variant.
Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) is planning to invest Rs 32 crore in setting up CNG stations along the highways and has also identified 230 cities for the gas distribution.
If the govt. makes an initiative to fasten the conversion of transport system into CNG, then perhaps India could be more self relient for it's enrgy needs and the inflation rate could be soon brought under control.
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