IS INDIA READY FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES ?

           

 Electric Vehicles (EVs) can be of many types such as electric cars, electric trucks, electric buses, electric bikes, electric trains, etc. but among them putting Electric Cars on road is the vision of the Indian Government. So, whether India is ready for Electric Vehicles or not can be concluded by looking at the Pros and Cons of it.

BENEFITS :

• Eco-Friendly : EVs are 100% eco-friendly and that is their biggest advantage. In a country like India, where pollution level rises to 'Emergency' level in some parts, we need this type of things to come up because vehicular pollution contributes almost 25% of overall pollution during winter.
• Cost Effective : Since advance technology is used in it, the cost of maintenance is low. This will make the middle class family go for it.
• Reduction in Noise Level : EVs are quieter to operate and thereby leads to reduction in noise pollution.

DRAWBACKS :

• Infrastructure : India lacks significant infrastructure and necessary technology to support EVs. Main component such as high density batteries is a challenge and also non-availability of charging stations is another big challenge for EVs. Because if a person don't get charging station in the vicinity of their area, they won't be able to drive the car, so the availability of charging station is a major hurdle. 
• High Initial Investment : The cost of EVs are comparatively very high than petrol or diesel driven cars. And since in India, we have a majority of people in middle and lower income group, the high cost of EVs dissuade them from buying.
• Resistant to change : Indians prefer petrol, diesel or gas driven cars. They do not seem ready to buy EVs. 

             Looking at the above mentioned Pros and Cons, I can say that EVs offer a lot of benefit but the problems or the drawbacks that it had need to be sort first, to make it more consumer friendly.

             The Government of India is planning to convert the entire fleet of vehicle to fully electric by 2030 and if they manage to do that, India will be the largest market for the EVs in the world.

             As per the study of Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the annual sale of EVs will reach 30000 units in 2022 as opposed to 2000 units in 2017. Also by 2040, about 13% of the passenger vehicle plying on road will be electric. So, this shows that slowly and steadily sale of EVs are on rise. Hence, I can conclude than India is getting ready for EVs, though it will take time but definitely EVs are the future of India.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY FOR THE FUTURE OF INDIA : AGRICULTURE OR MANUFACTURING

           

 Agriculture and Manufacturing are the two face of same coin. Without agriculture a country cannot exist and without manufacturing a country cannot develop. I'll first discuss the importance of both of them individually so that it becomes clear what should be our priority.

AGRICULTURE

•  Agriculture is the basic source of food supply of any country. It is very important for a country to be self sufficient in food supply as it is the basic necessity of human being.   
•  Agriculture apart from being a source of food supply, it is also a major source of employment in India. In India, 70% of the population lives in rural area and the main source of occupation there is farming. It employs nearly half of total workforce. This shows how much we are dependent on agriculture as a source of employment. 
• India accounts for around 8% of total global agricultural output. This shows how much agriculture intensive we are as a country. And a bulk of food crop is exported also, so agriculture is a source of revenue too.

MANUFACTURING

• Manufacturing is also a very important sector for a developing country like India. In 1990, India's GDP was higher than China's GDP but if we see now, China's economy is close to $11 trillion and our economy is around $2.2 trillion and the major reason behind this is the growth of manufacturing sector in China. This shows the importance of manufacturing sector in a country.
• During the past two decades, this sector has been more or less stagnant contributing about 15% to the GDP, but in the past couple of years it had got a major boost most famously in the name 'Make In India' Campaign. In the past two years it had contributed over 17% o the GDP.
• So the manufacturing sector is developing and it is also very important to develop this sector in order to reduce the unemployment level in India because we cannot create much job opportunities in agricultural sector, we have to create job in this sector by developing Industries.

              As I have said in the beginning also, Agriculture and Manufacturing are the two face of the same coin. We cannot give priority to one sector and leave other. Both of them has to be taken care simultaneously in order to develop our economy.

             And to conclude, for me it's not the issue of Agriculture or Manufacturing. It's Agriculture and Manufacturing.