Introduction:
As the preparation for the 2020 Budget
will kick start in few weeks, proposing this idea to Government which
might be useful not only to individual tax payers but also to the organizations
and Administration.
One of the biggest challenge we
are facing in any major Indian city is Traffic. We are spending hours while
commuting to work, wasting manpower, burning fuels, creating pollution and
ending up with frustration and ill-health.
The measures taken by authorities
to improve the situation is only a small step. Major problem is how to involve all
the stakeholders in addressing this issue.
With creation of new type jobs
from late 90’s, the once so called luxury and dream purchase –two and four wheeler
has become a common commodity.Cheap loans
from banks is also pushing more vehicles in to road.
It is becoming very common to
have one or two personal bike / car and not to depend on the public transport. With
increasing salary it is also easy to afford and maintain as it is only a part
of the income earned.
Peak hours traffic shows the
above examples – big cars with single person driving occupies majority of jams
and in between are numerous bikes trying to squeeze in, either on road or
pavements. This is common especially in front of IT Parks and Industrial Areas.
Many of the companies are also providing
bus facilities as part of their benefit schemes, however very few employees are
using it. If we question what makes them not to use such facilities – most of
them will talk about being independent and also to some extent social status.
This is not only creating chaos
on the road but also causing India a big lose in terms of fuel import to keep
feeding these vehicles. Approximately
India imports 82% of its oil need at a staggering cost of $ 112 Billion!!
No matter how much road expansion
we keep doing, if there is no control on the number of vehicles on street, it
will never solve the problem or rather we might end with only roads all over!! This
obviously causes destruction of greenery, water-body and complete ecology
resulting in deteriorated health.
Suggestion:
Mayor of Colombian capital Bogota
once said “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's
where the rich use public transport” we need to encourage more number of
people to go for such modes.
With lakhs of employees commuting
daily to their workplace, why don’t we encourage employers / organizations to
provide Bus / Cab facilities to their employees and motivate employees to use it?
To boost this, as part of tax structure
can we introduce below scheme:
- Individuals using public transport / mass transit / company provided cabs or buses should be given tax rebate as part of their income tax rebates
- Companies which provides bus / cabs to their employees should be given corporate tax benefit while they are filling their annual returns.
General mindset of commoner is to
save money whenever such offers are made from Government. If it is part of incomes
tax rebates, sure more number of people will start subscribing for mass
transport. Even companies will encourage it since they will also get tax benefits.
Government will not be under loss
due to such schemes, because it will be saving in millions by reduced fuel
consumption resulting lower import of oil. Cost of expanding roads and environment
destruction can also be avoided.
Yes, this might reduce demand in
automotive industry for newer personal vehicles however it will create employment
for trained drivers and mass vehicles.
This might be only a small
suggestion, which will have challenges to implement, however, with tumbling environment
condition, there is urgent steps to be taken by Corporate and Government to
safeguard the larger interest. Let’s brainstorm them….
(Postscript - While writing this
blog remembered about an article which I discarded without publishing in
2012-13, only to see it became a big news after few years and regret I didn’t publish.
Title was - Make in India vs Made
in India..!!
Even now I am not sure if this proposal is best, however recording it here for any future reference, as
there is need for alternative for sure)