Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech said that under the phase II of the FAME India scheme in 2015, the government will work towards faster adoption of electric vehicles. It will also offer upfront incentive on their purchase by and establish necessary charging methods. "Only advanced battery and registered e vehicles will be incentivised under the scheme with greater aim of providing affordable and environment friendly public transportation options for the common man," said Sitharaman.
Remember that scene in Two And a Half Men where the super rich Walden Schmidt lectures Jake about how his super sleek Fisker Karma is the most environment-friendly ride in the world ever? Schmidt wondered why would someone ever ride something else, especially when the fossil fuels are running out at a faster rate. To this, Jake frowned sarcastically because he knew that a simpleton like him can never afford it and most of us empathised.
A fast moving and affordable electric car will obviously be the best travel alternative in today's world, but it seemed too good to be true. But looks like we can soon see quite a lot of them on Indian roads. At least that is what the latest union budget suggests.
India's first full-time woman finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her maiden union budget at 11 am on July 5. Sitharaman reached the Parliament an hour ahead of time with the budget document folded in a red traditional cloth sealed with the government seal. Analysts and the media had predicted that her first budget will be focused on the middle class and the poor and that it will take the SoPs presented in the interim budget by Piyush Goyal in February further. Sitharaman has to deal with income tax exemption slabs, unemployment and form a pro-janta budget with the added task of pulling the country out of a five year low. With former Education Minister Prakash Javadekar promising that the government will try its best to spend 6 per cent of the GDP on education and the PM stressing on the youth development and innovation, eyes are on Sitharaman's budget to bring the change.