CHENNAI, India — India is in the midst of a car boom. At the latest count, there were a staggering 123 automobile models manufactured by 30 companies, and each model comes in several varieties. Despite the recession, the country's appetite for cars appears insatiable. Tacitly encouraging this is the government, which benefits every time a car manufacturer sets up shop in India. The end result is traffic chaos.
Sadly, in an overpopulated and poverty- stricken nation like India, where most people cannot afford one decent meal a day, let alone dream of buying a car, the conveyance of choice should be mass public transport, not private vehicles.
Over the years, public transportation has been grossly neglected. Kolkata has a subway system that runs only on one north-south corridor. Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore have only now begun to toy with the idea of a subway. New Delhi's subway began operating only a few years ago. Hopefully a good network will be in place by next October, when the Commonwealth Games begin.