Importance Of Sustainability In India

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NEED OF SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR INDIAN CITIES Abstract Defining Sustainability The root of sustainability lies in the growing awareness about activities done by humans that result in depletion of natural capital at a rate faster than the rate of replenishment by nature itself. While no universal definition of sustainability exists, the concept of ‘intergenerational equity’ (Todd Litman & David Burwell, 2006) meaning ‘being fair to the future generations’ best defines it. On the broad level, the issues in sustainability can be defined as Economic, Social & Environmental (shown below pictorially): Introduction With growing urbanisation, India too is moving towards the cities with more and more complex transportation requirements.…show more content…
In India, nearly 40,000 people die prematurely per year due to air pollution. 2. The rate of respiratory diseases in India has almost doubled since 1991. 3. WHO has requested international tourists to restrict their visit to cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata & Chennai due to the alarmingly high levels of pollution in these cities. Towards sustainability Conventional indicators of sustainability hardly considered non-motorised vehicles parameters for defining sustainability and primarily depended only on the motorised segment: • Average speed of traffic – higher is considered better • Level of service – higher is considered better • Rate of accidents per year – lower is considered better • Parking convenience – higher is considered better Since the parameters where all meant for motorised segment, the results often contradicted the objectives of sustainability, for example increased parking convenience would ultimately mean lower area for walking lanes or bicycle lanes as prescribed under sustainability. A landmark shift is required to now facilitate analysis in sustainable transportation using simple yet powerful set of indicators…show more content…
If unchecked, these levels will soon move into zones where they will prove extremely detrimental to the health of humans living in and around these urban establishments. It is required now to take steps to curtail these levels and provide better quality of life to the citizens of these megacities by means of sustainable transportation systems that include technologically developed fuel technologies and better planning of both motorized & non-motorized transportation systems of the cities. References [1] Singhal, B.I. (November 2010); Towards sustainable urban transport in India [2] Chokrobarty, Partha (May 2011); Sustainable transportation for Indian cities: Role of intelligent transportation systems [3] Kumar, Ashok; Sustainable Transport Environment in Indian Megacities: Problems and Remedies [4] Litman, Todd; Burwell, David; (2006); Issues in sustainable transportation [5] Singh, Sanjay Kumar; Urban Transport in India: Issues, Challenges, and the Way Forward [6] Daniel Bongardt, Dominik Schmid, Cornie Huizenga, Todd Litman; Sustainable Transport Evaluation [7] Sood, Pranav Raghav; Air Pollution Through Vehicular Emissions in Urban India and Preventive Measures [8] Deakin, Elizabeth; Air Pollution Through Vehicular Emissions in Urban India and Preventive

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