First vehicle for Indians should be electric: Goyal

Union minister Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday, said 80 per cent of India's population does not own a vehicle as yet and he would want their first vehicle to be electric. He was speaking here at a World Economic Forum session on 'Designing for smart mobility' where he stressed on the need for smart mobility to optimise traffic flow in India. "In Western countries, everybody owns vehicles. Countries like India which are still emerging, we have 80 per cent of our population which does not own a vehicle as yet and we would love them to have a first vehicle which is electric," Goyal said. He also said India has adopted renewable energy very rapidly. "If we take solar energy alone, we have grown by about 6 times in the last 3.5 years, and our plan is to go up to 100 GW by 2022. India has chosen to go down the path of clean energy," the minister said. In 2015, the government embarked on the world's largest campaign to replace all lighting by LEDs, he said while adding that in three years, 800 million bulbs have been replaced with LEDs in the country and the price has fallen by 87 per cent. “We embarked about three years ago on a huge programme to take LPG to each family. We've done 35 million in last three years, in next one year we'll do 15 million and in 2-3 years after that, we'll make sure no family in the country will have to use traditional form of cooking," he said. In another session on 'post establishment politics', Goyal spoke on how a positive narrative can transform politics. He said the Narendra Modi government came on the back of huge aspirations of the people against corruption and dynastic politics. "We never differentiated between the regions or people, we take everybody along and we believe development should be holistic for everybody," he said. He said the traditional Indian culture has been very inclusive, it believes in 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' which means 'the whole world is one family'. He also said in this interconnected world, where social media outreach has just gone beyond imagination, actions lead to immediate reactions. "Be it terrorism or climate change, these concerns are causing fractures in the world, and these can only be handled by using the collective wisdom of the world. "People are wise and understand what is good for them. They are aspiring for a better quality of life and we should trust the voters' judgement," the railway minister said. At another session, Goyal spoke on India's role in shaping the transition to alternative energy sources and partnering on energy solutions to meet climate targets. In a busy day, he also met several political and business leaders from across the world.