The Nano Battle: Why India Must Win

David Asman
FOXBusiness

Poor Indians can now afford a cheap car and rich folks worried about global warming are upset. Is that fair?

Tata Motor’s $2,500 Nano will make cars affordable for millions of Indians, who’ve been getting around on converted rickshaws powered with lawnmower motors. The Nano is as stripped down as any car you’ve seen, with no air conditioning, no radio and just one windshield wiper. But it can seat four people inside without getting wet, and it’s got a catalytic converter -- so it won’t spew as much dirt into the air as those rickshaw engines. And it’s a huge step up for folks struggling out of poverty.

So why are Greenpeace and U.N. economists screaming bloody murder and threatening to shut down the Nano? Because they’re a bunch of whining hypocrites, who use ten times as much carbon flying to a global warming conference in Bali than a poor Indian would use driving a Nano for a year.

So here’s to progress, to the Nano, and to India’s growing middle class, struggling to free themselves from poverty -- and from the dictates of a spoiled, privileged elite.