Every major economic disruption in the last five decades has emanated from oil shocks and eventually circled back to these three pressure points. However, no government has taken steps to address these structural vulnerabilities for various reasons. One of the reasons could be the lack of alternative transport systems
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has aptly identified the three chronic stress points of the Indian economy — fuel, fertiliser and forex. These are collectively called the 3Fs. These 3Fs have repeatedly exposed the country's structural vulnerabilities, as it is heavily dependent on imports for fuel, fertiliser inputs and external trade stability.
Every major economic disruption in the last five decades has emanated from oil shocks and eventually circled back to these three pressure points. However, no government has taken steps to address these structural vulnerabilities for various reasons. One of the reasons could be the lack of alternative transport systems.
While introducing green energy vehicles and green fertiliser could lead to immense foreign exchange savings, the Central government should also look at another factor at the root of the problem — the distance between an employee’s house and workplace.
To address this issue, the Centre in partnership with state governments must redevelop areas closer to work hubs in all major cities similar to the project being undertaken in Dharavi, Mumbai.
The redevelopment should involve constructing large residential apartments as affordable rental housing complexes, built and maintained under a public-private partnership model. A similar model is followed in Singapore and Japan.
Since the large majority of families in cities are small, the state government should encourage them to relocate closer to their workplace, which will drastically cut fuel use. This will also reduce vehicular traffic on roads and allow employees to achieve work-life balance.
While this development may affect some property owners in those areas, it is imperative for the country’s overall long-term sustainable development, which cannot be held hostage to the interests of some property owners or builders. If India wants to avoid another oil crisis, people and the government must discard old behaviours and adopt new ones.
