‘Right time to transition into Electric Mobility in Rajasthan’: Ravi Jain, Secretary and Transport Commissioner, Government of Rajasthan

PNI News, December 11, 2020

While delivering the Keynote address at a webinar organised by CUTS International and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) India titled, ‘Boosting Green Economy: Is E-mobility the way forward in Rajasthan?’, Shri Ravi Jain, Secretary and Transport Commissioner, Government of Rajasthan, pointed out that Rajasthan government will soon be rolling out its Electric Vehicle policy, as part of its initiative to curb the vehicular emission in the state.

The webinar was organised to launch the report of a CUTS study titled ‘Exploring the impact of Jobs Ecosystem: A case study of Jaipur, Rajasthan’ implemented with support from FES India.

Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International, while delivering introductory remarks, emphasised that Electric Vehicles (EVs) are the potential answer to the problem of vehicular pollution and fossil fuel dependency. However, he also underlined the importance of ‘Just Transition’ in the automotive sector in order to enable an inclusive transformation to electric-mobility in India.

Mandvi Kulshreshtha, Program Adviser – Economy of Tomorrow, FES India, remarked that gender justice and climate justice should be at the core of the roadmap for a sustainable future.

To gather insights on the report being launched on the occasion, a panel discussion was conducted that was moderated by Sarthak Shukla, Assistant Policy Analyst, CUTS International, and saw the participation of over 65 participants from across various industries and stakeholder categories including OEMs, research organisations, enterprises and

Speaking on the thematic environmental context of EVs, Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director, Policy and Advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment, advocated the need to align the efforts in a systemic way in order to reap the envisaged benefits of EVs. She also stressed on the need to reform the power sector and infuse grid storage capacity, while at the same time explore other non-polluting forms of transport like walking and cycling circuits in cities.

In response to queries related to jobs and skill ecosystem in the automotive sector in India, Arindam Lahiri, Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Skills Development Council, highlighted that the major challenge in the automotive sector is to make the sector more attractive for the younger workforce and attract more women workers in the skilled segment.

Aditya Ramji, Senior Manager – Economist, Mahindra and Mahindra limited, opined that the net job lost will not be there if the industries have a good migration strategy to up-skill and re-skill their workforce. He also opined that there is a case in point to shift the focus from high-price vehicles to affordable EVs but without compromising basic requirements like safety of the vehicle.

Finally, Ruchir Shukla, Director – Electric Mobility, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, pointed out that electrification of heavy-duty vehicle should not be overlooked as they are the major contributor in vehicular emission and the role of research and development is immense in taking forward this cause of e-mobility.

Underlining the need for having clean air and sustainable development, Ujjwal Kumar, Policy Analyst, CUTS International, summarised the enriching discussion.


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