India to put 22 million vehicles off road

Circular Economy has the potential to create lakhs of entrepreneurs and generate 1.4 crore jobs in next 5-7 years, said Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog.

Speaking at the ‘3rd Edition of Circular Economy Symposium 2019’, Kant said that sustainable development and resource circularity is the need of the hour to implement Circular Economy.

Kant further highlighted that by 2050, world population would reach 9.7 billion of which 3 billion people would prosper to middleclass consumption level. This would require 71% more resources per capita, thereby raising total mineral and material demand from 50 billion tonnes in 2014 to 130 billion tonnes in 2050.

Kant added that if the ‘End of Life Vehicle’ policy was implemented with dated emission standards then by 2021, over 22 million vehicles will be off the road.

This would include 80% two-wheelers, 14% cars, and 3% each of three-wheelers and commercial vehicles.

“End of Life Vehicles present huge business opportunity for growth, wealth creation and jobs,” he added.

He stressed upon the need for promoting non-government organizations to spread awareness and developing Circular Economy as a national agenda.

“This initiative should be firmly supported as these non-government organisations operate at grass-root level and can be useful agents of change,” said Kant.

Dr Harry Lehmann, from Germany’s Federeal Environment Agency, said that developing Circular Economy is not just looking into the whole circle, but also treating each part as equally important.

He further added that without a proper design in the beginning, nothing can be achieved in Circular Economy. fiinews.com