ABSTRACT

Twelve years after the National Urban Transport Policy was announced by the central government, the problems identified in it remain the same, or have worsened. Land use planning has not enabled the lower-income groups to live closer to work, road use is more dominated by private vehicles, and there is little money to improve facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists. While we know that urban air pollution poses serious health risks to people living in Indian cities, we do not have a consensus on the details regarding the sources of the pollutants. This is mainly because central and local governments have not invested in setting up and funding an adequate number of research groups in academic institutions to conduct detailed studies around the country. Such neglect leads to knee-jerk reactions like the odd–even scheme. The presentation will show that though much of the basic data on urban transport in India is unreliable, there is enough to show that the challenge is to keep the share of non-personal transport at 70% as incomes increase in our cities. For this, walking and bicycling have to be made safer and public transport more attractive by making it readily available.

About the Speaker: Dinesh Mohan is Honorary Professor IIT Delhi. A graduate in Mechanical Engineering from the IIT Bombay, he obtained his PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Michigan. He started his career at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Washington DC and then moved to the IIT Delhi. He is the recipient of Distinguished Career Award from the University of Delaware, Distinguished Alumnus Award of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, the American Public Health Association International Distinguished Career Award, the Bertil Aldman Award of the International Council on Biomechanics of Impacts, the Association for Advancement of Automotive Medicine’s Award of Merit and the International Association for Accident & Traffic Medicine’s International Award and Medal for outstanding achievement in traffic safety.

Date: January 30, 2019
Venue: 107, GICT Building

Keywords: Research Seminar Series