ELECTRONIC VEHICLES AND ENVIRONMENTAL TAX VIS-A-VIS VEHICULAR

POLLUTION IN INDIA

India, along with the world, is enduring the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic which has led to
the toppling down of the health infrastructure of various countries, irrespective of them being
developed, or developing. It teaches us a lesson to be more prepared and be more vigilant
regarding the distress calls sent by such deadly epidemics. Recently, alarming distress calls
regarding another such conundrum which may topple not only our health infrastructure, but our
disaster management capacity, can be heard from global warming, and climate change. Cyclones,
melting ice, sporadic rainfalls, and islands losing land to the oceans are some among many bells
of warning. India ranks 169 among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index 1, 7th
in all 8 South Asian countries, ranking only above Afghanistan.  Approximately 30% of the
Index is composed of indicators that directly influenced by Vehicular Pollution. 
Vehicular Pollution is the second most devastating anthropogenic activity, which produces
around 20% carbon dioxide(CO2) on a global level 2. Moreover, Vehicular Pollution also leads to
Global Warming, poor environmental health, smog and acidic rain, and poor air quality. Poor air
quality affects health of the citizens as well as the ecosystem vitality as a whole.  
There are many solutions proposed to tackle vehicular pollution in India. Strategic Traffic
Planning, improvement in fuel quality, formulation of necessary laws, enforcement of vehicle
emission standards, among others are important and are being implemented. More individual
based solutions are Carpooling, regular vehicle maintenance, role of the state in providing
alternate means of transport and education awareness regarding the impact of vehicular
pollution. The solutions that we will discuss are less conventional, and we will examine them in
light of existing laws and policies in India. 

LAWS AND POLICIES GIVING SPACE FOR ECO TAX -

India has a robust framework of legislation to tackle Environmental Pollution. For Air Pollution,
the Parliament enacted the Air Act 1981. The Act aims to curb the air pollution and preserve the
quality of air. The act further extended the functions of the Central Pollution Control Board3 to

1
epi2020report20210112.pdf (yale.edu)
2
Cite a report regarding this.
3
Set up under Water Act 1973 (Cite the provision)
inter alia, monitoring, guidance, technical assistance, and advice to central government with
respect to Air Pollution and related laws and policies. The role of CPCB becomes extremely
important as scientific assessments will be required for the implementation of an Environmental
Tax. These assessments will be crucial in order to determine the carbon footprint and will be
justification regarding the differential treatment. The most concerning area that can be targeted
by an Environment Tax or Carbon Tax or Eco Tax, can be vehicles. Differential Taxation can be
implemented on vehicles pushing towards fuel efficiency. Another solution vis-à-vis an Eco Tax
is GPS based Congestion Charges in metropolitan cities. Congestion Pricing is operative in
Singapore since 1975 and the need of such solutions has emerged again with this
pandemic4.These efforts are the most important when we are taxing carbon footprints of people.
In order to bring such a tax into existence, political will is very important. The political will is
only a representation of people’s will. Hence, such solutions must be proposed in the awareness
programmes made available to the people.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
As per the Road Transport Year Book (2015-2016)5, logarithmic increase in the number of total
registered motor vehicles can be observed in India. At the end of 2016, a total of 230 million
registered motor vehicles existed in India. This emphasizes the demand of motor vehicles in
India. Hence, in order to create an alternate market, the Government has rolled out National
Electric Mobility Mission Plan 20206 and Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and
Electric Vehicles (FAME-1) Scheme7 under NEMMP 2020. Several hindrances like Charging of
Batteries, transport needs of increasing population, and loopholes in the energy infrastructure,
are prevalent but the schemes have done very well in the metropolitan cities regarding the roll
out of Electric Vehicles. In 2019, FAME – II8 was also rolled out which aimed at further
development of electric vehicles. These efforts are synchronous with India’s commitment to
make a drastic shift to electric vehicles by 2030 under the Paris Agreement.

4
congestion charge: Coronavirus speeds up push for congestion charge in cities, Auto News, ET Auto
(indiatimes.com)
5
Road Transport Year Book 2015-2016
6
Cite the plan
7
Cite the scheme
8
Cite FAME-II scheme
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
For the implementation of Electric Vehicles schemes in India, separate electricity grid tuned to
the needs with respect to Voltage, Watts, etc. is a must. Energy infrastructure is very important
as we talk about integrating the renewable energy into the mainstream. While we provide an
alternate for the upcoming demand of motor vehicles by electric mobility, we counter the
existing transport sector dominated by motor vehicles by means of Environmental Tax. Thus,
this two pronged solution being sustainable and practical shall go a long way in helping India
achieve its commitments under the Paris Agreement.