we all know of india's cities. india cities, especially in this software boom era, is one of main engines of indian economy. providing jobs, money flow, livelihood for many millions of people, these areas are also crowded, congested, heavily polluted and energy sucking monsters.

out of all important urban issues, air pollution in cities rank amongst the top. with poor emission control regime coupled with auto industry willful negligence to go latest in emissions, adulterated fuel, massive 2 wheelers, rich people cars - all of these make cities choking hells.

couple of youngsters led by Nikhil Eldurkar a software engineer are telling that cycling to work is not only good for health but also for environment. and to be an example he cycles from jaynagar to marthahalli, a whopping 17 kms.

without offense to nikhil, i for sure wont suggest this. if you were to cycle this much why not relocate to marthahalli or at least central or close to it. but what nikhil has bought up is that cycling in cities can be a huge boom in terms of cutting down emissions, air pollution and congestion.

in our urban planning (if at all there is a plan) there is only planning made for cars, cars and more cars so that each and every inch of the road is tarred with decades old trees even cut down. for sustainable growth of urban areas, the planning should focus on cycling routes, communities, apartment clusters, etc that can be easily used for commuting by bicycle, tax rewards for bicycle usage, special recognition of cyclists on the road, cycle lanes, etc.

in modern days when green is the go thing, bicycle should be the king of sustainable development.