Harley's 'n Mangoes...sure you didn't think you would hear it together

There is a lot of ado over the Harley and mango deal. For the late starters, India is relaxing pollution norms for Harleys, so they can be Euro 3 compliant as compared to the standard Euro 4. For the now thirsty-and-bored-of-waiting-bikers, it means we'll finally get to set our rears on a Harley, if - and that's a big 'if' in the largest and wildest font you can find - you can afford to buy one. I wonder if it's a good thing, selling our mangoes for American cult machines.

The argument against such an arrangement is that, India would be selling its mangoes(a food source), which has a sizable chunk of it's population under poverty. My question here, does India have a mango deficit? Googling Harleys and mangoes(a match made in heaven you said?), I found here that we can export 8,000-10,000 tons mangoes a year as of now, as said by the Chairman of Agriculture and Processed food products Export Development Authority, India. And this would be at around $36/dozen, quite a sum. This in front of our total annual production figures of 14 million tons, looks like pocket change almost. A basic fact, buying power needs to be created in the first place to create demand. So for those who think this deal will make our country more impoverished, I doubt it, at the worst it would make a few farmers richer and give them incentive to produce even more. If the export of mangoes is kept to a controllable sum, then the government can ensure that domestic prices will stay in control.

And is pollution a problem? Hell yeah! But come to think of it, these are bikes which would at best sell in double figures now. I would be more worried by all the 1L cars that would be puttering around our roads in the future. The fact of the matter is, we are talking about some real small numbers here. A few bikes, a few mangoes, but that marque Harley Davidson is always known to create quite a stir isn't it?