How to walk without danger?

Survey by Stanford University found that Indians are among the laziest people in the world. On average people in India walk 4,297 steps per day. People in Hong Kong walk the most at 6,880 steps per day, the world average being 4,961 steps per day. Thankfully, Indonesia comes in last with 3,513 steps a day. The study collected data from smart phones of 700,000 people in 46 countries around the world which is considered to be much more accurate than asking people to recollect how much they walked. The danger of this study is that politicians and so-called experts will immediately call for increasing taxes and parking charges to force people to give up cars. So, should Indians give up cars and start walking? But, walk on what? Most roads are in terrible condition and there are no pavements. Where pavements exist they have been taken over by hawkers and beggars. Hawkers appear anywhere and set up stalls without permission. They pay bribes to local police, a practice known as 'hafta', which literally means 'a week', so they increase corruption. While we have learnt the colonial system of government from the British, we do not seem to have learnt anything from them about how to construct pavements that provide information to people, including the blind. Then there are stray animals. India has more than 30 million stray dogs roaming the streets and every year 20,000 people die of rabies, a disease with 100% mortality. Dangers of Indians roads, combined with a low car ownership ratio means that Indians are going to buy more cars in the future. Malnutrition in India used to mean lack of food but increasingly, lack of exercise with changing diet habits mean that more Indians are becoming obese. Meat consumption in India is low because of costs, but there is a movement to force people to turn vegetarian. A minister suggested that portions served in restaurants should be reduced, so that there is less waste, but withdrew his idea when there was a push back. After all no one won an election in India through science. Genetically modified food crops are being pushed as a solution for food shortage in a poor country like India, but it is hard to know how much is actual science and how much due to pressure from cash rich multinationals. GM mustard resistant to herbicides could be lethal to bees as the use of herbicides is bound to increase. Finally, people need clean air and water for good health. Clean air is simple: increase parking charges so high that people will not use cars, which will leave roads empty for politicians to travel fast with a convoy of many cars. Water is becoming scarce in some parts of the country because of waste in irrigation. That is because farmers are given free electricity, to win votes. Kenneth Thorpe writes that spending money on healthcare is an investment, not an expense. Maybe, but does it win elections?