National Dailies

The mounting price of crude oil and India's increasing dependence on mineral oil has prepared the ground to take up the biofuel project on war footing. The Union Minister of Rural Development, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, has said the national mission on biodiesel has got the in-principle nod of the Planning Commission. The ministry will be the nodal ministry for implementing the programme, which is expected to start in 2006-07, he said at the third International Conference on Biofuels organised by Winrock International India.

"Production and development of bio-diesel as a long-term alternative to conventional hydrocarbons has immense potential in view of the prospects available for the development of indige nous pungamia and exotic jatropha in the country," the Minister said.

The subject was first discussed in the Planning Commission and an interministerial committee was set up by the Commission in 2002 to explore and advise on the prospects of use of bio-fuels for commercial utilisation, he added.

The National Mission on Biodiesel is proposed to be implemented in two phases. The first phase will involve a demonstration stage for plantation of jatropha on four lakh hectares, and associated research activities for establishing the commercial viability of the fuel. Phase two will involve self-sustaining expansion of the bio-diesel programme.

Speaking on the occasion Union Panchayati Raj Minister and also former Petroleum & Natural Gas minister Mani Shankar Aiyar announced that a high-level committee would be constituted to promote cultivation of jatropha and other plants, which could be used for bio-diesel production in the country.

The committee to be cochaired by the Petroleum Secretary, S.C. Tripathi, secretary Panchayati Raj, B.S. Lalli, and advisor Planning Commission, R. Mandai, and would include representatives from bodies such as National Vegetable Oil Development Board, National Rural Development Corporation among others. He stressed that the successful implementation of bio-fuel programme depends on equal participation of all stakeholders.

The minister said the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme provides a major role of Panchayats in creating assets in rural areas and its provisions should be utilised for the promotion of bio-diesel. Over three lakh Panchayats in our country are a good medium to disseminate info on biofuels at the village level.

Stating the true success of the plan would be reflected only when the country could cut imports of crude oil and spend that amount towards cultivation of jatropha, he said for 2004-05, the expenditure on crude import was Rs 1,17,000 crore. He said that the success of the plan to dope diesel with non-edible oil extracted from plants such as jatropha so as to cut imports, depends on the involvement of local bodies in the programme.