Ramesh differs with official line, says biofuel role limited

Biofuels have a limited role in India due to land limitation and food security issues, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said today, a view which differs from the official line pushing for a 20 per cent blend of such fuel in gasoline and diesel by 2017.

Pitching for hybrids and CNG-run vehicles, Ramesh said "biofuel does not has a relevance role in Indian context in view of land limitation and food security."

He was speaking at the inaugural session of the two-day 4th Environment Friendly Vehicles' conference here.

In October 2007, under pressure from the world to cut emissions of the greenhouse gasses produced by fossil fuel combustion, the Government had mandated that all diesel should contain 5 per cent biofuel by volume. Biofuels are produced from crops and burn cleaner than fossil fuels.

Biodiesels, a subset of biofuels, are produced from vegetable or animal oil and there is a view that biofuel target is a reason for food prices shooting up lately.

Ramesh said India could not follow Brazil which is a world leader in the use of ethanol as transportation fuel.

"We have land limitation and huge population pressure. We have to have food security," he maintained and added that though "it (bio-fuel) may play a small role but a big role has to be from the hybrids, auto-electric and of course the CNG type vehicles."