Best of BS Opinion: India's ethanol blending plans need better design

Today's opinions examine India's ethanol-blending policy, urban employment trends, MGNREGA reforms, energy security after the Strait of Hormuz disruptions, and Project Cheetah

Hello, and welcome to the Best of BS Opinion, our wrap of the day's Opinion page. 

Our first editorial argues that India’s ethanol-blending programme serves important goals such as improving energy security and reducing oil imports, but its implementation has imposed unnecessary costs on consumers. Although evidence suggests E20 does not cause widespread engine damage, it can reduce fuel efficiency and accelerate wear in older vehicles that were not designed for higher ethanol blends. Retaining lower-blend fuel options during the transition would have better protected consumer choice. The economics of using surplus subsidised rice for ethanol production is also questionable, since a shift towards maize would create a more efficient and environmentally sustainable biofuel strategy.  The latest PLFS-based labour market data confirm that India’s million-plus cities generate stronger employment outcomes than urban areas overall, with higher labour force participation, lower unemployment, better wages, and improved opportunities for women and young people. However, the findings also reveal wide disparities across cities, persistent barriers to female workforce participation, and relatively low wages in manufacturing centres. While the survey offers valuable insights, today's second editorial cautions that its methodology may overstate employment by counting sporadic work, adding that reducing regional imbalances will require targeted investment, skill development, childcare support, and policies that facilitate labour mobility to faster-growing cities.  India’s rural jobs programme has shifted from a demand-driven legal guarantee to a centrally allocated scheme with fixed state-wise funding, writes Haseeb A. Drabu. The new framework replaces MGNREGA’s counter-cyclical design, limiting its ability to respond automatically to droughts, pandemics or rural distress. While the allocation formula favours poorer states, it also disproportionately benefits larger ones, reducing shares for states with stronger implementation records. The predetermined funding caps weaken the rural safety net, increase fiscal pressure on states, and centralise decision-making, eroding cooperative federalism and making employment support less responsive to local needs.  Recent disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz exposed India's continuing energy vulnerabilities despite a far stronger economy than during the 1991 balance of payments crisis. Ranjan Mathai argues that diversification of crude imports, strategic reserves and refinery flexibility helped cushion the latest shock, while China's reserve drawdowns and alternative Gulf export routes moderated global prices. However, heavy dependence on imported oil, LPG and LNG remains a major risk. India must strengthen energy security by boosting domestic oil and gas production, expanding strategic petroleum and gas storage, reforming exploration policies, advancing coal gasification, and developing regional fuel security partnerships, including with Sri Lanka.  In his review, Chintan Girish Modi presents Bringing the Cheetah Back to India: How Diplomacy Made Conservation’s Big Mission Possible by Prashant Agrawal as an engaging account of the diplomacy that enabled the landmark translocation of cheetahs from Namibia. The book highlights the negotiations, cultural sensitivities, and strategic relationships that underpinned Project Cheetah, while illustrating conservation as an instrument of foreign policy. The review praises its insider perspective and narrative energy, but notes limited engagement with the project’s historical context and ethical debates. It concludes that the conservation initiative still requires more rigorous and critical assessment.