New Delhi, July 25 : Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday assured Rajya Sabha members that the government would only give `conditional permission’ for diversion of foodgrains such as wheat, broken rice and maize for conversion into bio-fuels.
Although the Minister did not name `wheat’ in his reply to questions but in his written reply he stated that the new National Policy on Biofuels allows for production of ethanol from damaged foodgrains like wheat and broken rice which are unfit for human consumption.
The Minister was responding to a question raised by a member who quoted noted scientist MS Swaminathan as saying that diversion of foodgrains will affect food security particularly nutrition security for the poor.
Mr Pradhan said, “no blanket permission shall be given, only conditional permission and that too by a committee that has been set up under the new policy.’’
He said normally bio-fuels are made from molasses but looking to the cash crunch being faced by the sugar industry, the government has allowed them to use sugarcane juice for production of ethanol.
A member who earlier raised concern about use of foodgrains for ethanol, later suggested that the 20 per cent fruits and vegetables that are wasted could also be used for making ethanol blended petrol and diesel.
To a question on procurement of foodgrains for ethanol, Mr Pradhan said states will have to do it whenever they can help farmers.
“Only raising minimum support price of foodgrains cannot be the only step. Other measures will have to be taken to raise farmers income and this is value addition,’’ he said.
During the ethanol supply year 2016-17, 66.5 crore litres of ethanol was blended in petrol which resulted in foreign exchange impact of Rs. 1749 crore, the Minister said.
Only conditional permission for diversion of foodgrains to bio-fuels: Pradhan
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