Jairam Has No Faith in Jatropha Biofuel
by Archana Jyoti (Daily Pioneer) The Planning Commission hailed it as a future fuel and the industry projected it as a viable biofuel crop. But the Union Rural Development Ministry led by Jairam Ramesh feels otherwise.
Citing negative reports, the Ministry has put on hold the Jatropha plantation programme for biofuel purpose. It has thus also put a question mark on the future of the proposed National Mission on biofuels.
The Ministry’s decision to not to go ahead with the plantation programme is based on a government sponsored study conducted in 2010 by The Energy Research Institute (TERI) which pointed out that the plantation of the oil seed plant was not only financially unviable but also poses a threat to food security.
The Ministry was to undertake 300,000 hectare plantation of bio-diesel producing, non-edible oilseeds species on degraded forest land subject to receipt of positive feedback of the assessment of the plantation work already carried out in the country. READ MORE
