Government of India is planning to discuss in the cabinet the bio-fuel policy, by which a National Bio-fuel Coordination Committee headed by the Prime Minster himself. The high power committee is expected to give the necessary impetus to support the growth of this sector hoping to serve about 10% of the total transport fuel demand through bio-fuels by 2017. Many countries now use a mix of fossil fuel and bio-fuel from environmental considerations. Oil is also becoming dearer by the day.
The other side of the story is not very encouraging. Right now, the world is going through a phase of acute food shortage. The bio-fuel crops are grown in preference to the food crops in view of the better monetary gains. Corn crops are diverted to make bio-fuels, mainly ethanol.
There should be regulatory infrastructure to over-see the bio-fuel production, pricing and supply across different states in the country. Government should ensure that farm land should not used to produce crops for bio-fuels. Food crops should be given priority over the production of bio-fuel crops. Already the countries like US are blaming India for food shortage world-wide. It is wise to watch the situation for a while before India joins the controversial bio-fuel band-wagon in a big way.
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