Hummingbird News Desk
NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE: Announcing that India is focusing on production and usages of Ethanol for agriculture use, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said a roadmap for development in this sector has begun as it has become one of the major priorities of 21st century India.
Addressing a programme on World Environment Day, the Prime Minister also declared “today, we have resolved to meet the target of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025”.
PM Modi said India has taken another big step on this occasion today (Saturday) and a detailed roadmap for the development of the ethanol sector has just been released.
He said that ethanol has become one of the major priorities of 21st century India. He added that the focus on ethanol is having a better impact on the environment as well as on the lives of farmers.
He said that the Government has resolved to meet the target of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. Earlier the resolve was to achieve the target by 2030 which is now proponed by 5 years.
He added that till 2014, on an average, only 1.5 percent of ethanol could be blended in India which has now reached about 8.5 percent. In 2013-14, about 38 crore liters of ethanol were purchased in the country which has now grown to more than 320 crore liters. He said that a large part of this eightfold increase in ethanol procurement has benefitted the sugarcane farmers of the country.
The Prime Minister remarked that the 21st century India can get energy only from the modern thinking and modern policies of the 21st century. With this thinking, the government is continuously taking policy decisions in every field.
He said today, a lot of emphasis is being laid on building the necessary infrastructure for the production and purchase of ethanol in the country. Most of the ethanol manufacturing units are mostly concentrated in 4-5 states where sugar production is high but now Food Grain Based Distilleries are being established to expand this to the whole country. Modern technology based plants are also being set up in the country to make ethanol from agricultural waste.
On the virtual event, the Prime Minister also said that India is moving ahead with a big global vision whether it is the International Solar Alliance which fulfill the vision of One Sun, One World, One Grid, Or the coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure initiative.
He also mentioned India’s awareness about the challenges that are being faced due to climate change, saying we are also “working actively” in this direction.
The Prime Minister said that our capacity for renewable energy has increased by more than 250 per cent in six-seven years and that “India currently has secured place in the top five countries of the world in terms of installed renewable energy capacity”.
“The capacity of solar energy has increased by about 15 times in the last six years.”
Today, the Modi said, India is setting an example in front of the world that when it comes to protecting the environment, it is not necessary to block development works while doing so.
“Economy and Ecology both can go together and move forward. This is the path India has chosen.”
To protect the climate, the Prime Minister appealed to organize efforts to protect the environment.
“When every citizen of the country makes a united effort to maintain the balance of water, air and land, then only we will be able to give a safe environment to our coming generations.”
The Prime Minister said that today, a large part of the country’s railway network has been electrified. Airports of the country are also made to use electricity from solar energy at a rapid pace. He elaborated that before 2014, only 7 airports had a solar power facility, whereas today this number has increased to more than 50. More than 80 airports have been installed with LED lights which would improve energy efficiency.
The Prime Minister spoke about a project which is underway to develop Kevadiya as an electric vehicle city. He said necessary infrastructure is being made available so that only battery based buses, two-wheeler, four-wheeler will run in Kevadiya in future.
He said the water cycle is also directly related to climate change and imbalance in the water cycle will directly affect water security. He told that work is being done with a holistic approach from creation and conservation to use of water resources in the country through Jal Jeevan Mission. On one hand, every household is being connected with pipes, while on the other hand, the focus is on raising the ground water level through campaigns like Atal Bhujal Yojana and Catch the Rain.
The Prime Minister announced that the government has identified 11 sectors which can make good use of resources by recycling them through modern technology. He said a lot of work has been done in the last few years on the Kachra to Kanchan campaign and now it is being taken forward very fast in mission mode.
The action plan related to this, which will have all the regulatory and development related aspects, will be implemented in the coming months. He stressed that to protect the climate, it is very important to organize our efforts to protect the environment.
Tags: #Ethanol #EcosystemRestoration #GenerationRestoration #IndiasGreenFuture #WED2021 #WorldEnvironmentDay #farmers