World Biofuel Day event organised

World Biofuel Day 2018 event was organised in New Delhi on Friday, with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a diverse gathering, consisting of farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs, students, government officials, and legislators. On the occasion, Modi unveiled a booklet on “National Policy on Biofuels 2018”, and launched “Pro Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive and Virtuous Environmental Single window Hub” (Parivesh). Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping, and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation; Ramvilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution; Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and Environment, Forest & Climate Change; and Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship were also present. Pradhan said that World Biofuel day is being observed since 2015 to create awareness about the importance of nonfossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and to highlight the various efforts made by the government in the biofuel sector. He said that the day reaffirms the government’s commitment to increase farmers’ income and improve the environment. The minister of petroleum & natural gas said that several steps have been taken to improve the supply of ethanol for the blending programme that has resulted in supplies jumping from 38 crore litres in 2013-14 to about 141 crore litres in the ongoing season. Pradhan said that the Government has notified the new National Policy on Biofuels-2018, which envisages a target of 20% blending of ethanol in petrol by 2030. The policy has widened the scope of raw material for ethanol procurement.