Tannuka Juneja
India has reached its target of 10 percent ethanol blending in gasoline five months ahead of schedule, resulting in lower carbon emissions, more savings for the country and better income for farmers, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding that in 2014 only 1.5 per cent ethanol was blended in petrol in India.
The Prime Minister addressed the Save the Soil movement at an event organised by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation. Modi also listed various environmental measures taken by his government over the past eight years.
He noted that the goal of a 10 percent ethanol blend has three important advantages. First, it reduced carbon emissions by 2.7 million tons; Second, Modi said that India had saved more than 41 billion rupees in eight years; And finally, during this period, “farmers in the country earned more than 40,000 crores”.
Modi said India was also trying to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. “To meet our energy needs from renewable sources, we are working on increasingly bigger goals. We had set a target of achieving 40 per cent of our installed power generation capacity from non-fossil fuel based sources. India has achieved this target 9 years ahead of schedule.” He said today our solar energy capacity has increased about 18 times.
India is also working towards green jobs, he said, which is rarely discussed. “The way India is taking decisions in the interest of the environment and implementing them rapidly, they are also creating a large number of green job opportunities. This is also a subject of study that should be thought about.”
