Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari said India should become an energy exporter rather than an energy importer.
He said this while addressing the Sugar and Ethanol India Conference (SEIC) 2022 in Mumbai. The conclave is being organized by ChiniMandi, a news and information portal for the sugar and allied industries, sought to bring together leading domestic and global industry experts to discuss the top challenges and risk response strategies in domestic and global sugar trade and the way forward to building a more innovative and sustainable Sugar and Ethanol sector in India.
He further said, farmers’ should be made ‘Urja Data’ instead of ‘Anna data’ to pull them out of poverty. Gadkari said, diversification of agriculture towards the energy and power sector is the need of the hour.
He said that the government is seriously considering on using ethanol in the aviation sector.
He recounted that two years back during the Republic Day Parade in Delhi, the fighter jets which did the fly past had 100 per cent bio-ethanol.
In the recent past, a Spice Jet aircraft that flew from Dehradun to Delhi had 50 per cent biofuel.
Mr. Gadkari also said that there has been a 136 per cent rise in electric vehicles in the country.
Highlighting the increase in sugarcane production in the country, the Minister underscored the need for reducing consumption of sugar and instead of using it to produce ethanol.
Mr. Gadkari said, although, now the sugarcane production is on a rise, but cautioned that the same situation will not prevail in the years to come and as a reason conversion of sugar to ethanol should be done at a fast pace.
The Minister said, the total petroleum imports in India at present is 8 lakh crore rupees, which is expected to become 25 lakh crore rupees in the next 5 years. He said, importing petroleum products to the tune of 25 lakh crore rupees would create an economic difficulty. Not only that, he said, it will lead to new problems due to the influx of fossil fuels at such a high magnitude.
The senior Minister said, the country is producing 465 crore liters of ethanol at present.
He exhorted all sugar factories who manufacture ethanol to open ethanol pumps in their factories and other areas, which can bring in 100 per cent ethanol-run scooters, auto-rickshaws and cars and thus increase ethanol consumption, reduce pollution, bring down imports and also provide jobs to people in villages.