GS 2: Governance | Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors

Why in News?

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the “Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran AnukoolFasal Awashesh Nivaran) Yojana” for providing financial support to Integrated Bioethanol Projects using lignocellulosic biomass and another renewable feedstock.

Scheme Highlights:

• Under this Yojana, 12 Commercial Scale and 10 demonstration scale Second Generation (2G) ethanol Projects will be provided a Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support in two phases:
• Phase-I (2018-19 to 2022-23): wherein six commercial projects and five demonstration projects will be supported.
• Phase-II (2020-21to2023-24): wherein remaining six commercial projects and five demonstration projects will be supported.
• The scheme focuses to incentivise 2G Ethanol sector and support this nascent industry by creating a suitable ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and increasing Research & Development in this area.

Significance:

• Meeting Government of India vision of reducing import dependence by way of substituting fossil fuels with Biofuels.
• Achieving the GHG emissions reduction targets through progressive blending/ substitution of fossil fuels.
• Addressing environment concerns caused due to burning of biomass/ crop residues & improve health of citizens. Improving farmer income by providing them remunerative income for their otherwise waste agriculture residues.
• Creating rural & urban employment opportunities in 2G Ethanol projects and Biomass supply chain. Contributing to Swacch Bharat Mission by supporting the aggregation of non-food biofuel feedstocks such as waste biomass and urban waste.
• Indigenizing of Second-Generation Biomass to Ethanol technologies.
• The ethanol produced by the scheme beneficiaries will be mandatorily supplied to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to further enhance the blending percentage under EBP Programme.
• Centre for High Technology (CHT), a technical body under the aegis of MoP&NG, will be the implementation Agency for the scheme.

Background:

• Government of India launched Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme in 2003 for undertaking blending of ethanol in Petrol to address environmental concerns due to fossil fuel burning, provide remuneration to farmers, subsidize crude imports and achieve forex savings.
• Presently, EBP is being run in 21 States and 4 UTs of the country. Under EBP programme, OMCs are to blend upto 10% of ethanol in Petrol.
• The present policy allows procurement of ethanol produced from molasses and non-food feedstock like celluloses and lignocelluloses material including petrochemical route.