PM Modi Unveils E-100 Pilot Project through Video-Conferencing

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, had on June 5, 2021 addressed the World Environment Day event through video conferencing. The program was jointly organized by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Meanwhile, the PM interacted with a Pune based peasant who had shared his experience in organic farming and use of bio-fuel in agriculture sector. “Report of the Expert Committee on Road Map for ethanol blending in India 2020-2025”, was released by PM Modi. For the adequate production and distribution of ethanol across the nation, PM Modi launched the Union Government’s ambitious, E-100 pilot project in Pune. The theme for the year 2021 event was ‘promotion of bio-fuels for a better environment’. Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prakash Javadekar, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan were among other Cabinet Ministers during the occasion. PM Modi said that India had taken another leap by releasing a detailed roadmap for the development of the ethanol sector on the occasion of World Environment Day. He said that ethanol had become one of the major priorities of the 21st century India. He added that the focus on ethanol had 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 preponed 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. 

The Prime Minister remarked that the 21st century India could 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. 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. The Prime Minister spoke about the hard and soft approaches taken to fight climate change. On the hard approach, he noted that our capacity for renewable energy has increased by more than 250 percent in the last 6-7 years. India is today among the top 5 countries of the world in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. Especially the capacity of solar energy has increased by about 15 times in the last 6 years. The Prime Minister said that the country has also taken historic steps with a soft approach, today the common man of the country has joined and leading the Pro-Environment Campaign like avoiding single use plastic, beach cleaning or Swachh Bharat. Similarly, by providing free gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme, by providing electricity connections under the Saubhagya scheme, to crores of poor, their dependence on wood has greatly reduced, PM said. The number of Tigers in our country has doubled and the number of leopards has also increased by about 60 percent in the last few years. The Prime Minister said Clean and Efficient Energy Systems, Resilient Urban Infrastructure and Planned Eco-Restoration are a very important part of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Campaign. He said due to all the efforts taken related to the environment, new investment opportunities are being created in the country, lakhs of youth are also getting employment. He said India is working with a holistic approach through the National Clean Air Plan to curb air pollution.