World Biofuel day

Subject: Environment/ Economy

Context:

A webinar on the occasion of the World Biofuel day was organized by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with the theme “Biofuels towards Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

Concept:

• World Biofuel Day is observed every year on 10th August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and to highlight the various efforts made by the Government in the Biofuel sector.
• World Biofuel Day is being celebrated by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas since 2015.
• Biofuels have multiple benefits such as reduction on import dependence, ensuring a cleaner environment, generating additional income for farmers and employment generation.
• Since, 2014, the Government of India has taken a number of initiatives to increase blending of biofuels.
• The major initiatives include administrative price mechanism for ethanol, simplifying the procurement procedures by OMCs, amending the provisions of Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951, Long term ethanol procurement policy, ethanol distillation capacity addition and enabling lignocellulosic route for ethanol procurement.