June 2, 2009
India opens its first DBT-ICT Center for Bioscience Energy to develop technologies that will increase biomass yield per hectare and produce both gas and liquid biofuels from non-fodder agricultural residue. The institute is partnering with other universities and international industries to lessen India’s dependence on petroleum fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, national policy on biofuels says that it is mandatory to blend 20 percent of bioethanol and biodiesel with gasoline and diesel by 2017 and the biofuels should be produced from non-food sources grown on non-farming land.
Hope this will make the country less dependent on imported oil which is currently 77 percent of total fuel consumption in India.