For practically a decade, ethanol-blended petrol (EBP) has been promoted as a method to cut back India’s dependency on fossil gasoline imports and to decrease carbon emissions. Additionally it is anticipated to assist meet the nation’s nationally decided contributions underneath the Paris Settlement. The push for elevated ethanol manufacturing is additional justified as a lift to rural economies and a possible supply of employment technology.
First launched in 2001 as a pilot challenge, “5 per cent EBP” was adopted as a coverage goal in 2003 in 9 States and 4 Union Territories. In 2006, it was expanded to twenty States and 4 Union Territories. The challenge didn’t take off for practically a decade till the federal government launched focused measures and incentives.
The Nationwide Coverage on Biofuels (first notified in 2018 and amended in 2022) permitted using a number of feedstocks (sugarcane, sugar syrup, broken foodgrains, corn, agricultural waste, and so on.), thereby increasing the scope of uncooked supplies obtainable to fabricate ethanol for EBP. The coverage allowed for foodgrain surplus to be utilised, which has remained a contentious resolution. It categorised manufacturing models as primary (first-generation ethanol) and superior (second-generation ethanol) and put aside viability hole funding for the latter (Rs.5,000 crore, in keeping with a 2018 Press Info Bureau notice).
When the federal government launched the biofuels coverage, ethanol mixing in petrol in India was at 2 per cent. The 2018 coverage proposed a 2030 deadline for 20 per cent mixing. In 2022, the Central authorities superior the deadline to the monetary 12 months 2025-26. Nevertheless, attaining these targets has come at an enormous value.
Initially, an curiosity subvention scheme was launched in 2018 underneath which the Central authorities would bear as much as 6 per cent curiosity on financial institution loans for 5 years, particularly to help molasses-based distilleries. By 2021, the scheme was expanded to incorporate grain-based models.
Additionally Learn | When inexperienced turns grasping
The Central authorities additionally relaxed the tendering course of and regulatory mechanisms to hurry up clearances. The GST was slashed from 18 to five per cent, and controlled procurement costs (various, relying on uncooked supplies) had been applied. Throughout years of surplus, grains are bought by the Meals Company of India (FCI) to ethanol vegetation at subsidised charges.
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri signalled at a enterprise summit in Guwahati in February this 12 months that India was rising the EBP goal past 20 per cent. There’s hypothesis that it might go as much as 30 per cent (E30) by 2030.
Nevertheless, there are considerations in regards to the EBP coverage on the whole and ethanol-manufacturing models specifically. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, for example, protests in opposition to ethanol vegetation have gained momentum.
Protests by residents affected by air pollution
On June 4, villagers from Pedda Dhanwada in Jogulamba Gadwal district, Telangana, broken an under-construction ethanol plant by setting fireplace to it. That they had been protesting in opposition to the plant for a number of months fearing air pollution, however officers dismissed their considerations, stating {that a} public listening to—a necessary device for individuals to register their considerations, grievances, and disagreements with the federal government’s selections—was not needed and that the land for the plant had been acquired via personal transactions. Instances have been filed in opposition to the protesters, who stay defiant. Villagers view these “instances” as an act of oppression.
Take Lakshmaiah’s case, for example. Lakshmaiah teaches at a junior faculty close to Hyderabad. He’s from Eklaspur village in Marikal mandal of Narayanpet district. About half a kilometre from his native village is Chittanur, an ethanol level that has turn out to be a bone of competition between the general public and successive governments. Lakshmaiah and over 70 different individuals had been named in an FIR following protests in October 2023. Though it has been greater than 18 months because the FIR was filed, a cost sheet is but to be filed, Lakshmaiah instructed Frontline.
In November 2024, protests in Dilawarpur mandal of Nirmal district, Telangana, escalated and finally led to the scrapping of a proposed ethanol plant. Nevertheless, Chittanur and close by villages have been demanding the shutting down of an energetic ethanol plant.
“The plant is working at a lowered capability at the moment, however nonetheless, one can really feel the stench no less than 25 to 30 km away. Two wells are polluted, and the land close to the manufacturing unit is polluted. They mentioned zero liquid discharge, however we all know that isn’t the case,” Lakshmaiah mentioned. The declare of zero liquid discharge has usually been challenged by villages wherever ethanol vegetation are operational.
Promotion of EBP
To advertise EBP, the Ministry of Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change (MoEFCC) shortened the timelines for phrases of reference (ToR), initiated on the spot ToR for enlargement initiatives, and diluted the general public listening to provisions and different environmental checks, says a report of the skilled committee of NITI Aayog titled “Roadmap for Ethanol Mixing in India 2020-25”. Ethanol distilleries, nevertheless, fall underneath the “pink class”, with a air pollution rating of over 60.
In Andhra Pradesh, activists of the Human Rights Discussion board (HRF) have meticulously documented the environmental considerations and violations related to ethanol vegetation within the State. The documentation highlights that compliance with the prevailing mandates is one other space of concern.
Forward of the 2024 elections, residents of Gandepalli introduced they might boycott the elections if their considerations about environmental air pollution continued to be ignored. Situated close to Vijayawada, the ethanol plant in Gandepalli has been operational since 2008. For years, villagers have been complaining in regards to the degradation of the soil and the discharge of untreated effluent.
In 2022, a Lokayukta inquiry confirmed that untreated effluents had been discharged into the irrigation canal. It was additionally established that the plant had sunk borewells, which was in opposition to the situations set for the environmental clearance. The Andhra Pradesh Air pollution Management Board finally levied a superb on the plant and directed it to rectify lapses. In January 2025, farmers and activists met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu and petitioned him to halt the development of an ethanol plant in Arugolanu village, Krishna district. Native residents are involved about each air pollution and water utilization by the plant, situated about 200 metres from the Veeravalli channel of the Eluru Canal. The Veeravalli channel is the first supply of water within the area for all functions: agricultural, industrial, and consuming.
“We gathered water influx and utilization information and estimated the water required by the plant. Almost 0.01 tmcft of water from the Veeravalli channel [as per 2019-20 data] is out there for public consumption and industries. Nevertheless, in keeping with our estimates, the plant would wish 0.02602 tmcft of water,” Gutta Rohith, the State secretary of the HRF, instructed Frontline. “How can EBP be categorized as clear power when ethanol vegetation are so polluting?” he puzzled.
Even when vegetation don’t illegally faucet or overconsume water, the water necessities of ethanol manufacturing stay a significant concern as a result of rice and sugar are water-intensive crops. One litre of ethanol (from sugar) wants about 2,860 litres of water, in keeping with the NITI Aayog report.
Activists mentioned that round 60 ethanol vegetation had bought permits for building in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “At present, one is operational in Telangana, and we now have seen the results. The remaining are in various phases of completion. We don’t even know the precise areas of some [seven or eight] of those vegetation,” mentioned Kanneganti Ravi, a farm sector skilled and member of the Telangana Folks’s Joint Motion Committee. Ravi has performed a major function within the anti-ethanol motion.
Villagers, in some instances, are unaware of the character of the manufacturing unit that’s arising of their locality. In Gummalladoddi of East Godavari district, villagers mistook ethanol for ittanalu (seeds in Telugu) as a result of the phrases sound related.
Activists like Ravi additionally demand substantiation of claims that farm incomes will double owing to EBP. “An ethanol plant can’t buy rice or corn from native cultivators as a result of they can not buy it on the MSP. They can not purchase it even from the native markets. They want subsidised charges to maintain the plant viable,” mentioned Ravi.
Ethanol distilleries pay the FCI Rs.22.50 for a kilogram of rice. Though that is decrease than the retail worth, their financial value is Rs.39.75 a kg, which implies the State ought to subsidise the steadiness.
“Complicated trade-off between meals and gasoline safety”
In the meantime, India’s reliance on corn for ethanol manufacturing has turned it from a web exporter to a web importer, famous the Observer Analysis Basis (ORF) in October 2024. In an essay revealed by the ORF, consultants described food-crop-based ethanol mixing in India as a “self-goal”. One of many considerations of the writers was that India’s ethanol-blending coverage precipitated a “advanced trade-off between meals and gasoline safety”.
The push for corn-based ethanol in India can also be hurting the poultry trade, which wants corn as feedstock. The aggressive market has pushed costs up, and stakeholders have pushed for the import of genetically modified (GMO) corn. At present, India solely imports non-GM corn. The June 20 annual biofuel report of the US Division of Agriculture (USDA) famous that to maintain the present goal, India would wish an “extra 7 million hectares of cultivated feedstock space”.
Additionally Learn | Will drones, synthetic rain assist Delhi breathe this winter?
With commerce offers up for negotiation, some trade consultants anticipate stress on India to import corn and even ethanol. At present, India doesn’t import ethanol for EBP.
A former chairman of the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of Indian Trade instructed Frontline: “Ethanol faces a feasibility problem as a result of excessive prices and restricted availability of uncooked supplies. Sugarcane manufacturing in Andhra Pradesh has lowered considerably through the years. Because of this, a number of models function at lower than 60 to 70 per cent of their operational capability, leading to losses.”
He blamed social protections and the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Scheme for the slackening curiosity proven by employees in labour-intensive crops equivalent to sugarcane. Whereas the trade skilled didn’t make clear whether or not authorities incentives are factored into the profitability calculations of ethanol vegetation, activists and different consultants stress that subsidies are essential to maintain these vegetation operational. Along with Central authorities help, particular person States have their very own coverage frameworks.
In October 2024, the Andhra Pradesh authorities notified the Andhra Pradesh Built-in Clear Power Coverage, 2024, which will probably be legitimate for 5 years. Underneath the coverage, in addition to Central authorities incentives, the State will reimburse 100 per cent of the SGST income (for the sale of ethanol) and supply 100 per cent reimbursement of energy expenses for all ethanol vegetation for 5 years. Land lease expenses will probably be roughly Rs.15,000 per acre per 12 months.
Additional, second-generation ethanol vegetation will get a capital subsidy of 20 per cent on fastened capital funding (a most of Rs.1.5 crore per kilolitre per day [KLPD] capability of the plant with a most capability of 25 KLPD). With these incentives, the State goals to reinforce its capability to provide 1,500 KLPD of ethanol.
“Ethanol vegetation run on a ventilator with subsidies offered by the governments. Take away subsidies, and the industries will shut down,” Rohith mentioned.
Ethanol mixing could look like a profitable mission if one goes by solely the targets achieved, however considerations about its long-term financial viability and environmental impression can’t be ignored. Activists are divided on whether or not the true problem lies in merely tweaking the targets or in re-examining the thought itself.
