(BS)
The government allowed the conversion of surplus rice, available with the Food Corporation of India (FCI), to ethanol. The development comes at a time when loopholes in the Public Distribution System (PDS) are keeping people away from getting free or subsidised grains.
This will lead to utilisation of part of a huge stockpile of 30.57 million tonnes (mt) of rice (as of March 10) —almost 128 per cent more than the buffer stock and strategic requirement norms. Ethanol produced from this will be used for utilisation in making alcohol-based hand sanitizers and blending in petrol.
The decision was taken by a group of experts under the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC), chaired by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, states that during an agriculture crop year, when there is projected oversupply of food grains as anticipated by the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, the policy will allow conversion of these surplus quantities of food grains to ethanol.
