The Congress alleged that owing to indiscreet decision of Chief Minister Raman Singh, BJP Government in the State has exhausted over Rs 1,000 crore of tax payer's money for producing diesel from j

Land meant for food crops being used to grow biofuel crops; may push up food prices by 36 per cent by 2020. The European Union’s biofuel production targets are depriving people of food, land and water across the world. Increasing biofuel production is one of the measures taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions and save the environment. But it is resulting in food price inflation and serious cases of land grabs in poor countries, says the recent report, The Hunger Grains, by Oxfam, an international non-profit.

The Planning Commission hailed it as a future fuel and the industry projected it as a viable biofuel crop. But the Union Rural Development Ministry led by Jairam Ramesh feels otherwise.

A maroon car, powered by fuel obtained from photosynthetic microorganisms, was flagged off for a test run by Union minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Vilasrao Deshmukh in New Delhi on March 30. The event brings alternative fuels from microorganisms closer to reality. With fossil fuels set to get exhausted in the next few hundred years and the spectre of global warming looming over the planet, the world is increasingly looking at alternative energy options.

The oil seed has burnt farmers and investors alike

Anti-trust watchdog sees pacts between oil marketing companies and petroleum ministry holding back bio-diesel industry growth

The Assam government has drafted an ambitious plan to introduce cultivation of jatropha (Jatropha curcas ) to help farmers boost their income, and also to produce bio-diesel.

The state agriculture department last week organised a day-long training workshop for farmers and NGOs working in rural areas to popularise the crop.

The Western and Central railways have decided to go green in order to reduce its carbon footprint. They have been planting saplings of jatropha, a major source of bio-diesel, on pilot basis.

''Running trains on bio-fuel will help cut down the cost of operations and also cause less pollution. We have sucessfully conducted trial runs using bio-diesel.

Eight children, a teenager and a woman was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Sector 6, here on Tuesday night with symptoms of

Viveat Susan Pinto & Dilip Kumar Jha / Mumbai July 13, 2010, 0:37 IST

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