Now it is the turn of the Rajasthan government to be bowled over by biofuel. At a press meet in Jaipur on January 11, 2007, parliamentary affairs minister Rajendra Rathore relayed the decision of the Rajasthan cabinet to allocate 48.5 million hectares (ha) of "culturable wastelands' for planting ratanjot (Jatropha curcus) and other biofuel crops, as part of its new draft biofuel policy. But civil society organisations working on land reforms in Rajasthan consider this policy as a possible ploy to grab village commons, and scientists fear that lack of technical knowledge may render the scheme unsuccessful.

The Rajasthan biofuel policy, still at the draft stage, will bring almost 45 per cent of the state's 10.56 million ha of "wastelands' under jatropha cultivation.Thirty per cent of the land will be given to private and public sector companies, while 70 per cent will be allotted to self-help groups (shgs) with members from below the poverty line (bpl) families, landless farmers, gram panchayats, cooperative societies and government-run institutes.

A state biofuel authority