India concerns over oil lobbies challenge to biofuels

India's renewable energy ministry headed by Farooq Abdullah has expressed his concerns about the oil lobbies challenging the idea of increasing the use of biofuels. "We are thinking of making ethanol blending mandatory in the National Bio Energy mission. We hope to make this mission as successful as the national solar mission, and for this, we need to tackle issues like lack of business model, obsolete technology, awareness and connectivity in rural areas, etc." said Mr Abdullah, speaking at the Bioenergy Summit 2011, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Read more ...