Conflicting Institutional Mandates,Biofuels,Jatropha in India

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence of biofuels and its changing institutional mandates having implications for India’s renewable energy policy. Biofuels have commanded much attention in research and policy circles as a renewable energy source providing energy security, creating sustainable livelihoods, mitigating climate change and fostering international trade. Diverting land for biofuels might compromise food security and health for the poor and vulnerable. The NMB was inaugurated in India in 2003 to produce biodiesel from jatropha, a biofuel crop, on unutilized wastelands, and promoted jatropha as a workable solution to this food-versus-fuel quandary owing to the plant’s supposed ability to grow and produce oil-rich seeds on poor quality soils deemed unsuitable for food production. Jatropha’s ability to thrive on barren lands might have been overstated, thus examining whether industrial and agricultural research institutions follow the global demand-pattern of biofuels and raising the concerns over their necessity, funding resources vis-à-vis differing mandates.