Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, on Monday, January 30, while inaugurating the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) ‘Future of Mobility: India’s Journey Towards Net Zero’ conference, highlighted the need for more investments in rural India with an eye on the green fuel, technology and smart villages.

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Underscoring the need for more investment in agriculture, rural and tribal India, the minister said, "If you can increase the contribution of agriculture and allied sectors in India's GDP from 12 percent to 24 percent, then it is going to create more jobs in agriculture, and rural areas, and even increasing the agriculture growth ... we can make not only smart cities but smart villages also.”

“For AatmaNirbhar Bharat, we need to encourage more investment in agriculture, rural and tribal India,” Gadkari said while highlighting the need for additional investments in new technologies like green hydrogen, for making bio CNG, bio LNG and bio bitumen.

Gadkari said farmers can produce green hydrogen using biomass and supply it as fuel to heavy-duty buses and trucks. He also added that the flex engines, which can run on 100 percent ethanol or petrol, can help increase agriculture incomes. Five tonnes of rice straw can give a ton of bio-CNG, a less polluting alternative to diesel, the minister pointed out.

The minister also said farmers can produce green hydrogen using biomass and supply it as fuel to heavy-duty buses and trucks. He also added that the flex engines, which can run on 100 percent ethanol or petrol, can help increase agriculture incomes. Five tonnes of rice straw can give a ton of bio-CNG, a less polluting alternative to diesel, said Gadkari.

Gadkari also stressed the need for the introduction of technology in rural and tribal regions and said that it will help alleviate poverty and job opportunities. He added that up to 70 percent of the country’s total population is dependent on rural and tribal in the forest area where they only contribute 12 percent.

With the development of alternative fuels such as green hydrogen and ethanol, there will be more agro-industries, tourism in the forest, and more forest material for industry, the minister said.

He added that Russian technology has successfully managed to make mileage from ethanol equal to petrol.

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Gadkari also urged FICCI, industry leaders and entrepreneurs to have a vision of how we can develop India with diversification towards agriculture, rural and tribal India to create more strength for the country.

Vehicles aged over 15 years to be mandatorily scrapped

Gadkari stated that more than nine lakh vehicles, owned by central and state governments, transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will go off the road from April 1 and new vehicles will replace them.

The minister said, "We have now approved the scrapping of more than nine lakh government vehicles, which are more than 15 years old, and polluting buses and cars will go off the road and new vehicles with alternative fuels will replace them. This will further reduce air pollution to a great extent.”

According to a recent notification by the Road Transport and Highways Ministry, from April 1, all vehicles owned by central and state governments, including buses owned by transport corporations and public sector undertakings, that are older than 15 years will be de-registered and scrapped.

The rule shall not apply to the special purpose vehicles (armoured and other specialised vehicles) used for operational purposes for the defence of the country and the maintenance of law and order and internal security, the notification stated.

The policy, which was announced in the Union Budget 2022, provides for fitness tests after 20 years for personal vehicles and 15 years for commercial vehicles. Under the new policy which is effective from April 1, 2022, the Centre has said states and Union Territories will provide up to 25 percent tax rebate on road tax for vehicles that are purchased after scrapping old vehicles.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)