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What People
Say
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President of India |
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ADDRESS AT
THE INAUGURATION OF 24th INDIA INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR -
2004
14-11-2004 : New Delhi
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Enterprises
for rural prosperity |
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India
has 700 million people living in 600 thousand villages. Therefore
rural sector is a big market. We need enterprises to service
this need and generate a large scale employment. Entrepreneurs
and captains of industries assembled here have a great business
opportunity. I would like to discuss some of the large-scale
employment and wealth generating avenues in the rural sector.
(a) Jatropha Biofuel: Government has decided to permit
of mixing of 10% bio-fuel with diesel. This has opened up new
opportunities for employment and wealth generation. We have
nearly 63 million hectares of wasteland available in the country,
out of which 33 million hectares of wasteland have been allotted
for tree plantation. Certain multi-purpose trees such as Jatropha
can grow well in wasteland with very little input. Once grown
the crop has a fifty years of life. Fruiting can take place
in this plant in less than two years. It yields oil seeds up
to five tonnes per hectares per year and produces two tonnes
of bio-diesel. Presently, the cost of bio-diesel through the
plant is approximately Rs. 17 to Rs. 19 per liter which can
be substantially reduced through choice of right size of the
plant and using high yield variety plantation. Bio-diesel plants
grown in 11 million hectares of land can yield a revenue of
approximately Rs. 20,000 crore a year and provide employment
to over 12 million people both for plantation and running of
the extraction plants. This is a sustainable development process
leading to large scale employment of rural manpower. Also, it
will reduce the foreign exchange outflow paid for importing
crude oil, the cost of which is continuously rising in the international
market. Moreover, use of Bio-diesel is CO2 emission free. This
oil can also be used for soap and candle industries. De-oiled
cake is a raw material for composting. Also Jatropha plantation
provides a good environment for honey production. We should
absorb best of the technologies available worldwide and start
commercial operation soon, instead of staying at pilot plant
levels. I would request the industrial community assembled here
to take the initiative, generate detailed project report in
collaboration with technical agencies such as The Energy and
Research Institute (TERI) on this project and promote entrepreneurs
with financial support from the banks in rural areas who can
undertake the plantation and commissioning of extraction plant
leading to production of cost-effective bio-fuel. Can there
be a better project than this for coherent development of our
rural sector and sustainable business preposition for industry?
(b) Rural Lighting: Recently, I received a E-mail from
Chintapalli Gramam, Nalgonda District of Andhra Pradesh about
the implementation of LED lighting through solar power in a
remote village inhabited by Lambada tribes. The village has
a population 142 people residing in thirty houses. The one time
cost of providing LED lighting for all the houses including
wiring and solar charging system for the battery is around Rs.
65,000. On an average, the cost of providing electricity per
house works out to Rs. 2200. This is definitely much cheaper
than the cost of providing electricity to the village through
a power line running into number of kilometers costing many
lakhs of rupees. Particularly in remote areas and hilly region
electricity could not be reached due to high initial cost of
installation. Presently I am told electric lines have not reached
over one lakh villages in our country. LED power system is a
self -contained system in which the energy cost is virtually
free since solar energy is used to charge the batteries. I would
recommend the industrial community to study this project for
converting it as a business proposition, which can be taken
by rural enterprises for implementation in different sectors.
Once successful this technology can find utility in many parts
of the world where similar situation exists. This has tremendous
business potential.
(c) Electricity Generation through Municipal Waste: Increased
urbanization has led to a serious problem of accumulation of
municipal solid waste. Efficient and environmentally clean disposal
of garbage has always been a major technological challenge.
While being a threat to the environment, mounting garbage is
also a rich source of energy. The potential for converting this
waste into useable energy, which will eliminate a major source
of urban pollution, was realized by one of our innovative organizations-
Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council of
DST which helped in developing a completely indigenous solution
for the processing of waste into a source of fuel. This fuel
could, in turn, be used for generation of electricity through
mini plants. Two entrepreneurs in Andhra Pradesh adopted the
technology with refinement and established two independent plants
in Hyderabad and Vijayawada generating over 12 megawatts of
electricity which is being supplied to the State Grid. India
needs thousands of mini power plants using municipal waste.
Industrial sector can provide the thrust for promoting creation
of such power plants in major municipalities as first step in
collaboration with banks and non-governmental organizations.
These are some of the examples of rural development projects
which can be promoted by the industry with the active participation
of banks for upliftment of the 700 million people living in
our villages. There are similar possibilities in water, habitat,
infrastructure, ICT, Agriculture and many more. Once the industries
get committed in all these sectors in a proactive manner, I
am sure the path to development will be much smoother and our
realization of development will be much faster.
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Petroleum Conservation Research Association,Ministry of Petroleum
and Natural Gas,Govt. of India |
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