Vijay Govindarajan: Empower Youth and Entrepreneurs

Excellent article. Countries like India and China have great assets - Human Resources especially Youth. I have a novel scheme to provide nationwide employment and bringing waste land under cultivation. There are millions of hectares of wastelands in the country. Can't we put it to good use? There are care-free growth plants, regenerative and CAM like Agave and Opuntia which can be put to many uses especially for Biofuel/biogas power. Mexico is pioneer in this. A scheme YOUTH ECONOMIC ZONES(YEZ) on the lines of SEZ can be created where in unemployed youth trained in farming can each be allotted 10 acres each on lease basis. 10 such youth can form a co-operative. They can grow Fast growing ,care-free growth plants like Agave and Opuntia. From the output Biofuel/biogas power units can be set up at local level. Here are the many uses of Agave and Opuntia: For decentralised power generation as well as cooking, biogas is the best option. Biogas power from care-free growth ,regenerative CAM plants can be obtained on massive scale. These plants can be cultivated in waste lands. Being CAM plants they act as Carbon Sink. Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis,is a carbon fixation pathway that evolved in some plants as an adaptation to arid conditions.[ In a plant using full CAM, the stomata in the leaves remain shut during the day to reduce evapotranspiration, but open at night to collect carbon dioxide (CO2). The CO 2 is stored as the four-carbon acidmalate, and then used during photosynthesis during the day. The pre-collected CO 2 is concentrated around the enzymeRuBisCO, increasing photosynthetic efficiency. Mexico is pioneer in Biogas/Biofuel production from Agave/Opuntia. Every village can be provided a Big Biogas plant and gas supplied through pipes to houses.Biogas power plants from KW size to MW size are available commercially. The main drawback for wider application of Biofuels is input. There was a big movement for biofuel from Jatropha in India but in reality not much has been achieved. Agave(Americana),Sisal Agave is a multiple use plant which has 10% fermentable sugars and rich in cellulose. The fibre is used in rope making and also for weaving clothes in Philippines under the trade name DIP-DRY. In Brazil a paper factory runs on sisal as input. A Steroid HECOGENIN is extracted from this plant leaves. Since on putrification,it produces methane gas, it can be cut and used as input in biogas plants. Also in Kenya and Lesotho dried pieces of Agave are mixed with concrete since it has fibres which act as binding. Here is an excellent analysis on Agave as a biofuel: Agave shows potential as biofuel feedstock, Checkbiotech, By Anna Austin, February 11, 2010: 'Mounting interest in agave as a biofuel feedstock could jump-start the Mexican biofuels industry, according to agave expert Arturo Valez Jimenez. Agave thrives in Mexico and is traditionally used to produce liquors such as tequila. It has a rosette of thick fleshy leaves, each of which usually end in a sharp point with a spiny margin. Commonly mistaken for cacti, the agave plant is actually closely related to the lily and amaryllis families. The plants use water and soil more efficiently than any other plant or tree in the world, Arturo said. 'This is a scientific factthey don't require watering or fertilizing and they can absorb carbon dioxide during the night,' he said. The plants annually produce up to 500 metric tons of biomass per hectare, he added. Agave fibers contain 65 percent to 78 percent cellulose, according to Jimenez. 'With new technology, it is possible to breakdown over 90 percent of the cellulose and hemicelluloses structures, which will increase ethanol and other liquid biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass drastically,' he said. 'Mascoma is assessing such technology.' Another plant of great use is OPUNTIA for biogas production. The cultivation of nopal((OPUNTIA FICUS-INDICA), a type of cactus, is one of the most important in Mexico. According to Rodrigo Morales, Chilean engineer, Wayland biomass, installed on Mexican soil, 'allows you to generate inexhaustible clean energy.' Through the production of biogas, it can serve as a raw material more efficiently, by example and by comparison with jatropha. Wayland Morales, head of Elqui Global Energy argues that 'an acre of cactus produces 43 200 m3 of biogas or the equivalent in energy terms to 25,000 liters of diesel.' With the same land planted with jatropha, he says, it will produce 3,000 liters of biodiesel. Another of the peculiarities of the nopal is biogas which is the same molecule of natural gas, but its production does not require machines or devices of high complexity. Also, unlike natural gas, contains primarily methane (75%), carbon dioxide (24%) and other minor gases (1%), 'so it has advantages from the technical point of view since it has the same capacity heat but is cleaner, 'he says, and as sum datum its calorific value is 7,000 kcal/m3. Biogas power generators from KW to MW size are available from China and Vietnam. Agave and Opuntia can be grown on a massive scale in wastelands in developing countries. The cultivation of nopal((OPUNTIA FICUS-INDICA), a type of cactus, is one of the most important in Mexico. According to Rodrigo Morales, Chilean engineer, Wayland biomass, installed on Mexican soil, “allows you to generate inexhaustible clean energy.” Through the production of biogas, it can serve as a raw material more efficiently, by example and by comparison with jatropha. Wayland Morales, head of Elqui Global Energy argues that “an acre of cactus produces 43200 m3 of biogas or the equivalent in energy terms to 25,000 liters of diesel.” With the same land planted with jatropha, he says, it will produce 3,000 liters of biodiesel. Another of the peculiarities of the nopal is biogas which is the same molecule of natural gas, but its production does not require machines or devices of high complexity. Also, unlike natural gas, contains primarily methane (75%), carbon dioxide (24%) and other minor gases (1%), “so it has advantages from the technical point of view since it has the same capacity heat but is cleaner, “he says, and as sum datum its calorific value is 7,000 kcal/m3. Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore(AP),India

Rightly said: India will over time redefine Capitalism, proving to be passionate lovers like none before.