Instead of taking food to make biofuels we should be using much less fuel. India already leads the world in vehicle energy-efficiency (world's biggest cycle industry, the 100km/litre motorcycle, the 30km/litre 10-passenger "chhakada", the 5km/litre full-size bus) but there is pressure from sections of the media to throw away this advantage and copy the disastrous lead of the Americans and Europeans. I would suggest for a start on even further improvement: (1)Formally legalise the carrying of more than two people on a motorcycle; there is no evidence that it is particularly dangerous, and it will be safer and more comfortable if the manufacturers can provide proper seats and footrests for three or four people; (2)Exempt from most of the type-approval, registration and licensing formalities any vehicle that is solar-powered and can be demonstrated to be capable of running at least 20km every day without plugging in or using any fuel. Some "experts" believe that this is impossible, and some people in the car and oil industries would like everyone to believe that it is impossible-don't let them stand in the way! (3) Require all new air-conditioning installations in buildings to be solar-powered; (4) Make satellite-TV companies delete the contract clause requiring the decoder to be switched on all the time; if every household in India gets one then at 28 watts each it would need two Dabhol Power Stations going flat-out to keep them all on standby.
