I don't know why the government can't invest in sugar factories, so that they can produce "Ethanol". India is one of the leading in sugar cane production and has got loads of sick sugar factories that can be made to produce ethanol(has 20% petrol(mixed), can even be less). The shiny example for such a practice is Brazil. Almost, all the cars sold in Brazil are run on ethanol, yes, the diesel & natural gas craze is yet to make this country... well, crazy!, which is also one of the top ten automobile manufacturer in the world. More so, most of the new age engines require high levels of octane ratings in the fuel. That's what we see in those adds, speed 91(octane) or 93(octane) etc. It is said that aviation fuel is 100 octane+. An approx 80%+20% ethanol and petrol mix is almost a 100 octane fuel. And this fuel is easily compatible to the new age mercs or bmw's. Instead of spending zillions in setting the natural gas distribution infrastructure across the country, the government can easily invest in something that will hit the bull's eye. Producing ethanol alone should make those sick factories producing sugar, profitable. Also, will help farmers to get a good price for their yield. Not to mention, should help our economy a gr8 deal considering we import 80% of our fossil fuel consumption. We can also expect the pollution levels to go down a bit, as a result of higher octane value.The energy crisis is a hype, globally as well as in India. But, it is certainly not a rocket science for our government to understand simple things, that will go a long way!

For the diesel car owners: There is even better alternate for your cars. Jatropha, which is a plant, grows easily in less fertile land of rajasthan, orissa etc.,and can be used to make bio-diesel, which has the lowest levels of sulphur and particulates in it. Mercedes India has been conducting tests after tests with about half a dozen of their cars all over India, by making them run on bio-diesel. Their study has proved that the bio-diesel not only pollutes far less, but is also pretty much fine to use directly in any diesel engine without making any modifications or changes. The same goes for ethanol too...

Hope that the babu's are atleast informed about stuff's like these...