Year End Review of GOBARdhan: “Waste to Wealth” initiative

Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBARdhan) is a major multi-ministerial initiative of GoI, aimed at converting biodegradable/ organic waste, including cattle dung and agricultural residues and other biomass, into valuable resources such as biogas, compressed biogas (CBG), and organic manure and to promote circular economy through a novel “Whole of Government” approach.

The budget announcement 2023 provided a major fillip to this transformative initiative by announcing establishment of “500 new “waste to wealth” plants with an investment of Rs. 10,000 Crore. During FY 2023-24, 198 plants were set up which includes12 Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants and 186 biogas plants. Further, 556 plants are under construction stage which include 129 CBG plants as well as 427 biogas plants.

The Government of India has taken several steps to promote the implementation of GOBARdhan initiative at speed and scale which inter alia includes/ following initiatives taken by the Government during the current year Financial Year :

1. CBG included in the list of activities for trading of carbon credits under bilateral/ cooperative approaches, 17^th February 2023- This will help CBG plant owners to generate extra revenue through trading of carbon credits.
2. Central excise duty exemption has been provided to CNG blended with CBG from 2^nd February, 2023 to prevent double taxation
3. Fertiliser Control Order (FCO) amendment notification has been issued by DA&FW for;
   1. granting exemption for requirement of Authorization letter for sale of Fermented Organic Manure (FOM) /Liquid Fermented Organic Manure (LFOM) (organic manure produced from GOBARdhan plants) for a period of three year to boost uptake of LFOM/FOM.
   2. raising the moisture content norms from 30-40 % to 30-70% in FOM.
   3. Increase in C/N ratio from “less than 20” to “upto 30” and pH content in LFOM/FOM from “6.5-8.0” to “6.5-8.4”
4. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has prepared a report on “Utilisation of Bioslurry in various cropping systems” as well as package of practices for application of FOM/ LFOM for various crops to popularize benefits of FOM/LFOM on soil health and farm productivity
5. Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme approved and implementation started to incentivize sale and marketing of FOM/LFOM (a by-product from GOBARDhan plants) inter-alia promoting organic farming

7. Extension of CBG- CGD synchronization scheme of MoPNG for 10 years i.e. up to 2024 to strengthen production and consumption of CBG
8. Notification allowing bulk sale of FOM/ LFOM issued to ease marketing of FOM/LFOM by CBG plant operators and to promote organic farming
9. National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) has approved phase wise introduction of mandatory 5 % CBG blending to strengthen production and consumption of CBG
10. Unified Registration Portal for GOBARdhan has been developed by Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation and launched on 01^st June, 2023 to streamline the registration of CBG and biogas plants nationwide and to monitor status of same. The portal has been expanded upon stakeholder consultations to include various important functionalities such as “Functionality Assessment Module” to evaluate functionality status of plants, “Bank Loan Module” to track loan application status and get response from the banks.

Through the existing and upcoming policy enablers in the Biogas/CBG sector, the ultimate vision of Government is to expand the reach, awareness and implementation of Biogas/CBG plants and make the industry lucrative for private sector investment.