565. Jatropa

The 1973 oil crisis pushed people to seek other sources of oil than the Arab countries. The quest eased the situation a little. Research for alternate sources too has yielded some results. Jatropa and ethanol caught the attention of many during the last one or two decades. They are two different things. One is a clean burning fuel that can be mixed with petrol in very limited quantities. It comes from molasses, sugarcane or sugar beet. The nation expects to treble its oil consumption in the next twenty years. Should these farm products gain in significance, the money that now goes to the oil exporting countries will partly go to the farmers raising their standard of living. Jatropa is an oil-bearing seed grown wild in wastelands. Its oil content is easily extracted. If need be, it can undergo one more chemical process to be more fuel-efficient.

Wasteland is in abundance. Growing Jatropa on wasteland generates rural employment. An industrialist has been sponsoring the cause of Jatropa with the state and central governments. Fired by keen enthusiasm, his patriotic emotions dwell on this project all the time. He is trying to extend his services beyond our shores. When it becomes a reality, he now sees its impact on GDP and the poor. In his view, Jatropa will generate many hundred thousand crores of additional income and the nation will be flush with money. In his passionate idiom, "Why should we borrow from the World Bank? We can invest our excess there." One man seeing an infinite possibility in one field and growing dizzy in his wild enthusiasm is a heart-warming occasion. It has a message for every one of us.

Another person has been championing the cause of IT in generating employment and entrepreneurs. Reading the history of the USA, we learn how the settlers described American plenty to people at home. Groups of people gathered on the road to listen to those letters. Shiploads of people reached the USA in an unending stream. That was agricultural abundance. What we see in India is educational opportunities unlimited, career openings on ALL sides, new crops, new ventures, new ideas all capable of making the nation PROSPEROUS. Poverty has no further lease of life. Life is awakening to the Spirit within it. That is why infinite excess is indicated everywhere. Spirited men can serve Bharat Matha by their service and ideas. Humble householders can serve Her by earning ten times more than now.