Sushmi Dey & G Ganapathy Subramaniam NEW DELHI THE GOVERNMENT has decided not to encourage biofuels at the cost of foodgrain production. While a policy for biofuels has been cleared last week and targets have been set to step up diesel blending, senior government officials are of the view that no foodgrain or oil-seed should be used for producing biofuels. The idea is to prevent a repeat of the American experience where diversion of corn for ethanol production is being blamed for foodgrain price spurt across the globe. Therefore, use of even coarse grains for biofuel production would not be allowed. In the case of sugarcane too, there are concerns that focus on ethanol would lead to lower production of sugar. Only wasteland is to be used for growing biofuel producing plants such as jathropa. While biofuel production is yet to catch up, there is growing concern over diversion of farm land pushing up price of foodgrains. The risk cannot be afforded at a time when Indian entities are looking at purchasing farmland in south America, Africa and Canada to grow pulses and oilseeds. Land has become a scare resource and disputes are raging in various parts of the country over use of farmland for other purposes, including industrial development. The government