UPA Government has really hit rock bottom
When you stand on the precipice of disaster, you can either consider a genuinely out-of-box solution or contemplate a silly move disguised as boldly unconventional. Hit by a plunging rupee and tormented by the impending nightmare of managing oil imports as a consequence, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Veerappa Moily appears to have opted for the latter, when he suggested that fuel pumps across the country should close at 8pm to minimise the use of fuel by consumers. As the stupidity of the idea dawned on the Minister, he quickly shifted the spotlight on “people” who, he claimed, had made the revolutionary suggestion. He did not enlighten us on who these brilliant ‘people' are; nevertheless he seemed to have warmed up to the harebrained idea before being grounded by the outburst of justified criticism. Mr Moily appears to have taken a cue from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in Parliament on August 30, in which Mr Singh advised that the country must economise on the use of fuel. While the sentiment is laudable and there cannot be any dispute with the suggestion that motorists must curtail their expenditure on fuel, in both their own and the country's interests, shutting down fuel pumps at eight in the evening is not the solution. Since people will still use as much fuel as they would want to, you will have long queues throughout the day at fuel stations and altercations and anarchy. The basic question is: Why should the people be made to pay — first with the rising price of oil and then with such imposed inconveniences — for the Congress-led UPA Government's mismanagement of the economy and the rupeeIJ Since Mr Moily's idea (which he says is not his) has not found many takers even within his Government, it is unlikely to be implemented. But it does offer us an indication that the Government has reached the bottom of the pit in finding workable solutions to the economic crisis, and that more such outlandish brainwaves could be in the offing.
The regime's abject failure to contain the current account deficit, which is set to boom from the impact a falling rupee will have on the oil import bill, has begun to affect our foreign policy too. There are reports that India is considering scaling up its oil import from Iran because it pays the latter in rupees. According to Mr Moily, who has sent the proposal to the Prime Minister, by increasing the import of crude from Tehran, India can reduce its dollar outflow on the product by $8.5 billion. It must be remembered that New Delhi had drastically cut oil imports from Iran following US sanctions against the latter to the extent that Iran had slipped down in the list of our major oil importers, and Iraq had been the beneficiary. An unhappy Tehran got an opportunity to hit back when it seized an Indian ship near (but not into) its waters on the pretext that the ship was polluting Iranian waters. Two weeks have gone by, and the vessel, incidentally belonging to the state-owned Shipping Corporation of India, remains in Iranian custody. Since the ship was carrying crude bound for India from Iraq, many experts believe Tehran had acted out of spite. New Delhi has been far from assertive in making its displeasure known. On the other hand, it is now planning to reward Iran.