Decontrolling oil prices

The recent discussions towards reaching a consensus on the decontrolling of oil prices is the best possible solution in hand at the moment. People have argued that it may not be wise to expose oil, a a critical commodity for the nation, to market fluctuations. However, the same people had also put forth the same arguments for steel way back in 1985 !!

What happened was, although it was a major blow to the country's economy,it nevertheless learnt to sustain it. The same would happen in the case of oil as well. It is common knowledge that a major proportion of the taxpayer's money goes into indemnifying the losses incurred by the Indian Govt. while providing subsidies to the Indian people. Try imagining a situation where the same amount of money could be used for infrastructure, health care and education for the masses.

Needless to say, this imagination could only be incarnated if the our political parties can get over trifling issues and reach a common understanding where they can all feel the urgent need to decontrol oil prices.