The Hindu Business Line : Alarming rise in dependence on petroleum imports: Yechury

THE dependency situation in oil and petroleum sector is likely to hurt India very seriously in the future, according to Mr Sitaram Yechury, CPI (M) Polit Bureau Member.

Addressing presspersons here on Tuesday, he said that the ratio of imported petroleum products to the domestic production is increasing year by year.

"Instead of achieving self-sufficiency in oil production, which was the goal we had, the country is moving more towards a dependency situation. And that dependency situation is likely to hurt India very seriously in future," he said.

To a query on a reported statement of a senior executive of an oil PSU that India can't be self-sufficient in oil production, he said the demand for oil and petroleum products has gone up with the improvement in the Indian economy.

Though the country may not be able to meet the demand through domestic production, it should not abandon the quest for increasing domestic production.

He said that country's dependence on international oil production would have to be reduced over a period of time. For this, it should have a judicious mix of various components in oil sector.

Mr Yechury hoped that the Government would be able to come out with some sort of a policy decision on improving self-reliance in domestic oil production.

Professional education: Stating that professional educational institutions are mushrooming in a big way across the country, he said there is a need for a central legislation to empower the State Governments to undertake the social control of these institutions.

The fee structure and syllabus should be available for public scrutiny, and the elected representatives should define the norms by which these colleges will continue to function, he said.

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