It has always been politics that left very little for economics to handle the oil issue (?On a boil?, June 17). Successive governments in India have conveniently chosen to ignore the developing oil crisis for political reasons and the grim reality today is that, the day of reckoning can no longer be wished away. The most regrettable thing is that neither the government nor parties sitting in Opposition seem to adopt a realistic stand on how to emerge out of the fast-deteriorating crisis. Worldwide, oil reserves are depleting and refining bottlenecks are a serious concern. Obviously, subsiding is no longer a feasible solution to peak oil. The time has, therefore, come to evolve an energy policy that reflects the true price of crude that seeks to address the growing demand-supply mismatch and feasible to cover R&D on alternative fuel as well. If such measures are not taken, it?s for sure that there will be a complete economic breakdown very soon.
?Srinivasan Umashankar, Nagpur
