Observations of Shri Ram Naik, former Petroleum Minister and BJP leader in the informal meet with media

It is almost one and half years that Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh is leading the country and Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar is heading the Petroleum Ministry. In this period, the momentum of the development which was achieved by the Petroleum Ministry in various fields of the petroleum sector in the earlier government has been lost. It looks that presently the Ministry under the stewardship of Shri Aiyar is running in the reverse gear.

• We in the Vajpayee Government embarked to make ' smoke-free kitchens ' to relieve the women folk from the dredgery of cooking with wood and cow-dung and resultant smoke. The waiting list of 1.10 crore LPG domestic customers was liquidated and more than 4 crore new connections were given. This number exceeded the list of customers in earlier 40 years. The new connection was available on demand. By his verbal orders, Shri Aiyar restricted the number of LPG cylinders per distributor and froze the issue of new cylinders. This has created an artificial shortage all-over the country and has given birth to black marketing. Moreover while in the last two years of Vajpayee Government, we did not increase the price of LPG cylinders, Dr.Manmohan Singh Government which promised to care for the ' Aam Adami ' (poor-man) has increased it twice by more than Rs.50. It is amusing to recollect the very first interview of the lady Smt.Singh expecting from her husband's Government not to increase LPG price at all.

• The other area of reverse gear driving has been the stoppage of ambitious ethanol programme which was aimed at reducing our dependance on imports of crude oil and providing an impetus to sugarcane growing farmers to give better price for their yield. The programme was launched in January 2003 with 5% ethanol blending with petrol in the first phase in 8 sugarcane producing states viz. Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. It was to be extended to remaining states in the second phase and to increase to 10 % in the third phase. However, under the pretext of the draught, but really under the pressure of the Liquor Lobby, the ethanol purchases were stopped. The decision has an adverse effect on the farmers and also nearly 125 ethonol manufacturing units who have invested more than Rs.500 crore with a work-force of 4,000 employees. It appears that the Government has realized their folly and are now considering to restart purchase of ethanol.

• After the Planning Commission submitted their Report to the Government, Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee's Cabinet put their seal of approval for launching 'the National Mission on Bio-diesel' on 11th July 2003. It was decided that the Rural Development Ministry would act as a Nodal Ministry while the Petroleum Ministry look after sale of bio-diesel. Accordingly two pilot projects were launched for bio-diesel use,one in Mumbai by City transport - BEST Undertaking and another in Haryana by the State Transport Undertaking. A MOU was also signed between the Indian Oil Corporation and the Railway Ministry for giving substantial land for producing non-edible oil seeds of jatropha for pilot project. The Railways had agreed to purchase bio-diesel. While Dr.Manmohan Singh Government has not abandoned the scheme, it is moving at snail's speed. The Bio-diesel Purchase Policy for purchasing bio-diesel at Rs.25 per litre has been announced by the Petroleum Ministry recently on 9th October 2005, to be effective from 1st January 2006, the Bio-diesel Policy is yet to see the light of the day. When we look at the benefits the farmers and rural economy would reap from production of jatropha on barren and waste land requiring less water; the Government's speed of implementing the scheme raises doubts about their intentions. Or is it a case of apathy and negligence ?

• The first major decision Petroleum Minister Shri Aiyar took after assuming the office was to dissolve the Anti-adulteration Cell on 29th June 2004. The evils of adulteration in petroleum sector are too known to be described. The decision, in my opinion, amounted to surrendering to Mini-Oil mafias thereby giving boost to adulteration activities.

• The decision to acquire oil equity abroad was successfully implemented by us and have yielded good results. The biggest-ever Indian investment abroad of $ 2 Billion (Rs.9,000 crore) made by us in Sakhalin oil field in February 2001 has well paid off. It has started commercial production from 1st October 2005. Some critics had raised their eyebrows initially calling it ' a junk deal ' . I am happy that they proved wrong and the country would get its own oil and realize more than four times of the investment. Equally criticized by few was our subsequent decision to invest $ 670 million (Rs. 3,220 crore) in Sudan's producing oil field in March 2003. I am also happy that we did not only get 'our' oil from Sudan but the entire investment has been paid back within a short span of 2 years. Looking to the 'achievements' during one and half years under the leadership of Shri Aiyar, I find more globe trotting and hollow talks. In the international oil diplomacy, big noise, particularly before clinching any deal, is not in the interest of the country.

• Last but most important is the Volcker Report which has exposed now 'Minister whithout Portfolio' Shri Natwar Singh and the Congress Party in the murky deals in Iraqi oil. Yes, I had, as a Co-chairman of Indo-Iraq Joint Commission, met the then Iraq President Shri Saddam Hussein on 7th July 2002. We did discuss various issues of common interest with our friendly country. However we politely and firmly desisted to do any act beyond the arena of United Nation's ' Oil for Food ' mandate.

Stripping Shri Natwar Singh off his portfolio is not enough. On the contrary it has shown how weak is the Prime Minister. The Enquiry Authority of former Chief Justice R.S.Pathak is also not enough. It lacks the teeth needed for enquiry of such type. Of what use is the Authority, if it cannot call either the Congress President Smt. Soniya Gandhi or Shri Natwar Singh to find the truth ? It would be enquiry in absentia. The Authority needs to be replaced by a full judicial enquiry under the Commission of Enquiry Act, and the Terms of Reference need to be revised in consultation with the Leaders of the Opposition in the Parliament, Shri L.K.Advani (Lok Sabha) and Shri Jaswant Singh (Rajya Sabha). If the then Finance Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh could take the Opposition into confidence while framing the Terms of Reference of the Enquiry Committee for the notorious Share Scam, what is preventing now the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh to take the Opposition into confidence, particularly when the oil scam has worldwide dimensions and the Report is penned under the UN appointed Committee ? Petty Congressmen may be ignorant, knowingly or unknowingly, about Dr.Paul Volcker and other two Committee members Shri Mark Pieth of Swtizerland and Shri Richard Goldstone of South Africa. However Dr.Manmohan Singh as a former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and also as the former Finance Minister does know Dr.Volcker as a reputed econonist and the Chief of American Federal Reserve. We cannot allow the enquiry to become a farce. The Opposition has a duty to the nation. It will have to act resolutely when the Parliament reopens on 23rd November 2005.