Pipeline Progress

Negotiating with other countries on laying pipelines to get oil or gas into India has now been entrusted to the oil ministry. The foreign affairs ministry thus has been effectively elbowed out of the process.

The foreign affairs and oil ministries' stands represented the two main concerns of Indians on the oil pipeline deals - especially the ones coming in through Pak. One represented the fear that we were giving Pak a major stranglehold on our economic lifelines, while the other represented the salivation at the thought of massive new steady sources of oil/gas coming into the country. With the caution-advising ministry out of the frontlines, progress will definitely be more steady on this fron.