De-politicising the pricing of petrol, diesel and kerosene would help mitigate environmental degradation, minimise adulteration, and free resources for outlay on public goods. It is equally important that even while per capita energy consumption rises, given the current pace of economic development, fostering energy efficiency and investment in renewals must receive added priority. Without a rational pricing policy, investment in renewals will remain commercially non-viable. We have for long known that subsidising electricity, fuel, and other forms of cross subsidy have hardly proved advantageous to the party in office. The outcome in the recent elections for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh is yet another example. India has entered a cycle of multiple elections this year and the next; leaving energy policies in a mess would be irresponsible.

Second, the framework of the Urban Reforms Mission need restructuring. The proposed allocation in the XIth Five Year Plan for the urban sector is grossly inadequate if it is to cope with the inevitable rapid pace of urbanisation, extend mass transport system in non-metro cities and support the development of satellite towns. There are other lessons which the provision of low-cost services has for the urban reform matrix.

Third, an Integrated Transport Policy. This goes beyond improved planning and implementation of rural roads, upgrading district roads, state highways and speedier completion of the various components of the ongoing National Highways projects.

Improving operations and maintenance, better management of vehicular traffic and application of user charges for road amenities, highway patrolling, provisioning and economic costing of parking space need a more coherent approach. Besides, the public transport systems remain hopelessly inadequate and inefficient. Perhaps the Delhi Metro example need wider and innovative replication in many other cities as well as emerging satellite configurations. Buses, instead of private cars, need fiscal incentives apart from improved quality, investment in driving schools and modernising operations and maintenance. A sensible transport policy would also need to be multi-nodal, including sensible tariffs for different modes of transport for goods and services. De-regulation and competition has made air travel affordable to millions. De-politicising tariff fixation for railways with increased competition will in the long run benefit average passengers.

... contd.