The author of the passage would agree with which of the all of the following?

1. it was primarily because of the burgeoning deficit in the oil pool account that the existing system could not be sustained.
2. the only alternative the government had was to find a system to insulate consumers from the price fluctuations without doing much harm to the economy.
3. the 'Administered Price Mechanisms' was never a mechanism with truly decontrolled prices.
4. the oil companies faced the brunt of high oil prices by passing these on to the customers.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question that follows:

PASSAGE – III

Given the burgeoning Oil Pool Account deficits, the Government had its task cut out: it had to grapple with the sensitive oil prices issue without further delay. There was no alternative to finding a system that insulates (to an extent) consumers without causing undue hardship to the fiscal. The new arrangement can only be a halfway house, to be refined over time. The eventual goal must be to evolve a system that balances the often conflicting interests of all the stakeholders in this critical sector. Of special importance is the functioning of the public sector oil companies that have been saddled with the twin tasks of taking on global competition and meeting social commitments within India. In the era of supposedly decontrolled prices, they were asked to subsidise two products of mass consumption — LPG and kerosene. It is politically clear that the arrangement will continue into the foreseeable future. What is more, the new arrangement itself calls attention to the fact that managerial autonomy for the oil companies remains a distant goal. In the recent past, they bore the brunt of high oil prices without being able to pass it on to consumers. That along with the burden of cross–subsidies on LPG and kerosene has eroded their profitability. For now, at any rate, there does not seem to be a better method of cushioning the impact of global oil prices.