Which of the following cannot be inferred about the new mechanisms from the passage?
- The new mechanism strikes a fine balance between conflicting interests of various stakeholders in the oil sector.
- The new arrangement provides the much sought after managerial autonomy to the oil companies.
- The new arrangement is not the perfect solution and therefore will have to be modified in the offing.
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.