ONGC Shareholders Must Object

I read “Is ONGC Under Pressure to Bail Out Debt-ridden Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation?” (EPW, 16 July 2016) with great interest. What a sorry state of affairs. I do not know which is worse, crony capitalism or crony socialism. Of course, both are bad.

I had studied the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) only from the point of view of Krishna–Godavari (KG) basin and was enraged to find out from the article how a small-time geologist was given 10% interest, how a company which has no experience in oil exploration was taken as a strategic partner, and another such company with doubtful credentials was given huge contracts. All these should have resulted in cancellation of the contracts as it happens in countries where the rule of law prevails.