"Can we afford to persist with the distortions that have long crept into our energy pricing policies? Are we contributing to environmental degradation through some of our energy pricing policies? he asked at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi.

Singh questioned whether the country was encouraging overuse of resources through misdirected subsidies and what were long term costs of short term benefits through such policies.

He also posed a query on whether the country was hurting its future energy security needs by shirking the responsibility to grapple with the political challenges on hand. "We need a much wider national debate on such issues", he said.

Singh preceded his remarks by saying Tata Energy Research Institute should present a global vision on energy security including what the country should do and should not do to address the challenges.