India's Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, addressing a national energy conclave, declared that energy security is inseparable from national security, strategic autonomy, and economic sovereignty. India imports over 85% of its crude oil, spending more than $160 billion annually on energy imports. The government's strategy rests on diversifying supply sources, accelerating domestic exploration, expanding renewable capacity, and building strategic petroleum reserves to reduce import dependence and shield the economy from geopolitical supply shocks.

Energy security refers to a country's ability to access reliable, affordable, and sufficient energy supplies to sustain economic activity and national defence. For India, this is a structural vulnerability: with over 85% crude oil import dependence, any geopolitical disruption — war in the Middle East, sanctions on suppliers, or chokepoint closures like the Strait of Hormuz — directly threatens both economic stability and military readiness.

The government's multi-pronged energy security strategy includes: (1) Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) — India has three underground caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, and Padur with a combined capacity of 5.33 million metric tonnes, managed by ISPRL (Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited); (2) Supply diversification — reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil by importing from Russia, the US, and African producers; (3) Domestic exploration — accelerating OALP (Open Acreage Licensing Policy) rounds under HELP (Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy); (4) Renewables transition — India's 500 GW non-fossil target by 2030 reduces long-term hydrocarbon demand; and (5) Ethanol blending — the 20% blending target by 2025-26 cuts petrol import substitution.

The strategic autonomy framing is significant: it links energy to India's foreign policy doctrine (strategic autonomy in a multipolar world) and to defence capability — a fuel-secure military is a combat-ready military. The examiner will test the specific numbers, the institutional mechanisms, and the policy instruments underpinning this framework.