Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday again urged the public to reduce fuel consumption and increase public transport use amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, which has severely impacted energy supply chains worldwide.
Speaking to a crowd at Vadodara, the PM also reiterated the importance of working from home amid the crisis, in addition to reducing foreign trips and deferring gold purchases.
"Just as we overcame the COVID-19 pandemic, we will come out of (the West Asia crisis) also," he declared, calling the Gulf tensions one of the worst in a decade.
The PM stressed that India needed to manage its import dependence, as it heavily relies on the Gulf for energy, and also avoid unnecessarily spending foreign currency.
This was the second time that PM Modi made similar austerity claims after his speech in Hyderabad on Sunday, in which he had also urged people to choose domestic vacations over foreign trips, and also defer gold purchases as it took a lot of foreign exchange to import the precious metal.
However, amid the gradual call for cost-cutting measures, the Centre has also urged citizens not to worry or to engage in panic buying practices.
In fact, it was notified at the Rajnath Singh-led 5th meeting of the Informal Group of Ministers (IGoM) that India currently has 60 days of crude oil, 60 days of natural gas and 45 days of LPG rolling stock, with foreign exchange reserves valued at $703 billion.
The Defence Minister also reiterated at the IGoM that the Centre was actively taking steps to prevent shortages or disruptions in supply chains as the war in the Gulf progresses.
He added that India urgently needed to accelerate the pace of transforming its energy mix, adopting alternative, renewable, and energy-efficient fuels, and in the process, identifying more reliable and diversified energy supplies.
The war in the Gulf so far
The war in the Gulf remains in a state of fragile ceasefire, with Iran and the US not quite seeing eye-to-eye on peace proposals as Pakistan, being a mediator, attempts to bridge the gap between the two nations.
Iran on Monday hit out at US President Donald Trump's response to its counterproposal, which it had submitted to the US via Islamabad.
It said that this counterproposal to the US proposal to end the war was a “generous and responsible” response focused on lifting the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. It also said that decisions on its nuclear programme would be shelved until “the time is right".
"I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives’. I don’t like it – TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” Trump had written in a Truth Social post on Sunday evening (local time).
He took offence at Tehran's insistence on war reparations, full sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, an end to sanctions, and the release of frozen Iranian assets, while the US proposal reportedly contains its plans to end the war.
He also told CNN that the month-long truce with a defiant Iran was on "massive life support", even as the Strait of Hormuz remains choked due to maritime tensions between Iran and the US.