Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged the citizens to reduce fuel consumption, postpone foreign travel and destination weddings abroad, and cut down gold purchases amid challenges to the economy posed by the West Asia crisis. PM Modi also said that there is a need to bring back the culture of work from home. 

PM Modi said supply chains have been under pressure ever since the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, and the war in West Asia has aggravated the challenges. He said India is rapidly progressing towards becoming a developed economy. "But we are facing colossal challenges as well," he added. 

"Amid supply chain crisis, a war has been raging since the last two months. It has impacted the whole world, and India is also facing a severe impact," PM Modi said.  

"We do not have major oil reserves. We import petrol, diesel, and gas in large quantities. Due to this war, the prices of petrol, diesel, gas, and fertiliser have gone up significantly. The Indian government has been trying to insulate the people of the country from the impact of the war in the last two months. Government is taking the entire burden on its own, so that there is no pressure on the citizens," Modi added. 

What did PM Modi say on petrol, gold, foreign travel?

"But when supply chains are under pressure, the challenges keep increasing, no matter how many steps we take," he said. 

"Therefore, in the interest of the nation, we will have to brave the situation unitedly. We need to take certain pledges and fullfill them. First and foremost being restrained in the use of petrol and diesel. We need to cut the use of petrol and diesel. People should adopt travel by metro, and car-pooling in cities," Modi said. 

PM Modi said the middle class needs to practice restraint in the emerging trend of destination weddings abroad and foreign travel.  "Today, there is a trend of foreign holidays and marriages at foreign locations. At a time of distress like this, there is a need to postpone foreign visits. We need to conserve foreign reserves with whatever means are available to us. Gold is another aspect of foreign exchange outflow," he said. 

Will work from home be back?

"We started the culture of work from home during Covid. It is the need of the hour to bring in those systems again. We need to save upon the foreign currency used for purchase of energy needs. We will have to resolve not to buy gold jewellery for the next one year, even if there is a function in the household to save forex reserves," he added. 

PM Modi reminded that during the Covid crisis, there was a huge supply change challenge. "After Covid, the Ukraine war started and aggravated the problem. There was a serious impact on food fuel and fertiliser. We have been trying to deal with the crisis for the last five to six years," he added.