Amid the West Asia conflict and its wider global repercussions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday appealed to the citizens to help the country navigate the crisis, urging them to revive Covid-era measures such as work from home, reduce consumption of petroleum products and cut dependence on foreign currency.
Addressing a rally in Telangana, PM Modi called on the people of India to use public transport and electric vehicles for travelling, avoid non-essential foreign travel and purchase of gold for a year.
These measures, according to the Prime Minister, will reduce consumption of petroleum products like petrol, diesel and gas and reduce dependency on foreign currency.
“Use metros wherever metros are available. Use carpooling to go to places, and use the Railways if you have to transport goods. All of this will reduce dependency on petrol and diesel, and thereby cut the dependence on foreign currency,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister said that Indians will have to take resolutions and keep the country above all else in times of global crisis.
Referring to the times of the Coronavirus pandemic, Modi said that the need of the hour is to revive the practice of work from home, virtual meetings and other methods.
“We have developed work from home, virtual meetings, video conferencing and many other methods during corona. We got habituated to it. The need of the hour is to resume those methods,” he added.
He said that amid the crisis, the middle class should avoid travelling abroad for at least a year. “The growing culture of weddings abroad, travelling abroad, and vacationing abroad is becoming prevalent among the middle class. We must decide that during this time of crisis, we should postpone travelling abroad for at least a year.”
The Prime Minister also called upon people to use less cooking oil, a move he said will not only help people but will also improve their health.
“I have been saying, reduce the use of cooking oil by 10%. This will not only help the nation during these times but also improve the health of your family,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also called upon the farmers to reduce the use of fertilisers and promote natural farming.
Earlier in the day, Modi had urged people to use petrol, gas and diesel with “great restraint”, calling it a “need of the hour”.
“Today, the need of the hour is also to use petrol, gas, diesel and such things with great restraint. We have to use imported petro products only as needed. This will not only save foreign exchange but reduce the adverse impact of war,” he said.
The conflict in West Asia has triggered a global energy crisis with around 20 per cent of the fuel supply disrupted due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz shipping route in the Persian Gulf.
