WFH, no foreign weddings, not buying gold for a year: PM Modi calls for covid era measures amid oil crisis
PTC News Desk: With the Middle East war causing a global oil crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked people to help save fuel and foreign exchange. He suggested bringing back work-from-home where possible, reducing fuel use, and even avoiding gold purchases for weddings for one year.
His appeal comes as fuel prices have reached record highs in many countries, including the US and neighbouring Pakistan, because of the impact of the Iran war. So far, Indians have been largely protected from the sharp rise, but prices could increase in the coming days. Global crude oil prices have jumped from about USD 70 per barrel to nearly USD 126 per barrel due to rising tensions in West Asia and problems around the Strait of Hormuz, an important global oil shipping route.
"During the Corona period, we adopted work from home, online meetings, video conferences and developed many such systems. We had also become accustomed to them," he said while speaking at an event in Secunderabad, Telangana.
"Today, the need of the hour is that we restart those practices, as it would be in the national interest, and we must once again give them priority," he added.
Without directly announcing a price increase, PM Modi repeatedly stressed the need to reduce petrol and diesel consumption.
“Petrol-diesel has become so expensive across the world. It is the responsibility of all of us that the foreign exchange spent on purchasing petrol-diesel should also be saved by conserving petrol-diesel,” he said.
In one of the most striking moments of the speech, the PM appealed to citizens to rethink discretionary spending as the country faces economic pressure from rising global energy costs.
“I would appeal to people not to buy gold for weddings for one year,” he said.
- With inputs from agencies
