Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged Indians to boost the economy by judicious use of fuel and opt for work from home (WFH) whenever possible to conserve them. The prime minister’s proposals come at a time when West Asia remains on edge over Iran and the United States is constantly exchanging proposals to end the war, but not agreeing to anything.
As part of peace talks, Iran on Sunday (May 10) proposed transferring some of its stockpile of enriched uranium to another country, but rejected the idea of dismantling its nuclear facilities – proposals rejected by US President Donald Trump, sending oil prices up to $3 a barrel.
Why did PM Modi call for working from home?
Addressing a rally in Hyderabad organized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Prime Minister acknowledged the spike in fuel prices due to the Iran-US war in West Asia and said India must conserve foreign exchange “by any means”.
Note: Foreign exchange is the transfer of one country’s currency to another. The conversion enables individuals and businesses to transact across borders. For example: When you travel abroad, you exchange INR to US Dollars (USD) or any other currency at the prevailing exchange rate of the day.
PM Modi also called for postponement of gold purchases and non-urgent foreign trips, among other measures to boost the economy.
He proposed the use of metro services in cities, ride-sharing, increased use of electric vehicles (EVs), use of rail services to transport parcels and work from home for a year, stressing the need to conserve foreign exchange due to the crisis in West Asia.
He said: “We must make an effort to use only as much as is necessary to save foreign currency and reduce the adverse effects of war crises.”
Emphasizing the need to conserve fuel, PM Modi said, “During Covid-19, we have resorted to working from home, virtual meetings, video conferencing and many other methods. We have become accustomed to them. It is time to restore these methods. During a global crisis that holds the country above everything else, we need to adopt solutions.”
The Prime Minister also called for reducing consumption of edible oil, curbing the use of chemical fertilizers, promoting natural farming and using Swadeshi products to save foreign exchange to make the country self-sufficient.
How Congress responded
The Congress hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks urging citizens to use petroleum products judiciously, saying the prime minister has no idea about ensuring India’s energy security even after three months of the US-Iran war.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said: “3 months into the Iran-US war and PM Modi still has no idea about ensuring India’s energy security. It is shameless, reckless and downright immoral that the PM is putting the common man in trouble instead of building contingencies to ensure that our economy is not affected by this global crisis.”
“When elections and petty politics are the prime minister’s only priority, the end result is impending economic disaster,” he said.
