West Asia crisis: Rajnath Singh calls for swift decisions and long-term readiness

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday underlined the need to ensure medium-to-long-term preparedness and a swift decision-making process to navigate the impact of the evolving crisis in West Asia.

Singh made the remarks while chairing the first meeting of the Informal Group of Ministers (IGoM) set up to monitor the situation in West Asia.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Power Minister Manohar Lal and Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister JP Nadda.

Presentations were made at the meeting by the seven Empowered Groups of Secretaries (EGoS), outlining key sectoral issues identified and the policy measures already put in place to manage the situation, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The IGoM took a holistic stock of the evolving situation and its impact on various sectors in India, it said.

Defence Minister Singh emphasised the need for a proactive, coordinated and forward-looking approach, and underscored the importance of remaining vigilant in view of the evolving scenario, it said.

Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi,Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu and Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh also attended the deliberations.

The meeting of the IGoM was held to review the risks to energy supplies, domestic availability of essential commodities, critical infrastructure resilience and robustness of India's supply chains in the wake of the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Singh said on social media.

"There was in-depth discussion on all the measures being taken by the Government of India. The NDA Government under the leadership of PM @narenddamodi is closely monitoring the situation and it is committed to safeguard the Indian people from any impact of the conflict," he said.

The ministry said Singh provided guidance to the EGoS to continue the close monitoring of the situation, adopt a medium to long-term preparedness approach, maintain high-level coordination, and ensure swift decision-making.

"He stressed that all policy efforts should remain in synergy and be implemented in a time-bound manner. He also sought constructive inputs from all the concerned ministers to ensure that India remains resilient and prepared," it said.

The IGoM reaffirmed the importance of close coordination with states and district administrations, along with timely communication of key policy initiatives to the public.

The need for assessing the impact of the situation across various industries was also discussed.

It was also directed that all ministries and departments share relevant information, developments and advisories related to the ongoing situation through the MIB WhatsApp Channel to ensure dissemination of accurate information to citizens and to effectively counter rumours, misinformation and fake news, according to the defence ministry.