Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually declared a fuel and foreign exchange emergency with his appeal to the people to adopt various austerity measures.
Even as there is general agreement on the need to cut down the import of goods involving foreign exchange outgo, questions remain about the ethics and timing of this call.
The fuel crisis is not this week's development; it stems from over two months of disruptions in the supply of crude, LPG, and other petroleum products, triggered by the war in West Asia. Despite the crunch, the government did not increase the price of petroleum products, except commercial LPG, because of political interests in play - Assembly elections were on in four states and a Union Territory.
This exhortation may also be questioned because the Prime Minister held multiple roadshows with hundreds of vehicles in recent weeks, and one even after he listed out the measures for the citizens to adopt. The double standards cannot be ignored.
The Prime Minister has asked citizens to work from home, use public transport, avoid unnecessary foreign travel, and postpone purchasing gold. The call for a "civic satyagraha" is evocative but masks inconvenient questions.
After push for work from home, PM Modi calls for online classes for schoolchildren to tackle fuel crisisThe Union government has, till now, been assuring the country that there is no need for concern over the fuel situation or the economy. It claimed that 70% of India's crude imports did not pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and that the energy supply was secure.
Yet, it now appears that the government is preparing people for a crisis it failed to anticipate or warn against. Modi has invoked the pandemic situation to support his appeal. Some of his suggestions are likely to have serious implications for the economy and people's lives and livelihoods. A break in the use of chemical fertilisers, for instance, can cause crop yields to fall, given that agriculture is also likely to be impacted by a less-than-normal monsoon. The work-from-home policy is already followed formally and informally, and an extension may not be feasible. The rupee had started weakening even before the war in Iran, and its fall can be traced to other reasons as well.
This call for austerity comes at a time when the economy is drawing strength from consumption. Any disruption in this pattern can have wide-ranging consequences. The appeal is weak in intent and flawed in its messaging because it comes from a government that let a crisis build and now wants the people to solve it.