Modi chairs CCS, reviews urea, LPG stocks
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a special meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to review measures taken by various ministries and departments to contain the impact of the ongoing West Asia conflict on India. This was the second special CCS meeting on the West Asia crisis as the war in the Gulf regions enters the fifth week, disrupting global supply lines.
The Prime Minister assessed the availability of essential commodities and fertilisers in the country in addition to reviewing steps being taken to ensure their availability in the Kharif and Rabi seasons.
At the meeting, Mr Modi directed that all efforts must be made to safeguard the citizens from the impact of the ongoing conflict in West Asia. He also stressed the need for timely and smooth flow of authentic information to the public to prevent misinformation and rumour mongering. He directed the concerned departments to take all possible measures to ameliorate the problems of citizens and sectors affected by the ongoing global situation.
The Union ministers Amit Shah, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, J.P. Nadda, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Manohar Lal Khattar, Pralhad Joshi, Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu and Hardeep Singh Puri attended the meeting. Also present were national security adviser Ajit Doval, the Prime Minister's two principal secretaries—P.K. Mishra and Shaktikanta Das—and cabinet secretary T.V. Somanathan.
During the meeting, interventions across agriculture, fertilisers, shipping, aviation, logistics and MSMEs to mitigate emerging challenges were discussed. The CCS reviewed the supply diversification for LPG and LNG, fuel duty reduction and power sector measures to ensure stability of essential supplies. Steps taken to ensure stable prices of essential commodities and strict action against hoarding and black-marketing were also discussed.
The cabinet secretary briefed the CCS about the action taken to ensure the supply of petroleum products, particularly LNG/LPG, and sufficient power availability. He informed that sources are being diversified for the procurement of LPG and LNG with new inflows from different countries. He informed that the LPG prices for domestic consumers have remained the same, and anti-diversion enforcement to curb hoarding and black marketing of LPG is being conducted regularly.
Mr Somanathan informed the CCS about the initiatives taken to expand piped natural gas (PNG) connections. Measures like exempting the gas-based power plants with a capacity of 7-8 GW from the gas pooling mechanism and increasing the rake for positioning more coal at thermal power stations to ensure availability of power during the peak summer months were also discussed.
The CCS was informed that there is enough coal stock to serve power needs adequately in coming months.
The CCS also discussed interventions proposed to be taken for emerging challenges in various other sectors such as agriculture, civil aviation, shipping and logistics. In this regard, various efforts like maintaining urea production to meet requirements and coordinating with overseas supplies for DAP/NPKS suppliers to ensure fertiliser supply too were discussed, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement.
The PMO added that the state governments are being requested to curb black marketing, hoarding, and diversion of fertilisers through daily monitoring, raids, and strict action.
According to the PMO statement, the retail prices of food commodities have been stable over the past month, and control rooms have been set up for constant monitoring and interaction with states/UTs on prices and enforcement of the Essential Commodities Act. The prices of agricultural products, vegetables and fruits are also being monitored, it said.
Efforts to globally diversify sources for energy, fertilisers and other supply chains and international initiatives for securing safe passage of vessels through the Strait of Hormuz and ongoing diplomatic efforts being taken too formed part of the discussion.
Ahead of the CCS, there was an inter-ministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia during which the additional secretary in the agriculture ministry Maninder Kaur Dwivedi stated that the country has an adequate supply of seeds and agro-chemicals for the upcoming Kharif season.
The agriculture ministry additional secretary informed that the agriculture and fertilisers secretaries held a meeting with the state secretaries on March 30 to assess the situation. In the meeting, states were asked to ensure the last-mile availability of key inputs. Also, the Union agriculture minister chaired a virtual meeting with state agriculture ministers, flagging gaps in farmer registration, fertiliser distribution, and pulse procurement under PM-AASHA.
