On May 10 and 11, 2026, the Prime Minister announced austerity measures and appealed to the people (including politicians) for a “collective sacrifice.” The seven-point appeal included three at government level and four for the people: (1) Convoy reduction to 50% for himself. This was followed by some cabinet ministers and NDA Chief Ministers. (2) Ministries were to limit official foreign travel, have online meetings and, if possible, adopt remote work for employees. (3) State governments (the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh administrations) were to implement work-from-home policies for government staff and encourage public transport and electric vehicles. (4) Citizens were to reduce consumption of fuels, carpool and use metro and public transport. (5) People were to refrain from buying gold, which would reduce the import bill and stop currency outflow. (6) Citizens were to avoid non-essential foreign travel for at least a year, visit domestic places and buy local products. (7) People were to reduce the use of cooking oil and chemical fertilisers. The above list was in the background of India’s economic strain and aimed to protect foreign exchange reserves affected by rising global energy prices caused by the Middle East conflict.
As more than a month has passed, the PM Office needs to determine the success or otherwise of the above seven points. Do politicians still have long convoys? Did the ministries’ employees really use public transport? Were there any unwanted foreign travels? How much gold, fuel and cooking oil were bought by the people? Did domestic tourism and local products get a fillip? It will be interesting to know the outcome and gains accrued by foregoing the above ‘desires.’ The PMO could continue the seven-point austerities (maybe more could be added) for the sake of India’s development and environment.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
