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

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday (March 29, 2026) underlined the need to ensure medium to long-term preparedness and ensure a swift decision-making process to navigate the impact of the evolving crisis in West Asia.

Mr. 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.

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 IGoM took a holistic stock of the evolving situation and its impact on various sectors in India, according to an official statement.

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.

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, Mr. 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.