In Abu Dhabi, West Asia War Claims Seventh Indian Life; Trump Defers Iran's Strait of Hormuz ‘Deadline’; Ghettoisation Under Gujarat Model to March On
Is the Modi Govt Prepared For a Fertiliser Crunch?; Push for Domestic Arms Manufacturing Spinning Off Dark Consequences; Humans Evolve and Devdutt Pattanaik Reckons Gods do Too
Snapshot of the day
March 26, 2026
Anirudh S.K.
External affairs minister S. Jaishankar is in France to attend the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting with partner countries. He met his French opposite number Jean-Noel Barrot, following which it was announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the summit in June. As for now, the foreign ministers’ meeting on the outskirts of Paris takes place against the background of the West Asia war triggered by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran: US secretary of state Marco Rubio will attend the second day of the meet, on Friday, where ways to end the war and Tehran’s retaliatory blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are likely to figure prominently.
An Indian national was among two people killed by falling debris resulting from the interception of a ballistic missile over Abu Dhabi on Thursday, marking the seventh Indian fatality so far in the war. The other person killed was a Pakistani citizen, and three others — another Indian, an Emirati and a Jordanian — were injured in the incident.
Reliance has “categorically” denied that it purchased any Iranian oil, on which Washington has eased sanctions amid the fallout of its war. Earlier this week Reuters had reported that the firm bought five million barrels of Iranian crude at a premium of roughly $7 compared to ICE Brent futures. “At that time, Reliance had not responded to Reuters emails seeking comments,” the news agency says. But IndianOil is reported to have bought LPG from Iran for the first time in almost eight years, reports Bloomberg.
Households that are located in areas where a piped natural gas connection has been laid by an ‘authorised entity’ and which have been solicited via post to sign up for this gas, but which have not done so, are liable to have their LPG supply revoked within three months, the Union petroleum and natural gas ministry has ordered. It is clear that Iran’s retaliatory blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has seriously disrupted India’s LPG supply, prompting rationing by the government, small eateries to shut down and migrant labourers to consider going back home.
On Thursday, the ministry issued a statement maintaining that “there is no LPG shortage”. “Some posts have deliberately misrepresented government orders … as emergency declarations signalling crisis, when in fact they are standard administrative instruments for supply prioritisation issued as a prudent and pre-emptive measure,” it said, pegging LPG supplies on hand as meeting one month’s requirement. The government has secured crude oil, for which India is roughly 90% import-dependent, that will last two months, it said, pointing to “high volumes available … especially from the western hemisphere”. As for news of petrol pumps running out of fuel, it said: “Where isolated instances of panic buying occurred at select pumps, they were driven by deliberate misinformation spread by certain videos in social media.”
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