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‘First came the corona(virus) pandemic; then wars began to break out, and now there is an energy crisis. This is turning into a decade of disasters for the world,’ he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Rob Jetten at Catshuis in The Hague, on Saturday, 16 May 2026.(AP)Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while delivering a speech at a community event at The Hague in Netherlands, warned that a huge section of the world's population will be pushed back into poverty if the war in West Asia is not rapidly stopped.
"The world is dealing with new challenges," he said, as he addressed the Indian diaspora in the Netherlands during the second leg of his five-nation European tour.
“First came the corona(virus) pandemic; then wars began to break out, and now there is an energy crisis. This decade is turning into a decade of disasters for the world,” PM Modi explained in Hindi.
He issued a pointed warning about the consequences of inaction. If the cascading effect of these crises are not immediately acted upon, he said, “achievements of the past many decades would be washed away, and a huge section of the world's population would be pushed back into poverty".
Why PM Modi said so
The prime minister's remarks came after he urged citizens to follow a slew of austerity measures as India faces the economic fallout of stalled peace negotiations between US and Iran.
Before he left for his European tour, PM Modi invoked the Covid-19 playbook and asked citizens to work from home and take online meetings in order to conserve fuel. He reportedly reduced the size of his convoy — a move that was followed by many leaders of the ruling BJP. The Supreme Court too announced its move to hear cases online.
Other than this, the prime minister appealed to Indians to not purchase gold and avoid foreign trips for a year as a measure to save forex reserves.
PM Modi's appeals were followed by the Union government's announcement to raise petrol and diesel prices by ₹3 per litre. The price of milk also rose by ₹2 per litre, while the cost of commercial LPG (cooking gas) has been hiked twice in the last two months — a cylinder now costs over ₹3,000.
Economists and analysts have warned that the price of petrol and diesel is expected to rise further, approximately by ₹10 per litre, in the coming weeks. They cautioned that this will directly and indirectly push up Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) and common households are expected to feel the pinch.
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