Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged folks to postpone gold purchases and international journey for a 12 months, lower gas consumption and undertake Swadeshi merchandise to preserve international trade. His attraction comes at a time when crude oil and fertiliser costs have surged as a result of of the West Asia battle and disruption across the Strait of Hormuz.
India’s gold imports surged 24 per cent to a report $71.98 billion (₹6.77 lakh crore) in 2025-26.
The opposition leaders, together with Rahul Gandhi, have attacked the Prime Minister for his attraction. “Modi ji demanded sacrifices from the general public yesterday – do not buy gold, do not go overseas, use much less petrol, lower down on fertiliser and cooking oil, take the metro, make money working from home. These aren’t sermons – these are proofs of failure,” Gandhi stated.
However Modi will not be the primary Prime Minister to make such an attraction throughout a disaster.
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When Nehru requested Indians to donate gold
Through the 1962 India-China struggle, then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appealed to residents to donate gold and cash to the Nationwide Defence Fund, which had been arrange that 12 months to help the defence effort and welfare of armed forces personnel and their households.
The federal government launched a nationwide marketing campaign asking Indians to contribute as tensions with China escalated after the struggle in Ladakh.
One doc from that interval stated Chinese language aggression continued even after preventing stopped. “China nonetheless occupies 14,000 sq. miles of Indian territory in Ladakh and continues to mass her troops on our borders,” the attraction stated. “We will must be prepared to satisfy any new aggression. Allow us to renew our pledge to not relaxation till the final of the aggressors has been pushed out from our soil.”
The marketing campaign praised the general public response to Nehru’s attraction. “The response was magnificent. We gave generously…with all our coronary heart…for we realised that no sacrifice is simply too nice for freedom.”
It then carried one of probably the most putting traces from the marketing campaign: “Allow us to give gold. For what good are gold bangles today, if tomorrow we are all in iron shackles?”
The federal government additionally listed “three good causes for giving” – defending the longer term of residents and their youngsters, preserving India’s territorial integrity and safeguarding peace.
When Indira Gandhi donated gold jewellery
Amongst those that contributed throughout the 1962 struggle effort was Indira Gandhi, who later grew to become Prime Minister.
Based on a 2009 espresso desk ebook printed by the Ministry of Defence, Indira Gandhi donated 367 grams of gold jewellery to the nationwide reduction fund throughout the struggle.
Her contribution later grew to become one of probably the most cited examples from the federal government’s gold donation marketing campaign throughout the battle.
When India needed to pledge gold to keep away from default
Almost three a long time later, India once more turned to gold throughout one other nationwide disaster – this time an financial one.
In 1991, India confronted one of the worst balance-of-payments crises in its historical past as international trade reserves collapsed and the nation got here near defaulting on exterior cost obligations.
The disaster intensified after oil costs surged following Iraqi chief Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. On the similar time, inward remittances weakened, worsening stress on India’s present account.
By mid-1991, India’s foreign exchange reserves had fallen to ranges ample to cowl barely three weeks of imports, together with important gadgets corresponding to crude oil and fertilisers.
Based on the RBI’s official historical past, India first raised $200 million in April 1991 by pledging 20 tonnes of gold confiscated from smugglers.
Nonetheless, the scenario deteriorated additional inside months.
In July 1991, India shipped 47 tonnes of gold to the Financial institution of England to safe one other $405 million in international forex loans. The funds helped India meet fast exterior cost obligations and keep away from a sovereign default.
The gold-backed borrowing purchased the federal government some respiratory room, however it didn’t finish the disaster on its personal. The 1991 disaster finally paved the best way for sweeping financial reforms, together with the opening up of the Indian financial system beneath the federal government led by PV Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.
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