Essential Commodities Act: When and why did Centre invoke it last?

Story so far: In the wake of the oil crisis triggered by the Israel-U.S. strikes on Iran, Centre has invoked the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, on Friday (March 5, 2026), ordering all oil refining companies to maximise production of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) and make it available to domestic consumers only. Naming public Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) — IndianOil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, which supply gas to 99% of…

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Govt asks refiners to maximise LPG production, OMCs to prioritise supply to domestic consumers

The Union government has asked oil marketing companies to prioritise LPG supply to domestic consumers. File. | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) has asked oil refining companies to maximise production of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and make it available to the three public sector entities — IndianOil, Hindustan…

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Need to make agricultural products export-oriented, globally-competitive: PM Modi

In this screengrab from a video posted on March 6, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a post-budget webinar on ‘Agriculture and Rural Transformation’. Photo: @NarendraModi/YT via PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (March 6, 2026) asked farmers to leverage India’s diverse climatic conditions and focus on scaling up the harvest of high-value crops…

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