New Delhi: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday underlined the need to ensure medium to long-term preparedness and quick decision-making processes to deal with the impact of the emerging crisis in West Asia.Rajnath made this comment while chairing the first meeting of the Informal Group of Ministers (IGOM) formed to monitor the situation in West Asia. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Power Minister Manohar Lal, Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister JP Nadda, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi, Civil Aviation Minister KR Naidu and Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh were present in the meeting.As part of the meeting, presentations were made by seven Empowered Groups of Secretaries (EGoS), outlining the key regional issues identified and policy measures already implemented to manage the situation. Rajnath provided guidance to the EGOS to continue close monitoring of the situation, adopt a medium to long-term preparedness approach, maintain high-level coordination and ensure rapid decision-making.He stressed that all policy efforts should be coordinated and implemented in a time bound manner. He also sought constructive inputs from all concerned ministers to ensure that India remains resilient and prepared.Rajnath later said in a post on Twitter, “An IGOM meeting of several senior ministers was held today to review the risks to energy supply, domestic availability of essential commodities, resilience of critical infrastructure and the robustness of India’s supply chains in the wake of the ongoing conflict in West Asia.” There was an in-depth discussion on all the measures being taken by the Government of India.“There was an in-depth discussion on all the steps being taken by the Government of India. The NDA government under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is closely monitoring the situation and is committed to protecting the Indian people from any impact of the conflict,” he said. The need to assess the impact of the situation on various industries was also discussed.According to the Defense Ministry, it was also directed that all ministries and departments share relevant information, developments and advisories related to the current situation through MIB WhatsApp channel to ensure dissemination of accurate information to citizens and effectively counter rumours, misinformation and fake news.