India helping Sri Lanka with food, fuel to cope with economic crisis: MoS Rajkumar Ranjan

Minister of State for External Affairs Dr Rajkumar Ranjan on Monday said that India is providing food and fuel to Sri Lanka to help them cope with the ongoing economic crisis in the Island Nation.

"Indian principles have always been to help others. The situation is very bad in Sri Lanka. There may be several factors but on humanitarian grounds, we are giving food, and fuel to at least cope up with some of the issues faced by the people of Sri Lanka," said the MoS.

On Sunday, 26 Sri Lankan Cabinet Ministers resigned en masse from their positions amid rising public anger against the government over the economic crisis.

Following the mass resignation of his Cabinet ministers, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday named at least four ministers, to maintain legitimacy and stability of Parliament and other functions of the country until a full Cabinet is appointed, even as he asked opposition members to join a unity government in the face of protests against an economic crisis.

The country's government on Saturday blocked access to social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and YouTube, but lifted the ban on Sunday afternoon after the PM's son Namal Rajapaksa spoke against it.

( With inputs from ANI )