About 50 Indians are still in Ukraine and only a few are ready to return. Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi told the Rajya Sabha today that the facility of their return is being provided by the Embassy. The minister said 22,500 Indians have returned from the war-torn country since last month.
During the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, the central government launched Operation Ganga to evacuate Indians from Ukraine, who managed to reach countries on the Ukrainian borders, with the help of the Air Force. This is not the first time that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has sent Indians home amid the crisis.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, the Center launched the Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians and created air bubbles to facilitate travel between India and 35 other countries. The air bubble arrangement was a temporary agreement between two countries aimed at resuming commercial passenger services when regular international flights were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
External Affairs Minister Meenakshi Lekhi informed in the Rajya Sabha that about 2.97 crore passengers have been facilitated in flights operated so far under Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangement.
Operation Devi Shakti, an armed forces operation launched to evacuate Indians and foreign nationals from Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power, evacuated 669 people. These included 448 Indian nationals, 206 Afghans (including members of the Hindu Sikh minority community) and 15 people of other nationalities (Nepal, Lebanon and Uganda) in seven flights (six operated between August 16 and 25, 2021 and the last on December 10). were involved.