Hello everyone, I hope you all are safe and healthy in this pandemic and maintaining social distancing.
As our Government, in this pandemic, decides to execute Vande Bharat Mission. But what is Vande Bharat Mission? What is its background? What is its motive?
Let’s try to find it out in this Blog.
Vande Bharat Mission is an exercise to evacuate stranded Indians in foreign countries due to the Corona Virus Pandemic Lockdown. The government had started the Vande Bharat Mission on May 7. The mission has completed four phases as of now and the fifth phase is scheduled to commence from Aug 1.
THE BACKGROUND
Many Indian citizens who were unable to return to India due to the flight and sea travel restrictions because of Corona Virus Pandemic, had contacted the Indian Embassies and asked for their help to bring them back.
The priority was given to Indian citizens with compelling reasons to return – those whose employment have been terminated, those whose visas have expired and not expected to be renewed under the present circumstances, especially Visa restrictions in the US and those who have lost family members in recent times.
THE MISSION
The first phase of the mission started on May 7 when the government announced to operate 64 flights between 7th and 13th of May to bring home nearly 15,000 Indian nationals.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) headed the operation and Air India was tasked to bring back nearly 15,000 citizens with its subsidiary Air India Express. In subsequent phases, other airlines such as IndiGo and GoAir also participated in the evacuation process. Air India has itself brought back nearly 2.5 Lakh citizens till date.
EVACUATION HISTORY
In 1990, India had airlifted nearly 1,80,000 people because of the Gulf War from Kuwait. Akshay Kumar did a popular movie named “Airlift” on the historical event. Also in 2015, Operation Rahat was launched to bring back stranded Indians from war torn Yemen, which is still raging in civil war.
Vande Bharat Mission is even bigger than the Kuwait Airlift.
According to MEA, Over 7.88 lakh Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus pandemic have returned under Vande Bharat Mission till July 22.
BONUS CONTENT
- The entire cost of travel will be borne by the passengers under the mission.
- The Indian Navy has also launched Operation “Samudra Setu” meaning Sea Bridge to bring back nearly 2000 Indian citizens from foreign countries. INS Jalashwa and INS Magar are tasked to bring back Indian nationals from foreign shores in the first phase.
- Around 1,03,976 Indians have returned from Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh through land borders.
- S Jaishankar is the external affairs minister while the current Civil Aviation minister is Hardip Singh Puri.
So, now we’re aware with this mission. In our next blog, we will be discussing other current issues of national and international importance. If you don’t want to miss out on the next important blog, click here!
Thank You!
