oppn parties Operation Ganga: A Big Achievement

News Snippets

  • The Indian envoy in Bangladesh was summoned by the country's government over the breach in the Bangladesh mission in Agartala
  • Bank account to soon have 4 nominees each
  • TMC and SP stayed away from the INDIA bloc protest over the Adani issue in the Lok Sabha
  • Delhi HC stops the police from arresting Nadeem Khan over a viral video which the police claimed promoted 'enmity'. Court says 'India's harmony not so fragile'
  • Trafiksol asked to refund IPO money by Sebi on account of alleged fraud
  • Re goes down to 84.76 against the USD but ends flat after RBI intervenes
  • Sin goods like tobacco, cigarettes and soft drinks likely to face 35% GST in the post-compensation cess era
  • Bank credit growth slows to 11% (20.6% last year) with retail oans also showing a slowdown
  • Stock markets continue their winning streak on Tuesday: Sensex jumps 597 points to 80845 and Nifty gains 181 points to 24457
  • Asian junior hockey: Defending champions India enter the finals by beating Malaysia 3-1, to play Pakistan for the title
  • Chess World title match: Ding Liren salvages a sraw in the 7th game which he almost lost
  • Experts speculate whether Ding Liren wants the world title match against D Gukesh to go into tie-break after he let off Gukesh easily in the 5th game
  • Tata Memorial Hospital and AIIMS have severely criticized former cricketer and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu for claiming that his wife fought back cancer with home remedies like haldi, garlic and neem. The hospitals warned the public for not going for such unproven remedies and not delaying treatment as it could prove fatal
  • 3 persons died and scores of policemen wer injured when a survey of a mosque in Sambhal near Bareilly in UP turned violent
  • Bangladesh to review power pacts with Indian companies, including those of the Adani group
D Gukesh is the new chess world champion at 18, the first teen to wear the crown. Capitalizes on an error by Ding Liren to snatch the crown by winning the final game g
oppn parties
Operation Ganga: A Big Achievement

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-03-09 09:28:36

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

India has successfully evacuated its nationals, a majority of them students, from the war zone in Ukraine. This is a big achievement. There was high drama in evacuating the last batch from Sumy as both Ukraine and Russia were violating the ceasefire making it difficult for India to bring the students to a safe location from where they could be airlifted back to India. Prime Minister Modi had to talk to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukranian President Vladimyr Zelensky to ensure the safety of these students and arrange for their evacuation. Still, the students faced a harrowing time when they were first allowed to board the buses and then asked to disembark as shelling had resumed in the route the buses were to take. Finally, the government was able to pull them out of Sumy and has confirmed that they will be flown back home soon.

The success of Operation Ganga (despite initial criticism by the opposition and a section of the media which failed to appreciate the many levels at which the government was working to ensure the safety of Indian nationals in Ukraine) shows that India has now become an expert at such evacuations from strife zones. It efforts were appreciated by the global community when during the strife in Yemen it managed to airlift its citizens and many nationals of foreign nations, to safety. Even this time, Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh has thanked PM Modi for evacuating some Bangladeshis from Ukraine. India has also evacuated students of other countries including Nepal. It was good that the government pressed the Indian Air Force into service in the operation as it was clear that the scale of the operation was huge and the expertise and experience of the IAF would be needed.

But ensuring their safety and bringing back the students is just one part of the good deed. The government must now think about their future and ensure that they are able to complete their studies. It will have to find seats for them in medical colleges which, given the demand-supply equation in medical education in India and the high costs involved, is a tough task. But the government will have to find a way so that the students do not lose a year.