Operation Ganga: A Big Achievement
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By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2022-03-09 09:28:36
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The India Commentary view
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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.
