oppn parties Operation Ganga: A Big Achievement

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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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.