External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, said that India has brought back 7 million people. Vande Bharat Mission from all over the world. He described it as the biggest evacuation operation that was done during Kovid-19.
Interacting with the Indian community in Riyadh, Jaishankar said, “We brought back 70 lakh people from across the world under the Vande Bharat Mission. Nobody has done this, this is the biggest evacuation and it was done during covid. That is the India that the world sees today.”
During the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of India has launched the Vande Bharat Mission (including arranging air bubbles) to facilitate travel of travelers between India and various parts of the world.
Recently, Minister of State (Civil Aviation) VK Singh told Rajya Sabha that the central government’s Vande Bharat Mission helped bring back over 72 lakh Indians stranded in over 100 countries amid the pandemic.
“As of 29.07.2021, more than 88,700 inbound flights have been operated and more than 72 lakh passengers have returned to India from over 100 countries. In the same period, more than 88,000 outbound flights have been operated and over 58 lakh passengers Has traveled abroad from India,” he said.
India launched Vande Bharat Mission on May 7, 2020 to bring India back its citizens stranded abroad,
Initially, Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express carried out these operations before private airlines were allowed to participate. Apart from this, air evacuation, naval ships were also used to bring back Indian nationals.
After this, India has signed air bubble agreements with about 27 countries including the US, UAE, Kenya, Bhutan and France. Under an air bubble pact between two countries, their airlines can operate special international flights between their regions.
(with inputs from agencies)
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