New Delhi: The external affairs ministry should create a database of Indian nationals abroad to prepare for emergency situations such as the recent evacuation of citizens from Afghanistan and Ukraine, a parliamentary panel recommended on Wednesday.
India evacuated close to 700 people in civil and military flights from Kabul after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August last year. More than 22,500 Indians were flown back from countries neighbouring Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February, including a group of some 600 citizens who were stuck in the besieged city of Sumy.
The parliamentary committee on external affairs, in a report submitted to Parliament on Wednesday, said there is a “high possibility” of Indian nationals getting stranded in a crisis situation because of their number and spread around the world.
“The recent political crisis in Afghanistan and conflict in Ukraine is a gross reminder about the implications on safety and security of Indian nationals in such a volatile situation,” the report said.
“Recognizing the significance of evacuation preparedness, the committee have desired that a database of Indian nationals abroad may be prepared and updated on a regular basis for emergency situations,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}“Recognizing the significance of evacuation preparedness, the committee have desired that a database of Indian nationals abroad may be prepared and updated on a regular basis for emergency situations,” it said.
{{/usCountry}}The panel also recommended that a standard operating procedure (SOP) for evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in exigencies must be chalked out and made available at all Indian missions around the world.
One Indian student was killed during a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and another citizen was shot and seriously injured in Kyiv. Thousands of Indians, many of them students, had a harrowing time after they were caught in eastern cities such as Kharkiv and Sumy, which were the target of intense Russian bombardment.
Scores of Indians had to trek for hours to reach safe zones, from where they were ferried out in convoys escorted by the Red Cross after the Indian side worked with Russia and Ukraine to put in place temporary ceasefires and humanitarian corridors.
The parliamentary committee acknowledged that the external affairs ministry “played a commendable role in Afghanistan and Ukraine”. However, it also said “evacuation preparedness has emerged as a significant issue”.
The committee noted that during a conflict or other exigencies, the evacuation of Indian citizens is planned on a case-to-case basis and evacuation is dependent on a number of factors. The committee said the ministry should keep it informed about steps taken to create a database of Indian nationals abroad and to frame an SOP for evacuation of Indian nationals stranded in exigencies.
The report said that under ‘Operation Devi Shakti’, 669 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including 448 Indians, 206 Afghans, including members of the Hindu and Sikh minorities, and 15 people of other nationalities. These people were evacuated in six flights between August 16 and 25, 2021 and one more flight on December 10, 2021.
The evacuation required coordination with multiple countries for issues such as over-flight clearances, and domestically with multiple agencies and ministries.
In the case of Ukraine, the report noted the prime minister had spoken to the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to ensure the safe return of Indian nationals.
“Given that the evacuation involved taking out citizens from various active conflict zones in Ukraine, the biggest challenge was to organise safe movement of Indians from these zones to safer zones in the western parts of the country,” the report said.
According to the external affairs ministry’s figures, there are a total of 32.1 million overseas Indian, including 13.5 million non-resident Indians and 18.7 million persons of Indian origin.