Month: March 2022

The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Tuesday advised its nationals to leave the capital city Kyiv “urgently today” amid the deteriorating security situation due to the Russian-Ukraine conflict.

“Advisory to Indians in Kyiv: All Indian nationals including students are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available,” the Indian embassy in Ukraine tweeted.
The Union government has launched Operation Ganga to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens from conflict-torn Ukraine.

This advisory comes as satellite images have emerged showing a long convoy of Russian military vehicles snaking along roadways northwest of Kyiv, CNN reported. Hundreds of tanks, towed artillery, armored and logistical vehicles can be seen in the image released by a US-based space technology company.

About 8000 Indian nationals have left since the initial advisories were issued by the country, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.

“Evacuation efforts on Ukraine situation on the ground continue to be complex and fluid, some of them quite concerning, but we’ve been able to accelerate evacuation process. Over 8000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine since we issued the initial advisories,” the MEA spokesperson said during a media briefing.

He also informed that the six evacuation flight have landed in India bringing back over 1400 citizens under Operation Ganga.

“The six evacuation flights have landed in India bringing back around 1400 (1396) citizens. The four flights were from Bucharest (Romania), while the other two were from Budapest (Hungary), he said.

The MEA also informed that the government will send four Union Ministers as special envoys to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine. (ANI)

The Sri Lankan government has decided to extend the visas of over 15,000 Russian and Ukrainian tourists in the South Asian country for two months.

The cabinet on Monday night approved the visa extension proposal by Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga over the tensions in Ukraine and agreed that the visa extension should be done without any charges.

According to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Tourism, there are currently 11,463 Russian and 3,993 Ukrainian tourists in the country. (ANI/Xinhua)

The seventh flight carrying 182 Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine reached Mumbai from Romania’s Bucharest as part of ‘Operation Ganga’ on Tuesday.

Union Minister Narayan Rane received the evacuated Indian nationals at the Mumbai airport.

Earlier today, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the eighth flight carrying 216 stranded Indian nationals has departed from Hungary’s capital Budapest for New Delhi while the ninth flight carrying 218 Indians took off from the Romanian capital Bucharest for New Delhi as part of ‘Operation Ganga’.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while presiding over a high-level meeting on Monday evening over the Ukraine crisis said that the entire government machinery is working round the clock to ensure that all stranded Indians in Ukraine are safe and secure, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

This was the second high-level meeting chaired by the Prime Minister during the day over the prevailing situation in Ukraine. Government sources on Monday said that the ‘Special Envoys’ including Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and Gen (Retd) VK Singh will travel to neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate evacuations of stranded Indians amid ongoing Russian military operations in Ukraine.

The union government has launched ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens from the conflict-torn Ukraine. Special flights are being operated by Air India as part of the ‘Operation Ganga’ mission.

Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of External Affairs said that India has evacuated over 8,000 nationals since the initial advisories were issued by the country. (ANI)

India and Pakistan are set to hold the annual meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) in Islamabad from Tuesday.

The Indian delegation of the Indus Water Commission reached Pakistan via the Wagah border crossing on Monday.

The three-day talks on water disputes will be held from March 1 to March 3, ARY News reported Monday. The Indian delegation is headed by Indian Water Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Saxena.

According to Pakistan media, the Indian water experts team will proceed to Islamabad for talks over water disputes between the two countries in their three-day visit to Pakistan.

The last meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) was held on March 23-24, 2021 in New Delhi.

Under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, the two Commissioners are required to meet at least once every year, alternately in India and Pakistan. The meeting could not be held in 2020 due to restrictions imposed on account of the Covid 19 pandemic situation.

Last year, discussions continued on designs of two Indian projects, namely, Pakal Dul (1000 MW) and Lower Kalnai (48 MW). Indian side held that these projects are fully compliant with the provisions of the Treaty and provided technical data in support of its position.

Pakistan side had requested India for sharing information on the design of other Indian hydropower projects being planned to be developed. Indian side assured that the information will be supplied as and when required under the provisions of the Treaty. (ANI)

India on Tuesday reported 6,915 new COVID-19 cases and 180 deaths in the last 24 hours. India’s active caseload now stands at 92,472.

With 16,894 patients recovering from the virus the recovery rate stands at 98.59 per cent.

The daily positivity rate stands at 0.77 per cent and the weekly positivity rate is at 1.11 per cent.

Over 9.01 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

So far, India has administered 177.70 crore vaccine doses under the Nationwide Vaccination drive.

With the administration of more than 18 lakh (18,22,513) vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 177.70 Cr (1,77,70,25,914). (ANI)

In order to scale up the ongoing evacuation efforts under ‘Operation Ganga’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked the Indian Air Force to join the evacuation efforts, said sources.

The sources said that leveraging the capacities of the Air Force will ensure that more people can be evacuated in a shorter time frame. It will also help to deliver humanitarian aid more efficiently, sources added. Indian Air Force is likely to deploy several C-17 aircrafts as part of ‘Operation Ganga’ from today.

The Union government has launched ‘Operation Ganga’ to bring back stranded students and Indian citizens from the conflict-torn Ukraine. Special flights are being operated by Air India as part of the ‘Operation Ganga’ mission. (ANI)