Rescue service

• India’s “Operation Kaveri”, launched to evacuate Indians stuck inside war-torn Sudan is underway and highlights challenges India faces in conflict.
• The operation, which involves the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy, is being coordinated by the Ministry of External Affairs.

History of rescue operations of India

• The Indian armed forces are well-known for their involvement in numerous operations both inside and outside the country. Our forces have actively participated in humanitarian, rescue and relief, and anti-terrorist operations, in addition to national security. Some of them are:
• Operation Sukoon (2006): As Israel and Lebanon broke into military conflict in July 2006, India rescued its stranded citizens by launching this operation, which is now famously known as the ‘Beirut Sealift’
• Operation Safe Homecoming (2011): To bring back Indian citizens stranded in conflict-torn Libya. Under the operation, India evacuated its Indian nationals..
• Operation Maitri (2015): It is the joint relief and rescue operation by the Indian government and the Indian Armed forces in the aftershock of the 2015 Nepal earthquake.
• Operation Raahat (2015): In 2015, a conflict raged between the Yemeni govt and Houthi rebels. Thousands of Indians were stranded and later evacuated by the armed forces.
• Operation Sankat Mochan (2016): During the South Sudanese Civil War, the Indian Air Force conducted Operation Sankat Mochan to evacuate Indian citizens and other foreign nationals from South Sudan.
• Operation Samudra Setu (2020): It was a naval operation as part of the national effort to bring home Indian citizens from overseas during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Operation Devi Shakti (2021): An evacuation operation by the IAF was kicked off in 2021 to safely bring back Indian nationals from Afghanistan after the collapse of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
• Operation Ganga (2022): It is an evacuation mission to bring back all the Indian nationals who are currently stranded in Ukraine.

Challenges

• The Sudan evacuation brings once more into focus the particular challenges that India faces in any conflict.
• India has performed well in terms of assistance, but the timing of these relief efforts remains a grey area.
• Often relief efforts reach affected people long after disasters strike leading to the destruction of life and property.
• Sometimes India failed to project itself as an aid giver in the global media.
• It has been observed that the Indian armed forces face challenges related to preparedness for disaster response and recovery.

Way forward

• With about 14 million non-resident Indians and more than seven million tourists and travellers each year, there is practically no conflict today that does not affect an Indian citizen.
• Given that many work in the most dangerous environments — examples being students in Ukraine, nurses in Iraq or Yemen, or labourers in Libya, Syria and Lebanon — the responsibility of the government to help those without the means to return to safety is greater.
• A standard operating procedure, and even possibly a special force to deal with such crises — as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs, in 2022 — must be considered by the government.
• It is also essential that such crises be devoid of political grand-standing or finger-pointing, and that unseemly public spats over the evacuation, or unnecessary controversies over garnering domestic political mileage be avoided.

Conclusion

• India is admired for its reputation and ability to harness all its resources in rescuing every single citizen in any corner of the world, every time they are in need. That reputation must remain intact.