Operation Ganga launched by the Government of India

Tags: National News

The Ministry of External Affairs  has launched “Operation Ganga “ to evacuate the Indian citizens stranded in Ukraine .

The air space of Ukraine was closed after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia .

• There are around 20,000 Indians in Ukraine and they are being told to reach the bordering countries of Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. 
• From these countries they  are being evacuated through air by special operations of Air India  and Indigo Airlines  .
• The Indians are being flown back from these countries through special flights of Air  India and Indigo . 
• The entire cost of evacuation is being borne by the government of India .

Similar operations in past 

The Government of India has undertaken similar evacuation of Indians from conflict zones in the past 

 Evacuation from Kuwait in 1990

When Saddam Hussein's Iraqi government invaded Kuwait in 1990 ,a massive operation was launched by the government of India to rescue the Indians from Kuwait . It involved a massive rescue operation by Air India, Indian Airlines and Indian Air Force. It brought back 1,70,000 Indians from Kuwait .

 The effort of Air India was later recognized by the Guinness World Records as  the being the largest evacuation by a civil airliner. 

There was no code name for the operation.  

Operation Sukoon 2006

It was launched by the Indian Navy to rescue Indian, Nepalese, Sri Lankan  from Lebanon after Israel invaded Lebanon to punish radical  islamic group Hezbollah

Operation Safe coming  2011

It was launched by the Indian Navy and Air India to evacuate Indians fleeing from the Libyan Civil war .

Operation Rahat 2015 

It was launched by the Indian Navy, Air Force and Air India to rescue Indians and foreigners from Yemen after Saudi Arabian led coalition forces  intervened in the Yemen Civil war .

Operation Dev Shakti  2021

It was launched by the Indian Airforce and Air India to bring back Indians from Afghanistan after the Taliban  captured the Afghanistan capital Kabul on 15  August 2021.