India mulls world’s biggest, most difficult evacuation operation amid COVID-19

In this article Senior Journalist, Sanjib Kr Baruah writes about what can be termed as the "world's biggest" and "most complex evacuation operation" amid the coronavirus outbreak to get its people home.

New Delhi: Faced with crises, India has always risen to the occasion whenever the demand arose to bring its diaspora home from foreign shores. Of the about 30 evacuation operations conducted by India to bring its people back home, the one it is preparing, for now, will easily be the world’s biggest and most complex.

Amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the civil aviation ministry, the directorate general of shipping, health ministry, the Indian Air Force (IAF), Indian Navy, and the foreign ministry are now faced with the most difficult evacuation challenge ever mulled in modern times.

An indication of the numbers of Indians keen to come back home can be judged by the Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s admission on Thursday that till now more than 3,50,000 Keralites settled in 201 countries want to come back, with nearly half of that from the Gulf countries.

And to put that in perspective, the world’s biggest evacuation operation was undertaken by India when it flew back 1,70,000 Indians back to India when Iraq’s Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait in 1990-91.

Besides the military, the pivotal role in the evacuation effort will be played by the civil aviation ministry which will put the Air India fleet into operation while another key role will have to be assumed by the shipping ministry. Besides deploying military capabilities, it would also include chartering of civilian aircraft and ships.

A military official, familiar with the developments, told ETV Bharat, on condition of not being named, “At least four C-17 Globemasters are on the ‘hot standby’ mode of six hours in a north India IAF base while other aircrafts are also being prepared. Other platforms can also be readied in good time.”

“About 3-5 Navy warships are also on the ready. All are waiting for the final word from the government. But the final numbers of platforms and where they will head for depends on the government’s final decision.”

Besides the Gulf nations, the foreign countries from where the major evacuations are likely to include the UK, US, Ukraine, etc.

According to a top government source, the finalisation of the mega evacuation plan is facing several challenges due to the sheer complexity of the operation.

One, social distancing and health norms will have to be maintained while ferrying the Indians home. Aircraft and ships are among the environments where the novel coronavirus proliferates best. Adhering to these norms will imply less of space for passengers, which will impact the payload capacity of the aircraft or ship.

Two, the evacuees include both the stranded and the Indians working abroad who want to return. Indians are increasingly becoming a mobile population abroad. According to a Carnegie study, more than 2 crore Indians travelled abroad in 2015, a figure which is likely to have increased to 3 crores in 2020.

Three, the government is likely to prioritise the transporting of the stranded migrants inside the country to their respective states which is becoming a problem of serious concern now. It means that the embarking of the evacuation effort may take some more time.

Four, the actual evacuation is only one part of the challenge. The challenge will persist in ensuring adequate quarantine facilities, maintaining health and safety standards, and facilitating the further movement of evacuees to their final destination points.

Fifthly, and most importantly, the decision as to how to deploy the military assets will be a key one that will have to take strategic and tactical issues into consideration including how far one is willing to go to expose the military assets to the scourge of the virus. After all, the military is the last line of defence should a conflict erupt.