Amid videos of Indians facing harassment in war-hit Ukraine, and criticism from the opposition over an alleged delay in evacuation measures, the Times of India on Monday quoted anonymous government sources to say that India’s ‘Operation Ganga’ was the “most active among all nations which have their citizens in Ukraine”.
On Monday, the paper carried a graphic – headlined ‘most active’ evacuation programme – on page 9 of its Delhi edition, which, instead of listing out measures put in place by India, focussed on how other countries are faring worse in terms of evacuation, citing unverified sources.
News outlets such as NDTV, The Pioneer, Deccan Chronicle, Money Control, Business Today, and Swarajya also carried a PTI report that also cited an unnamed government source as saying, “India's evacuation programme, Operation Ganga, has been the most active among all nations which have their citizens in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, a student from Karnataka's Haveri died when Russian soldiers blew up a government building in Kharkiv on Tuesday. “The Ministry is in touch with his family. We convey our deepest condolences to the family," tweeted the External Affairs Ministry. A student coordinator told NDTV that he had gone out to look for food.
The Times of India said that China had not yet issued any travel advisories or support mechanisms to evacuate its 6,000 students out of war-hit Ukraine, adding that Chinese nationals were being attacked in Ukraine while buses with the Indian flag were being given safe passage.
This comes amid reports of Indians alleging that they were stopped at the Polish border, and videos on social media seeking the government’s help. PM Narendra Modi had earlier decided to send four union ministers to Poland and Romania to supervise the evacuation.
There are 80,000 international students, mostly Indians, in Ukraine. Under ‘Operation Ganga’, the government has brought back nearly 1,000 citizens, set up help centres to aid in evacuations measures through border crossing points, and launched a Twitter handle to share the latest information regarding these processes.
However, the government’s measures have been criticised as delayed or inadequate by many.
Despite having a population of over 20,000 in a vulnerable region, the first advisory that the Indian government issued asking citizens to “temporarily leave Ukraine” was on February 15, a day before some western media believed that Russia would attack the former Soviet country. Indian students had told Newslaundry at the time that the advisories were “delayed”, “disappointing” and “vague”.
Shaan Muhammad, 23, a student at Poltava State Medical University, had said, “The situation had been escalating for the last 15 to 20 days, and the embassies of other countries had been reaching out to their students and taking their calls. We have been trying to call the embassy but the number remains busy. February 16 was the day that war would supposedly be declared, and our embassy suddenly woke up a day before that. How is 24 hours enough?”
Students who are in cities like Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv also told Newslaundry that the student contractors and embassy helplines had told them to “stay where they were and not panic”. Statements like these, according to Muhammad Afridi Shoaib, frustrated students which is why he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Afridi and 350 other students had to make their own arrangements out of Vinnytsia because he “did not receive a “proper response” from the Indian embassy about his evacuation”. He said that he met officials from the Indian embassy only after he crossed the border into Romania, once he completed the immigration process. “There were no Indians at the immigration windows either,” he told Newslaundry. He described the situation at the border as a horrific battlefield with no system in place.
Afridi had earlier told Newslaundry about how the Indian embassy had told him that he was “on his own” when he asked for help in getting his friend out of Kyiv Airport.
Students in Kyiv like Avantika, 21, are still waiting for buses to evacuate them. There are over 500 students stuck with her in a hostel basement in Kyiv Medical University and she said that the last communication with the embassy via one of the hotlines had told them to stay where she was, and wait.
Today, the Indian embassy in Ukraine tweeted that since the weekend curfew in Kyiv had been lifted the students were urged to take the train to the Western Ukraine.
Second Advisory to all Indian Nationals/Students in Ukraine as on 28 February 2022.@MEAIndia @PIB_India @PIBHindi @DDNational @DDNewslive pic.twitter.com/lm5zT4HdlZ
— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) February 28, 2022
Meanwhile, in an article by DNA that sought to compare how the world was evacuating their citizens, when they talked about what the Indian government is doing to help the students stuck in war-hit Ukraine, it said that the “Indian government is relentlessly making efforts to reach out to the students there.”
Flights had been sent to neighboring countries to bring home students from the western borders, and “contact numbers, advisories and support mechanisms” had been released. There is no mention of what these “support mechanisms” include.
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