Vande Bharat

Context:

The seventh phase of the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) set to begin from October 29.

Concept:

• The Mission was launched on May 7 to evacuate Indian citizens stranded abroad after the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdowns across the world. Considered one of the largest evacuations of civilians by a country, it involved repatriations by air, land and sea.
• Apart from bringing Indian citizens back to the country, the Mission consisted of facilitating travel to people who want leave India on account of nationality, residency or work commitments.
• According to the Ministry of Civil AviationAs of October 26, more than 20 lakh people availed travel arranged by the Mission.
• Most of the home-comings were by air.
• The airlifting was supported by ships under Operation SamudraSetu, conducted by the Indian Navy, which carried back 3,987 people.
• A further 1, 75,501 people were evacuated by land.
• The mission surpassed India’s large-scale airlifting of 1,10,000 people in 1990, at the onset of the Gulf War

Countries involved

• Overseas Indians from as many as 93 countries have availed repatriation through the VBM
• The government has entered into special travel arrangements called ‘air travel bubbles’ with 18 different countries.
• Most Indians returning home were from the United Arab Emirates, with more than 4.5 lakh repatriations, followed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with 1.63 lakh and 1.04 lakh respectively.
• Outside the Gulf region, The US accounts for the most, 77305 people, and the United Kingdom, 39141.