Over 45 lakh people from 98 nations reached India under Vande Bharat: Jaishankar

A total of 45,82,043 people from 98 countries returned to India under the aegis of the Vande Bharat Mission, the largest repatriation exercise in history, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in the Lok Sabha on Monday. He said that the government “expended an amount of Rs 33.5 crore from the Indian Community Welfare Fund, whose mandate was perceptively broadened by the government in 2017 with such contingencies in mind.'' India also facilitated the return of over 1.1 lakh foreign passport holders to 120 countries during the same period. Many of these returnees were people of Indian origin.

Giving a breakup of the returnees, the minister said that Kerala received the maximum, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The maximum number of returnees were from the United Arab Emirates, followed by Saudi Arabia, US and Qatar. Thirty-nine per cent of the returnees were workers, an equal number were professionals. Students comprised six per cent, visitors eight per cent and stranded tourists 4.7 per cent.

He spoke in detail about the arrangements that the government coordinated for the mission, under which several ministries, including aviation, shipping, health and home affairs, were also involved. He described the arrangements that were made for these people while they were awaiting their return, which was possible because of the cooperation of the other countries, too.

“If that was so forthcoming, it is because of the enormous efforts of this government's diplomacy, starting from the prime minister personally,” Jaishankar said. “Let me emphasise that at the end of the day, the sympathetic response of others reflected their positive image of us.''

The focus of the government, the minister said, is now also shifting to Indians going back to their usual places of work, study and domicile, and for that, India created air transport bubbles with 27 nations. These reciprocal flight arrangements will stay in place till normal flights resume. Air India alone has operated 9,500 flights under the arrangement, taking 10.9 lakh passengers abroad, largely to the Gulf. He said that the government is also concerned about renewing livelihoods and is in talks with leaders of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman for this.

Jaishankar added that the government was focussing on the issue of seafarers, especially the crew of two vessels stranded in China. Their situation was eventually resolved. He said Indian fishermen were also stranded in Iran and some Gulf countries. “Here, too, the repatriation phase is over and the re-employment one has started,” Jaishankar noted.