Coronavirus: MEA pulls out all stops to ensure safety of Indians abroad, sets up special cell
New Delhi: With the threat of coronavirus looming large, the Ministry of External Affairs has pulled out all the stops to ensure the safety of Indians abroad and set up a special cell to coordinate the issues related with the response to the pandemic that has claimed more than 5,000 lives worldwide.
Additional Secretary Dammu Ravi has been appointed as the point person for coordinating the response to COVID-19. He has four other officers and staff to support him, officials said.
"Our missions abroad are working round the clock and responding to queries from Indians nationals abroad. Missions have set up their helplines and are proactively responding to queries over phone and emails as well as using social media platforms to reach the Indian community members in these countries," an official said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla are personally monitoring the situation, they said. Jaishankar also travelled to Srinagar on March 9 and met with the families of Indian students in Iran and heard their concerns.
The ministry is also working with Indian missions abroad to bring back Indian nationals from the severely-affected countries, officials said.
Indian missions in Iran and Italy are in regular touch with Indian nationals, including Indian students, community members and are advising them on following all health protocols amidst the outbreak, they said.
Medical teams have reached both the countries to test Indians for the virus.
The Indian Embassy in Tehran successfully facilitated the evacuation of 58 Indian pilgrims from Iran on board an Indian Air Force C17 aircraft on March 10.
A second batch of 44 Indian pilgrims from Iran arrived in India on March 13, while another flight returned with 234 Indians stranded in that country in the wee hours on Sunday.
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said 218 Indians, including 211 students, from Milan landed in Delhi on Sunday.
The evacuation missions started with Wuhan when 324 Indians were brought back to Delhi on February 1. The second Air India flight brought back 323 Indian citizens and seven Maldivian citizens arrived in Delhi on February 2.
A consignment of 15 tonnes of Indian medical relief for COVID-19 was sent to Wuhan on February 26.
The IAF flight which took the consignment to China brought back 76 Indians and 36 nationals from seven countries (23 from Bangladesh, two each Myanmar and Maldives, six from China, one each from South Africa, USA and Madagascar) to India on its return journey.
The Indian Embassy in Japan also mounted an evacuation operation on February 26 and 27, with an Air India flight bringing back 119 Indians and 5 nationals from Sri Lanka, Nepal, South Africa and Peru who were quarantined on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship off the Japanese coast.
"Our mission/posts in the US have been coordinating evacuation of Indian nationals quarantined on board the cruise ship Grand Princess, docked at the Port of Oakland," the official said.
India briefed the representatives of more than 130 countries and international organisations, including over 100 envoys, on Friday about the proactive steps taken by it to combat /coronavirus.
At the briefing by senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the envoys and representatives of international organisations were also provided clarifications related to government advisories.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday said that the coronavirus outbreak could be characterised as pandemic. The number of infection cases globally stood at 1,33,970, with more than 5,000 deaths across 120 countries and territories.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Ballari violence: Were cops made scapegoats to cover political failure?
Bengaluru: Across Karnataka, a serious discussion has begun after the violence in Ballari and the swift action taken against police officers who were on the ground that day. The core question being asked is simple: when law and order fails, why are police officers the first to be shown the door, while political responsibility is quietly pushed aside?
The January 1 clash in Ballari was not a sudden street fight. It was a political confrontation involving supporters of two sitting MLAs. A banner related to the unveiling of a Valmiki statue became the flashpoint. What followed was stone-pelting, firing, and the death of a Congress worker. The situation spiralled within hours.
Within a day, Ballari SP Pavan Nejjur was suspended. Soon after, senior officers were reshuffled. Deputy Inspector General of Police Vartika Katiyar was transferred. No official reason was cited in the notification. But the timing made one thing clear: accountability, at least on paper, had been fixed.
Since then, there has been unease within police circles and political debate outside it.
Unconfirmed reports that Nejjur attempted suicide after his suspension were firmly denied by senior officers and the home minister. They said he was safe, resting, and under stress. Still, the very fact that such reports gained traction says something about the pressure officers feel when action is taken overnight, without public clarity.
Opposition leaders have called Nejjur a scapegoat, pointing out that he had taken charge only hours before the violence. They have asked how an officer can be blamed for a political clash he barely had time to assess. They have also drawn parallels with earlier incidents where police leadership was suspended after tragedies, while political decision-making remained untouched.
However, responding to this criticism, Home Minister G Parameshwara rejected the argument that the suspension was unfair because Nejjur had assumed charge only hours earlier. “It is not important whether he reported to duty on the same day (of incident) or one hour back. Duty is duty. He is not new to the department. IPS officers are trained to handle such situations any time. If he had acted swiftly and promptly, he could have prevented the situation from escalating.” He had said adding that Nejjur did not discharge his duties properly and that this was the reason for his suspension.
Now, fresh and unconfirmed reports suggest that Vartika Katiyar may have met a senior cabinet minister, questioning why she was made to pay the price for a situation that was political in nature. There is no official confirmation of this meeting. But the talk itself has added fuel to the debate.
What is being discussed in the state is not whether the police made mistakes. Many acknowledge that the situation on January 1 was mishandled. A clash earlier in the day was allowed to cool down without strong preventive action. Later, a banner came up near a politically sensitive location. The crowd should not have been allowed to build up. Better anticipation was needed.
At the same time, critics are asking whether the entire burden can be placed on officers when the trigger itself was political rivalry. Who installed the banner? Who mobilised supporters? Who had armed private gunmen present at the spot? These are questions that are still part of the investigation, yet administrative punishment moved faster than political accountability.
This has led to a wider comparison with past incidents, including the Bengaluru stampede after the RCB victory celebrations. There too, police officers were suspended after lives were lost, while decisions taken at higher levels were defended as unavoidable. Many are now saying Ballari fits into the same pattern.
The argument being made is not that the police are blameless. The argument is that responsibility appears to stop at the uniform. When things go wrong, officers are transferred or suspended to send a message. But when the violence is rooted in political rivalry, that message feels incomplete.
Within police ranks, there is also quiet concern about working conditions. Officers say they are expected to manage volatile political situations overnight, often with little room to push back against powerful interests. When things hold, they are invisible. When they collapse, they stand alone.
The Ballari episode has once again exposed this fault line.
For the government, the challenge is larger than one suspension or transfer. The real test is whether it is willing to publicly acknowledge political failures when law and order breaks down, instead of letting the system suggest that the police alone dropped the ball.
For now, what remains is a growing feeling across Karnataka that accountability is selective. And that whenever politics turns violent, the easiest answer is to change the officers, not the decisions that led to the violence in the first place.
