Friday 8 May 2015

Double salute to the Indian Government..

Mother Nature has given another grim reminder that how fallible we humans are.  The earth quake in Nepal and some parts of India has not just claimed Human casualties, but it has also resulted in innumerable and unrepairable damages. Many precious Historical monuments which hitherto stood as testimony to the human development over ages got destroyed in a minute. Many families lost their members, which means the shattering of many hopes, dreams and aspirations. It’s a time for humanity to stand together to wither this challenge nature has thrown before us. India has responded to this challenge immediately as we see the reports of relief materials and rescue teams being sent to Nepal.

  Indian Air force is also doing a heroic job in this hour. They have sent two MI-17 choppers, two C-17 Globe master, one C-130J Super Hercules, and one IL-76 on rescue operation. IAF personnel already have rescued hundreds of Indians stranded in Nepal.

  Indian Ministry of External affairs has also responded quickly to the situation. Since, in such situations the water tends to become polluted, Rail ministry has dispatched 1 lakh Rail Neer water bottle to Nepal through Indian Air force.  BSNL has announced that all calls to Nepal will be charged at Local call rates for the next three days, immediately after the earth quake. Indian govt. has sent so far Relief teams, Medicines, Communication gear, Fuel, Earth-mover vehicles, Drinking water, Mobile field hospitals, Army Engineers task forces and Sniffer dogs. Many Indian Spiritual Gurus and Social service organizations like RSS have also sent relief materials and their volunteers on rescue mission.

All these relief works are happening at an unprecedented professional level and it comes in the wake of the historic rescue operation in Yemen named ‘raahat’ and which drew immense praise from media the world over (except ours). The Indian government didn’t shrug its responsibility citing that those people were working at a conflict zone. It did what a parent would do when their son or daughter is in trouble. It was diplomacy at its best.  In fact, Japanese television channels carried a special news bulletin about India’s commendable rescue operations in Yemen. But the Thankless efforts of gen. V.K Singh and Mrs. Sushma Swaraj were only derided by our main stream media and some even mocked it shamelessly. Our government chose to speak only through action, which is louder than the rants of our ‘pressitudes’ as gen. V.K.Singh labelled them, an understandable vent of ire against our ungrateful main stream media. The efforts were so effective that over 26 countries including the U.S. and U.K. sought India’s help in rescuing their citizens. Many SAARC nations directly requested Indian assistance, and those like the U.S. which did not launch any rescue mission of their own, since, they were the allies of Saudi Arabia which has launched the attacks against Yemen, were in a fix as there ships would have been seen as an enemy vessel by the Hoothi Rebels which controlled/controls the Airport in Sana and the ports. So USA simply listed Indian Embassy numbers in Yemen on their own travel advisories, urging citizens to contact Indian officials for help.

The Indian Air Force C-17 Globe masters took back families to India, while the Indian Navy deployed INS Mumbai, INS Sumitra, and INS Tarkash in rescue operations in Yemen.
These relief operations and rescue missions are something which every responsible state has to do. But in India it’s not just the state but the response of the people in general which commands respect and attention. The Indian society has responded instantaneously in support of the suffering people, though the disaster happened in another country. This is something unique and innate to the Indian society which gets its inspiration from its age old value system. In fact, it was seen in great contrast to some soul harvesting missionaries trying to fish in the troubled waters.

Led by India, SAARC is soon going have a Disaster Monitoring System with technical, manpower and financial assistance from India to smaller nations in the region. This is true leadership that was always conspicuous by its absence under earlier rule. Glad we at last got an able leadership that will take us to next levels of strength and prosperity
                                                                                                                             V.V.Balasubramanian

                                                                                                                                                       YB-ET