Sirens, Blackouts, Faux Air Raids: 'Operation Abhyaas' Roleplays Wartime India

Simulating war at home hours after striking the 'enemy' is a masterclass in the theatrics of psychological warfare.

Organised as part of the mega, nationwide civil defence initiative named 'Operation Abhyaas', the drills simulated multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, potential fire emergency scenarios, and search and rescue operations among others.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

The Narendra Modi-led government’s move to order mock drills across the entire country on 7 May, hours after it dropped missiles on alleged Pakistani terror sites, was a masterclass in the theatrics of psychological warfare.

While the exercise was conducted seriously and has been a useful exercise for institutions like the fire services, hospitals, and disaster response professionals, it is not likely to have a wider impact across the country's security situation.

Nonetheless, the photographs of puzzled toddlers 'mock' hiding under their classroom desks (while being papped, of course) projected a D-Day aesthetic straight out of a 20th-century post-war dystopia novel.

Truth, as we know, is stranger than fiction.

For instance, while the drills simulated an emergency situation, a very real emergency unfolded across the nation, when four international and 131 domestic flights were cancelled and 300 delayed on account of Operation Sindoor. The collateral damage of war, perhaps, mock or otherwise.

War Games 101

Organised as part of the mega, nationwide civil defence initiative named 'Operation Abhyaas', the drills simulated multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, potential fire emergency scenarios, and search and rescue operations among others.

The key purpose of the drill, clearly synchronised with Operation Sindoor, was aimed at sending a message to Pakistan and setting the tone of both Indian and Pakistani (and to an extent even global) public opinion.

To both the Indian and Pakistani public, the message was that New Delhi was taking the Pahalgam strike very seriously. When announcing the drills, the Prime Minister and his colleagues had said India would definitely retaliate, but at a time of its choosing.

The strike did take place at 1:44 am on 7 May and was all over the news channels by the time civil defence authorities began the mock drills across the country. From Wednesday morning itself, reports of mock drills started coming in from different parts of India including Lucknow, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Mumbai.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, the exercise was meant to simulate hostile scenarios to test the readiness at the local level.

The drills included practice and training of:

• Sounding of air raid sirens in urban and semi-urban areas.

• Use of emergency communication systems including radio and hotline links with armed forces.

• Training of school students, civil volunteers, and residents in basic safety and protective measures.

• Setting up shadow control rooms to assess command readiness.

• Switching off power in select areas to practice blackout protocols.

• Early camouflaging of critical facilities like power stations and refineries.

• Evacuation drills and rehearsals of localised safety plans.

Highlights from Delhi, Mumbai

Emergency preparedness drills were conducted across 55 locations in the national capital, including the principal markets—Connaught Place, Khan Market, Saket Mall, and Chandni Chowk. The activities included evacuation procedures, emergency response simulations and rescue operations carried out by Delhi authorities. Security personnel, civil defence volunteers, emergency vehicles, and fire engines were positioned strategically across various locations.

At Khan Market, evacuation procedures commenced with warning sirens, directing people to move towards designated safe zones. Civil defence volunteers, personnel, and NCC cadets supervised a mock emergency exercise in Chandni Chowk.

Near the Town Hall in Chandni Chowk, warning sirens initiated an evacuation exercise that saw people faux-running for cover to designated secure areas. Following a subsequent siren, rescue operations began. Volunteers attended to "casualties" whilst maintaining public order and encouraging assistance for the injured. Fire services deployed cranes for high-rise evacuations.

At the Indira Gandhi International Airport, emergency protocols were activated with sirens, followed by fire brigade, medical teams and ambulance response.

Similarly, in Mumbai, officials reported that civil defence volunteers, wearing yellow T-shirts, enacted various scenarios to test coordination, response timing, and overall preparedness. The exercise showcased fire safety protocols, fire-fighting methods, air strike response procedures, and casualty rescue and revival techniques.

Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel conducted individual and collaborative security exercises. Mumbai Police confirmed that GRP and RPF teams performed route marches, patrolling activities, and inspections across various railway stations.

Winning the Perception War

Military preparedness aside, the mock drills were a great tactic for imbuing among the people of the country the feeling that they were part of the ongoing processes against Pakistan.

The account of the over-an-hour-long exercise conducted by a civil defence team of the Central Railway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai, had special significance, in that sense. This was the place where Ajmal Kasab had carried out an attack in 26/11 in 2008.

There was, however, something ersatz about the effort, an element of dissonance. Perhaps because a situation as grave and imminent as it was made out by the nationwide drills to be, would have involved a greater degree of visible alarm?

There would have been cancellations of leaves of defence personnel, mobilisation of the military across the length and breadth of the country, commandeering of commercial vehicles for military use and so on. None of that was happening.

Despite the dramatic visuals, the mock drill was conducted at too limited a scale. There were also irregularities across locations. In my own neighbourhood in South Delhi, nothing happened, though my relative says that her apartment in Gurugram went through a simulated blackout and air raid warnings. Moreover, having been done just once in a blue moon, it goes against the very notion of conducting a practice drill which ought to be done with reasonable frequency.

Fire drills, casualty evacuations, and so on are important to practice repeatedly. But air-raid drills beg to be questioned. The logic seems to reside in World War II raids on London.

But the chances of Pakistani bombers (if they have any) reaching Delhi or Mumbai are remote.

All cities are vulnerable to missiles, as the Houthis have recently demonstrated vis-s-vis Israel. But their speed is such that in the India-Pakistan context, little or no warning time would be available in case of a calamity.

Military preparedness of civilians may be a start, but India is yet to think about the serious civil defence consequence of an ongoing war, which in today’s situation is extremely destructive and poses huge challenges.

During the Cold War, Switzerland made provisions for sheltering its entire population in a nuclear attack. Every house constructed had to have a mandatory air raid shelter that had to have a certain quantity of emergency medicines and food supplies. But they have given up the idea now.

I may not have lived through World War II, but I am old enough to remember the trenches dug in 1965 when Pakistani battle planes flew over Ambala, though they never managed to reach Delhi. But in most of our urban jungles now, there is no room for trenches.

In 2025, the closest to good air raid shelters we have, at least in Delhi, could be the underground metro stations, though they have not been designed as such. So far, only the Moscow and Washington Metros have a subsidiary air raid provision. If there is a serious prospective threat, the government should, besides redesigning the Metro system, order the creation of shelters in basements by reinforcing them.

(The writer is a Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)