India’s repeated evacuation efforts reflect a maturing foreign policy, but they also reveal systemic blind spots in migration governance.
In recent years, India has undertaken several high-profile evacuation missions to rescue its citizens stranded in war-torn or crisis-hit countries. From Operation Ganga in Ukraine to Operation Kaveri in Sudan, these missions have drawn praise for their speed, coordination, and strategic intent.
More recently, India has faced fresh challenges in Israel and Iran, with geopolitical tensions escalating in the Middle East. The ongoing conflict in Gaza and southern Lebanon, and the volatile situation in Iran—which has a large population of Indian-origin, particularly from Kashmir—has led to multiple waves of evacuation and emergency consular outreach. These include students, labourers, and pilgrims facing direct or indirect threats to their safety.
These efforts highlight India’s growing capacity in diplomatic coordination and crisis response. But they also raise deeper and recurring questions:
Why are so many Indians regularly caught in the crosshairs of global conflicts?
What compels them to be there in such large numbers — and why is their return always reactive, not planned?
From students and professionals to migrant labourers and religious travellers, India’s citizens abroad are increasingly vulnerable to geopolitical instability. It is time India evolves from a rescue-centric mindset to a strategy of long-term engagement, reintegration, and risk mitigation.
The Spectrum of Vulnerability
The Indian diaspora is among the largest in the world — over 18 million strong. But it is far from homogenous. While much attention is paid to high-skilled NRIs in the US or UK, a large portion of Indians abroad are low- or semi-skilled workers in the Gulf, West Asia, and Africa. Another growing cohort includes Indian students in countries like Ukraine, China, Russia, and smaller Eastern European nations drawn by more affordable medical education.
These groups are often the most vulnerable. They live and work in politically volatile regions, lack robust legal protections, and are sometimes under informal or exploitative contracts. When crises erupt — be it war, civil unrest, or natural disaster — they find themselves with little safety net.
In the case of Iran, recent unrest has affected many Indian nationals, especially Kashmiri students enrolled in religious and medical institutions. In Israel, Indian caregivers, nurses, and hospitality workers have been caught between rocket fire and evacuations. Their lives—although far from the media spotlight—are no less impacted.
Covid-19: The Mass Return We Forgot
Before these conflict-based evacuations, India saw an unprecedented mass return during Covid-19. Over 1.8 crore Indians returned to their home states — not only from abroad but also across Indian cities. Whether it was migrant labourers trudging home or chartered flights under Vande Bharat, this was not just a logistical challenge — it was a social rupture.
Yet the scale of that return has largely been forgotten in policymaking circles. No comprehensive national framework emerged for their reintegration, skill mapping, or future redeployment. Most simply disappeared back into informal economies or sought to leave again once restrictions lifted.
Policy Needs to Move Beyond Symbolism
India’s rescue missions are commendable — and necessary. But they must not become substitutes for sustainable policy. The following interventions are long overdue:
1. Mapping Vulnerable Citizens Abroad
A real-time, dynamic database of Indians abroad — especially workers, students, and pilgrims in conflict-prone regions — must be created and maintained by Indian missions abroad, in coordination with the Ministry of External (MEA) and the Ministry of Labour.
2. Institutionalise Returnee Support
Many returnees — particularly those from conflict zones like Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and Israel — come back with trauma, debt, and few job prospects. A national reintegration scheme should include psycho-social support, job matching, upskilling, and short-term income support.
3. Strengthen Bilateral Labour Agreements
Much of India’s labour migration happens via informal or unregulated channels. India must expand formal labour mobility partnerships that include insurance, safety guarantees, emergency exit provisions, and embassy support during crises.
4. Protect Indian Students Abroad
Affordable education should not mean unsafe education. India must scrutinize the quality and safety of foreign institutions, and embassies should proactively engage with students on issues such as housing, health services, and legal aid.
5. Diaspora Policy That Includes the Vulnerable
India’s diaspora engagement often focuses on high-net-worth individuals and global CEOs. But the real face of the diaspora includes nurses in Israel, masons in Dubai, students in Qom and Tehran, and drivers in Lebanon. Our policy must reflect this diversity and address these invisible populations.
6. Launch Mission Samarth
India must move from reactive rescue operations to a long-term strategy of migration governance. A national-level initiative — Mission Samarth — could be launched to attract, retain, and reintegrate skilled Indian professionals abroad. Modeled after Startup India or Skill India, this mission should be steered by a multi-ministerial task force under the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Its components may include:
• One-Stop Portal for Returnees: A digital platform for returnees to access services — credential recognition, job matching, tax guidance, and housing support — all in one place.
• Reverse Talent Fellowships: Structured, funded programs to bring back Indian-origin scientists, researchers, and policy professionals for 3–5 years in academia or government.
• Global Mobility Taskforce: A coordinated mechanism involving MEA, Labour, Education, state governments, and Indian missions abroad — to institutionalize protections, portability of skills, and emergency readiness.
• Inclusion of Experts from Outside Government: Involve civil society, academia, retired diplomats and civil servants, and diaspora networks to bring innovation and real-world insight to policy-making.
Reintegration is Nation Building
When lakhs of Indians return home due to crisis, they bring with them not just hardship, but skills, global experience, and aspirations. Ignoring them is not just a personal loss — it is a strategic loss to India’s development journey. Reintegration is not a welfare handout. It is nation-building.
Migration policy must break out of the bureaucratic silos of MEA or Labour alone. A high-level inter-ministerial task force, possibly anchored in NITI Aayog, should develop an integrated migration and reintegration strategy — in collaboration with states, industries, diaspora stakeholders, and civil society.
Every time a conflict breaks out — from Ukraine to Israel, Sudan to Iran — India rises swiftly to bring its people home. But between those heroic headlines lies a more troubling undercurrent: unregulated migration, inadequate returnee support, and a blind spot in national planning that sees these citizens as temporary evacuees, not long-term contributors.
India’s people — whether they leave by choice or circumstance — are its greatest global asset. They deserve more than just rescue.
They deserve respect, reintegration, and recognition.
(Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava is the Former Commissioner at Rajasthan Foundation. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)