Airlift 2: Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu missions

Vande Bharat Mission

It is one of the largest evacuation exercises since the 1990 Kuwait airlift (in which 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait were airlifted). In this mission the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home thousands of Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown. 

• The government will facilitate the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.
• Priority will be given to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers, labourers who have been laid off and those faced with expiry of short term visas, persons with medical emergency, pregnant women, elderly, those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students.
• The government  will operate of 64 flights to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19 lockdown. 
• Air India and its subidiary Air India Express will operate these flights.
• India will operate flights to following 12 countries 
1. the UAE (10 flights), 
2. the US  (7 flights), 
3. the UK (7 flights), 
4. Saudi Arabia (5 flights), 
5. Singapore (5 flights) 
6. Qatar (2 flights)
7. Malaysia 
8. Bangladesh, 
9. Kuwait 
10. Philippines, 
11. Oman and 
12. Bahrain.
• Approximately, 2,000 people be repatriated daily from abroad.
• Passengers will bear the cost of tickets.

Samudra Setu

It is the name of operation launched by the Indian Navy to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. 

• Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar are enroute to the port of Male (Republic of Maldives) to evacuate people from May 8. 
• Only those who test Covid-19 negative would be allowed to travel.
• The evacuated personnel will be disembarked at Kochi and entrusted to the care of State authorities.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Health and various other agencies of the Government of India and State governments.

Source: Indian Express

Green Highways (Plantation, Transplantation, Beautification & Maintenance) Policy, 2015.

It was launched in 2015 to promote greening of National Highways corridors in India. Its key features are:

1. Promoting greening and development eco-friendly National Highway corridors across the country with participation of farmers, private sector and government institutions including Forest Department.
2. Objective is to reduce the impact of air pollution and dust by planting trees and shrubs along the National Highways.
3. Stake holders: Contracts for greening highways will be given to NGOs, agencies, private companies and government organisations. These stakeholders will be responsible for the survival and health of trees.
4. There will be strong monitoring mechanism in place by using ISRO’s Bhuvan and GAGAN satellite systems. Every planted tree will be counted and auditing will be done.
5. Every year 1 per cent of the total cost of highway projects will go the Green Highways Fund.

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

The Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) is an initiative of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission has included following 10 sites in phase-I of SIP:

• Ajmer Sharif Dargah
• CST Mumbai
• Golden Temple, Amritsar
• Kamakhya Temple, Assam
• Maikarnika Ghat, Varanasi
• Meenakshi Temple, Madurai
• Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Katra, J&K
• Shree Jagannath Temple, Puri
• The Taj Mahal, Agra
• Tirupati Temple, Tirumala. 

10 new Iconic places selected under the Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places are:

1. Gangotri,
2. Yamunotri.
3. Mahakaleshwar Temple, Ujjain,
4. Char Minar, Hyderabad,
5. Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assissi, Goa,
6. Adi Shankaracharya’s abode Kaladi in Ernakulam,
7. Gomateshwar in Shravanbelgola,
8. Baijnath Dham, Devghar,
9. Gaya Tirth in Bihar and
10. Somnath temple in Gujarat.