New Delhi: As thousands of Indian students, mostly pursuing a medical degree, return from Ukraine, a statement from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is creating flutters.
In a video being circulated wide on social media, the Union Minister can be heard saying "90 percent of Indians who study medicine abroad fail to clear qualifying exams in India.”
Following this statement, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said it is "not the right time to debate why students are moving out to study medicine," reports Times Of India.
Indians who obtain a medical degree abroad must pass the Foreign Medical Graduates Examination (FMGE) to practice medicine in India.
Ukraine Russia Conflict: Know Why Thousands Of Indian Students Go To Ukraine To Study Medicine
The government of India has launched "Operation Ganga" to bring back stranded students and Indian students from Ukraine. In order to assist the evacuation of Indian nationals throughout the border crossing points with Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia, Control Centres which operate 24×7 have been set up.
The government has claimed that 9,000 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Ukraine so far.
Foreign Secretary of India, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, has said that India would operate 26 flights over the next three days to bring back Indian nationals who have moved from Ukraine to its neighbouring countries.
Shringla said in a media briefing Tuesday that airports in Poland and Slovak Republic would also be used for operating flights besides those in Bucharest and Budapest.
After Russia started invading Ukraine on February 24, videos of students desperate to leave the country have been doing rounds on the internet. The students are seeking urgent help and requesting the governments to evacuate them. In certain videos, Indian students have claimed that they are being manhandled on borders.
Several leaders from the opposition are criticising the government’s evacuation strategies.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Tuesday said the Centre should stop the "verbal balancing act" and demand that Russia stop bombing key cities in Ukraine.