S Jaishankar chairs review meet over 'Vande Bharat Mission'; says focus on third phase 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chaired a detailed meeting on the Vande Bharat Mission on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India, Ministry of Home Affairs, DMA and the Bureau of Immigration.Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar informed that the focus of the meeting was to ramp up the scale of the repatriation mission and to enhance its efficiency. 

Highlighting 10 key points from the meeting, Jaishankar informed that the second phase of the Vande Bharat Mission from May 17 to June 13 aims to bring back 100,000 stranded Indian citizens across 60 countries. Additionally, the government is also preparing for a third phase of the mission and reflected upon the arrangements being made for amnesty beneficiaries in the Gulf countries. 

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Here are the 10 key points from the meeting: 

1. Lessons learnt from Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) performance so far of 173 flights and 3 ships covering 34 countries.

2. Further expanding Phase 2 of VBM (17 May to 13 June) currently underway. Will target 100,000 passengers from 60 countries.

3. Preparations for 3rd phase - widening our footprint has commenced.

4. Increase in entry points and expanded feeder flights being planned.

5. Welcome approval of chartered flights from today.

6. Indians returning through land borders has started today.

7. Arrangements being made for amnesty beneficiaries in the Gulf.

8. Naval evacuation of our fishermen in Iran will happen in June.

9. Air India will shortly shift to direct ticketing to facilitate bookings abroad.

10. Working with state governments for more efficient use of cumulative quarantine capacity.

READ | Air India Reveals Bringing Back 50 Moms-to-be Aboard One Vande Bharat flight On May 11

READ | Vande Bharat Mission: Over 20,000 People Returned To India By Special Flights Since May 6