Not Without My Dog: Indian govt relaxes norms to allow evacuated students to return with pets from Ukraine

The Press Information Bureau tweeted a picture of one such Indian student Rishabh and wrote: "🇮🇳#OperationGanga is bringing back not just humans but their 4-legged friends as well. Here's Indian student Rishabh who has safely arrived back, with 'Malibu'.👇 @Dept_of_AHD had issued a special advisory allowing Indian nationals to bring along their pets from #Ukraine."

A memorandum issued by the Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying said: "Considering the unique and extraordinary situations in war-hit Ukraine wherein pre-export requisite formalities for export of pets into India may not be fulfilled, the import of pet dogs and/or pet cats along with stranded Indians being rescued by the Government of India is being facilitated as a one-time relaxation measure as under...."

Meanwhile, positive stories of such Indians bringing back their pets have gone viral on social media.

The four-legged companions are also brought back as a part of Operation Ganga.

Union Minister General (Rtrd) VK Singh, who is currently in Poland coordinating the evacuation drive under Operation Ganga, tweeted: "Some of the evacuees brought their four legged best friends as well. Good to have all of our #IndianStudents aboard on the @IAF_MCC C-17 Globemaster ready to return to the safety of our motherland."

PETA India was fast in thanking the Indian minister for the government's move.

"Thank you respected @Gen_VKSingh for all of your hard work in safely evacuating Indian nationals and their companion animals. We thank you for ensuring human and animal families are kept together in this time of crisis," PETA India tweeted.