Young diplomats have outdone themselves in reaching out to stranded Indians, Indian envoy to Spain

India's young diplomats have outdone themselves in reaching out to Indian community stranded in Spain, one of the worst impacted countries of the world, that is the word from Indian envoy to Spain Sanjay Verma.

Speaking exclusively to our diplomatic correspondentSidhant Sibalfrom Madrid, Amb Verma said, " In times of crisis, Indian diplomacy puts its best foot forward and same is the case now".

He also said India will be closely watching Spain's exit strategy which is one of the worst impact countries in the world with 24000 deaths.

WION: How is the Indian mission is reaching out to Indians stranded in Spain?

Sanjay Verma:Thank you for this opportunity. Let me extend greetings to your viewers from Madrid. The Indian diaspora in Spain is about 80,000 which includes 50,000 Indian passport holders and 30,000 naturalised Spaniards.

The biggest challenge was maintaining communication links during the crisis because we were ourselves isolated and under lockdown. The second challenge was reaching out with services, by way of provisions of medicines, PPEs to the community. Third and the most important was keeping up the morale and keeping up the spirits of the community and we have done it through a variety of ways. We have been accessible, we have seven hotlines operating 24*7, we have email accounts, we have officers personally calling thousands and thousands of Indian nationals, we have given them medicines and food though Gurudwara and temples because while we are in Madrid, we have to depend extensively on our community leaders in places like Barcelona, Valencia etc.

In a way, we are happy to report we have been able to report all 3 of our objectives and despite Spain being worst impacted, despite that number of desperate cries from the diaspora have actually been muted and subdued. They have shown a supportive attitude to what is happening in India as well. Rather than to add to the problems in India, the community has chosen to stay put in Madrid to the extent they can.

WION: And how many Indians infected?

Sanjay Verma: There have been not too many, 3-4 cases, fortunately for us, there has not been the causality and as far actually all 4 have recovered. So in that sense, the community is safe and sound.

WION: What has been the ground situation in Spain?

Sanjay Verma: Spain continues to be 3rd most impact country in the world with about 24,000 deaths, as of today. Today is the day 45 of the lockdown and to put it in perspective, April 2nd in Spain, the death count in one day alone was 961 and in India toll was 900 old only yesterday. So what India suffered from a period of 4-6 weeks is what Spain endured in just one day, so that brings in sharp contrast to the suffering of Spain.

Having said that, the worst appears to be behind. The govt announced a phased exit strategy starting this weekend and by end of June, in best case situation they would have opened up the entire country beginning by allowing smaller establishments to open, restaurants to work at 30% capacity, schools only till the age of 6 so that parents can work while the kids are in school, religious places with 30% occupancy and all in a phased manner.

All asymmetrical in the sense region will work differently with the centre on this but all on the same page. With this exit strategy, Spain is announcing to the world it has drawn in confidence in its ability to tackle this and the worst may be behind and livelihood is as important as saving lives, we hope that Spain reaches business as a usual scene later.

WIONl: How are India and Spain cooperating to deal with COVID crisis?

Sanjay Verma: What we have done is, we have had dialogue between our 2 countries at the highest level. Our Prime Ministers have had a conversation, our foreign ministers have spoken a couple of time. Again in the context of G20, in which Spain is an invite, there has been a positive dialogue on the way forward. On more practical terms, India has reached out to Spain by offering-- HCQ and PCM etc and we have also aided the evacuation of Spaniards in India, most 300 of them. So in that sense, we have also exchanged information on how we are respectively tackling the crisis, so that learnings can be shared.

WION: Have we shared Indian best practices or Indian containment model?

Sanjay Verma: It has been work in progress and all countries, are open to ideas and suggestion and we ourself, the mission has shared with the Spanish govt, the way Govt of India has approached it. While the problem is common, the approaches are different surely because of different political and social circumstances. Largely we are tracking each other's practices but on specifics, can't pinpoint any concrete area of cooperation but largely in this situation we are aware of each other's practices like an exit strategy to ease the lockdown something we will be watching very closely, I mean both countries.

WION: How Indian diplomats reaching out or how has been the condition for them?

Sanjay Verma: Well, you know, in times of crisis, Indian diplomacy puts its best foot forward and same is the case now. I am very proud that the embassy and its young officers have worked tirelessly. They have defied concerns about own health. They have reached out to the community, have been available 24*7, have personally picked up the phone.

These are young diplomats who have themselves called hundreds of community members, offered counselling---these are difficult times-- from marital discord to depression to rushing medicines to just offering a word of comfort is what officers have personally done, a hand-on approach and whenever required, despite curfew-like situations, we have come to the embassy and we have done regularly now. I do not think we have been found wanting in any particular respect, during the crisis. I am very proud of Indian foreign service, young diplomats who have outdone themselves, like everywhere else even in Spain.