New emigration Act to end problems of unskilled workers overseas

The new Bill to make it mandatory for registration of recruiting agencies, employers, and workers with the Ministry

February 21, 2011 10:07 pm | Updated 10:07 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Most problems of Indian emigrants overseas, particularly the exploitation of unskilled and semi-skilled workers in the Gulf and South East Asian nations, will end once a new law replaced the existing one, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) K.N. Shrivastava said here on Monday.

Speaking at the two-day Overseas Employers' Conference, a first of its kind in the country, he said that a Bill on Emigration Management Act was likely to be introduced in Parliament, making it mandatory for registration of recruiting agencies, employers, and workers with the Ministry.

Further, the “e-migrate” project would enable the Ministry keep track of everything related to emigration check. E-passports containing electronic chip with personal and biometric details would be issued under the project, he explained. India had a bilateral labour memorandum of understanding with all the Gulf Cooperation Countries, but things needed to be improved in the Gulf as well as other South East Asian countries.

Proposal for pension

The government is planning to provide social security to emigrant employees after they return home, by proposing a pension and life insurance fund.

The proposal is already with the government but was yet to be approved. There are over 5 million Indians working in the GCC and SEA countries as unskilled and semi-skilled workers.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.