Major trade unions, including those affiliated to the Congress, and some non-governmental organisations have criticised the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, of which latest edition begins here on Thursday, for ignoring the issues facing the migrants, the biggest block of people of Indian origin abroad. Some NGOs and trade unions will stage a parallel Pravasi Bhartiya Divas some distance away from the venue.
They point out that Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is organising a seminar on property related issues in collaboration with the construction lobby, but it does not discuss the problems of migrant workers who account for a majority of the remittances to India. And the issues related to the financial crisis, especially those affecting the workers, do not find a place in the event.
The Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is organised by the Union Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, in partnership with the Delhi government and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Trade union leaders, including those belonging to the Congress, do not agree that the event conformed to its aim of creating a platform for networking with the persons of Indian origin all over the world. The programme was marked by lack of transparency and it excluded the issues of the workers migrating from India.
Alleging the event has turned its “priorities upside down,” the trade unions have submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and the Delhi government, demanding a dialogue with them and a separate meeting with international trade union leaders attending the event. They want New Delhi to implement an international migration policy after wide consultations.
India is one of the world’s largest migrant sending countries (2 crore, according to the World Migration Report 2005), and hosts migrants in large numbers from other countries. It is the largest recipient of remittances by workers, at $52 billion (more than Rs. 2,50,000 crore), the World Bank estimates. Most of these remittances are not made by highly-skilled non-resident Indians in the West, who mostly invest in the country where they live, but by unskilled and semi-skilled migrants.
The trade union leaders and migrant rights bodies want the event to involve unions and civil society organisations, and not restricted to alliances with businesses. They demand that the Union government recognise India not only as a migrant-sending country but also a migrant-receiving and transit country.
They have also urged the government to ratify and implement all international legal instruments, especially the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions 97 and 143, and the 1990 U.N. Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Work agreements with governments of destination countries should be based on these and other human rights standards.
The trade unions and NGOs who have made these demands include the All-India Trade Union Congress, the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, the Centre for Indian Trade Unions, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, the Indian National Trade Union Congress, the Trade Union Coordination Committee, the All-India Central Council of Trade Unions, the Migrant Nepalese Association, the Centre for Education and Communication and Migrant Forum in Asia.
