The State government will form more Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) advisory committees in Gulf countries for the benefit of the expatriate community, Minister for Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) K.C. Joseph said here on Sunday.
The Minister was inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Expatriates and their concerns,’ organised by the Kerala Pravasi Sanghom. The decision to set up regional advisory committees was taken after the government took note of the services rendered by other advisory committees in Gulf countries, he said.
“During the Nitaqat implementation phase, they played a vital role in helping those affected. The committees provided support by making workers understand the guidelines to be followed to overcome legal tangles,” he said.
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The State government also planned to open Gulf chapters of the Malayalam Mission to train youngsters in the language. The decision was taken following requests from the Malayali community in the Gulf who wanted the new generation to be adept at Malayalam, he said.
The Minister said the government was going ahead with the implementation of a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Gulf-returnees, he said. “As the government cannot provide jobs to all, the focus will be on encouraging self-employment ventures with government subsidy,” he said.
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“The government has received 19,000 applications from Gulf-returnees, expressing willingness to start small-scale ventures. Of this, we have processed 1,000 applications and the selected 157 persons, working in Gulf countries as drivers, will get 10 per cent government subsidy for the purchase of cabs to operate taxi services,” he said.
The State’s budgetary allocation of Rs.50 crore for the rehabilitation of Gulf returnees was laudable. “A team of officials has been designated to ensure the fruitful disbursement of this fund after looking into the proposals,” he added.