by Moiz Mannan
In the midst of claims and counter-claims about the safety of a batch of Indian workers in Iraq, the new government at the Centre has made it clear that rehabilitation distressed returnees is the job of the concerned state governments.
India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who also looks after overseas Indians affairs, has had to concede before Parliament that the number of complaints from Indian workers abroad has jumped sharply this year. At the same time, her junior in the ministry, V K Singh, told law makers that rehabilitation of returnees “rests mainly with the state governments.”
In a written reply to a question a few days back, Swaraj informed the Rajya Sabha that as against 12,720 complaints from Indian workers in the Gulf in the whole of 2013, 13,610 such complaints have already been registered this year.
It is not just the Gulf region from where distressed workers are calling out for help. There has been a whopping rise in complaints by Indian workers from Malaysia from 253 last year to 1650 this year. As for the government’s response, Swaraj told the Parliament that violations of the Emigration Act/Rules were being dealt with “seriously” and diplomatic initiatives were also taken up with host countries to extend the protection of labour laws to the workers in the informal sector.
Such statements do not seem to hold much water as nothing concrete has even been contemplated. We have recently discussed in this space how the new Emigration Management Bill had been gathering dust under the UPA rule and the NDA-led government seems no different.
Take the case of distressed returnees. As per minister V K Singh’s admission, nearly seven thousand Indian workers have been evacuated from Iraq and over 3,200 from Libya in the present crisis. He said the government had no idea how many others had come back on their own, and added that his ministry had no scheme to provide any assistance to them. According to Singh, the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs has “advised” the state governments that the existing state and central schemes be used for rehabilitation.
What does he mean? The only central scheme that comes to mind in this context is the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY) which has flopped miserably with blue collar workers. On their part, major manpower exporting states have been struggling to cope with the issue of rehabilitating distressed returnees mainly owing to the special nature of their socio-economic needs.
Yet the states, particularly Kerala, have been proactive in trying to absorb the returnees in the socio-economic mainstream. The Kerala government has announced a `100m rehabilitation package in addition to a `20m training programme. The state’s NRI department in collaboration with different agencies has helped returnees with loans and skill development to start their own businesses.
The government of Andhra Pradesh worked out a comprehensive NRI welfare scheme in the aftermath of the UAE Amnesty and Saudi Nitaqat influx of returnees. It has implemented job opportunities through its Overseas Manpower Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (OMCAP). Even states like Goa and Uttar Pradesh have taken up seriously the issue of their overseas diaspora’s welfare. The Centre has signed labour agreements and claims to be effectively using its diplomatic channels to ensure the welfare of NRIs. If these were effective, why should the number of complaints keep rising?
The Peninsula
