Lok Sabha Question No. 781 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-26
Subject: Indians Working Abroad
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Su Thirunavukkarasar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.781

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.06.2019

## INDIANS WORKING ABROAD

## 781. SHRI  SU. THRUNAVUKKARASAR:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  made  a  comprehensive  database  of Indian's working in different countries;
- (b) if so, the details thereof for different category of jobs and if not, the action proposed to be taken to make such database in the future;
- (c) whether a large number of NRI workers are facing different kinds of problems in many countries particularly in the Gulf countries and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  steps  taken  by  the Government to  protect the interests  of the Indian Citizens working in foreign countries?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## [SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]

(a) & (b) No, Sir. However, the data of Indian nationals holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) category passports and emigrating for employment  purpose  to  any  notified  ECR  country  is  captured  in  the  eMigrate system that provides the Government a comprehensive and online database  of  Emigrant  workers,  Missions,  Recruiting  Agents,  Foreign Employers,  and  Insurance  Agencies.  E-Migrate  is  aimed  at  making  the emigration process faster, transparent and allows online authentication/verification  of  credentials  of  all  stakeholders.  In  addition, the  data  in  eMigrate  also  includes  those  persons  going  for  employment under Emigration Check Not Required or ECNR category if they voluntarily register in the system.

- (c) The complaints received from emigrant workers are broadly of the following types:
- (i) Violation of Contractual obligations:  Workers are not received on arrival in destination country; workers are required to work for someone

else other than the Sponsor or forced to do a different kind of job other than  agreed  upon  on  the  Contract  for  which  they  are  not  trained; Passports are retained in the custody of Foreign Employers (FEs), Iqama (Work  Permit)  is  not  obtained  within  the  mandatory  90  days'  period; workers are asked to pay for their Exit Visas even on completion of their Contract period; etc.;

- (ii) Working  conditions:  Ill-treatment  and  harassment;  long  working hours;  false  allegations  or  charges  by  local  Sponsors  to  the  Police authorities; non-provision of free food as per contract, improper arrangements for boarding and lodging, non-provision of  essential safety equipment;    like  safety  helmet  etc;  and  physical  or  mental  harassment /assault, etc.;
- (iii) Wage  related  problems:  Complaints    regarding  non-payment  of agreed salaries and allowances (food, overtime allowance, etc), delayed payment of salary, under payment of salary, signing of a new Contract on arrival in a foreign country with salary lesser  than the originally promised; etc;
- (iv) Employer related problems: Not  granting  emergency leave,  refusal to pay for medical treatment, denial of air ticket to emigrant's Home Town on completion of Contractual period as per contractual terms; etc;
- (v) Compensation/death related problems;  When a worker dies abroad, his  relatives  requests  for  dispatch  of  mortal  remains  of  the  deceased along  with  his/her  personal  belongings,  there  are  complaints  regarding delay in sending mortal remains, compensations claims, etc.
- (d) Following  steps  have  been  put  in  place  for  ensuring  welfare  and safety of emigrants abroad:

On receipt of complaints from the emigrants, the same  are addressed  urgently  by  the  Indian  Missions  by  taking  them  up  with  the concerned local government authorities for resolution. Complaints pertaining  to  employment  related  issues  are  taken  up  by  the  Indian Missions  with  the  concerned  foreign  employer  /  Labour  Department officials in that country for prompt redressal. The Government has taken several  steps  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  Indian  emigrants  to  the  Gulf and other ECR countries. These include:

- (i) The  on-line  MADAD  portal  enables  the  emigrant  workers  and  their family  members  to  register  their  consular  grievances  on-line  and  track their redressal.

(ii) Grievances related to Overseas Employment in notified Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries can also be lodged directly by emigrants/relatives  or  through  the  Pravasi  Bharatiya  Sahayata  Kendra (PBSK)  on  eMigrate  portal.  These  grievances  are  settled  by  respective jurisdictional Protectors of Emigrants (PoEs) as per laid down procedures.

(iii) Indian  Missions  conduct  Open  Houses  on  a  regular  basis  where workers can speak on their working conditions and seek redressal of their grievances.

(iv) A multi-lingual 24X7 Helpline of Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK)  in New  Delhi  provides  information, guidance  and  grievance redressal on all issues and problems pertaining to overseas employment of Indian nationals.

(v) Missions  have  also  established  24x7  help  lines  and  Toll  Free  help lines for the benefit of Indian workers to seek help.

(vi)    Pravasi  Bharatiya  Sahayata  Kendras  (PBSK)  have  been  set  up  at Dubai (UAE), Sharjah (UAE), Riyadh, Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Kuala  Lumpur  (Malaysia),  to  provide  guidance  and  counseling  on  all matters pertaining to overseas Indian workers.

(vii) Kshetriya Pravasi Sahayata Kendras (KPSK) have also been setup in Kochi,  Hyderabad,  Chennai  and  Lucknow  to  assist  emigrants  or  their relatives to redress their problems/complaints regarding overseas employment.

(viii) Grievances brought to the notice of the Ministry  and  the  Missions through social media, including twitter, are also promptly addressed.

(ix) The Missions utilise the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) to provide assistance to overseas Indian nationals in times of distress. The guidelines  of  the  Indian  community  welfare  fund  have  been  revised recently to expand the scope of welfare measures and to cover three key areas, namely, assisting overseas Indian nationals in distress situations, community welfare activities and improvement in consular services.

(x) Labour and Manpower Cooperation MoUs/Agreements are in place with  the  six  Gulf  Cooperation  Council  (GCC)  countries  that  provide  the institutional  framework  to  comprehensively  discuss  and  review  labour related issues. In accordance with the Labour and Manpower Cooperation/Agreement, Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings are held on regular basis to discuss various labour related issues.

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