Lok Sabha Question No. 1469 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-02-10
Subject: Fake Agencies
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Subhas Sarkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1469 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10.02.2021

## FAKE AGENCIES

## 1469. DR. SUBHAS SARKAR:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether   various   fake   agencies   are   luring   people   in   the   name   of facilitating study   or job   opportunities   abroad   and   charging exorbitantly high fees from students/job applicants;
- (b) if so, the details of agencies/companies booked under the law during the last four years and the details of initiative taken by the Government to contain such activities;
- (c) whether the Government has initiated any steps to provide relief to trapped students/job seekers in the country and abroad; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof for the last five years?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]

(a) & (b) Complaints are received from time to time by the Ministry of External   Affairs   from   and/or   on   behalf   of   Indian   students/emigrants   or   their relatives who are dispatched for study or overseas employment fraudulently by illegal agents/fake agencies and are thereafter subjected to charging exorbitantly high fees from students and denial of jobs, poor working conditions etc. to emigrants.   The   Ministry   of   External   Affairs,   (MEA)   has   a   robust   grievance redressal   mechanism   including   MADAD   and   e-migrate   portals   for   online registration of grievances of students/emigrants who have been subjected to cheating.

On receipt of details of such illegal agents, the complaints are forwarded to the concerned State/UT Government and Police authorities urging them to apprehend illegal agents and prosecute them. On receiving request from the concerned State Government/Police authorities, Prosecution Sanction are issued expeditiously by the Ministry of External Affairs, enabling them to initiate legal action against the accused illegal agents. Wherever required, such complaints are also referred to Mission/Posts abroad for providing relief/rescue.

Government of India has also issued Standard Operating Procedure to be followed by States on receipt of complaints against fake agencies. Visual and print media campaign is also launched from time to time, encouraging emigrants to utilize the services of the registered Recruitment Agents and not to go through illegal/fake agents. These messages are also being uploaded and disseminated through social media profile of External Affairs Minister, Ministry of External Affairs and other means for greater outreach. The States are encouraged to initiate awareness spreading activities in their respective jurisdictions.

In order to promote safe and legal emigration and to curb malpractices, high-level Conferences of major labour sending States have been convened by Ministry   of   External   Affairs,   during   which   State   Governments   were   inter-alia requested to take strict action against illegal agents who indulge in overseas recruitment activity  illegally.   The   aspect   of   safe   and   legal   migration   is   also included in various State Outreach Programmes (SOP) conducted in States from time to time.

As per data available, the number of complaints against unregistered agents received and referred to the State Government/Police during the period to 2016-2020 is as under:-

|   Year |   No. of Complaints received |   Cases referred to State Government for action |   Prosecution Sanction sought |   Prosecution Sanction issued |
|--------|------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|   2016 |                          231 |                                             231 |                            42 |                            42 |
|   2017 |                          446 |                                             446 |                            30 |                            30 |
|   2018 |                          350 |                                             350 |                            15 |                            15 |
|   2019 |                          769 |                                             769 |                            35 |                            35 |
|   2020 |                          166 |                                             166 |                            07 |                            07 |

(c) & (d) About 1 million Indian students are pursuing undergraduate, post graduate, post doctoral studies in various courses across the world. We have received feedback from Indian Missions/Posts and also Indian students about issues   and   challenges   faced   by   Indian   students   before   taking   admission   in foreign countries and after joining the courses as well. Issues faced by students include   poor   standard   or   fake   universities;   dismal   quality   of   the   education imparted at the foreign institutions; lack of information about procedure for obtaining visa, bank loans, insurance etc; misleading information about fees to be   paid   to   the   universities;   issues   of   recognition/equivalence   of   degrees; teaching/training in local language rather than English medium etc.

The Government has taken several steps to provide relief to trapped students/job seekers. These include:

(i) The  Global   Indian   Students   Portal   (GISP)   currently   under   preparation, would create a Portal along with a Mobile App to provide information to students to assist them in taking an informed decision in selecting courses in universities abroad.

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

(iii) 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   e-Migrate   portal, relating to employment. These grievances are settled by respective jurisdictional Protectors of Emigrants (PoEs) as per laid down procedures.

(iv) Indian Missions conduct Open Houses on a regular basis where Indians can speak   on   their   working   conditions   and   seek   redressal   of   their   grievances. Missions have also established 24x7 Helplines and Toll Free Helplines for the benefit of Indians to seek help.

(v) A multi-lingual 24X7 Helpline 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.

(vi) Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras (PBSK) have also been set up at Dubai (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   been   setup   in   Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Delhi 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 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 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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