Lok Sabha Question No. 871 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-07
Subject: Welfare of Indian Workers in the Middle East
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Appalanaidu Kalisetti

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 871

## ANSWERED ON- 07/02/2025

## WELFARE OF INDIAN WORKERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

## 871.  Shri Appalanaidu Kalisetti

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a)  The number of individuals from Andhra Pradesh who have repatriated from the Middle East during the last three years along with the measures undertaken to rehabilitate them, year-wise;

- (b)  The details of helplines and grievance redressal mechanisms available for   Indian   workers   in   the   Middle   East   including   the   number   of   cases registered and resolved during the last three years, year-wise;

(c)   The total allocation and utilization of the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) during the last five years, with a specific breakdown of the amount utilized for the welfare of  workers from Andhra Pradesh in the Middle East along with the details of welfare measures provided, year-wise; and

(d)   The   details   of   skill   development   or   pre-departure   orientation programmes conducted for workers seeking employment in the Middle East, including the number of beneficiaries thereof, State-wise?

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

## (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) State wise breakdown of the number of Indians repatriated from the Middle East in the last three years is not available with the Ministry.

(b) The Government has established various mechanisms to enable Indian workers   abroad   to   reach   out   in   case   they   need   any   assistance.   The workers can contact the Missions/Posts  through   various   channels   like walk-in, email, multilingual 24x7 emergency numbers, grievance redressal portals like MADAD, CPGRAMS, eMigrate and social media etc.

Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras (PBSK) have been set up in New Delhi and at Dubai (UAE), Riyadh & Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to provide assistance, guidance and counselling to Indian workers in distress.

Indian   Missions/Posts   abroad   have   also   established   24X7   Helplines including Toll Free Helplines, whatsapp numbers and have launched mobile Apps to enable Indian nationals contact respective Indian Missions/Posts when in distress or in emergency situation. Missions in Gulf countries also have   dedicated   labour   wings   which   ensure   prompt   redressal   of   labor grievances.

Data on Indians who were provided assistance under various categories, is given at Annexure 'B'.

(c) No budgetary allocation is provided for ICWF. Source of ICWF is fees levied on consular services in Missions abroad. State-wise breakdown of the beneficiaries of ICWF is not available with the Ministry, however, the details of utilization of ICWF during the last five years in the Middle East is given below:

| Year                             | 2020        | 2021        | 2022        | 2023        | 2024         |
|----------------------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|--------------|
| Total utilization of ICWF in INR | 8,58,90,543 | 7,13,63,876 | 7,46,93,666 | 8,33,51,742 | 12,44,41,156 |

(d) The Pre-Departure Orientation Training Programme was launched by the Ministry of External Affairs in January, 2018 under the Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY) with an aim of enhancing soft skills of Indian emigrant workers, going abroad specially to Gulf and other ECR countries.   Under this   programme, the emigrant workers are given one day free of cost orientation training aiming to help them to understand local rules and regulations of the destination country and their culture, tradition, language etc. The training also provide an opportunity to sensitise   the emigrant workers about the pathways to safe and legal migration and to brief them about various welfare schemes and initiatives of the Government of India for their welfare and protection such as ICWF, MADAD, PBBY etc. Since the inception of the PDOT programme in 2018, a total of 1,72,220 emigrant   workers   have   been   imparted   orientation   training   till   31st December 2024. The Centre-wise list of beneficiaries of PDOT is attached at Annexure A.

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PDOT data till December 31st , 2024

| Sl. No. Centres                            |   Total no. of Emigrants imparted PDOT |
|--------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| 1 Mumbai-Videsh Bhawan                     |                                  31880 |
| 2 Mumbai-Videsh Online                     |                                  23175 |
| 3 Mumbai- Asmacs Skill-B                   |                                  49326 |
| 4 Mumbai- Asmacs Skill-B                   |                                   3970 |
| 5 Delhi- Don Bosco-A                       |                                  14713 |
| 6 Delhi- Don Bosco-A                       |                                     17 |
| 7 Delhi-Orion-B                            |                                  11022 |
| 8 Kochi-Espoir                             |                                   5088 |
| 9 Lucknow-Mahindra                         |                                   3335 |
| 10 Lucknow-Mahindra online                 |                                     72 |
| 11 Jaipur-Rajasthan                        |                                   1937 |
| 12 Jaipur-Rajasthan online                 |                                    607 |
| 13 Hydrabad-Tomcom Overseas Skill          |                                   2738 |
| 14 Hydrabad-Tomcom Overseas Skill (Online) |                                    105 |
| 15 Telangana-Govt ITI College Karimnagar   |                                    255 |
| 16 Nizamabad-District Employment Exchange  |                                    512 |
| 17 Rsldc, Sikar                            |                                   1376 |
| 18 Rsldc, Sikar online                     |                                     67 |
| 19 Sree, Darbhanga                         |                                    195 |
| 20 Sree, Gaya                              |                                    445 |

| 21                                            |   Sree, Muzaffarpur | 513   |
|-----------------------------------------------|---------------------|-------|
| Sree, Patna                                   |                 734 | 22    |
| Govt ITI Campus, Vijayawada                   |                3280 | 23    |
| Govt ITI Campus, Vijaywada ( Online)          |                  72 | 24    |
| PDOT Center, Kadapa                           |                 391 | 25    |
| 26 Confed of Indian Industry, Chennai         |                1682 |       |
| Rsldc, Nagaur                                 |                 142 | 27    |
| 28 RCED Mohali                                |                 958 |       |
| 29 IL&FS Skills-PMKK,Gorakhpur                |                1756 |       |
| Tamil Nadu PDOT Center                        |                 592 | 30    |
| 31 International Migration Center, Karnataka  |                 914 |       |
| Pdot Center, Visakhapatnam                    |                  22 | 32    |
| Pdot Center, Kakinada                         |                  14 | 33    |
| Quivan Skill Empowerment PVT LTD, Kolkata     |                 668 | 34    |
| Learnet.I.S, Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram      |                  72 | 35    |
| Asmacs Skill Devp Ltd, Bhubaneshwar           |                1147 | 36    |
| Asmacs Skill Devp Ltd, Bhubaneshwar, (Online) |                  95 | 37    |
| Learning Institute of Skills, Jalandhar       |                 379 | 38    |
| Datapro, Amritsar                             |                  15 | 39    |
| CRIPS, Bhopal                                 |                   0 | 40    |
| 41 Champaran                                  |                   7 |       |
| 42 Varanasi                                   |                2984 |       |

| 43   | Varanasi (Online)                    |    755 |
|------|--------------------------------------|--------|
| 44   | Hoshiarpur                           |     61 |
| 45   | Rupnagar                             |      2 |
| 46   | Ludhiana                             |     11 |
| 47   | Amritsar                             |      6 |
| 48   | Jalandhar                            |     11 |
| 49   | Barnala                              |      2 |
| 50   | Vfs Global                           |   4057 |
| 51   | Gmr Foundation                       |     42 |
| 52   | Vizag                                |      1 |
|      | Total no. of Emigrants imparted PDOT | 172220 |

## ANNEXURE-B

## ICWF Beneficiaries Statement

(As per available data from Missions/ Posts abroad)

|                                                                         |   2020 |   2021 |   2022 |   2023 |   2024 (upto September 2024) |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|------------------------------|
| Boarding & Lodging                                                      |  71879 |  20553 |  19182 |  15286 |                         4777 |
| Emergency Medical Care                                                  |   4804 |   1117 |   1162 |    279 |                           75 |
| Air Passage to Stranded Overseas Indians                                |   3146 |   2489 |   2142 |   1607 |                          813 |
| Legal Assistance                                                        |     85 |    161 |    434 |    601 |                          823 |
| Air lifting of Mortal Remains                                           |    297 |    422 |    507 |    433 |                          350 |
| Assistance to Indian women deserted by their overseas Indian/ foreigner |     38 |     14 |      2 |      5 |                           14 |
| Small fines and penalties                                               |  69878 |   3734 |    992 |    747 |                          141 |
| Total                                                                   | 150127 |  28490 |  24421 |  18958 |                         6993 |

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