Lok Sabha Question No. 605 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-04-27
Subject: Safety of Indians Working Abroad
Ministry: EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Asked by: RANJANBEN BHATT, YOGI ADITYANATH, K. C. VENUGOPAL, VINOD KUMAR BOIANAPALLI, ANURAG SINGH THAKUR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.605 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27.04.2016

## SAFETY OF INDIANS WORKING ABROAD

†

605.

SHRIMATI RANJANBEN BHATT:

SHRI YOGI ADITYA NATH:

SHRI K.C. VENUGOPAL:

SHRI B. VINOD KUMAR:

SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR:

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  State-wise  details  of  Indians  working  abroad  and  the  details  of Indians stranded/trapped in various strife torn countries and those hit by disasters, country-wise;
- (b) the steps taken to assist such Indians including the number of rescue missions undertaken during the last three years and the current year along  with  the  number  of  people  saved  through  such  operations, country-wise;
- (c) the schemes formulated for their rehabilitation and to address their grievances; and
- (d) the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  safety  of  Indians working  in  foreign  countries,  especially  in  the  conflict  zones  of  the Middle East?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [GEN. (DR) V. K. SINGH (RETD)]

- (a) As  per  information  available,  there  are  an  estimated  11.4  million Indian nationals abroad which include workers, businessmen and professionals etc.  State-wise data in this regard is not available.
- (b) to (d) The  Government  of  India  regularly  and  closely  monitors  the evolving security situation in the Middle East, including in Iraq, Libya and Yemen, which had substantial Indian communities. The safety and security of  our  nationals  in  these  countries  is  a  matter  of  foremost  concern. Government  has  established  24x7  help  line  functional in the Indian Missions/Posts in these countries.

The Government has made extensive efforts to enable the evacuation of Indian nationals from war-affected countries, as per details given below:

Our  Embassy  in  Baghdad  has  facilitated  the  return  of  over  7,000 Indian nationals to India till date, by providing them assistance with travel documents,  immigration  and  departure  facilities  and  air  tickets.    The Government  had  setup  special  camp  offices  in  Erbil,  Najaf,  Karbala  and Basra,  to  facilitate  efficient  evacuation.    We  had  established  24  hour helplines to assist our nationals in Iraq and their concerned family members in  India.      The  Mission  is  in  close  and  regular  contact  with  the  Iraqi Government  to  ensure  the  safety  and  security  of  the  remaining  Indian nationals in Iraq.  A group of 39 Indian nationals working in a construction company in Mosul continues to he held captive by ISIS.  The Government is making every effort to secure their release.

- 3,771 Indians have been evacuated from Libya so far. These evacuations were facilitated through land, air and sea, with the assistance of countries neighbouring Libya.  An estimated 1650 Indians still remain in Libya.    We  keep  a  close  watch  on  the  situation  in  Libya  and  our  Mission continues  to  make  efforts  to  persuade  the  remaining  Indian  nationals  to return to India.

The Government conducted Operation 'Raahat' in March-April 2015 for the  evacuation  of  Indian  nationals  from  Yemen.  Under  this  operation,  we evacuated  6,710  persons  from  Yemen,  including  4,748  Indians  and  1962 foreign nationals.  The Hon'ble External Affairs Minister regularly reviewed the  arrangements  made  in  this  regard  and  the  Minister  of  State  went personally to Djibouti to supervise evacuation operations.  We established a 24 hour control room and helplines in our Embassy in Sanaá and a camp office  at  Djibouti.  We  also  received  the  help  of  Indian  Railways  and  the concerned  State  Governments  to  provide  hospitality  and  transport  for Indians arriving from Yemen in Mumbai and Kochi, all the way up to their home towns.

In  Nepal,  within  six  hours  of  the  25  April  2015  earthquake  Indian military  aircraft,  helicopters,  commercial  flights,  cargo  trucks  and  trains carried  relief  material  and  rescue  teams  to  Nepal.    Indian  teams  rescued nearly 6500 persons, evacuated 3975 Indian nationals and provided medical aid to over 4700 persons.

The Government continues to keep a close watch on development in strife-torn  countries,  issue  advisories  whenever  required  and  engage  the authorities in these countries to enable safe evacuation of India nationals.

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