The scope of the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) has been enlarged to support local Overseas Indian Associations to set up Overseas Indian Community Centres in countries that have populations of Overseas Indians exceeding 100,000.
The Fund will support to start and run Overseas Indian Community-based student welfare centres in countries that have more than 20,000 Indian students.
The ICWF is now available with all Indian Missions abroad. In the last three years the ICWF has doled out Rs 21.70 crore to help 19,179 Indians.
The period of providing assistance to boarding expenses under the Fund has been extended from 15 to 30 days. It has provisions for payment of penalties in respect of Indian nationals for illegal stay in the host country where prima facie the worker is not at fault. It will also provide payment of small fines or penalties for release of Indian nationals in jail or detention centres.
The regional conclave of Overseas Indians – Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held in Mauritius in October, this year prior to the three-day 11th annual PBD in Kochi in India slated from January 7, 2013.
Inaugurating the 6th Conference of Heads of Indian Missions (HoMs) in GCC countries, Jordon, Libya, Yemen, Malaysia, Angola, Thailand, Nigeria, Iraq and the Maldives on Monday, the Union Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi said : “We are winessing two trends in the flow of Indian workers to the Gulf region. One, a greater percentage of Indians, particularly from the southern states, is moving towards higher professions. Two, the growing share of workers from northern India in the emigration check required (ECR) category is also noticed. This has prompted us to open new offices of Protector of Emigrants (POE).”
The Jaipur POE office is now functional, the one in Rae Bareli is also ready and the Guwahati POE office would be functional soon.
“We are also actively considering opening a POE office in Bengaluru as well,” the Minister said.
There are about 27 millions of Overseas Indians in different countries, out of which over 7.5 million Indian workers are in Gulf countries. Remittances of Overseas Indians have risen to $66.13 billion last year. But the number of ECR category workers going abroad has remained almost stable.
Ravi noted that deaths of Indian workers, including suicide cases continue to be a concern and also women workers undergoing hardship. “There are certain instruments which we must relentlessly seek. These are non-negotiable terms like model work contract, reference wages and attestation of critical documents,” he said and assured strict actions against intermediaries responsible for exploitation of workers.
The UAE Government has already sanctioned land for crematorium and burial ground projects for Indians in Sharjah and Ajman, the 50% cost for which will be met from ICWF.
India Mission in Bangkok will set up Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC) with 24-hour helpline in various Indian languages, counselling centres and shelter homes. It is operative in many Indian Missions abroad.
IWRCs are proposed to be linked up with the Migrant Resource Centres (MRCs) and Overseas Workers Resource Centre (OWRC) in India by 2013. New MRCs are planned to be opened in Jaipur, Bengaluru, and Srinagar
Besides there are other institutional platforms like the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) and Global-INK to engage with Overseas Indians.
The Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana, which promises overseas Indian workers a pension, a sum for return and resettlement and life insurance during a period of five years, was launched in August, this year on pilot basis. The enrolment process for the scheme has begun in UAE. The scheme has contribution from the Indian workers and the Government.
An e-governance project called e-Migrate is under implementation. The web-based attestation project in collaboration with the UAE Ministry of Labour has begun.
The Government has planned to bring out country manuals so that the workers are aware of the field conditions in countries where they wish to migrate.
Training to youths in healthcare, hospitality and automotive sectors are being imparted to in northeast India through Indian Centre for Migration. Efforts are on to develop a curriculum for such training which would be according to the skill requirements of developed countries and would be accordingly certified.
India is likely to sign an agreement with the National Agency for Qualification of UAE for collaboration in skills and qualification.
The Planning Commission of India has given its in-principle approval for Swarna Pravas Yojana which proposes a skill development framework for standardized training, testing and certification for five million youths over next ten years across the country. This scheme will have an outlay of Rs 150 crore in the 12th Plan and Rs 350 crore in the 13th Plan.
India has signed Human Resource Mobility Partnership Agreement with Denmark and would sign a similar agreement with the Netherlands. Negotiations are underway to sign similar agreements with France, Australia and the European Union.
India has signed Social Security Agreements with 12 countries and is expected to sign such agreements with Austria, Canada, Portugal and Sweden.