Govt plans welfare fund for Indians in Gulf

NEW DELHI: The government is seriously considering setting up a fund for the welfare of Indians working in Gulf countries, Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
Replying to a calling attention motion, Singh said most of the projects were nearing completion in the Gulf and that was the main reason for less jobs for Indians now in the region. Another reason was that Arabs were of late were being given first preference, he said.
The problems generally faced by Indians, particularly unskilled workers, related mainly to non-payment of wages, long working hours, ill-treatment, denial of leave, cheating by recruitment agents, death and disability compensation and transportation of dead bodies back to India, he said.
He said Indians were still preferred for jobs compared to workers from other countries and every year three to four lakh Indians got jobs there. Currently there are about 35 lakh Indians employed in the region, he said.
For the convenience of those working in the Gulf, both Air India and Indian Airlines have reduced their fares by ten to fifteen per cent, he said.
As regards the problems faced by Indian maid servants there, Singh said the Government was montoring their condition. Recently, 10,000 maids had been recruited through embassies there, he said.
Stating that there was concern regarding rehabilitation and resettlement on their return to India in the event of premature termination of employment, Singh said "Gulf countries have introduced policies of localisation and Arabisation which will affect the demand for Indian labour in the years to come. However, these policies are non- discriminatory and not directed at Indians specifically."
He said all Indian missions in the Gulf have full-fledged Labour Wings to deal with the workers'' problems.
Immigration authorities have been advised through the Home Ministry to scrutinise passports and other documents before allowing workers to emigrate, he said.
Recruiting agents are always advised to settle the grievances of the workers immediately and in cases where the agents do not act on the directions of the Protector General of Emigrants, their registration is suspended and further action is taken, the Minister said.
Congress members Ramesh Chennithala and K Muralidharan and CPI-M members V Radhakrishnan and Suresh Kurup spoke during a discussion on the motion.
The Minister said the foreign agencies which did not make payment of salary in accordance with the agreement or fail to provide the basic minimum facilities to the workers were included in the "Prior Approval Category" and any further recruitment for these agencies was stopped till such time as fresh positive recommendations were received from Indian Missions abroad.