No plans for single-window recruitment: Vayalar

Dubai: Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi has said there are no plans to introduce a single-window recruitment system for labourers coming to work in the Gulf countries from India.

"We don't have any plans to eliminate recruiting agencies as they offer plenty of job opportunities across the country. But we are regulating all their activities," he said.

The Ministry took some measures including harsher penalties and jail term for fraudulent agents, Ravi said.

"The UAE and India are currently monitoring all the activities of recruitment agencies and both countries are working together to uplift the living standards of the workforce," he told today's edition of the Khaleej Times.

Ravi said the proposed NRI university project would be finalised within six months and would start operation soon.

"The funds for the university would be raised from NRIs," he said.

Regarding measures taken to protect domestic workers' rights, Ravi said, "We took stringent measures such as mandatory attestation by the Indian missions while hiring domestic workers and special monitoring in the airports."