(a) whether the measures taken for the welfare of Indian citizens in foreign countries are monitored;
(b) if so, the details of the shortcomings found by the monitoring mechanism during the last three years; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government to remove these shortcomings and the success achieved so far by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR OVERSEAS INDIAN AFFAIRS
GENERAL V.K. SINGH (RETD.)
(a) Measures taken for the welfare of Indian citizens abroad are monitored, inter-alia, through the ‘Madad Portal’, Joint Working Group with foreign countries and direct contact with Indian citizens by Indian Missions through various methods including open house meetings. The details are as follows:
In pursuance of "good governance" initiatives, the Ministry of External Affairs has launched an online Consular Grievances Monitoring System, named MADAD, on 21st February 2015, to extend a helping hand to Indians abroad requiring consular assistance. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) work together to address complaints received through MADAD. All our Missions and Posts abroad and the MEA''s Branch Secretariats in Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kolkata, have been linked to this portal for consular grievance tracking and follow-up.
The MADAD online portal represents a qualitative improvement over existing procedures for handling of consular grievances, through online forwarding, filing, tracking and escalation until their eventual resolution. It allows direct registration of the grievances by the members of the public and effective tracking of the entire grievance handling process all the way until the redressal of the grievance.
In addition, the names and contact details of all officers in our Missions and Posts abroad are available on the websites of our Missions. These websites also provide an emergency contact number in respect of each Mission/Post, through which they can be contacted in the event of any emergency faced by an Indian citizen abroad. These numbers are also available on the website of the Ministry of External Affairs. Most of our Missions also maintain duty rosters according to which a staff member is deployed for emergency duty on weekends or on closed holidays.
The Government has signed MoUs on labour with major labour receiving countries, namely Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Malaysia. An agreement on labour cooperation for Domestic Sector Workers (DSWs) was also signed with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2014. Under these MOU''s/ Agreement, Joint Working Groups are constituted to find solutions to bilateral labour problems.
(b) & (c) These arrangements have been found to work satisfactorily. The Government constantly explores opportunities to further refine and streamline the system.