(a) the details of persons including from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh settled in Gulf and other countries in the last five years and the current year student, employees, domestic maids etc., category-wise; and
(b) the steps being taken to help the persons in Gulf who are in trouble in the last five years?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
[SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]
(a) As per information available with the Ministry, an estimated 1.25 crore Indian nationals are residing in various countries of the world, including 88 lakh in Gulf countries. Similarly, an estimated 10.90 lakh Indian students are pursuing their education in various countries of the world. Indian nationals in foreign countries are advised to register themselves with concerned Indian Mission/ Post abroad. However, only a few register themselves. Therefore, such state-wise and category-wise data of Indian nationals is not available with Ministry.
(b) The Government attaches the highest priority to the safety, security and well-being of Indians in foreign countries. The Government has taken several steps to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism and other measures to ensure speedy resolution of labour disputes in various countries of the world, including in the Gulf countries. These include:
(i) The on-line MADAD portal enables the emigrant workers and their family members to register their consular grievances on-line and track their redressal.
(ii) Grievances related to Overseas Employment in notified Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries can also be lodged directly by emigrants/ relatives or through the Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) on e-Migrate portal. These grievances are settled by respective jurisdictional Protectors of Emigrants (PoEs) as per laid down procedures.
(iii) Indian Missions/ Consulates conduct Open Houses on a regular basis where workers can speak on their working conditions and seek redressal of their grievances. 24x7 Helplines and Toll Free Helplines for the benefit of Indian workers to seek help have been established.
(iv) A multi-lingual 24X7 Helpline of Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK) in New Delhi provides information, guidance and grievance redressal on all issues and problems pertaining to overseas employment of Indian nationals.
(v) Abroad Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendras (PBSK) have been set up at Dubai (UAE), Riyadh, Jeddah (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to provide guidance and counseling on all matters pertaining to overseas Indian workers.
(vi) Kshetriya Pravasi Sahayata Kendras (KPSK) have been setup in Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Lucknow and Delhi to assist emigrants or their relatives to redress their problems/ complaints regarding overseas employment.
(vii) Grievances brought to the notice of the Ministry and the Missions through social media, including twitter, are promptly addressed.
(viii) The Missions utilise the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) to provide assistance to overseas Indian nationals in times of distress. The guidelines of the Indian community welfare fund have been revised to expand the scope of welfare measures and to cover three key areas, namely, assisting overseas Indian nationals in distress situations, community welfare activities and improvement in consular services.
(ix) Labour and Manpower Cooperation MoUs/ Agreements are in place with the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries that provide the institutional framework to comprehensively discuss and review labour related issues. In accordance with the Labour and Manpower Cooperation/ Agreement, Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings are held on regular basis to discuss various labour related issues.
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