(a) whether several workers have been stuck in foreign countries on account of illegal practices of agents who send workers to foreign countries;
(b) if so, the details in this regard;
(c) whether the Government has received any complaints in this regard; and
(d) if so, the details thereof along with the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL FFAIRS
[SHRI V. MURALEEDHARAN]
(a) to (d) Ministry of External Affairs from time to time receives complaints from Indian Emigrants or their relatives who had been sent fraudulently for overseas employment by illegal agents.
On account of the fact that, such persons are sent in an illegal manner, unless the victims report or are caught by authorities, the details of the persons transported to other countries are not fully available.
As per the available records, number of cases forwarded to the State/Union Territory (UT) Governments against illegal agents and number of Prosecution Sanctions issued during 2016-2019 are appended below:
<pre>
Year
No. of Complaints
Cases referred to State Government for action
Prosecution Sanction sought
Prosecution Sanction issued
2016
231
231
42
42
2017
446
446
30
30
2018
350
350
15
15
2019 #
610
610
34
34
# (up to 31st October, 2019).
</pre>
Ministry of External Affairs has issued a Standard Operating Procedure to be followed by State/UT Governments on receipt of complaints of cheating by illegal agents. Visual and print media campaigns are also launched from time to time for promoting legal and safe migration and encouraging emigrants to use the services of registered Recruiting Agents to avoid being trapped by illegal/fake agents.
In order to promote safe and legal emigration and to curb the overseas recruitment activities being carried out by illegal agents, several conferences at the level of External Affairs Minister (EAM) have been held in last five years. In all the meetings, the State/UT Governments were, inter-alia, requested to proactively take measures to check the growth of illegal agents and to take strict action against them. They were also requested to launch awareness campaigns in vernacular medium for wider coverage and dissemination, which are being done.
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