NRI office to draft law to deal with illegal overseas recruiting agents
PANJIM, NOV 19 - The Office of Commissioner of NRI Affairs in Goa will draft a law to deal with unregistered overseas recruiting agents and middlemen operating in Goa.
Announcing this at a press conference here, the Commissioner of NRI Affairs Eduardo Faleiro said many job-seekers are being taken for a ride and this has to stop. Necessary law should be in place to check recruiting agencies involved in illegal emigration, he felt adding that his office would top it up on priority.
Some seventeen such spurious recruiting agencies operating in Goa have been found and this has been brought to the notice of the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, he added.
He said many of the problems troubling unskilled and semi-skilled expatriates are created by recruiting agents who charge exorbitant amounts which are much above the norms fixed by the Government of India, and offer terms which are highly unrealistic.
They also send people on visit visas which are not going to be honoured, he said.
If lakhs of skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled Indians have found gainful employment in Gulf countries many cases of exploitation by recruitment agents and employers have also come to light.
To put an end to these malpractices the Government of India has stepped forward to amend the Emigration Act. The government is in the process of amending the Emigration Act for this purpose" told Eduardo Faleiro, Commissioner for NRI Affairs to a press conference on Monday here following his return from Kuwait and Qatar.
A delegation led by Faleiro visited the two countries last week to meet Goan expatriates, identify their grievances and study the labour market there.
About 40000 Goans are in Kuwait and 9000 in Qatar, he told. The Indian communities in Kuwait and Qatar number around 6 lakh and 2 lakh persons, respectively.
He said though overall Indian communities working in Gulf countries are doing good - some do face problems specially unskilled and semi-skilled workers who are not covered by the Labour laws of the Gulf countries.
The condition of Indian housemaids and other domestic workers is no better. The NRI Commission has received complaints of physical torture and abuse, non - payment of salary for several months and filing of false cases against them, he stated adding the Government should provide a system similar to that of the Philippines to safeguard the dignity and safety of Indian domestic workers.
The countries like Nepal, Pakistan has already banned the export of maids to Gulf countries.
However India has not been able to impose such ban because of opposition of women organisation. Hence government should adopt measures similar to that of Philippines, he said.
http://www.oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=4454&cid=26
