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No threat to job prospects in the Gulf, says Ahamed

Staff Reporter

KOLLAM: Union Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed has said that there is no immediate threat to the employment prospects of Indians in Gulf countries.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme here on Saturday, the Minister said that 3.5 million Indians were now employed in the Gulf and 15 lakh of them were in Saudi Arabia alone. From time to time, some Gulf countries trim their imported human resource force. This is done because of various reasons, including issues pertaining to demands from `sons of the soil' and increase in the number of immigrants from the usual ratio.

On its part, he said the Central Government is keen that India's contribution to the human resource market of the Gulf countries should not fall. So the Government is extending a helpful attitude in this regard.

Regarding voting rights for expatriate Indians, he said it was for the Election Commission to decide. To a question, he said that if the State Government desired to open more attestation centres in the State, the Ministry of External Affairs would not stand in the way.

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