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Facility in Dubai to assist expatriates

PANAJI: Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said here on Saturday that his Ministry would soon establish an Overseas Indian Centre in the Indian Mission in Dubai.

The Union Minister was speaking after inaugurating a conference of Indian expatriates in the Gulf countries organised by the Commission for NRI Affairs, Goa. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat; Commissioner for NRI Affairs Eduardo Faleiro; Secretary NRI Affairs K.S. Singh; Goa Chef Secretary J.P. Singh; Chairman of Overseas Employment

Agency, Goa, Vice-Admiral John D’ Silva (Retd); and Director NRI Affairs U.D. Kamat were present.

This centre, he said, would provide legal, medical and financial counselling services to Indian expatriates in the Gulf. He said the protection and welfare of Indian expatriates in the Gulf requires the commitment of the governments of the host countries. The Minister said he had made concerted efforts to enter into an MoU with the major labour receiving

countries for bilateral cooperation towards protection and welfare of emigrants.

The Ministry, he said, had also initiated the process of amending the Emigration Act. It has also taken up implementation of e-governance in emigration to make it simple, quick, effective, transparent and accountable

by linking stakeholders on a common platform. He has also taken an initiative to establish Overseas Indian Workers Welfare Fund.

Mr. Ravi said that to ensure better protection and welfare of Indian workers in the Gulf, the Ministry is pursuing a proactive policy to transform the emigration system into a simple, transparent, humane and orderly process.

The reforms seek to empower the emigrants through specific systemic interventions on the domestic, bilateral as well as multilateral fronts. Mr. Ravi disclosed that the Ministry had established an Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) as a not-for-profit-trust in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry. The Centre will be a one-stop shop for serving the interests of the Overseas Indian investment into India and facilitate business-to-business partnerships by providing authentic and real time information.

He said to make higher education in India accessible to the children of overseas Indians and promote India as an education hub, his Ministry had launched a scholarship scheme in 2006-07. The Ministry provides 100 scholarships each year to the children of Indian expatriates to undertake undergraduate courses in different disciplines in India.

Earlier, Goa NRI Commissioner Faleiro, the former External Affairs Minister, said in an uncontrolled market situation like the present, the government authorities such as the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Embassies

and Consulates are entirely excluded from the recruitment process. Mr. Faleiro also requested the Union Minister to use his good offices to ensure that a Chair in Hindi and Indian Culture is funded by the Government of India at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Lisbon so as to have Indian

academic presence in that country.

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