New measures announced for the welfare of overseas Indians

Vayalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs inaugurated the 7th Heads of Indian Missions (HoMs) conference on 17 September 2012.

 He announced revised Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) scheme, which includes:

(a)    Assistance towards boarding expenses per head by HOMs is enhanced from 15 to 30 days.
(b)    Payment of penalties in respect of Indian nationals for illegal stay in the host country where prima facie the worker is not at fault.
(c)    Payment of small fines/penalties for the release of Indian nationals in jail/detention centre.
(d)    Providing support to local Overseas Indian Associations to establish Overseas Indian Community Centres in countries that have populations of Overseas Indians exceeding 1,00,000.
(e)    Providing support to start and run Overseas Indian Community-based student welfare centres in Countries that have more than 20,000 Indian students’ presence.

The Minister also mentioned that Government has given the voting rights to NRIs. The Government is also getting the PIO and OCI Card Scheme merged into one Scheme.

 The conference was attended by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as Jordan, Yemen, Malaysia, Maldives, Angola, Thailand, Nigeria, Iraq and Libya.

The conference is organized by the Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs every year to discuss the issues related to protection and welfare of Overseas Indian workers.

 There are approximately 7.5 million semi-skilled and unskilled overseas Indian workers in the GCC countries and Malaysia on temporary employment/ contract visas, predominantly in the construction, healthcare and household services sectors.

The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) is the nodal Ministry for protection and welfare of Overseas Indian workers.