Emigration Act under review; 329 foreign employers blacklisted

New Delhi, May 10 (UNI) Stating that 329 foreign employers had been blacklisted, the Government today said it was working on a comprehensive amendment of the Emigration Act 1983 to make punishment for violations more stringent to check cheating of Indians seeking jobs abroad.

The amended Act, besides making the eligibility criteria for issue of registration certificates more stringent would also provide for more severe punishment of violation of any provision of the Act, Minister for Overseas India Affairs Vayalar Ravi told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

He said the foreign employers, against whom complaints were received were balcklisted by placing their names in the Prior Approval Category(PAC) List on the recommendation of the India Mission concerned. At present 32 such employers had been placed in the list, he added.

It has been made mandatory for recruiting agents to submit all the employment documents to the government authorities. In case of vulnerable categories of workers like unskilled labourers, housemaids/domestic workers etc, these employment documents are required to be attested by the Indian Missions concerned, he said.

Mr Ravi said the Ministry had also entered into bilateral labour agreements with the UAE and Kuwait, to ensure protection to emigrant workers. These MoUs provide for a joint committee consisting of representatives of both the countries to meet every six months to discuss and resolve the workers' grievances.

The Minister said that since 2005, registration certificates of 97 recruiting agents had been suspended or cancelled and prosecution of 35 agents sanctioned.

UNI