Fund to help emigrant workers

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 10. The Central Government proposes to set up a welfare fund for Indian overseas workers. Disclosing this during the meeting of the consultative committee attached to his Ministry, the Union Labour Minister, Dr. Satya Narayan Jatiya, said that the fund, to be administered by the Ministry, would be used for repatriating the workers and providing financial assistance to the kin of those who die during foreign employment.

Money from the fund would be made available for transportation of the dead bodies of the workers back home. Financial assistance would be extended to workers permanently disabled during their overseas employment.

Mr. Jatiya said the fund would be raised by collecting a fee from each worker leaving for overseas employment. There were about 66 lakh people with Indian passports, working outside the country.

Several steps had been taken to prevent exploitation of emigrant workers both at home and abroad, he said adding that the Chief Secretaries of all States had been requested to take action against unauthorised agents.

Mr. Jatiya said that emigration of maids to Kuwait had been stopped in June 1999 following complaints about ill-treatment by employers. As many as seven firms engaged in manpower export were deregistered in view of the complaints against them.

While claiming that the Government had taken a serious note of the allegations that some agents were charging more than the prescribed fee, the Union Labour Secretary, Mr. L. Mishra, said the rate of unemployment in India was 2.6 per cent, which was low when compared to other countries. In all, 322 million people in the country were employed, of which, 20 million were actually under-employed. There were 7.5 million unemployed persons in the country.

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