India to sign labour agreements with foreign countries

With a noble aim of securing emigrant Indians against exploitation and abuse in the host countries India has negotiated to sign labour agreements with Malaysia, Oman and Bahrain. The negotiation done for the protection and welfare of the emigrants will soon be sealed by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA).

The Ministry of OIA also proposed to sign MoU with the significant labour receiving countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Ill-treatment at the hands of local in the Gulf and other countries has forced India to meet their grievances. The unskilled labourers are mainly employed as casual labour or on daily wages in hotels, construction industry and the transport sector. The number of migrants has augmented phenomenally in recent times and the dire need was feeling by the government to ensure their welfare.

The agreements will not only save them from maltreatment but also forge bilateral partnerships to expand overseas employment market for Indian workers.

As per a rough estimation, 4 to 5 million migrant workers from India reside in the Gulf countries of which 1.2 million in the UAE, 0.5 million in Kuwait, about 0.4 million in Oman, about 0.2 million in Qatar and 0.2 million in Bahrain. India has already signed such labour agreements with Jordan, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait.

Along with this the Government has also finalised social security agreements with Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic for the welfare of professional and highly skilled workers. Similar agreements with France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Norway and Cyprus are under negotiation.

The Ministry has already signed a bilateral social security agreement with Belgium. The agreement protects the interests of expatriate workers by providing for exemption from social security contribution, allowing exportability of pension etc.