PM Modi meets Indian migrant workers at labour camp in Kuwait

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday visited the

Gulf Spic Labour Camp

in Kuwait, where more than 90% of inhabitants are Indians, and interacted with them.
Indians form the largest expatriate community in Kuwait, around 1 million which is present across various sectors in Kuwait.
The Indian diaspora residing in countries around the world holds a special place of significance for PM Modi. In the past also, there have been several instances of the PM meeting and interacting with Indian workers abroad.
In 2016, Modi visited the L&T workers’ residential complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He also visited the All Women IT and ITES Centre of Tata Consultancy Services in Riyadh.

In the same year, PM Modi visited the workers’ camp in Doha, Qatar.
Earlier in 2015, PM Modi visited a labour camp in Abu Dhabi where he highlighted India’s concern for the welfare of its migrant workers.
He interacted with Indian workers at their camps to know the problems they face and discussed ways the Indian government can help them. The Prime Minister has also been continuously working towards ensuring safe and legal migration.

A key effort in this regard has been the

e-Migrate project

which was launched in 2014 to facilitate emigration of Indians for employment purposes and mitigate the scope of malpractices. It helps to conduct recruitment process in a hassle-free and transparent manner. It also provides a comprehensive online database of Indian emigrants to all stakeholders and makes the whole emigration cycle fast, transparent and efficient.
The e-Migrate system has been integrated with other services like Passport Seva Project for online validation of passport details and also with insurance agencies providing Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojna.
DG Shipping system has also been integrated with the eMigrate system through which data about seafarers submitted to DG Shipping is sent through eMigrate to the Bureau of Immigration for processing emigration at Immigration Check Posts and airports, thus streamlining the emigration process.
Modi government has strengthened the Overseas Employment & Protector General of Emigrants Division, which helps streamline the process of emigration for individuals having ECR (Emigration Clearance Required category) passports going abroad for employment. 16 offices of Protector General of Emigrants have been opened across India to facilitate the same.
Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra

, which helps disseminate information about emigration and receive and redress complaints and grievances of migrant workers, has also been strengthened by the Modi government.
In addition to the Pravasi Bhartiya Sahayata Kendra, 5 Kshetriya Pravasi Sahayata Kendra have also been set up at Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai, Patna and Kochi which assist emigrants requiring face-to-face interaction for redressal of their grievances and queries.
PM Modi has simultaneously been working towards improving the condition of Indian workers abroad.
In his visit to UAE earlier this year, PM Modi had announced that UAE has given a piece of land in Dubai for the construction of a hospital for Indian workers.
After the Kuwait fire tragedy this year in which more than 40 Indian nationals killed and over 50 were injured, PM had chaired a review meeting and announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased India nationals from Prime Minister Relief Fund.
India and Kuwait signed an MoU in 2021 which marked a pivotal step in ensuring the welfare and rights of Indian domestic workers in Kuwait. The agreement established a fair and balanced relationship between workers and employers, focusing on the protection of workers’ rights and compliance with local laws. It reflected PM’s commitment to fostering a cooperative and respectful labour environment, ultimately enhancing the well-being of Indian workers in Kuwait.
In 2016, PM Modi had met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and discussed the condition of Indian migrants. Qatar reassured that labour reforms will improve the conditions of more than half a million Indian migrants.