The Union ministry of external affairs is in the process of bringing in a new legislation – the Emigration Bill, 2022 – to promote “safe and legal” migration and stop illegal recruitment agents from duping people, the Centre told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Responding to a query on the scams committed by fake recruiting agents, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said, “We are taking a number of steps to ensure that recruiting agents are not misusing their powers... We have also liberalised the entire RA (recruiting agents) scheme so that there are no locally-based recruiting agents.”
“But I would also like to assure the members that we are planning to bring a new emigration bill which will take into account a lot of digital tracking… That will ensure that there is less breaching of laws in regard to emigration,” he said.
The EAM said that the ministry has taken several initiatives to promote legal migration, such as the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY) and the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF). It has also signed labour and manpower cooperation MoUs with 14 countries, including Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.
Apart from this, the central government is working with state governments and other stakeholders to spread awareness about safe and legal migration through the MEA’s state outreach programmes, Jaishankar said.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from this, the central government is working with state governments and other stakeholders to spread awareness about safe and legal migration through the MEA’s state outreach programmes, Jaishankar said.
{{/usCountry}}These outreach programmes were organised in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal in 2021, and in Tamil Nadu and Kerala this year.
Jaishankar spoke about the implementation and usefulness of the e-Migrate (2015) system, which helps immigration officers validate passport details when an emigrant arrives at the airport to travel abroad.