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Centre’s programme for returning expatriates showing no impact: Kerala CM Vijayan
The Kerala chief minister also accused the BJP-led Union government of ignoring his administration’s demand of granting a package worth ₹2,000 crore for the expatriates who had returned to the southern state after losing their jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday criticised the Centre’s ‘Swades Skill Card’ programme, launched to support expatriates returning to the country, and said it did not make any impact among the community even two years after its announcement.
The Kerala chief minister also accused the BJP-led Union government of ignoring his administration’s demand of granting a package worth ₹2,000 crore for the expatriates who had returned to the southern state after losing their jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The Centre was not even bothered to respond to the state’s request, he said during his speech at the third edition of the Loka Kerala Sabha, a two-day conference inaugurated by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan here on Thursday.
As doctors advised him rest due to ill health, industries minister P Rajeev read out Vijayan’s speech during the function, which is being attended by invited guests.
He said SWADES (Skilled Workers Arrival Database for Employment Support) was the lone programme announced by the Centre to support the returning expatriates.
“But it seems that the programme has failed to make any serious impact even two years after its announcement,” Vijayan said.
The Chief Minister, however, claimed that his government has always recognised the significance of the expatriate community and considered them as an inevitable part of the state’s social life.
A total of 351 delegates, including over 180 representatives from 65 foreign countries, are taking part in the third edition of the Loka Kerala Sabha, an ambitious initiative of the Vijayan government envisaged as a convention of non-resident Keralites.
Meanwhile, an approach document presented as part of the Loka Kerala Sabha called for a comprehensive policy for immigration and recruitment of people from the state to other countries.
It was presented by Rajeev on behalf of the chief minister at the first official session of the third edition of the Sabha.
The approach paper covers five important areas, including an assessment of the second Loka Kerala Sabha, the changing immigration map, the problems faced by the expatriates and their solutions, emigration and the development of the state, and the focus areas to be discussed in the third Loka Kerala Sabha.
In his address, Assembly Speaker M B Rajesh said one of the main objectives of the Loka Kerala Sabha is to figure out what the state can do for the expatriates rather than what the state can get from them.
He also added that the Loka Kerala Sabha has a great role to play in the overall development of the state by ensuring the participation of expatriates as well.
M A Yousafali, Vice Chairman, NORKA Roots and M Anirudhan, Director, NORKA also addressed the gathering.
The Loka Kerala Sabha aims to integrate the welfare of the expatriates and the development activities of the state, by bringing together the expatriates, including the Malayali community.
