Will discuss racism issue with UK when required: Jaishankar

India has been working with countries around the world, especially in West Asia, to facilitate the return of citizens working or studying there and more than a million people have travelled abroad on Air India flights, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday

India has been working with countries around the world, especially in West Asia, to facilitate the return of citizens working or studying there and more than a million people have travelled abroad on Air India flights, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

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The process of facilitating the return of Indians to their jobs or studies abroad was part of post-pandemic recovery efforts, and India has been actively urging “partner governments to look sympathetically at the employment of our citizens as they chart their own recovery pathway”, the minister said in similar statements in both houses of Parliament.

The largest numbers of Indians had returned to countries in West Asia, which is home to some nine million Indian nationals. Over the past few months, the Indian government has called on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to speed up the process of allowing Indian workers to return to their jobs.

Jaishankar acknowledged that “real challenges” remain to be addressed regarding the economic impact of the pandemic on Indians employed abroad.

“The government is fully cognisant of the employment concerns that our people abroad have in the context of the Covid pandemic. Especially in the Gulf, there has been tremendous economic and social disruption that has impacted them. We have softened it somewhat but real challenges are there to be addressed,” he said.

“We are aware that there are problems of compensation, re-employment and re-skilling that need solutions. And these are today the core of our agenda with our partner governments,” he added.

Jaishankar said the Gulf has been the focal point of India’s endeavours. “In recent months, the prime minister has engaged the leaders of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and Oman. Under his directions, I have travelled even during the Covid to the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman to discuss with the governments there the welfare of our people,” he said.

“Because of restrictions at their end, such travel was not possible to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But I have been in regular touch with their foreign ministers,” he said. Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan also travelled to Oman and the UAE, and India recently hosted the UAE’s foreign minister while the Kuwaiti foreign minister too is expected to visit soon, he added.

The Indian government has concluded air transport bubbles, or temporary reciprocal arrangements for commercial passenger services, with 27 countries until the resumption of regular international flights. Air India has operated more than 9,500 flights that took 1.09 million passengers abroad.

During visits to West Asia, Jaishankar and Muraleedharan interacted with community organisations and partner governments, and learnt that the “overall picture was that our people were well taken care of during the pandemic by the host authorities”.

“From the governments, the message was of appreciation for the responsibility shown by our people amidst the pressures of the pandemic...The support extended from India for the stay and travel of our citizens was warmly acknowledged by community and governments alike. The provision of medical supplies and food items from India as an exceptional gesture to the Gulf during this period clearly had a powerful resonance,” Jaishankar said.

“So did the arrival of health professionals and medical staff, especially the dedicated medical team we sent to Kuwait. From our recent interactions, we have reason to expect that partner governments in the Gulf would be helpful in facilitating the early return of many who had been compelled to go back during the pandemic,” he said.

The government is also working to help students who returned from abroad during the pandemic to go back to their universities. “Some countries have been more open in this regard than others, obviously reflecting their particular Covid challenge. This, therefore, remains a high priority and our endeavour will be to encourage an early return to normalcy,” Jaishankar said.

Indian fishermen too faced difficulties because of the pandemic, especially serious problems faced by those working in Iran. Some Gulf nations also witnessed this, and the “repatriation phase is over and the re-employment one has just started”, he added.

The Vande Bharat Mission brought back nearly 4.6 million people from 98 countries, and Kerala received the maximum returnees, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The UAE was the country from where the maximum number of stranded Indians returned, followed by Saudi Arabia, the US and Qatar. A total of 39% of the returnees were workers, 39% professionals, 6% students and about 8% visitors and 4.7% stranded tourists.

The government spent Rs.33.5 crore from the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) to help Indians stranded abroad.