Government to fund studies on migration, NRIs

Meanwhile, to check illegal overseas recruitment of NRIs, Kerala has requested Centre to make stringent laws.

The central government is willing to support any studies that can be done on migration and non-resident Indians (NRIs), according to a senior official.

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Protector General of Emigrants R.K. Singh made the offer while on a visit to the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) here, a member of the centre's faculty said.

Singh is on a three-day visit to Kerala to look into various aspects of emigration and has met representatives of the travel trade, employment agencies, state government and the academic community.

"Singh told us the ministry of overseas Indian affairs would only be glad to financially support any studies on migration which would be done by our institute," S. Irudayarajan, a senior faculty member at CDS, told IANS.

Close to 1.9 million people from Kerala are currently living and working abroad, mostly in the Middle East. For nearly two decades, non-resident Keralites has been the backbone of the state's economy with annual remittance of about Rs.200 billion ($4.5 billion).

Irudayarajan has done two major studies on non-resident Keralites and was instrumental in highlighting the pros and cons of migration in Kerala.

Singh's visit comes at a time when the Kerala government has asked the central government to make stringent laws to check illegal overseas recruitment following several cases in which Keralites were cheated by unscrupulous travel agents.