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T. Ramavarman
The Indian Embassy in the UAE is planning to introduce web-based attestation of job contracts of workers in August in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour (MoL) in the UAE and the Protector of Emigrants (PoE) in India.
“In this system, the model contracts produced by the companies in this country will be entered into the computer at the embassy when they come there for permission to recruit workers from India. This computer will be networked with the systems in the MoL in the UAE as well as those in the offices of the PoE, Indian
Ambassador M. K. Lokesh told a meeting at the India Social Centre (ISC) here on Tuesday evening.
“The advantage of this system will be that it will be possible for the MoL and the PoE to instantly ensure that there is no incompatibility between the working conditions offered by the companies at the time of submitting applications for recruitment of workers at the embassy and at the time of actual recruitment. This will not only prevent duping of the workers with false promises, but will also help us to develop a database on the performance of the companies recruiting workers from India,” he clarified.
The software for this is ready and has been tested by the embassy and the MoL. The MoL has shown great interest in the project. Now it must be integrated with the PoE offices in India before the formal launch in August, the ambassador said.
He also said the embassy is planning to launch the Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC) before the end of the year. The embassy has received expression of interest from several groups to run the IWRC, and is in the process of short-listing them.
The IWRC will have a 24-hour helpline and will offer support to the Indian workers, including legal counselling and medical care. To be located in Dubai, the IWRC will provide support to the workers all over the UAE.
Exchange of prisoners
He said an agreement is being worked out between the UAE and India to exchange sentenced prisoners.
Under the proposed agreement, the Indians who are undergoing imprisonment in the UAE jails could be shifted to the jails in India, and the UAE nationals sentenced in India could be shifted to the jails in the emirates.
There would be some conditions for such exchanges and all cases would not be considered. The agreement is ready and is waiting for signing during some high-level visits from India, the ambassador added.
The embassy had been able to collect nearly Dh3.2 million so far through the service charges it had introduced for its outsourced services. The amount was being utilised for various welfare activities of Indian workers in the UAE.
The embassy is willing to provide tickets to those Indians who are in the UAE jails after their sentence period if they are not able to meet the travel expenditures.
The embassy will be resuming the Open House programmes for Indian workers very soon, he said.
ramavarman@khaleejtimes.com
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