Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) maintains the data in respect of Indian workers, holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports, proceeding for overseas employment through e-Migrate portal to 18 ECR category countries namely; Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Government of India Missions and Posts abroad remain vigilant all the time and actively monitor and follow-up the grievance(s) received from the Indian nationals in foreign countries. The grievances are received and responded through various channels i.e. Emergency telephone number, Walk-ins, e-Mails, Social Media, 24x7 Multilingual Helpline and Open Houses etc.

As soon as the information about a distressed Indian national is received by Indian Mission/Post abroad, it immediately gets in touch with the concerned Indian national, the local Foreign Office and other concerned local authorities, as the case may be, to ascertain the facts of the case and to confirm Indian national's welfare. Apart from extending all possible consular assistance to the Indian national in distress, Mission/Post also assist in providing legal aid wherever needed. On receipt of complaint from or on behalf of the emigrant, the same is taken up pro-actively with the concerned Foreign Employer (FE) and the work place of the aggrieved worker is also visited, if required.

Indian Missions/Posts regularly organize Open Houses and Consular Camps in remote areas to get the feedback from the Indian workers abroad and address their grievances, if any.

As per the available data with Indian Missions/Posts in Gulf countries, total 33,252 complaints were received from Indian workers, including women, during the period March 2021 to December 2023. The country-wise break up is given in the table below;

 

Country	No. of Complaints Received
Bahrain	245
Kuwait	16436
Oman	3953
Qatar	891
Saudi Arabia	2967
United Arab Emirates	8760
Total	33,252

 

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri Rameshwar Teli in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/NSK

(Release ID: 2004067)