Emigration Act changes may be left to next Govt

The Overseas Indian Affairs Ministrys plan to take the ordinance route at the fag-end of the UPA Governments tenure to amend the Emigration Act...

The Overseas Indian Affairs Ministrys plan to take the ordinance route at the fag-end of the UPA Governments tenure to amend the Emigration Act,1983,putting in place stringent punishment for human smuggling and provisions to regulate recruiting agencies more effectively,has suffered a setback.

The ministry has aborted the plan after it was conveyed to it that the Governments policy was to take recourse to ordinance only in emergency situations. With just three months left for elections,it has become almost clear that the ministrys long-drawn plan to give more teeth to the Act are not likely to come through in this Governments tenure.

The Overseas Indian Ministry has been working for years to amend the Act in order to protect the interests of emigrant workers and prohibit illegal emigration which often leads to deportation . A Bill to this effect was introduced in Parliament in 2004 which subsequently lapsed.

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In the draft ordinance,the ministry had proposed enhancement of punishment for those violating the Act. While the period of imprisonment was to go up from the existing two years to

five years,the fine was to be revised to Rs 1 lakh instead of the present Rs 2,000,sources said.

It had also proposed blacklisting of recruiting agencies which are found indulging in human smuggling,a new offence to be included in the Act,and cheating. Besides,it had planned to strengthen the criterion for registration of recruitment agencies,including increase in the deposit fee from the existing Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and introducing educational qualification as a prerequisite.

Besides,a rating system for recruitment agencies to encourage good practices in the industry and eliminate the wrong-doers was also incorporated. In this regard,the ministry was to design a system of incentives and disincentives around the rating system which will be

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based on well-defined performance parameters relating to quality of service and statutory compliance.

Another provision was to enable the Government to take measures to safeguard the interests of emigrants with more specified roles for Indian missions abroad. The idea was to bring in a legal provision enabling the Government to take measures for protection and welfare of emigrants.