LISBON: Fourth edition of the Conference of the Protectors of Emigrants

LISBON: The 4th Conference of the
Protectors of Emigrants was held on 10 September 2021, the day coinciding with
the date of enactment of the Emigration Act, 1983.

Hon’ble MOS for External Affairs, Shri V. Muraleedharan delivered the Keynote
Address. Observing that the nation has worked together to deal with the
challenges of the pandemic, he stated that this is the right time to prepare
for the opportunities that are ahead of us in a world that is cautiously
returning to normalcy and Protectors of Emigrants (POEs) should facilitate the
emigration of blue collared workers while providing the best possible
protection and welfare.

POEs have an important role to play in informing our youth and workers about
new destinations and opportunities, based on the MOU signed with UK on mobility
and partnership; the MOC on specified skilled workers with Japan in 14 sectors;
and the recent cabinet approval on skilled manpower mobility between India and
Portugal.

Efforts to update and refine various welfare schemes such as Pravasi Bharatiya
Bima Yojana (PBBY), Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDoT) and Indian
Community Welfare Fund (ICWF), and the eMigrate platform, should continue.

Secretary (CPV & OIA), Shri Sanjay Bhattacharyya in his remarks recognised
the positive role of our POEs in bringing back thousands of distressed migrant
workers from abroad during the pandemic. He mentioned that the eMigrate system,
an online platform which integrates POE offices, Passport offices, Indian
Missions, Bureau of Immigration and others, regulating overseas employment, is
being strengthened by a range of measures to increase its popularity and make
it simple and incentivised. He added that the eMigrate platform has now been
opened up to all countries in recognition of new migration corridors to East
Asia, Europe and other countries.

In the Plenary Session of the POE Conference, Joint Secretary (Overseas
Employment) and Protector General of Emigrants, Shri T. Armstrong Changsan,
other officers from MEA and 13 Protectors of Emigrants (POEs), discussed PDoT
and other welfare measures, and State Outreach Programme (Videsh Sampark) by
MEA to facilitate safe and legal migration. Later, the representatives of
registered Recruiting Agencies’ Associations joined the conference to exchange
ideas and suggestions on various measures to further strengthen safe and legal
migration, and to curb exploitation, cheating and illegal immigration or human
trafficking, a topic that Hon’ble MOS and Secretary (CPV & OIA) had
stressed upon in their speeches.