India has made 27 migration and mobility agreements with 23 countries and such partnerships must be expanded to provide safe pathways for emigration and protection of the diaspora, according to Kirti Vardhan Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs.
The agreements facilitate “structured and skills-based mobility, with a strong emphasis on worker welfare, social protection, and fair recruitment practices”, he said on Tuesday at the Second International Migration Review Forum (IMRF). “We believe such partnerships must continue to be strengthened and expanded for safeguarding the rights of our citizens abroad”, he said.
Among the agreements covering worker mobility, the significant ones include pact with the European Union signed in January, with Britain last July, and most recently with New Zealand last month. The IMRF is a review of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted in 2018 at the UN, undertaken every four years.
Singh said that for India, enhancing to an international level the skills of people wanting to go abroad is “a cornerstone of our migration governance”. “Skill India International Centres and digital platforms align our workforce with global standards” and “we are working with partner countries to advance mutual recognition of skills", he said.
India also has pre-departure orientation programmes to ensure that migrants are well-informed and better prepared for their jobs abroad, he added. The Digital Public Infrastructure has played a “transformative role” in protecting migrant workers and ensuring transparency in the recruitment and deployment processes.
The digital platforms used for this are the eMigrate system, the National Career Service portal, and the Skill India Digital Hub, he said. The welfare and protection of overseas Indians are at the core of the nation’s migration policies, he said. “We have strengthened mechanisms to support migrants particularly those in vulnerable situations through initiatives such as the Indian Community Welfare Fund, and the MADAD portal”, Singh said.
The MADAD portal, which gets its name from the Hindi word for help, enables overseas Indians to register complaints online with their phones about their employment, and other issues with Indian government agencies and monitor their progress. “Our responsive consular services also provide timely assistance, legal, financial, and insurance coverage to our nationals overseas”, Singh said.