Indian authorities are currently reviewing a proposal to amend the Emigration Act in order to provide better protection to those seeking overseas employment. Under the said amendment, recruiting agents would be made fully responsible for the welfare of the workers they deploy abroad. The new Act would also include special provisions on how to deal with recruiting agents who exploit migrant workers and violate their human rights.
Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi told parliament on 5 September that effective 1 October, holders of passports stamped with "emigration check required" (ECR) would no longer be required to seek emigration clearance requirement suspension (ECRS) when traveling abroad on visit visas. According to Ravi, the scheme, which was originally introduced to prevent misuse of visit visas for employment purposes, would be scrapped for failing to meet its objective. It has, in fact, even rendered Indian travelers vulnerable to harassment and corruption, Ravi noted.
According to Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi, the government has finalized a model work contract for all its overseas workers. The said contract, to be signed by the overseas worker and the foreign employer, would be legally binding in both India and the migrant's host country. The minister explained that the model contract would specify the worker's basic salary, hours of work, overtime pay, salary payment by cheque, and contain provisions for termination of contract, free transportation and medical check-up. Indian missions in the host countries concerned would be responsible for attesting the contract.
Indians have become the fastest-growing group of unauthorized immigrants in the United States since 2000. These workers often occupy positions in tech companies and small businesses as engineers or other highly skilled professions. According to the US Department of Homeland Security, irregular immigrants from India rose from 120,000 in 2000 to 270,000 in 2006 or a 125 percent increase. Many of these Indian workers entered the US on legitimate visas but have since overstayed in the country.
Officers of the Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested Bollywood film producer, Irshad Ahmed, 30, and his accomplice, Bikram Kesari Sahu, 32, in south Delhi on 12 September on charges of helping several migrants travel abroad on tampered travel documents. Police said Ahmed charged Rs900,000 from each migrant in exchange for visas to Europe and other countries. Ahmed allegedly assigned each migrant a phony position as production crew of a film that would purportedly be shot in Italy. Using tampered passports he and his accomplice then applied for visas for his supposed production staff. However, the Italian Embassy detected the tampered documents and alerted the Crime Investigation Department in Mumbai, which in turn tipped off the Delhi Police.
A number of foreign students from various institutions affiliated with the University of Pune accused personnel at the foreign registration office (FRO) at the Pune police commissionerate of arrogance, harassment, and corruption. A petition seeking redress signed by more than 300 foreign students, mostly from Africa and central and western Asia, was handed over to the vice chancellor and the International Students' Center. The complaints cast doubts on the effectiveness of the single-window facilitation center put up last year precisely to minimize the interaction between foreign students and the police.
The police found up to 200 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees missing from the Mandapan camp following a surprise check of the facility on 2 September. It was unclear whether the missing refugees had gone back to Sri Lanka or moved to other parts of India. Meanwhile, on 4 September, the police intercepted eight Sri Lankan refugees, including a 20-day old baby, who were trying to head back to Sri Lanka aboard a van. They were sent back to their respective camps. However, the police detained the van driver, Mohammed Sultan, and one of the refugees, Parameswari, on suspicion of making the arrangements for the group's planned escape.
Indian authorities arrested 14 Bangladeshi unauthorized migrants at a railway station on 12 September. The group allegedly assembled at the station to board a train bound for Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, where they expected to find employment. Two of those arrested, Abdullah and Giasuddin, claimed to have entered India early this month to set up a business in the commercial center of Silguri in the West Bengal state.
BJP president Rajnath Singh urged the Indian government to identify Bangladeshi Muslim migrants in northeastern India and immediately deport them. However, those identified as Bangladeshi Hindus should be allowed to stay in the region as refugees. He blamed the unchecked influx of Bangladeshis for the region's "backwardness and troubles."
The police have arrested a second Bangladeshi woman in Bangalore in connection with the 25 August twin blasts in Hyderabad. However, the other suspect, Rizvan Ghazi, eluded arrest. Afsana, 28, was arrested on 3 September from a house in Bannerghata in Bangalore. She is believed to be a relative of Shafeera Rustomjah, the other Bangladeshi woman arrested four days earlier for overstaying her visa. Rizvan, who resembles the police cartographic sketch of the bomb planter at Lumbini Park, is said to be Shafeera's brother.
Former Indian provincial transport minister Sardar Surrindar Singh Dhori told the Lahore Press Club on 8 September that India and Pakistan should ease visa restrictions on each other's citizens if they are sincere in promoting friendly relations between the two countries. He said that lifting visa restrictions is a first step towards reduce tension and promote peaceful relations. The former official also urged both countries to grant visa-on-arrival facility so visitors do not have to take the trouble to go to the capital to obtain one.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Chief Secretaries of Gujarat and Rajasthan in the light of recent reports of trafficking of tribal children in the two states. According to the commission, tribal children, aged 10-15, from Banswara, Dungarpur and Udaipur in Rajasthan were being trafficked to Sabarkantha and Banaskantha in Gujarat to work in cotton farms. According to the NHRC, the children were given a below minimum wage rate of Rs40 for 10 hours of work per day but the actual salaries are paid to the contractors that brought them to the farms and not to the workers themselves. In addition, the children, including girls, were accommodated only in makeshift shelters in the middle of the cotton fields, rendering them highly vulnerable to abuse.
According to Assam authorities, some 7.2 million people have been rendered homeless as a result of several devastating floods that have hit the area since July. Nearly 100,000 people are now staying in makeshift camps following the third wave of floods that began on 5 September.
Sources: "NHRC issues notices to Gujarat, Rajasthan over child-trafficking," The Times of India, 3 September 2007; "200 Lankan refugees missing from camp," Daily News, 3 September 2007; IANS, "Another Bangladeshi woman detained," Hindustan Times, 4 September 2007; "Foreign students slam FRO," The Times of India, 4 September 2007; Agencies, "Lankan refugees taken into custody in India," Daily News, 5 September 2007; IANS, "Andhra team heads for UAE to help illegal immigrants," The Peninsula, 6 September 2007; IANS, "Minister: No emigration check for visits abroad," Gulf News, 6 September 2007; Alexander Arrackal, "India to scrap emigration cap from Oct. 1," Bahrain Tribune, 7 September 2007; "'Visa restrictions should be eased to end tensions'," Daily Times, 9 September 2007; James Pinkerton, "Illegal immigrants from India on the rise," Houston Chronicle, 10 September 2007; IANS, "Worsening flood displaces thousands in Assam," The Peninsula, 10 September 2007; "New India law to curb exploitation," Gulf Daily News, 10 September 2007; Tarique, "Model contract for overseas Indian workers finalized: minister," Indian Muslims, 11 September 2007; "Emigration Act to protect the interests of migrant workers," The Indian Express, 11 September 2007; Pinaki Das, ANI, "Grant Bangladeshi Hindu migrants refugee status, but deport Bangladeshi Muslims: Rajnath Singh," Daily India, 13 September 2007; Xinhua, "14 Bangladeshis arrested in India," People's Daily, 13 September 2007; IANS, "Film producer arrested for human trafficking," The Peninsula, 15 September 2007