Around one crore thirty lakh people of the country are working abroad. The migrated population includes workers, professionals and specialists of various kinds. Emigration checks are required for such people for employment abroad. Its record is kept by the Ministry of External Affairs of India.
At present, more than 8700 people of Jharkhand are working abroad. This information was given by Union Minister of State for External Affairs B Muraleedharan in the Lok Sabha. Member of Parliament, Sanjay Seth, sought information about Indian people working abroad and their state-wise number, help given by the government in case of an accident, etc.
In response, the Union Minister said that in case of death of a migrant worker in an accident, the Ministry of External Affairs contacts his family members and provides immediate assistance to them. The work of coordination in many areas including courts, insurance agency and administration of the concerned countries is done by the Ministry of External Affairs. The minister also informed that the Government of India runs an insurance scheme for overseas Indians, which is a compulsory insurance scheme. Under this, an amount of only Rs 375 is taken for 3 years. Insurance and other benefits up to Rs 10 lakh are provided.
In response to Seth's question, the Union Minister said that according to the data available on the e-migrate portal, out of the citizens of Jharkhand working in 18 ECR countries, 831 in 2020, 1481 in 2021, 4322 in 2022 and 2070 by June 2023 have gone to work abroad. The Union Minister told that the workers of Jharkhand have also died abroad in the last 3 years, out of which maximum number of deaths have occurred in Saudi Arabia. 38 workers of Jharkhand died in Saudi Arabia while 21 workers died in Oman, 7 workers in Malaysia, 9 workers in UAE, 10 workers in Kuwait and 6 workers in Qatar. The Ministry of External Affairs has provided all possible help and assistance to his family.
Now, with top economies seeking semi-skilled and skilled professionals to plug labour shortages, offering them extensive benefits and upgrading their standard of living, Indians' desire to migrate has reached an all-time high.
Australia took the second spot after the US with 23,533 individuals giving up their Indian citizenship, followed by Canada (21,597), and the UK (14,637).
