To evince better response from the Gulf administration towards their problems, Indians based in the region urged President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit them and strengthen bilateral ties.At the concluding session of the fourth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas celebrations, Gulf-based NRIs listed the problems they faced — lack of higher education for children, job insecurity, low wages, long periods of separation from families, poor working conditions and lack of medical insurance.‘‘No Indian head of state has visited the Gulf region for years. There has been no high-level contact at all. There are many issues that plague the nearly 3.5 million Indian migrant workers in the region,’’ said Mohammed Sayeeduddin who lives in Saudi Arabia.‘‘When non-Muslim Indians die in the Gulf, their last rites are not permitted in many countries. Families have to wait for 45 days to two months to transport the body to India to conduct the last rites. Such problems can be solved through better contact between the heads of the two states,’’ Sayeeduddin said.Responding to the issues raised, the protector-general of emigrants under the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, R K Singh, said the new Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana announced by the Prime Minister would provide an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh for deaths, up to Rs 50,000 for medical emergencies and legal expenses up to Rs 25,000 to NRIs.‘‘A 24x7 helpline for Indians working abroad will also be set up at missions in the Gulf, Singapore, Malaysia and south-east Asian countries. The government is also creating an overseas workers fund corpus, either with a government contribution or with nominal ones from the emigrants. This will be used to help Indians in foreign countries in times of distress, including deaths,’’ Singh said.He said smart cards, containing all information regarding employment and insurance, would be introduced for all future emigrants.‘‘Only legal workers will have these smart cards. Even if someone’s passport is impounded for any reason, the smart card will provide all necessary information about the emigrant,’’ he said.
