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| Measures in place to protect unskilled labour | | India concerned over suicide by NRIs: Ahmad | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, AUG. 3: Indian authorities have expressed concern over the rising tendency among NRIs (non-resident Indians) in the Gulf to commit suicide, according to the Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahmad. Despite efforts like provision of counselling and legal assistance, the suicide rate has shown no signs of abating.
In the course of an informal chat with EARLY TIMES correspondent in Parliament's Central Hall, E. Ahmad said that the number of suicides by the NRIs in the Gulf had shown an increase during the last over one-and-a-half years. Nearly 270 Gulf-based Indians committed suicide in 2005. And the figure stood at 166 in 2006 until the end of July.
This means that the average of 22.41 suicide rate per month in 2005 has increased to 23.71 per month this year. Answering a question, Ahmad let it be known that the figures were collected by the Indian embassies based in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain, Muscat, Riyadh and Kuwait. The provocation for anyone taking the extreme step of ending one's life varies from personal, family, financial to work related.
Nearly 3.5 million Indians live in the Gulf countries. India's ruling coalition under Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is paying special attention to problems being faced by Gulf NRIs ever since it came to power in May 2004. It created a new ministry for overseas Indians, currently being headed by Valayar Ravi. E. Ahmad disclosed that the Indian embassies were instructed by the Foreign Office to take better care of the NRIs living under their respective jurisdictions.
According to Ahmad, besides holding open house sessions once a month, where Indian nationals are encouraged to discuss their personal or work-related problems with senior officials, the missions also provide counselling and legal assistance.
Several other measures have also been initiated to protect the most vulnerable unskilled labour among them with the protectorate of labour granting emigration clearance only after authenticating original employment letters.
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