Kerala CM to approach Centre for better legislation on expatriates

The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan during his inaugural address at Loka Kerala Sabha (LKS) said that the state government will approach the Centre to discuss the necessary legislation required to ensure the welfare of expatriates. This comes after the Congress and the BJP decided to boycott the event. The LKS is a diaspora meet of Keralites settled outside the state, mostly in the Middle East. 

Pinarayi Vijayan during LKS 

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of LKS, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said, "There is no national policy or legislation regarding the welfare of expatriates, in spite of the challenges and exploitation they face abroad. The Centre's insensitiveness towards the problems faced by expats is quite unfortunate. The state government has taken a lot of initiative in this regard, in spite of its limitations.”

He added that the Centre does not have any provision to ensure the safety of the people who wish to migrate to other countries. 

Read: Pinarayi Vijayan condoles Thomas Chandy's death 

"But the state government has initiated a pre-departure training and also started skill development courses to cater to the need of professionals in foreign countries. It is unfortunate that the Centre does not equip the embassies to efficiently interfere and end the exploitation of expatriate employees abroad. The state government is trying to maximize its help in this area too, with the formation of Pravasi Legal Cell," added CM Vijayan. 

Read: BJP walks out from all-party meeting chaired by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan 

Furthermore, the Chief Minister added that there was no national-level policy to ensure rehabilitation of the returnees. 

He added that the Centre has no system to support or provide information to the people who wished to migrate to foreign countries. MoS MEA V Muraleedharan was the only invitee to the event but decided to skip it. 

Read: Pinarayi Vijayan recollects PM Modi's 'demonetisation' claim over NRC assurance 

Muraleedharan criticises the event 

Criticising the purpose of LKS, V Muraleedharan said, that this event was a fund-raising ceremony for the CPI(M). As per media reports, he also alleged that if the state government of Kerala really cared about the expatriates, they would take action against 52 cases against illegal recruitments in the state. Muraleedharan claimed that the state government only acted on nine cases.

The Congress-led UDF, on the other hand, boycotted the event saying that nothing positive came out after the first LKS and the second edition is one where the money is being blown up for no reason.

Read: Union Minister: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan is "playing to the gallery"