By IANS
New Delhi : The process of emigration from India will become easier as the government has begun computerising the eight offices of Protector of Emigrants (PoE).
“This is the beginning of MOIA’s (Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs) efforts to help people seeking to emigrate,” Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi said here Thursday while inaugurating the first computerised PoE office in Delhi.
Stating that the earlier manually operated system made the emigration process tough, he said, “This will make the emigration process much easier and transparent.”
Apart from Delhi, emigration clearance is given by seven other PoE offices in Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh and Chennai.
The automation of the rest of the PoE offices, being undertaken by the MOIA at a cost of Rs. 21.5 million, will be completed shortly and these will then be linked up with the ministry, Indian missions abroad and immigration desks at airports, according to an official press note.
Also, a new website – www.poeonline.gov.in – inaugurated by the minister will make all information regarding emigration from India available to the general people.
Stating that India has become a major source of manpower for many countries, Ravi said that last year alone 675,000 workers – skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled – went to destinations abroad through the PoE offices.
At the same time, illegal recruitment agents have abetted the illegal immigration of a number of other people.
“Some people are obsessed with going abroad. This has to be discontinued. Such illegal immigration brings nothing but misery,” Ravi said, adding that his ministry will not spare any illegal recruitment agent.
Asked what his ministry is doing in the light of recent human trafficking incidents involving members of parliament, the minister said that he would soon consult the home ministry for steps to stop this practice.