By TCN News,
Thiruvananthapuram: Effective measures should be implemented to document the accurate details of all Malayalis living in other states of India and outside the country, suggested the Legislative Assembly Committee dealing with the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NoRKA) Department. The Committee chaired by P Jayarajan has tabled the report in the Assembly.
The report asks to collect the details of Malayalis enduring jail terms abroad and to do the necessary to provide free legal aid for the deserving. The government should consider upgrading the age-limit to take membership in the Non-Resident Keralites’ Welfare Fund to 18 – 50. This will be helpful for more people. Measures should be taken to form a special aid fund for those expatriates who can’t join the Welfare Fund. Membership IDs should be distributed via the NoRKA cells in Collectorates.
Relevant changes should be made in the eligibility criteria to let more expatriates get the financial aid from the ‘Santhwana’ Aid Programme. Deserving expatriates should be included in the Below Poverty Line list. Industrial parks should be realized for the rehabilitation of the expatriates who have returned home from foreign countries.
The NoRKA should have a strong presence in the matter of recruitment of employees to foreign countries. A representative of the Finance Department should be present in the meetings of the Non-Residents Keralites’ Welfare Fund. A single-window system should be formed to promote the investments of expatriate Malayalis in the state.
The central government should be pressurized to put an end to the hike in travel costs of airplane companies. Malayalis should be appointed in the Indian embassies in different countries. Measures should be taken to ensure that complaints regarding fake recruitment and visa deception cases are brought to the notice of the central government in time, said the report.
M Chandran, AM Arif, CH Kunjambu, N Rajan and V Sasikumar are the members of the committee.
Kerala has a large expatriate community in the Gulf and other countries. The non-resident Keralites play a major part in the financial stability of the state, which is basically a consumer economy. Kerala enjoys a relatively high standard of life even though essential food items such as the staple food rice, vegetables, milk and chicken are imported from the neighbouring states. The state’s financial position highly depends on the NRI income. The NRI influence of the state is evident in the numerous self-financing educational institutions including engineering and medical colleges, private multi-specialty hospitals, etc.