Hyderabad, Jun 17: The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has urged India and other members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to agree on a uniform wage policy for the low income migrants working in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

MIM president and Hyderabad MP, Asaduddin Owaisi, made this plea during the recent meeting of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh MPs convened by the External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, at Delhi.
Mr Owaisi said that SAARC members should come to an agreement in this regard during their summit in November this year.
End exploitation of workers
He urged the Ministry of External Affairs to renegotiate minimum wage with the GCC as it would effectively put an end to exploitation of workers.
Pension scheme
Mr Owaisi also suggested introduction of pension scheme for the Gulf returnees on the lines of the Kerala model.
An immigration fee of Rs.1,950 is collected from the expatriates and this corpus fund should be utilized for the pension scheme. “When the Indians working in Persian Gulf countries are contributing foreign exchange of Rs. 200 crore every month government should take care of them when they come back,” Mr. Owaisi said.
Difficulties of NRI children
Mr Owaisi also raised the difficulties faced by the children of the Gulf migrants when they seek admission in colleges back home. They are forced to pay a higher fee under the NRI category. “The AICTE rules should be suitably amended so that the migrant children are not treated as NRIs,” Mr. Owaisi suggested.
Domestic Violence
He further asked the MEA to empower Indian Embassies to take action against domestic violence by Indian workers and to ensure visit of Diplomats to prisons, deportation centres and hospitals where migrants are languishing for years.



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