By IndiaTomorrow.net,
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, 09 Jan 2015: The issue of higher education and skill development of Gulf returnees, the plight of overseas Indian in jail, safety of fishermen from Tamil Nadu and certification of skilled workers for employment back in India were some of the concerns related by the delegates at the session on Issues of Labour and Employment in Gulf Countries at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention here on Friday.
The sessions chairperson, General V K Singh, Union Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge), External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs and Indian Ambassadors to the GCC countries lent a sympathetic hearing to the delegates and assured them that the Government of India’s full support in resolving the issues.
“It was noted that there were very few universities in the Gulf region where resident overseas Indians could send their children for higher education. India’s University Grants Commission, it was pointed out, had stopped distance education programmes while the higher education experiment by BITS Pilani did not take off. The government held out the assurance that the UGC would be engaged to looking to the issues to resolve them,” said an official release of the event.
The government said it would consider seriously the suggestion to set up skill development centres for gulf returnees. The delegates were informed that while some of the prisoners in UAE jails had been released, the process of transfer of others to Indian jails was on.
