Fighting Fake Jobs and Exploitation: PBSK Launches New Grievance System for Migrants
New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Indian Missions, government departments, and ministries can now register complaints related to overseas employment with the Pravasi Bhartiya Sahayata Kendra (PBSK), providing a streamlined platform for addressing issues faced by migrant workers. This system allows grievances against registered recruiting agencies (RAs), illegal agents, foreign employers, and insurance companies. The complaints can pertain to various issues including overcharging, fake employment offers, non-payment of wages, harassment, and problems with insurance claims of the Pravasi Bhartiya Bima Yojna (PBBY).
For effective follow-up action, the complaining parties are urged to share all relevant information, along with contact details and other documentations, to enable prompt action by the authorities. Inadequate details can significantly hamper the working of law enforcement agencies in detecting the culprits and sorting out the complaints.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also upgraded the eMigrate V2.0 portal to make the emigration process even more streamlined. New features that include integration with DigiLocker enable secure storage and access to essential documents, including registration certificates and emigration clearance, both from India and abroad. In addition, eMigrate services are now accessible through the network of Common Services Centres (CSCs), with over 6 lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) across the country, and workers can access services like job advertisements, immigration support, and advisories on fake job offers.
It also includes Bhashini, a multilingual feature for bridging the language barrier in accessing information in the users' regional languages. Finally, eMigrate V2.0 is also linked with Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance, also known as UMANG. This would enable migrant workers to access various government services through one single platform.
In its efforts to streamline this process, the government came out with a mobile app, eMigrate through which people can file online application forms, follow-up application status, and get contact details of the recruiters among other things and all that in multiple regional languages. It is specially important to the workers heading toward the ECNR countries by simplifying the process to some extent and making the way even easy and reachable to the migrant worker.
eMigrate Mobile App for Easy Access
To simplify the emigration process further, the eMigrate mobile application is now available for download on Google Playstore and the Government of India app store. The app provides essential services such as form registration, application status tracking, recruiting agent searches, and grievance submissions. It is accessible in multiple regional languages, offering convenience for workers going to Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) countries.
These integrations and the launch of the mobile app reflect the government’s ongoing commitment to improving the support system for Indian migrant workers abroad.
