Govt plans to do away with ECR system

New Delhi: The government is planning to do away with emigration clearance to spare lakhs of workers going overseas to earn a livelihood from harassment at the hand of emigration authorities.
This was stated by the minister of overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi at the launch of www.pioTV.com, a digital integrated media platform aimed at connecting people of Indian origin living across the world.
“We are planning to do away with Emigration Check Required (ECR) system because lakhs of poor workers were facing harassment at the hands of authorities,” Mr Ravi said.
“Of course the worker reaching the airport should have all proper work documents in order,” the minister said.
The ECR is required for workers travelling to United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Malaysia, Libya, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, and Thailand. For Iraq, emigration continues to be banned after the beheading incident of a worker there.
The ministry already had liberalised the emigration system by extending the ‘Emigration Check not Required’ (ECNR) status to 173 countries in December last.
24/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Foreign Aug 2007, General Aviation Aug 2007