Answer

Introduction

The Overseas Mobility (Facilitation and Welfare) Bill, 2025 aims to replace the four-decade-old Emigration Act of 1983. Amidst record-breaking remittances ($125 billion in 2023), the Bill shifts India’s focus from mere “regulation” to “facilitating” orderly migration through a modern, data-driven, and institutionalized framework.

Body

Adequate Protection of Migrant Rights

• Institutional Support System: Establishes the Overseas Mobility and Welfare Council for inter-ministerial convergence to manage policies effectively.
  Eg: The Council will coordinate welfare schemes across Ministries to ensure a “Whole of Government” approach to migration.
• Safe Mobility Framework: Proposes an Emigrant Worker Registry interoperable with foreign wage-protection systems to prevent financial exploitation.
• Mandatory Welfare Insurance: Introduces a compulsory insurance cover of ₹10 lakh for all ECR-category workers to provide a safety net.
  Eg: This insurance will cover accidental death, disability, and emergency repatriation costs for blue-collar migrants.
• Stiff Penalties for Fraud: Imposes fines up to ₹2 crore for unlicensed intermediaries to curb the menace of “visa factories” and illegal agents.
  Eg: These deterrents target the unregulated “middleman” network that often traps workers in debt bondage.

Associated Concerns

• Dilution of Self-Advocacy: The Bill removes the right of migrants to directly initiate legal action against exploiters, making them dependent on state machinery.
• Gender and Vulnerability Blindness: Specific safeguards for women and children are replaced by a vague “vulnerable classes” category, risking weak enforcement.
• Opaque Recruitment Fees: The removal of mandatory fee disclosure requirements for agencies could exacerbate the risk of debt-funded migration.
• Excessive Centralization: The exclusion of major migrant-sending states like Kerala and Bihar from the primary Council sidelines local expertise.
  Eg: State Nodal Committees, essential for ground-level grievance redressal, lack a strong mandate in the current draft.

Measures to Minimize Concerns

• Restoring Legal Standing: Re-incorporating provisions that allow migrant workers to directly file complaints and seek time-bound judicial compensation.
  Eg: A “Fast-track Migration Tribunal” to resolve disputes without long bureaucratic delays.
• Decentralized Governance: Mandatory inclusion of State government representatives and trade unions in the Overseas Mobility Council.
  Eg: Stakeholder consultations have called for a “Federal Migration Board” to handle regional specificities.
• Explicit Anti-Trafficking Clauses: Defining “labour trafficking” clearly within the Bill to link violations to criminal law rather than just civil fines.
  Eg: Aligning the Bill with the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
• Comprehensive Reintegration Support: Allocating dedicated funds for the skilling and trauma counseling of returning migrants, including those deported early.
  Eg: Successful models like Kerala’s ‘NORKA’ should be scaled nationally to support “distress returnees.”

Conclusion

While the Bill modernizes procedures, it must transition from “facilitation” to “fortification” of rights. A truly “Viksit” migration framework requires balancing economic diplomacy with human dignity. Ensuring the Bill remains worker-centric, federal, and legally enforceable will determine if it acts as a protective shield or merely a bureaucratic turnstile for India’s global workforce.

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