The voluntary scheme offering three important benefits will help the
skilled and unskilled workers to save money for their old age, to have
financial means when they go back home and a life insurance cover for
Rupee 100,000 (Dh6,500) during their work abroad.
About 65 per cent of more than two million Indians in the UAE are blue
collar workers and they will get an early opportunity to enrol in the
scheme.
Workers between the age of 18 and 50 who hold a Emigration Clearance
Required (ECR) passports are eligible to enrol in the scheme. India
issues ECR passports to those who have not passed matriculation (Grade
10).
The enrolment centre to be opened in the UAE will be the first overseas
centre for the purpose, said the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
(MOIA) which introduced the scheme, in a statement issued to Gulf News yesterday. The ministry has already opened two enrolment centre in Kerala in India.
The Indian Embassy is considering Dubai to set up the enrolment centre
for the scheme because of the presence of large number of Indian workers
in Dubai and northern emirates, Indian Ambassador to the UAE told Gulf News on Tuesday.
“We are thinking of operating the centre as part of the already
functioning Indian Workers Resource Centre (IWRC), a support centre for
workers,” M.K Lokesh said.
Indian Government will provide a contribution of up to Rs2,000 (Dh130)
per year for male workers and Rs3,000 (Dh195) per year to women workers
for up to either five years or until the worker returns home, whichever
is earlier. The proposed contribution shall flow to the individual PLIF
account of each eligible subscriber.
The workers have to contribute between Rs1,000 (Dh65) and Rs12,000
(Dh780) per annum towards pension fund and Rs4,000 (Dh260) towards
return and resettlement fund. They will derive corresponding benefits
when they go back home and during their old age.
It is observed that a majority of the earnings periodically remitted by
the overseas Indian workers to their families in India are rarely
accumulated as savings and often cause only a temporary improvement in
the lifestyle of their families, said Vayalar Ravi, Indian Overseas
Affairs Minister. As a result, a majority of overseas Indian workers
face the risk of poverty when they return to India and when they are too
old to work, he said.-Gulf News-