The Kerala government has requested the Centre to rehabilitate expatriates who are returning home in droves from the Gulf following the economic meltdown.
The Kerala government has requested the Centre to rehabilitate expatriates who are returning home in droves from the Gulf following the economic meltdown.
Kerala, whose economy is largely based on the money sent by expats working in West Asia, has begun to feel the pinch with the return of recession-hit expatriates. Chief minister VS Achuthanandan on Friday asked the central government to lend a helping hand to expatriates who had lost their jobs.
“We are heading for a serious situation with many people losing jobs abroad. Since the money earned by expatriates lands in the national treasury, it should take the responsibility of rehabilitating them,” he said in Thiruvananthapuram after a meeting of parliamentarians from the state ahead of the parliament session starting on February 12.
According to data available with the Non-Resident Keralites’ Affairs (Norka) department, which is looked after by the chief minister, 8.9 lakh Keralites returned home in 2007. There are over 25 lakh Keralites working abroad, mostly in West Asian countries.
They contribute around 19% of foreign remittance to India. Foreign remittance accounts for about three per cent of the net national disposable income. In Kerala, the share is much more.
In the financial year that ended on March 2008, NRI deposits in Kerala’s banks stood at Rs29,889 crore, 56% of which came from West Asian countries.Though the per capita domestic product of Kerala is comparatively low, the state is second only to Punjab in per capita consumption expenditure.
The shortfall in state domestic product is compensated by the inflow of remittance, which funds trade, retail, real estate and construction to a significant extent. If the flow stops, there are enough reasons to worry.
The finance ministry, however, has hinted at forming a welfare fund for low-income expat groups returning home without jobs. Finance minister TM Thomas Isaac said rehabilitating returning overseas workers was no easy task. He requested the Centre to devise schemes for them. The state, readying for deficit-funded expenditure to tide over the economic lowdown, will have to suffer a double blow with the low remittance and returning expats.
A report by the Centre for Development Studies, perused by a cabinet sub-committee, suggested ways to mitigate impacts of the global slowdown. “One long-term measure is to upgrade the skill of those who seek to migrate to these countries. These programmes can help migrants (and potential migrants) position themselves at vantage points for re-entry into the global value chains, as and when conditions improve in the labour markets of their host countries,” the report stated.
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