Vande Bharat Mission brought back 20 lakh Indians from foreign countries: ILO

The Vande Bharat Mission of the central government has brought back 20 lakh employable Indians to the country from foreign shores, a senior official of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday.

The government launched the 'Vande Bharat Mission' on May 7 to bring home Indians who were stranded in various countries due to coronavirus-related restrictions.

India is the largest migrant sending country as per the 2019 World Bank report and it earns 82 billion Dollar annually in the form of remittances from workers abroad, ILO director Dagmar Walter said at a virtual CII event.

"The pandemic has resulted in job loss, wage penalties for many migrant Indians globally, as in any economic crisis, migrant labourers are the first to be laid off," she said.

The resultant job losses and visa expiry had stranded Indian global migrant population in various countries and the Vande Bharat Mission initiated by the Centre had brought back 20 lakh employable Indians back to the country, Walter said.

"The industry in the country can utilise this data of workers and employ them usefully and skill development, upskilling and reskilling of workers will become critical for re-employment," she said at the event.

Walter said, "Migration of labourers, employment and business development have become critical during the COVID times".

The migration of labourers across India during the lockdown was the face of job losses and the economic impact of the pandemic, the ILO director said.

She said that though migration of labour is not a new phenomenon in the country, the visuals and the magnitude of the stresses that they faced was a realization for many.

As per the last census, India has almost four crore people who migrate for work due to poor economic opportunities in their home states, though the numbers are dynamic and change yearly, she said. 

Image Credits: PTI

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