A total of 4,23,559 Indian migrant workers returned from ECR countries during the Covid pandemic between June 2020 to December 2021, with more than half of them from the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday. According to the Emigration Act, 1983, Emigration Check Required (ECR) categories of Indian passport holders need to obtain Emigration Clearance from the office of Protector of Emigrants (POE) for going to 18 countries which are mostly in Gulf region.

In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan stated that the number of Indian migrant workers returning from the ECR countries, between June 2020 to December 2021, as per records available in the eMigrate system is 4,23,559.

According to the minister, the Indian migrant workers returning from the ECR countries between June 2020 to December 2021 included 1,52,126 from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 1,18,064 from Saudi Arabia, 51,206 from Kuwait, 46,003 from Oman and 32,361 from Qatar.

The minister said it was the government's priority to ensure during the pandemic that its impact on Indian workers in terms of loss of employment was mitigated.

"To that end, the ministry and all our Missions in the Gulf were continuously engaged with the government of the Gulf nations to maintain the workers, ensure their welfare and facilitate financial payments due to them," Muraleedharan said.

Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/work/423559-indian-migrant-workers-returned-from-ecr-countries-from-june-2020-december-2021/articleshow/93030585.cms