Over the last one month, several advertisements in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Punjabi languages have been screened to raise awareness among Indians aspiring to work abroad. The 30-second ads, apart from cautioning potential labourers, also warn women employees on how they might be duped.
The advertisements by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs caution people, especially rural Indians, on the dangers of going to the Gulf and other countries through such unscrupulous agents.
During his last visit to the UAE, Vyalar Ravi, minister of overseas Indian affairs, had said that the government will act with a heavy hand on illegal; recruiting
agents through a series of campaign on Indian TV channels.
"This is a new awareness campaign on different counts, where we are encouraging people to migrate through legal channels, instead of approaching illegal agents. We are telling Indians, particularly those in the villages, not to be cheated by illegal agents or touts who want to exploit them. This is a focused campaign as we want to protect our
people rather than pushing them further into debts," the minister is quoted as saying in Khaleej Times.
According to MOIA statistics, 642,000 Indians went abroad last year on proper employment visas, mostly to the Gulf countries and Malaysia.
Indian Ambassador to the UAE Talmiz Ahmad says these ads "touched on simpler and larger issues that would jolt people out of their complacency."
