
Dubai: India on Monday started verification and issuance of Emergency Certificates allowing its citizens to leave Saudi Arabia following concerns over a new labour policy in the Gulf Kingdom.
The schedule currently announced is for the delivery of the first batch of 12,000 Emergency Certificate applications received at Indian Embassy in Riyadh and nearly 3,000 in Saudi's Eastern Province.
The schedule for verification and delivery of subsequent batches for all Indian nationals who have applied at other collection centres in Saudi Arabia will be announced soon, the Indian embassy in Riyadh said in a statement.
There has been a rush for the emergency travel documents with about 60,000 applicants looking for one, amid concerns about possible job losses after the new 'Nitaqat' labour law comes into effect....
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03:07 PM, May 20, 2013

London: One of Britain's prominent Sikh politicians, Parmjit Dhanda, has told a probe panel inquiring into racism during elections that a pig's severed head was left outside his home. The former Labour MP made the revelation to an all-party inquiry into electoral conduct in the UK, which is recording racist abuse suffered during election campaigns in the country. Dhanda's children found the pig's head on the front drive while they...

06:42 PM, May 19, 2013

New Delhi: Director General of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Guy Ryder on Saturday expressed concern over recent cases of crime against women and stressed on the need to ensure a climate where women can work with respect, security and equality. "Sadly, recent crimes against women have renewed our awareness of the need to act and to ensure that women in India and everywhere else are able to live and work...

02:08 AM, May 19, 2013

New Delhi: The government on Thursday deferred a proposal on giving domestic workers the right over minimum wages, paid leave and regulated working hours under a national policy. The national policy for domestic workers, which would benefit over 6.4 million domestic workers, was slated to be taken up by the Union Cabinet for consideration. The proposal, recommended by National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi in April 2009, aimed...

03:15 AM, May 17, 2013

Hyderabad: Railway Police on Tuesday rescued 19 children, including seven belonging to Jharkhand, from Secunderabad railway station and caught one person on charge of trafficking. The children were to be employed as bonded labourers at a furniture manufacturing unit at Lingampally here, SP (Secunderabad Railway Police) M Kanta Rao told PTI. "During a survey on the Secunderabad railway platform, 19 children (all below the age of 14) were found abandoned...

03:05 AM, May 15, 2013

Dubai: Saudi Arabia has handed over about 15,000 passports of stranded Indian workers, surrendered by Saudi sponsors, to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh, in a bid to resolve cases of immigration law violations. "Most passports, surrendered by sponsors to the Saudi authorities, belong to stranded Indian workers, including those languishing in jails on huroob (absconding) charges or on charges of violation of Saudi residency laws," said Sibi George, deputy chief...

02:49 AM, May 14, 2013

In their book Flight of the Buffalo, corporate gurus James Belasco and Ralph Stayer beautifully state the politics of change when they say, "change is ...

12:59 AM, May 07, 2013

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government on Wednesday announced to construct four hostels for labourers and increased their medical reimbursement allowance from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per year. "The hostels would be constructed at a cost of Rs 10 crore," Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh announced at May Day rally at Tahliwal in Una on Wednesday. "Labour laws are being strictly implemented, government has taken effective steps to provide better residential accommodation...

10:59 PM, May 01, 2013

New Delhi: Celebrating the Labour Day this year, Google has posted a doodle on its homepage. The doodle features the Google logo in the shape of a building with several workers on their job. The doodle features an IT professional on her computer, a gardener watering a tree, a painter giving the letter 'O' a paint job and a plumber fixing a leak around the letter 'E'. There is also...

11:32 AM, May 01, 2013

New Delhi: Google is saluting the workers of the world with a building doodle on the occasion of Labour Day 2013. The doodle features the Google logo in the shape of a building with several workers on their job. The doodle features an IT professional on her computer, a gardener watering a tree, a painter giving the letter 'O' a paint job and a plumber fixing a leak around the...

05:56 AM, May 01, 2013

Riyadh: India on Sunday conveyed its concerns to Saudi Arabia over possible job loss to a large number of Indians in the Kingdom due to its new labour law. A delegation led by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi met Saudi Arabian Labour Minister Adel Fakieh to convey India's concern over the Nitaqat programme. Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed and Advisor to Prime Minister TKA Nair were...

03:35 AM, Apr 29, 2013

New Delhi: A six-year-old girl was raped allegedly by a 14-year-old labourer in north-east Delhi, police said on Wednesday. The incident was reported from Seemapuri in north-east Delhi on Tuesday night and the boy was detained in connection with the incident on Wednesday. She was seen crying by a family member near her home and the girl narrated the incident. She was rushed to a nearby government hospital where a...

07:58 PM, Apr 24, 2013

Washington: As the US moves forward to reform its immigration system, India has said that a generous American visa policy for the country's high-skilled workers would help everyone and both nations will emerge as winners. "We respectfully urge that they consider the impact of their decisions on the ability of both US and foreign-based companies to expand now and in the future," Indian Ambassador to the US Nirupama Rao wrote...

05:53 PM, Apr 15, 2013

Kadi: India is home to the largest child labour force in the world, child rights groups say. CNN-IBN takes a look at the cotton ginning factories in Gujarat where children operate dangerous machines and inhale cotton dust all day. Thirteen-year-old Amit has been learning to write again, this time, with his left hand. Eleven months ago he lost his right arm while working at a cotton ginning factory. On hidden...

02:55 PM, Apr 15, 2013

Kadi: India is home to the largest child labour force in the world, say child rights groups. Underpaid, overworked and going largely unpoliced, millions of India's children are at work every day when they should be at school. CNN-IBN traveled to Gujarat's cotton district to find that the use of child labour, brought from Rajasthan, is simply routine. At first glance it's an image of 'Vibrant Gujarat' with 350 cotton...

09:25 AM, Apr 15, 2013

Hyderabad, Paksitan: When Veero Kolhi made the asset declaration required of candidates for Pakistan's May elections, she listed the following items: two beds, five mattresses, cooking pots and a bank account with life savings of 2,800 rupees. While she may lack the fortune that is the customary entry ticket to Pakistani politics, Kolhi can make a claim that may resonate more powerfully with poor voters than the wearily familiar promises...

08:29 PM, Apr 14, 2013

Raipur: The National Human Rights Commission on Tuesday took cognizance of a complaint that more than 42 people, including minors, from Chhattisgarh are working as bonded labourers at brick kilns in Jammu and Kashmir. The commission has asked its director general (investigation) to depute a team for an "on-the-spot inquiry and submit a report expeditiously in the matter", said a statement posted on the commission's website. "A complainant has alleged...

02:47 AM, Apr 10, 2013

New Delhi: India is holding talks with Saudi Arabia over the kingdom's new work policy Nitaqat, that seeks to reserve a percentage of jobs for locals, an official said in New Delhi on Wednesday. He added that there has not been any significant rise in Indians returning home due to the policy. Indian ministers may also meet Saudi Arabia's labour minister if the situation so requires, the official said. "We...

12:47 AM, Apr 04, 2013

Odiya and Bihari labourers hired on contract for Goa's mining industry need to be "shunted" out of the state as the mining ban is forcing them towards crime, Congress legislator Vishwajeet Rane alleged on Tuesday. Rane was speaking during the question hour during the Budget Session of the Goa legislative assembly. ...

02:45 PM, Mar 26, 2013

The sixth edition of Real Heroes is celebrating ordinary women performing extraordinary service. Real hero Saroja amma is fighting child labour in Karnataka's silk industries. According to the Census 2011, 12.6 million children work as labourers in India. India has the highest number of child labourers in the world, according to UNICEF. ...

09:59 AM, Mar 15, 2013