New Delhi: Demanding a halt in the implementation of the Nitaqat law in Saudi Arabia, the BJP on Saturday said in Delhi that it would work against Indian interests. "The Nitaqat scheme shall primarily work against the Indian interests. A minimum of two to three years moratorium to implement it is demanded," said BJP's Convenor of Overseas Affairs Vijay Jolly.
Under Nitaqat, it is mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. Over 300,000 firms in Saudi Arabia reportedly do not employ any locals and the Nitaqat policy seeks to deal firmly with this.
Indian missions in Saudi Arabia are scrambling to help over 55,000 Indian workers leave the kingdom in adherence to the new policy. Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is in Jeddah to discuss matters of bilateral interest, including the Nitaqat law.
The Indian embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah and other centres in Dammam and the Eastern Province have issued a second lot of 27,000 emergency certificates to enable Indian citizens to leave Saudi Arabia for home....
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05:24 AM, May 26, 2013
Jeddah: Terming the 'Nitaqat' law as an "opportunity" for those who are stuck in Saudi Arabia for years, India on Saturday said that contrary to perceptions, the number of Indians coming to the Gulf Kingdom has increased "significantly" in the last few months. "There is no exodus of people. The number of Indians who have come to Saudi Arabia in the past three months have risen significantly according to Saudi...
02:21 PM, May 25, 2013
On Board Special Aircraft: With thousands of Indians set to return from Saudi Arabia due to the 'Nitaqat' law, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said state governments have been "forewarned" so that the situation does not become "unmanageable". Khurshid said the government was in touch with Saudi authorities to fasten the formalities so that the deadline of July 3 given by them could be adhered to. The 'Nitaqat'...
11:06 AM, May 25, 2013
Jeddah: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday arrived at Jeddah on an official visit during which he will hold talks with Saudi Arabia's leadership on a range of issues, including the controversial 'Nitaqat' law, energy security and counter-terrorism cooperation. Khurshid's visit is the first by an Indian External Affairs Minister in the last five years. In 2008, then Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee had visited the Gulf Kingdom. The Minister...
02:55 AM, May 25, 2013
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will pay a three-day visit to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia starting from Friday, the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in the last five years, during which the kingdom's Nitaqat work policy, regional and international issues would be discussed. As many as 56,700 Indians face deportation from Saudi Arabia in the next one-and-half months and ten officials have been dispatched to the...
06:15 AM, May 24, 2013
New Delhi: As many as 56,700 Indians face deportation from Saudi Arabia in the next one-and-half months and ten officials have been dispatched to the kingdom to help the Indian mission prepare emergency certificates for their exit, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday. "As of now, 56,700 Indians have registered with the Indian mission for getting exit permits as they have no valid passports or other travel documents,"...
05:05 AM, May 24, 2013
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...
03:07 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will visit Saudi Arabia on May 24-27, the first visit by an Indian foreign minister in the last five years, during which the kingdom's Nitaqat work policy, regional and international issues would be discussed. Then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee had visited Saudi Arabia in 2008. Khurshid's visit comes days after the trip of a high level Indian delegation, led by Overseas Indian...
11:40 PM, May 14, 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
Thiruvananthapuram: A total of 6,569 Indian nationals are currently lodged in prisons of 67 foreign countries, including 254 in Pakistan, according to information accessed by a Kerala-based RTI activist from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The Arab countries topped the list with Saudi Arabia (1691), Kuwait (1161) and UAE (1012), according to the information provided by the MEA on April 22 to lawyer and RTI activist DB Binu in...
02:49 PM, May 03, 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
Washington: The US has condemned a reported Saudi court ruling sentencing a man to be paralysed for an attack which left another man paralysed as "incredibly disturbing". "If these reports are true, they would be incredibly disturbing," the US State Department said in an email statement on Friday in response to a question asked during its daily press briefing. "We expect the Saudi government to respect international human rights norms....
12:28 PM, Apr 06, 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
Amid worries that Saudi Arabia's new 'nitaqat' policy, which seeks to reserve 10 per cent jobs for Saudis, would affect thousands of Indian workers in the kingdom, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday said there was "no need to panic" and the Indian government was ready to provide any assistance to affected Indian workers. ...
04:15 AM, Apr 02, 2013
Saudi Arabia may try to end anonymity for Twitter users in the country by limiting access to the site to people who register their identification documents, the Arab News daily reported on Saturday. ...
03:32 PM, Mar 30, 2013
India on Friday raised its concern with Saudi Arabia over its policy of reserving 10 per cent jobs for locals, a decision which will hit over 3 lakh low-and semi-skilled workers from India with a sizable number coming from Kerala. ...
01:47 AM, Mar 30, 2013
Thousands of Indian workers are likely to lose their jobs after a workforce nationalisation law came into effect in Saudi Arabia on Friday. The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. ...
12:07 PM, Mar 29, 2013
Saudi Arabia is scheduled to execute seven men on Tuesday for crimes committed when they were juveniles aged under 18, the British-based rights group Amnesty International said. ...
02:47 AM, Mar 05, 2013
Almost two years after his death at the hands of US special forces in Pakistan, a UN Security Council committee has removed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden from its sanctions list, although an order freezing any assets of the Islamist extremist remains in place. ...
05:22 AM, Feb 26, 2013
Online activists in Saudi Arabia are calling for harsher punishments for child abuse after reports that a prominent cleric received only a light sentence after confessing to the beating death of his 5-year-old daughter. ...
03:04 PM, Feb 05, 2013
