Panel Raps Delay In Emigration Act

February 2017 \ News \ PARLIAMENT WATCH

Panel Raps Delay In Emigration Act

A parliamentary panel has pulled up the government for delaying a new emigration policy that would keep with the changing times,

By Anjali Ojha

Mr. VK Singh

A parliamentary panel has pulled up the government for delaying a new emigration policy that would keep with the changing times, and expressed displeasure over a bill being put in abeyance for long years.

India’s current emigration act was formulated in 1983 and amended in 2009. The Emigration Management Bill, which is to replace the act, was formulated by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in 2009 and updated in 2010 and 2011. However, it never saw the light of day in Parliament. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, in an earlier report had been tough on the government, questioning the delay in introducing a new emigration bill “that was reflective of the changed international as well as domestic situation”.