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NRI pension scheme to roll out in three weeks
NRI pension scheme to roll out in three weeks Sajila Saseendran / 7 June 2013 The Indian government is set to roll out a social security plan for expatriate Indians in the UAE that is expected to mainly benefit tens of thousands of blue-collar Indian workers. The official launch of the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojna (MGPSY) is scheduled to be held in three weeks, the Indian Ambassador to the UAE, M.K. Lokesh, said on Thursday. “We have requested the Minister (of Overseas Indian Affairs) to come over for the launch. We are waiting for his date for launching it in three weeks.” He was speaking to Khaleej Times after an interactive session with India’s Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed, organised by the Indian Community Welfare Committee (ICWC) in Dubai. The MGPSY scheme is a Pension and Life Insurance Fund that promises a contributory pension, resettlement savings and life insurance for expatriate Indians, who require emigration clearance. An Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) stamp is put on an Indian passport when the holder has not completed Grade 10. Most of the blue-collar Indian workers, who constitute about 60 per cent of the nearly two million Indian expatriates in the UAE, fall under the ECR category and are set to benefit from the project introduced by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA). Lokesh said the government had already entrusted two banks, the Bank of Baroda and the State Bank of Travancore, to facilitate the scheme in the UAE where the government is making the overseas launch of the project. A pilot level project was launched in Kerala after the MOIA secured the cabinet approval for the scheme last year. Ahead of the launch in the UAE, officials from the banks, with assistance from Indian missions, have launched a campaign targeting labour accommodations to raise awareness about the benefits of the scheme among the potential beneficiaries. The ambassador said awareness drives to popularise the scheme will be conducted through the Indian Workers’ Resource Centre, as well. The ministry has also made awareness materials available at the offices of the Protectors of Emmigrants, who monitor the overseas employments of Indians with ECR passports. At Thursday’s session moderated by the ICWC Convener K. Kumar, the Chairman of Pravasi Bandhu Welfare Trust K. V. Shamsudheen said the scheme would receive more subscribers if the government provided an auto-debit facility from NRI bank accounts in India, thus avoiding additional leg work and service cost every month. In his reply, minister Ahmed said the government would look into that provision subject to its compliance with the existing regulations. Meanwhile, expatriates from the state of Kerala stand a chance to benefit from one more pension and welfare scheme launched by the state government. Chairman of Pravasi Welfare Board of the Kerala government P.M. Abdul Salam, who is in town to raise awareness about the scheme, said only about 125,000 of the estimated 5 million beneficiaries have subscribed to the scheme launched in 2009 even though it is not limited to those holding ECR passports. “People should understand the significance of such welfare programmes, especially in the current scenario where several expatriates are forced to return home due to new labour laws being enforced in some Gulf countries,” he pointed out. Shamsudheen said the MGPSY scheme, like the Kerala model, should also cover expatriates with lower income instead of limiting it to the ECR category. “There are several poor Indians who do not require emmigration clearance. The government should consider including such people also for this scheme that will be a big solace to those from the lower economic strata especially when they return home.” sajila@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Up the oven they go, to sleep in a deck
Up the oven they go, to sleep in a deck Staff Reporter / 6 June 2013 Some bakery workers in the Capital have to climb through an oven to get into a cramped, dusty and smelly ‘deck’ where they live, a recent inspection of their accommodation has revealed. The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City launched an intensified inspection of workers’ accommodation units provided by their employers, during which it was discovered that many live in cramped and unhygienic conditions, which often double up as storerooms. In one of the cases, inspectors found a smelly, dusty overhead deck in one of the bakeries, which was used as lodging and sleeping place for the bakery workers with very poor living conditions. “Workers gain access to the upper deck of the bakery by climbing up the oven of the bakery in order to conceal the place from inspectors. It also contains casual extensions of electricity and sewage, and lacks health factors such as sunlight and air-circulation,” said Municipality public health director, Khalifa Mohammed Al Rumaithi. These places, he added, “lack the least principles of public health” and were mostly over-crowded with workers living next to gas cylinders or in rooms that doubled as storerooms. “The Municipality acts with these contraventions according to the provisions of the law. Offenders are offered one week’s time to redress their conditions and remove additions and causes of offences in order to avoid legal questioning, and issuing of offence tickets to them, but judicial transgressions will be enforced against repeaters,” Al Rumaithi said. He called upon business owners to use suitable premises for accommodation and refrain from using work facilities for accommodation and stressed the importance of removing them. The official advised these establishments to ensure the provision of a healthy accommodation for workers and compliance with the occupational health and safety stipulations in order to maintain the health of workers, avoid subjecting them to accidents and injuries, provide suitable health and living conditions, and address the public health requirements at those facilities. He reiterated the commitment of the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City to continuously ensure the compliance of business and occupational outlets and warehouses to provide suitable accommodation to workers and avoid using overhead deck for accommodation and storage purposes. Al Rumaithi added the Municipality would continue its inspection campaigns to combat all sorts of unlawful additions and structures made in installations at villas, flats, buildings and residential and commercial outlets in order to ensure the highest standards of living and sustainable environment for the residents of Abu Dhabi city. He called for strict compliance with the standards of public health, and the applicable laws in order to ensure a decent living for all community members. Workers were a key community segment that had made a considerable contribution to the comprehensive development in Abu Dhabi, he said. news@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Call for balance between growth and environment
Call for balance between growth and environment Silvia Radan / 6 June 2013 The UAE is a land of rich beauty, but its environmental challenges, linked to those in the rest of the world, severely threaten nature in all forms. To mark World Environment Day, the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research invited Dr. Terrence Pierson to talk about the UAE’s environmental successes and challenges. Pollution is a big worry when it comes to environmental challenges. Waste left by tourists at Wadi Wurayah. — KT file photo Dr. Pierson is the vice-president of Global Climate Change and Environmental Sciences at the USA’s RTI International, an independent, non-profit institute that provides research, development, and technical services to government and commercial clients worldwide. “What a beautiful country you have,” he said. Exceptional habitats in mountainous areas; shifting sand dune formations in Liwa; wildlife rich swamps such as Al Wathba where a record 39 flamingo chicks were born this spring; protected islands where endangered species such as the osprey and the dugong are thriving; and hardy coral reefs are all environmental treasures that need to be preserved, he said. The reefs were adapted to extreme sea water temperatures, which would become increasingly important as elsewhere coral reefs died out due to increased sea temperatures caused by climate change. However, there were quite a few environmental challenges standing in the way, Dr Pierson said. One of them was the increase of life-threatening carbon dioxide pollution, waste production, and water and energy consumption, all caused by the increase in living standards. “The number of urban developments between 2007 and 2012 increased by 300 per cent,” Dr Pierson said. In 2012, Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) alone had 383 infrastructure projects on its table, awaiting approval. Economic growth was important, but Dr Pierson warned the country needed a balance between growth and environmental protection if it was to have a future. In the past decades worldwide natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, floods and extreme weather patterns that affected the UAE as well, have indicated signs of climate change. Pollution is one of the big worries when it comes to environmental challenges, and health, and Abu Dhabi has plenty of it. “Measurements done by EAD showed the PM10 (pollution) in Abu Dhabi between 129 ppm and 203 ppm annually, while the World Health Organisation standard is only 20 micrograms per cubic meter,” revealed Dr. Pierson. PM stands for particular matter, meaning the amount of solid and liquid particles found in the air, and PM10, measured in parts per million or ppm, refers to the big particles that are between 2.5 and 10 micrometers. They are caused by natural elements such as dust, but also by all kinds of man-made pollution such as fumes from petrol or waste burning. “High levels of PM10 can cause diseases such as lung cancer,” warned Dr Pierson. “In the UAE, the high level PM10 comes mostly from dust, and most international studies for PM10 are based on carbon levels, not dust,” he added. Greenhouse Gases (GHG), which include water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone, greatly affect the temperature. Without them, the planet’s average temperature would be about 33 degrees colder. But since the 1900s, when industries took over the developed world, one particular GHG, carbon dioxide, has increased to 400 ppm due to fossil fuels burning. “In the UAE, carbon dioxide accounts for 79 per cent of all GHG emissions,” said Dr. Pierson. “GHG increased emissions will lead to many environmental challenges. One of them is the sea level rising, which is a big concern here in UAE, because of coastal developments,” he added. In fact, the energy sector is responsible for 72.6 per cent of direct GHG emissions, followed by waste at 6.9 per cent, agriculture at 4 per cent and industrial processes at 1 per cent. Saving energy has become almost synonymous with more efficient air conditioning, since over 60 per cent of total electricity used in Abu Dhabi emirate is from air conditioning. Water quality — and consumption — as well as waste management are also major environmental challenges that are also affected by the UAE’s growing population and higher living standards. silvia@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
