EDITORIAL
Govt needs to take proactive steps to safeguard the interest of overseas jobseekers
Many Goan youth have fallen victim to fraudulent overseas recruiting agencies over the years. The issue was rightly discussed by MLAs in the Goa Assembly on Tuesday.
BJP’s Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar, through a Calling Attention Motion, highlighted how several youth are being misled and taken abroad through the dangerous ‘donkey’ or ‘dunki’ route, often after paying lakhs of rupees, and are then subjected to severe hardships. Some were even deported. The recruiting agencies, he said, failed to fulfil the contractual agreement with the jobseekers and urged the government to step up monitoring and enforcement.
Stating that there exists a “syndicate” targeting vulnerable youth desperate for jobs abroad, GFP chief Vijai Sardesai said that these unregistered agencies charge anywhere between Rs 11 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. He and RGP’s Viresh Borkar said this is the direct fallout of Goa’s high unemployment rate. Many other MLAs also cited similar cases and called on the government to take strict action against such fraudulent overseas agencies. Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral brought to the notice of the House that the Protector of Emigrants (which comes under the MEA) for Goa is currently based in Karnataka, and due to this, Goans are facing several problems. He urged the state government to request the Centre to set up a sub-office of the Protector of Emigrants in Goa.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that 15 cases have been registered against such agencies since 2022, and 15 persons have been arrested since then. He also said that only nine overseas recruitment agencies have been registered in Goa. Sawant urged Goan youth to approach only the registered recruitment agencies.
One of the cases this year was reported in February when two Goan youth, who were deported from the United States recently, filed a complaint with the Vasco police against an overseas recruiting agency. Government authorities have been appealing to job aspirants to verify the legitimacy of recruitment agents. The jobseekers who get cheated say that there is no mechanism for them to check the authenticity of agencies.
This point was raised by Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira, a former Advocate General of Goa, who suggested that all recruitment agencies be mandated to publicly display their registration numbers. “If an agency does not display its credentials, the police must act against them immediately,” he said.
This takes us to one question: Are the police not aware of unregistered overseas recruiting agencies operating in the state? They are the ears and eyes of the administration, but maybe they don’t convey such information to the departments concerned, for some reason or the other. More than a decade ago, several educational institutions had set up shop in the state offering “job-oriented” courses, and many Goans registered themselves with them. After getting their certificates, they learnt that the institutions were not recognised by the UGC. That’s the reason some MLAs in the past have said that anyone could come and do their business here and the government will be blissfully unaware of it.
No doubt, jobseekers, or for that matter anyone who invests money, need to doubly confirm the authenticity of the agency or institution concerned. On the other hand, can the government agencies close their eyes and book cases only after the damage is done? Why can’t they be proactive in protecting the interest of its citizens? As the MLAs pointed out, there’s a lot the government can do to safeguard the interest of jobseekers.
