The Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala is gearing up to propose an NRI rehabilitation plan to the central government soon.
The Kerala government will submit a Rs 2,000 crore proposal of rehabilitation of NRIs who came back to the state from foreign countries amid the Covid-19 pandemic to the Union government soon, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on October 27.
The CM of Kerala told the Assembly that this is an addition to the state’s existing various relief packages.
The Covid-19 portal indicates that a total of 17,51,852 people returned to their home states from abroad as of October 26, and a majority of them came back from Middle East countries. However, according to the Airport Authority of India, about 39,55,230 people have travelled through several airports from May 2020 to October 2021, and most of them returned, stated the CM.
Highlighting the government’s assistance, CM Vijayan said a sum of Rs 5,000 each has been given to 1,33,800 non-resident Indians (NRIs) who came back with a valid passport and a valid job visa but have not yet managed to go back. Other than this, the state government provided Rs 10,000 each to 181 returnees who tested positive for Covid-19 and Rs 1,000 each to 18,278 people who receive the diaspora pension.
As per the Covid-19 portal figures, around 12.57 lakh returnees lost their jobs during the pandemic. To help them start some enterprise or business, the Kerala government has earmarked Rs 50 crore in the 2021-22 Budget session.
Rs 24.4 crore will be disbursed in the ongoing financial year through the Norka department project for returning emigrants (NDPREM). For those planning to come back from overseas, the government has launched the Norka skill repository project and skill up-gradation and reintegration projects, CM was quoted as stating.
Besides, the state government had initiated numerous schemes, including loans, interest subsidies and similar sops, for the returnees to start some productive ventures.
