An
estimated 5 million Indian Nationals with ECR (Emigration Check Required)
passports are working on temporary employment/contract visas in the Gulf
Countries.
It
is observed that a majority of the earnings periodically remitted by overseas
Indian workers to their families in India are rarely accumulated as savings and
often cause only a temporary improvement in the consumption expenditure of
their families. As a result majority of overseas Indian workers face the risk
of poverty when they return to India and when they are too old to work.
Overseas Indian workers are largely excluded from formal social security
benefits available to residents of ECR countries.
Overseas
Indian workers are largely excluded from formal social security benefits
available to residents of ECR countries.
Thus,
to provide them social security, the Ministry has launched Mahatma Gandhi
Pravasi Suraksha Yojana(MGPSY) in May 2012. The objective of MGPSY is to
encourage and enable overseas Indian workers having Emigration Check Required
(ECR) passports going to ECR countries, to (a) save for their return and
resettlement and (b) save for their pension. They are also provided Life
Insurance cover against natural death, during the period of coverage, without
any additional payment by them.
Overseas
Indian workers with ECR passports and aged between 18 and 50 years on an
employment/contract visa are eligible to join the scheme.
The
Ministry also contributes, for a period of five years, or till the return of
workers to India, whichever is earlier, as under:
a)
Rs.1,000 per subscriber who saves between Rs.1,000 and Rs.12,000 per annum in
their National Pension Scheme(NPS) -Lite account;
b)
An additional contribution of Rs.1,000 per annum for overseas Indian women
workers who save between Rs.1,000 and Rs.12,000 per annum in National Pension
Scheme(NPS)-Lite account;
c)
An annual contribution of Rs. 900 per annum per subscriber who saves at least
Rs. 4000 per annum towards Return and Resettlement fund;
d)
Rs.100/- for life insurance cover of Rs.30,000 per year against natural death
and Rs.75,000 against death by accident through the Janshree Bima Yojana of
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
There
is an integrated enrollment process for the subscribers who will be issued a
unique MGPSY account number upon enrolment. On their return to India, the
subscriber can withdraw the Return and Resettlement savings as a lump sum.
However,
the subscriber would be able to continue savings for their old age in the
NPS-Lite in line with the Swavalamban Scheme. Alternatively subscriber can
withdraw pension corpus as per the guidelines prescribed by the Pension Fund
Regulatory Development Authority (PFRDA).
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