Recruitment agents want the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOAI) to withdraw a new software system for emigration clearance developed by Tata Consultancy Services.
The RAs allege that the eMigrate online system, which replaced the in-house System Automation Initiative (SAI) platform, is delaying emigration clearances and leading to huge backlog of applications from semi-skilled workers. They want MOAI, the body responsible for welfare of Indians abroad, to bring back the SAI platform till the new system’s operational issues are rectified.
The Indian Personnel Export Promotion Council arranged a mass protest gathering at the Protectors of Emigrants (PoE) office in Mumbai. Over 700 representatives from the recruitment trade were present at the gathering. A memorandum was handed by the Council to the Protector General of Emigrants, MOAI, detailing the challenges faced since the implementation of the eMigrate platform.
“More than one lakh job seekers to the Gulf are stranded in Mumbai and different parts of the country due to the implementation of the TCS eMigrate system,” theCouncil said in a note, a copy of which was seen by
TCS sources indicate that the resistance is coming from “malicious elements” who wish to derail the process of making emigration a smoother affair.
A TCS spokesperson said that over 1,00,000 emigration clearances and 22,375 demands submitted by registered agents have been approved through its eMigrate. “As per Government norms, the eMigrate application was tested by a third party (Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification) as per RFP conditions before making the system operational. It is a forward looking system with the proposed Emigration Management Authority Bill in mind. It aims to eliminate voluminous paperwork and the need to present physical passports by recruiting agents in Protectors of Emigrants (PoEs) Offices. eMigrate is operational 100 per cent in all POE offices.” the spokesperson said.
VS Abdulkareem, President of IPEPCIL, said the new system takes 30-45 minutes to upload a single passport as against 4-5 minutes in the earlier one.
Under the SAI system, agents said that Mumbai PoE was able to clear up to 40,000 passports a month. With TCS eMigrate, only 8,000 passports were cleared last month, said Qureshi Athar Salim of Shalimar Agencies. The Mumbai POE reportedly processes documents for over 70 per cent of all emigrants.
IPEPCIL estimates that over 20,000 work visas are on the verge on expiring within a week’s time.
TCS was selected for this project by MOAI through a proper bidding process. It pipped Wipro, Spanco, Mahindra Satyam (now Tech Mahindra) and other companies to become eMigrate project’s system integrator.