After Keralites, now Goans return home
Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 15:33 IST   |    30 Comments
Printer Print Email Email
After Keralites, now Goans return home
Bangalore: The Goa State government is making efforts to create special corpus to help non-resident Goans (NRGs), as the government is worried about the large number of Goans returning home because of the job losses in the Gulf countries, mainly Dubai. A mechanism has been implied to create such a fund along with a pension scheme, if possible, for the NRGs. "Our aim is to create a financial corpus which will be self-sufficient to aid the NRGs," said Eduardo Faleiro, Former External Affairs Minister and the Commissioner of NRI Affairs, Goa. A bill will also be tabled in the state's assembly session this month regarding the matter. The welfare fund will be based on the contributions made by NRGs, will provide financial relief to Goan expats in this financial crunch. "The level of relief to be given will depend on the expats' contributions to the fund along with other criteria like experience, qualification and their levels of designation," said Faleiro. Over 40,000 NRGs have returned to Goa in the past 10 months as a result of the global financial meltdown. This is a large number in context of a state like Goa, as it already has over one lakh registered unemployed. "It's a major loss for the state. The NRGs are adding to the state's burden. Their return also means the remittances coming from them would stop. It's a double whammy of sorts," said a state government official. Goa Migration Study 2008 states that nearly 12 percent of Goa's 14 lakh population has family members living and working abroad. Nearly 60 percent of them are in the Gulf region. "I have reports that many from Dubai are returning home. This is a major cause for our concern," admitted Faleiro. Goa got a remittance of about 700 crore from NRGs, which is up to 6.3 percent of the state domestic product. These effects can impact the state's economy. "The state is badly hit by the world crisis," said the state official. NRGs coming back will also strain the state's resources, for which the state government needs to deal urgently, after a weak tourist season and depleting mining revenue.
Source: IANS
siliconindia