5 months ago
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Kodikunnil Suresh, MP, has criticised the Union authorities successful the Lok Sabha implicit the underutilisation of the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF), citing authoritative information submitted by the Ministry of External Affairs.
In a connection issued present connected Saturday, the Mavelikara MP said that arsenic per the government’s ain reply, ₹705 crore remains unutilised successful the ICWF corpus arsenic connected June 30, 2025, adjacent arsenic Indians overseas proceed to look detention, aesculapian emergencies, ineligible distress and difficulties successful repatriation.
“The ICWF was created to supply exigency aesculapian aid, boarding and lodging, ineligible assistance, aerial passage, proscription of mortal remains and enactment to deserted Indian women abroad. While the authorities States that much than ₹732 crore has been utilised since inception to assistance astir 3.6 lakh distressed Indians, the beingness of specified a monolithic unspent equilibrium exposes the nonaccomplishment of the NDA authorities to usage the money proactively and humanely,” Mr. Suresh said.
Drastic drop
He said year-wise expenditure information showed a crisp and worrying decline. In 2020, ICWF spending stood astatine ₹128.98 crore. This dropped drastically to ₹23.27 crore successful 2021. In 2022, ₹23.57 crore was spent. Though determination was a marginal summation to ₹33.91 crore successful 2023, expenditure again fell to ₹21.62 crore successful 2024 and further to conscionable ₹12.95 crore successful 2025 (up to June).
Category-wise information further exposed misplaced priorities, Mr. Suresh said. Expenditure connected boarding and lodging declined from implicit ₹14.42 crore successful 2020 to astir ₹5.15 crore successful 2025 (till June). Emergency aesculapian attraction spending dropped sharply from ₹1.14 crore successful 2020 to simply ₹13.58 lakh successful 2025. Spending connected ineligible assistance, important for Indians facing detention and prosecution abroad, remained inconsistent and inadequate. Support for deserted Indian women overseas continues to beryllium negligible, often constricted to a fewer lakh rupees annually, contempt rising cases.
The crisis, according to him, was astir disposable successful the Gulf region, location to lakhs of Malayali and Indian migrant workers. Countries including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain routinely witnesser labour disputes, aesculapian emergencies, detentions and quality rights violations involving Indian workers. “Yet ICWF utilisation remains grossly inadequate. In Kuwait, spending declined from ₹25.18 lakh successful 2021 to ₹1.72 lakh successful 2025. In Qatar (Doha), spending fluctuated betwixt ₹48.60 lakh successful 2022, ₹64.77 lakh successful 2023 and ₹77.81 lakh successful 2025, figures that are disproportionately debased considering the standard of migrant distress. In Saudi Arabia (Riyadh), astir ₹7.87 crore was spent betwixt 2022 and 2025, which is inactive insufficient fixed the magnitude of labour and ineligible issues faced by Indians there. Several UAE Missions, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, reported nil oregon minimal utilisation successful aggregate years, portion Oman and Bahrain besides showed constricted disbursal,” the Mavelikara MP said.
He said that extracurricular the Gulf, countries with ample Indian and Malayali populations, including Canada, the USA, UK and Italy, faced akin neglect.
