In a move quantifying India’s position on the employment of foreign workers on Indian projects, the government has said that only one highly-skilled foreign professional will be permitted for every 100 local or Indian labourers.
The decision to limit foreign workers comes against the backdrop of concerns within the government and industry about tens of thousands of Chinese working in India, many without required documentation for employment.
The Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoL&E) has said that no company will be permitted to bring any unskilled, semi-skilled or skilled persons from overseas. “Highly skilled (persons) and professionals may be granted employment visas to the extent of 1 per cent of the total persons employed,” said an office memorandum issued by the ministry in September.
“The policy is still in force, no questions,” a ministry official told The Indian Express, adding that enforcement was up to states and Home Affairs. “We do not have the machinery for enforcement,” the official added.
The government has acknowledged that the decision to send thousands of Chinese workers packing has resulted in delays in infrastructure projects.
In Haryana, progress of the 1,200 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Station has been put on hold due to a “problem in visa for Chinese experts”, according to a document placed in Parliament Friday by Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.
Reliance Power’s Hissar project that sourced parts from Shanghai Electric has employed only a limited number of Chinese experts for assembling of parts. The project includes no labourers, said Reliance executives.
According to the MoL&E memorandum, ‘experts’ are defined as personnel with a “technical degree or diploma after 10-12 years of schooling indicating their field of specialization and specialized job they would do on the project”.
Despite the delays, the MoL&E cited the common sentiment in the government as justification for the policy: India has a labour surplus India has a labour surplus, so no employment visa should be granted to non-professionals “at any cost”. The Centre says the policy is a general guideline for workers coming to India from across the world, and not aimed specifically at Chinese workers.
The Ministry of Power has acknowledged that the power sector, where many of the Chinese workers are placed, is poorly prepared to handle the exit of some 25,000 un-skilled and semi-skilled labourers from central, state and private projects. “We cannot produce even a single welder,” power secretary HS Brahma had said at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) energy conference in early November, urging private companies to institute training programmes to replicate the services of the Chinese workers.
Although power infrastructure growth may face further delays if Indian workers are to replace the Chinese, the issues may well turn out to be wider. As an executive with China’s Dongfang Electric Corporation (which is providing power parts and labour for eight projects in India) said, “China made the mistake of sending workers over on business and tourist visas and this is not helping the relationship between the two countries.”
The MoL&E memorandum has been sent to various companies known to invest in Chinese parts and labour, including the 17 Indian power companies that purchased Chinese boilers and turbines. The list is led by Lanco Infratech Ltd, the Adani Group and Reliance Power, which have together invested in 13,265 MW, to be generated by Chinese parts on 13 different projects included in the 11th and 12th Five-Year Plans, according to Central Electricity Authority data.
|
|
