'Migration of people should be liberalised at macro level'

Migration of people at a macro level should be liberalised so that market forces operate efficiently and ensure competitive wages and social security, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Whyalla Ravi said today.

"Migration whether emigration or return at the micro level is an individual choice and government both at the Centre and the states have role only to facilitate the decision of the individuals," he said.

The minister also said that government is working to ensure adequate opportunities of skills training for youths so that they can gain employment and India can gain competitiveness in global labour market.

"India's national policy on skill development (2009) aims to create a workforce empowered with improved skills, knowledge and internationally recognised qualifications to again access to decent employment and ensure India's competitiveness in global labour market,", Ravi said during a conference on "India -EU Migration and Mobility - Prospects and Challenges".

The minister said the policy also aims to increase productivity of the workforce both in the organised as well as unorganised sector.

Asked if the India-EU cooperation will help increase foreign reserves in India, the minister said it was not only the financial side but also the side of the migrants.

"The important thing is the availability of work force in India and they can go and work freely. But there are many problems in between especially as every country has its own migration policy.

"So this kind of conference will help in taking initiative for the acceptance of the Indian workforce in European countries. Definitely a part of it is money coming into India. But the bigger thing is employment opportunity," he stressed.

The ministry is also implementing "Swarna Pravas Yojna, a central government scheme which aims to train about 200,000 youth for overseas jobs in the 12th Five year plan period.

Asked whether there will be an ease in visa norms, the minister said people are getting longer visas.

"When they go for employment, they get longer visas. There is an improvement in ties between India and EU because dialogues at different levels including that at the level of the Prime Minister always helps," Ravi said.

For facilitating international migration of the skilled, the ministry has signed 18 social security agreements and a Human Resource Mobility Partnership (HRMP) with Denmark.

Stressing on the need for greater cooperation between India-EU considering the demographic situation on both sides, Ravi said ageing population in Europe is a cause of decelerating workforce in labour market.

"Out of the 1.2 billion people in India, one-third of them are between the age of 1-14 and by 2030, India will have a dynamic and youthful workforce of about 700 million with an average age of 35. This is expected to constitute a substantial proportion of world's workforce," he said.