Missing abroad: 432 Indians in three years

New Delhi: As many as 432 Indian citizens went missing abroad in the last three years out of which 141 remained untraced, the government informed Lok Sabha today. Replying to a question, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi gave detailed figures of missing Indians between 2010 and 2012 in 18 countries which include Australia, United Arab Emirates, the US, Britain, Malaysia, Italy and Canada.[caption id=“attachment_659545” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi. Image courtesy PIB[/caption] He said while 291 Indians have been traced, 141 are still missing. A maximum of 99 Indians remained untraced in United Arab Emirates, followed by 28 in Malaysia and three in Australia. Ravi said the data was complied after obtaining reports from 90 Indian Missions. Replying to a separate question, Ravi said the government has received 5,163 complaints of exploitation and harassment of Indian women working in 17 Emigration Check Required countries since 2010. He said a total of 1,853 complaints were received in 2010, 1,397 in 2011 and 1,671 in 2012. A total of 190 such cases have been reported in the first two months of the current year. As per the figure, a maximum of 3,145 complaints have been received from Indian women working in Kuwait, followed by 625 in Saudi Arabia and 583 in Oman. According to rules, ECR clearance is mandatory for undergraduates seeking overseas employment in 17 countries. The countries where ECR is mandatory include United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Libya, Malaysia, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Brunei, Afghanistan, Syria, Indonesia, Lebanon and Thailand. PTI