Emigration...

“After the draft is ready, Parliament will have to approve it and only then will the new policy be enacted. Consequently, it is not possible to comment as to when exactly it will be implemented as the entire process will take time to finish.”

Reacting to the government’s decision, Nikhil Varma, who is a practising advocate in the Supreme Court of India and a co-owner of a Delhi-based law firm said, “The current obsolete Act dates back to 1983 and has on several occasions been publicly criticised for its shortcomings.”

People emigrating by bypassing the clearance process and no strict oversight on protectorgenerals are some of the shortcomings of the current policy, experts said.

According to Varma, another issue is that the current emigration act does not distinguish between regular and irregular emigrants going outside the country. In the new policy, the government must amend this particular section and incorporate some distinctions between the two categories, he said.

Varma pointed out that when the ISIS had kidnapped 39 Indians in June, 2014, the kidnapped irregular emigrants were not helped by the government as their emigration record was not in order. “The new law must have some humanitarian grounds and consider such genuine cases as well,” he added.

THE PROCESS OF WORKING ON THE NEW ACT HAS ALREADY STARTED, DNYANESHWAR MULAY SAID