NEW DELHI - A unique orientation programme rolled out by the Indian government last year to prepare its nationals to live in the Gulf has reached a milestone.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs, MEA, today announced that the programme, called Pre-Departure Orientation Training or PDOT, has trained 50,000 prospective expats as of this month. PDOT programmes were initially made available in New Delhi and Mumbai in January last year. Subsequently, the number of PDOT Centres has increased to 10 across India.

PDOT programmes are aimed at enhancing the soft skills of India’s migrant workers in terms of culture, language, traditions, and local rules and regulations of the destination country. They also aim to sensitise workers about pathways to safe and legal work migration and various government programmes for their welfare and protection.

MEA said those who undergo the programme are able to adjust to conditions in host countries and are, therefore, equipped to live abroad and contribute to growth and development in their countries of destination.

The Ministry said in a statement that "PDOT is one of the several initiatives and mechanisms of the MEA to ensure a safe, orderly, legal and humane migration process of Indians. The well-being and welfare of Indian migrants abroad is a foremost priority for MEA and our missions abroad." It further said that "as a part of continued pro-active efforts in this direction, the Ministry is taking further steps aimed at imparting Pre-Departure Orientation Training to half a million prospective migrants going for overseas employment all over the world by 2022." Of the total of 10 PDOT Centres now, six are managed by National Skill Development Corporation at Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow and Kochi. The remaining four at Jaipur, Hyderabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar are managed by state Government agencies of Rajasthan and Telangana, respectively.

The UAE hosts approximately 3.3 million Indians, according to the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi.

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