Members of the Rajya Sabha today praised the efforts of the ministry of external affairs in bringing back persons of Indian origin from abroad in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, but wanted Government help in getting them jobs.

The members were seeking clarifications on a statement given by external affairs minister S Jaishankar “regarding recent developments pertaining to the welfare abroad of Indians, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in the Covid situation.”

The elders were unanimous that the ministry, its officials and the Indian Missions abroad had done excellent work in arranging for the return of the Indians back home during the serious Covid-19 situation.

But they said the Indians coming back had suddenly lost their jobs. Many of them wanted to stay back, while some wanted to go back to their jobs again. The loss of jobs had brought economic misery to them.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had engaged with leaders of several countries for Indian returning to their jobs.

The Government had started skills mapping of the workers. He said some universities had allowed their students to come back. “We are keen they don’t lose a year, and get back,” he said. Jaishankar said the Government would increase the air bubble arrangements with more countries to help Indians.

He said the focus of efforts in the last few months had shifted to Indians going back to their usual places of work, study and domicile. To that end, the Government had concluded air transport bubbles, that are temporary reciprocal arrangements for commercial passenger services until the resumption of regular international flights.

Such arrangements have been concluded with 27 nations so far. The Air India group alone had operated more than 9500 flights, taking 10.9 lakh passengers abroad. The largest numbers, not surprisingly, have gone to the Gulf, he said.

He said the problem of the stranded Indians abroad was serious and the Prime Minister wanted the Vande Bharat Mission to bring them back.

“This was an all-of-the- Government effort, involving the ministries of external affairs, civil aviation, home affairs, health, defence and shipping, amongst others. A total of 45,82,043 people from 98 countries have returned to India under the aegis of the Vande Bharat Mission,” Jaishankar said.

The vast majority came through flights, though there were also some who came by ship and across land crossings. Kerala received the maximum returnees, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, he said.

“I should also add that we facilitated the return from India of more than 1.1 lakh foreign passport holders to 120 countries in the same period. Many of them were PIOs and NRIs,” the Minister said.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Anand Sharma (Congress), Manoj Jha (RJD), Naresh Gujral (Akali Dal) and Praful Patel (NCP) sought clarifications.