Norka-Roots drops plan to issue smart cards

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Non Resident Keralites Affairs (Norka)-Roots has decided the scrap the decision to issue smart cards to Non-Resident Keralites which was supposed to be used for verification and insurance coverage. ‘’The idea was dropped owing to the high cost of the card which can be used only for limited purposes. It also needed biometric devises to record fingerprints and other information,’’ said T K Manoj Kumar, Secretary, Norka Roots. The employment licence of Norka has been renewed and the job portal is expected to provide an employment bank for the emigrants. Already 16 companies have registered in the portal and more companies are expected to join the venture. The Gulf-based companies need persons who are experienced in various fields. This portal will help people in the Gulf countries to know the vacancies in their region, which will help them to shift from one company to another easily. According to Manoj Kumar, Norka will focus on providing skill upgradation in specific trade, if the Gulf companies ensure job guarantee to the workers. The ongoing skill upgradation programmes is a big hit with almost 1,500 persons being trained in a year. Now training is being given for jobs in the heavy duty refrigeration, air conditioning, glass cutting and aluminium fabrication sectors which are of great demand in the Gulf countries. The training through government and private institutions costs Rs 6,000 of which Rs 5,000 is paid by Norka and the rest by the candidate. Norka will trace those candidates who had  completed the skill upgradation and employed in the Gulf countries to share their experience on the benefits of training. There are plans to explore the possibilities of introducing a scheme for providing loan assistance to the Gulf returnees with low interest with the help of Kerala Finance Corporation(KFC). The service of KFC will help the Gulf returnees in finding more funds to start small and medium industries. The recently-launched Call Centre of Norka receives an average of 40 calls a day to sort out the problems of the families of expatriates. There are also plans to leverage more technology in the department for redressel of the problems of NRKs, he said.