Parliament Question: Consular and Diaspora Digital Services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 1189 ANSWERED ON - 06 FEBRUARY 2026 CONSULAR AND DIASPORA DIGITAL SERVICES

1189. SHRI KRISHNA PRASAD TENNETI SMT. D K ARUNA SHRI DULU MAHATO SHRI KOTA SRINIVASA POOJARY SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI SHRI G M HARISH BALAYOGI SHRI P P CHAUDHARY

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) the estimated number of migrant workers from Telangana working in Gulf countries, district-wise including Nizamabad and Karimnagar;

1(b) the number of Indian citizens registered on the MADAD, mPassport Seva and Consular Seva portals especially from Andhra Pradesh;

(c) the volume and major categories of grievances and service requests received and processed through these platforms during the last three years along with the number of unresolved or pending grievances and the reasons therefor, year-wise, State-wise especially for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana;

(d) the average time taken for grievance redressal and delivery of consular services for applicants;

(e) whether new digital tools or integration with State Governments are planned to further improve diaspora and consular services, if so, the details thereof;

(f) the steps taken to conduct awareness or outreach programmes in said States to increase utilisation of MADAD and consular digital platforms; and

(g) whether any special outreach camps or facilitation centres are proposed in Telangana for migrant welfare? 2ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) District-wise number of Indian workers from Telangana State holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) category passports, who have been issued Emigration Clearance (EC) for working in the Gulf

countries is as under:

Total Number of ECs Name of the District in Andhra Pradesh Issued from 2014 to 2025 ADILABAD 5057 BHADRADRI KOTHAGUDEM 27 HYDERABAD 11530 JAGTIAL 2743 JANGAON 21 JAYASHANKAR BHUPALAPALLY 9 JOGULAMBA GADWAL 13 3KAMAREDDY 1647 KARIMNAGAR 11214 KHAMMAM 118 KUMARAMBHEEM ASIFABAD 26 MAHABUBABAD 76 MAHBUBNAGAR 711 MANCHERIAL 264 MEDAK 1491 MEDCHAL MALKAJGIRI 215 NAGARKURNOOL 21 NALGONDA 166 NIRMAL 2235 NIZAMABAD 15875 PEDDAPALLI 207 RAJANNA SIRCILLA 1134 RANGA REDDY 1010 4SANGAREDDY 86 SIDDIPET 362 SURYAPET 20 VIKARABAD 272 WANAPARTHY 18 WARANGAL 29 WARANGAL RURAL 67 WARANGAL URBAN 349 YADADRI BHUVANAGIRI 18 Grand Total 57031

(b) The number of Indian Citizens registered on the mPassport Seva portal from Andhra Pradesh are 84,773. The total number of grievances registered on the MADAD Portal from Indian nationals is 100110 (as on 23 January 2026). It may be noted that there is no mechanism available on MADAD Portal to ascertain the number of grievances state-wise.

5(c) The volume of grievances and service requests processed through MADAD Portal during the last three years (2023-2025) is as follows:

Year Grievance Brought Total Grievance Pending Received forward from Grievance Resolved previous year 2023 5794 3343 9137 5474 3663 2024 5704 3663 9367 5467 3900 2025 6158 3900 10058 6454 3604 Some of the grievances are pending due to various reasons, such as additional information required from grievants, response awaited from the local Foreign Office/local companies/employers or other Ministries/Departments in the host countries, verification and fact- finding delays, jurisdictional complexities and matters pending in courts of host countries etc.

(d) In pursuance of "Good Governance" initiatives, MEA launched an online Consular Grievances Management System named MADAD on 21 6February 2015 to help Indians abroad requiring consular assistance.

All Indian Missions/Posts abroad and the MEA's Branch Secretariats in Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kolkata, are associated with MADAD Portal for consular grievance tracking and follow-up. The MADAD portal has represented a qualitative improvement over previous procedures for handling of consular grievances, through online forwarding, tracking and escalation until their eventual resolution. It allows direct registration of the grievances by the members of the public and effective tracking of the entire grievance handling process. It incorporates several innovative features such as a flexible architecture to handle a variety of grievances, online filing and linking of similar grievances for easier retrieval and reference, automatic escalation and enhancement of priority, colour-coded dash boards for easy assessment and monitoring, and has an associated call centre to help illiterate grievants. A mobile App for MADAD has also been launched.

Grievances registered on the MADAD portal are monitored closely and disposed of expeditiously. However, there is no such 7mechanism available on MADAD Portal to find out the ‘average time taken for redressal of grievances’.

(e) There is a continuous effort for using new digital tools and system integration to further improve diaspora and consular services. At present, no integration with State Government systems is under implementation.

(f) The Ministry through its Missions/Posts abroad facilitates Indian citizens to register details on MADAD Portal and also encourage the Indian migrant organizations and Indian community associations for the same through social media platforms.

The Ministry is also publicizing the MADAD App through official channels like the MEA’s website and social media platforms of Missions/Posts to reach Indian migrant workers. Regular advisories are issued by Indian Missions/Posts for Indian citizens including migrant workers encouraging them for online registration on MADAD Portal to ensure timely assistance to them.

MEA has also leveraged social networking platforms such as Twitter (@MEAIndia, @MeaMadad), electronic mode of communication such as 8Email (madad@mea.gov.in), 24x7 Helpline (1800-11-3090) to respond to distress calls and promote MADAD. Assistance to workers in Gulf countries has been publicized to demonstrate the portal’s utility, indirectly raising awareness among migrant communities who follow these channels or hear about them through word of mouth. During the counselling session, the officials of Mission/Posts abroad inform workers about the functioning of the MADAD portal. Indian Workers Resource Centres (IWRCs) established in cities like Riyadh and Jeddah, have been linked to MADAD ecosystem to support distressed workers. MEA is also spreading awareness of MADAD among migrant Indian workers through hosting of events like Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or programmes like diaspora engagements. These are some of the efforts in reaching out to migrant workers in host countries, reinforcing the portal’s role.

(g) From time to time, the Ministry, in coordination with the 16 Protector of Emigrants (PoE) offices across the country and the State Governments, organise awareness campaigns on safe and legal migration through eMigrate portal, by conducting workshops, trainings, information sessions, digital campaigns for media groups, police 9officials and law enforcement agencies, local administration, aspiring recruiting agents, entrepreneurs and general public. During these sessions, awareness on emigration regulations, schemes beneficial for emigrants like Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana (PBBY), Pre-Departure Orientation Training (PDOT), eMigrate portal and various advisories issued by Indian Embassies are brought to the notice of all stakeholders including job seekers.

***** 10