A delegation of Indian engineers in Kuwait, hit by new norms adopted by the host country for residency renewal, has called on Prakash Javadekar, Union Human Resource Development Minister, and Shashi Tharoor, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, and appraised them of their troubles.

The majority of 15,000 Indian engineers working in Kuwait are worried, as the Gulf country suddenly changed the requirement for renewing their residency permits last month. As per the new norms, Indian expat engineers in Kuwait need to get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Kuwait Society of Engineers (KSE) to extend their stay.

What is bothering them is the fact that KSE plans to grant NOC only after verifying the accreditation of the colleges from which the professionals have graduated. For this, KSE said it would follow the accreditation list of the National Bureau of Accreditation (NBA), which is not a regulatory body unlike the All Indian Council of Technical Education (AICTE). As NBA is of relatively recent origin, most old engineering colleges, including most IITs, did not figure in its list.

The representatives, accompanied by Lok Sabha MPs MB Rajesh and PK Biju, submitted a representation signed by a number of MPs to Javadekar. The latter assured them the Centre will do everything possible to address their grievance. He also said he will explore means to make AICTE, not NBA, the reference body for the accreditation process.

Tharoor, on other hand, not only took up the matter with the Indian Ambassador in Kuwait, but also assured them of continued follow-up with the Central government.

The engineers were represented by AR Shamnad of Progressive Professional Forum of Kuwait, G Sreekumar of Kuwait Engineers’ Forum and P Sethumadhavan of Tamil Nadu Engineers’ Forum in Kuwait.