Union foreign minister Sushma Swaraj launched an online grievance portal ‘Madad’ for Non-Resident Indians to make it easier for them to approach government for counsel and help.  The website was launched on 21^st February, Saturday. The website is a combined effort of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MIOA).

The portal was launched at the MEA headquarters in Delhi by Sushma Swaraj.

The overseas Indians can send their complaint in writing, which would be put online by the officials. The complaint will show a color code beside it; red colour means the complaint is yet pending and green colour means the mission redressing the grievance is doing well.

The portal enhances ‘accessibility’ for the NRIs by providing online NRI service and it will also put ‘responsibility’ on the officials. And their performance will be assessed on the basis of their response and ability to redress grievance.

 

How to Use the portal

1. Open the link which is available as part of the Passport Portal Seva online.
2. First time users need to create an account by entering their personal details
3. Verify the account from the email ID.
4. After the confirmation, you can log in using the username and password.
5. File your complaint for yourself or the behalf on someone else.
6. You can check the status of your complaint by logging in later.

Types of Complaints

• Compensation
• Court Case
• Domestic Help
• Imprisoned Abroad
• Marital Dispute
• Mortal Remains
• Repatriation
• Salaries/Dues
• Whereabouts Unknown
• Others

The website has priorities for the complaints. Mortal complaints are of very high priority, then high priority and then medium priority and so on.

There’s also a plan to start a call centre directly linked to the MEA and also launch a mobile application to let people use the system on the go.