Babu Francis Olakkankil selected to the 5th Loka Kerala Sabha
Babu Francis Olakkankil selected to the 5th Loka Kerala Sabha
Babu Francis Olakkankil , a Kuwait based expatriate Indian-a prominent social, cultural, and legal activist, has once again been selected to the fifth session of the NORKA-Loka Kerala Sabha-Government of Kerala, which was formed to discuss expatriate issues and find solutions to their problems by including expatriate representatives from various countries. Since the first Loka Kerala Sabha in 2018, he has represented Kuwait in various sessions. Through interventions to implement the 'Norka Care' health insurance scheme, thousands of expatriates have benefited. He is the person who proposed the idea of providing insurance protection to expatriates including returnees at numerous forums, from 2018 Loka Kerala Sabha. In 2021, he was appointed as the National Convenor of the NCP Overseas Cell for the continuous work for expatriates.
In the Fourth Loka Kerala Sabha held in June 2024, Babu Francis was the one who raised this issue with the Chief Minister and the Speaker, requesting the implementation of a comprehensive health insurance scheme and measures for expatriates including retunees. He demanded that distressed expatriate Indians facing hardships be brought back to the country, and insisting that airlines refund the full amount of all tickets canceled due to the lockdown, and requesting that the Indian Community Welfare Fund collected for the welfare of expatriate Indians be used to bring poor Indian expatriates back home, in order to bring Indians benefiting from the Kuwait amnesty back home, the repatriation of bodies of expatriate Indians who died in Gulf countries for reasons other than COVID-19, and the return of pregnant expatriate women to India. These and various other cases have been brought before the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court. Babu Francis Olakkankil , the Country Head of Pravasi Legal Kuwait, is a person who has gained great recognition in the expatriate world for taking the initiative to file petitions in the Kerala High Court against the mandatory COVID-19 certificate for those returning to Kerala, for providing free legal aid to expatriates, and for raising the age limit of the Kerala Pravasi Welfare Fund persion, and for obtaining favorable judgments for expatriates through the support of the Pravasi Legal Cell globally.
The fifth conference of the Loka Kerala Sabha, which aims to strengthen the unity and mutual cooperation of expatriate Keralites around the world and to give a new direction to the cultural growth of Kerala, is being organized in Thiruvananthapuram on January 29, 30, and 31. The central government has accepted the innovative idea of Loka Kerala Sabha as an exemplary step and the Parliamentary Standing Committee of the Department of External Affairs has officially recommended that other states implement this model.
Many organizations, ONCP, FIRA, Indo Arab Confederation Council- Kuwait Chapter, Pravasi Legal Cell- Kuwait Chapter congratulated Babu Francis Olakkankil‘s selection to the Loka Kerala sabha again
Arulraj K.V .
ONCP Kuwait Gen. Secretary
Reg No: INDEMB/KWT/ASSN/364
