New Hope For Migrant Workers: India’s Ambassador Designate Meets PLC

08/15/2023 Sarmistha Dey

The Pravasi Legal Cell (PLC) Bahrain Chapter members met with India’s Ambassador designate to Bahrain, HE. Vinod K. Jacob. They discussed concerns related to Indian labourers and migrant workers in Bahrain. The meeting focused on enhancing worker engagement, social support, temporary shelter, labour issues, legal assistance, and advocacy.

The PLC team, including PLC global PRO and country head Sudheer Thirunilath, General Secretary Sushma Anilkumar, Treasurer Togi Avarachan, Coordinator Amal Dev, and Senior Governing Council Member Raji Unnikrishnan, submitted a document registering these concerns to Mr. Jacob. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Ihjas Aslam, C.S. Second Secretary (POL&PIC), and Mr. Ravi Shankar Shukla, Second Secretary (Consular Wing).

Vinod K. Jacob is an Indian Foreign Service Officer from the 2000 batch and a native of Kerala. Prior to this, he served as the Deputy High Commissioner for India at the Sri Lankan High Commission.

Along with Sri Lanka, he has also worked in Indian Missions in Geneva, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. He has also served as deputy chief of mission at the Indian Embassy in Beijing. Vinod K. Jacob, a native of Kerala, attended Chennai’s Padma Seshadri Balabhavan Senior Secondary School. The Dr. Ambedkar Law College in Chennai is where he acquired his legal education. His wife is Namgya C. Khampa, an officer in the Foreign Service.

Vinod K. Jacob was chosen to serve as ambassador to Bahrain after the existing ambassador, Piyush Srivastava, finished his tenure.

Jacob has worked for the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in Beijing and New York. He has held the positions of Desk Officer in China and Director (Deputy Director General level) in the division responsible for Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran at Headquarters.

In his capacity as Under Secretary (China), Jacob had contributed to the release from death row in China of a Tennessee teenager who had been convicted of drug use.

Vinod K. Jacob was elected to the WAPCOS Board of Directors in 2018 while serving as the MEA’s Joint Secretary for Economic Diplomacy. He was a member of the ITPO’s board of directors in 2018. He was on the Board of Management for the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade in 2018. He was a representative of India at the First Ministerial Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), which was held on October 3 in Greater Noida.