Though the media has played an important role in helping reduce the number of cases of cheating relating to foreign employment seekers by manpower companies and unscrupulous individuals involved in the trade, still a lot remains to be done. According to the Department of Labour and Employment (DoLEP), the number of complaints of cheating against manpower agencies went down to 236 in the first seven months of this year from 329 in the same period last year. Complaints against individuals in the racket also went down. Along with active media campaigns, foreign employment experts attribute the positive change to greater peer interactions am-ong the people leaving the country in search of work.

Nonetheless, the number of cheating cases filed with the DoLEP is still high. In order to bring it further down, the frequency of interactions among the prospective foreign employees to share personal knowledge and experience should be increased. The media too should persist with its efforts to expose fraudulent agencies and continue to highlight the risks involved in working abroad. It is equally important to smash the nexus between employment agencies operating illegally and crooked officials. The process of bringing the guilty agencies and individuals to book also needs to be streamlined. The truth, however, is that this kind of a concerted effort is possible only through greater cooperation and coordination among the official agencies concerned, credible manpower agencies, peer groups and media.