India,China must provide protection to migrants: Merkel

India and China, experiencing huge migration of labourers from rural to urban areas, must provide proper social protection and "equitable" and "fair" standards to them, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday.

"India and China are witnessing migration of labourers from rural to urban areas and they must have social protection, fair and equitable standards," she said while addressing the 100th International Labour Congress in Geneva.

Making a strong case for controversial "social standards" and "labour standards," she said countries must adopt a new treaty that offers protection to domestic workers.

She said "social partnership" between German employers and employees enabled the country to overcome the grave economic crisis in 2009.

"This is an area that has been very much in the shadow of official employment. It''s so important that standards are put down that makes it possible to actually respect human dignity and decent labour standards in this area," she said.

"I wish you every success as an organisation for the ratification of this instrument because this may indeed be a milestone for fair and equitable labour conditions," added Merkel.

Yesterday, Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said that India is all for "fair" and "inclusive" globalisation in which it has placed enormous emphasis on "decent work".

India, he said, "doesn''t blindly follow the economic model of developed countries," arguing that it had adopted a series of schemes including the national rural employment guarantee scheme as well as affordable health insurance for workers both in the formal and informal sectors.

ILO''s convention for domestic workers is aimed at offering meaningful social protection for an an estimated 52.6 million domestic workers worldwide.

The document also offers domestic workers a full rest day every week, and prevents employers from requiring their employees to remain with the employer''s household during their annual leave or rest days.