LIFE AND SECURITY OF INDIAN EMIGRANTS.
Emigration is largely influenced by push forces like search for livelihood opportunities and employment ,in contrast to pull forces like better income, employment and high living standards and opportunities. After the abolishing slavery in British plantations in 1834 ,in order to meet the demand for labour in British colonies they have adopted the system of" indentured labour" half way between slavery and freedom. Consequentlly many Indians emigrated to British colonies under the contractual agreement of five years tenure,and where planters have to provide the workers with free food, clothing, shelter,medical aid and stipulated wage of rupees 5 per month. Unfortunately the conditions of colonial emigrants remained very distressing as planters failed to meet the promiised contractual obligations on wage and working conditions.Harrowing experience was that very little care was provided especially during transit and many a times emigrants were forced to board in cargo vessel, constrained by scarcity of space medical and other facilities,the mortality rate was excessively high during transit.After independence second phase of India's emigration comprised of people who acquired jobs in administrative, technical and professional positions in advanced economies like UK USA Germany and France as engineers, scientists, technicians, doctors, nurses,businesses men etc. Major breakthrough in Indian emigration occurred after the massive oil price hike of October 1973 and consequent surge and flow of petro dollars to Gulf countries. These countries had undertaken massive development and infrastructure projects attracting emigrants from neighboring Arab countries followed by Asian countries of India ,Pakistan Bangladesh ,Srilanka etc.Even in the 1990s a new stream of emigration namely Information technology and other service sector workers along with other professionals emigrated to developed countries in particular .However the prominence of Gulf countries as India's major emigration and economic partnership remained intact. More over in terms of numbers of Indian emigrants their remittances, trade and India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor Gulf sustained. India continues to recieve world's largest remittances (US $125 billion in 2023)According to Ministry of External Affairs nearly 8.8 million Indians live and work in the Gulf region. Most of them send moneyto home accounting to 25% of diaspora remittances.
In fact Indian workers inthe Gulf countries have got a comparative advantage in terms of high numerical strength, track record,conduct and work performance. Recent fatal blaze in a multistoreyed building in Kuwait apparently triggered by reportedly a short circut took many precious lives of Indian emigrant workers particularly from the state of Kerala. At least 49 emigrants lost their lives , belonging to 20-53 age group and nearly equal numbers got injured at the six storeyed building where 196 emigrant workers were staying. In Kuwait and other Gulf countries large number of Indian carpenters, masons, electricians, plumbers,construction workers,factory and domestic workers food delivery workers etc found their employment which constituted nearly one fifth of the Kuwait workforce and more or less similar conditions prevail in all GCC countries and such emigrants are more vulnerable to exploitation and insecurity. On the other hand professionals from various walks like doctors, engineers, IT workers, teachers and other professionals including entrepreneurs among Indian diaspora are obviously more safe .This incident make us alarming to think seriously about the safety ,security and work conditions of Indian emigrants across the globe. It is observed that two years ago during football matches in Doha and during Dubai expo fatal accidents involving Indian emigrants occurred. witnessed emigrant casualty occurred. According to one estimate made by Ministry of External Affairs in December 2021 during the preceeding three years 2384 Indian nationals were killed by accidents in 63 countries.
According to International Labour Organisation (ILO) International labour standards provide the protection of all workers irrespective of migrant status from sickness, disease accidents and injury arising from their employment. ILO's fair Migration Agenda consists of making migration a choice not a necessity by creating decent work opportunities in the countries of origin. Despite national, bilateral and international agreements and number of MOUs signed so far migrant workers continue to face critical challenges in securing affordable housing, access to basic amenities like clean drinking water, electricity and quality sanitation. India has already signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with various countries from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members and Europe,West Asian countries including Kuwait have streamlined procedures for the purpose of recruiting workers and providing them with legal protection. In the Kuwait case the labour camp was gutted beyond imagination resulting in rapid spread of the killer blaze and reportedly lack of adequate safety provisions like fire extinguisher and fire fighting equipment which aggravated the fatality of workers. However the concerned company, Kuwait Govt.along with Indian Embassy and Government and related Departments have promptly flown the mortal remains of the victims to their native places. Mortal remains were despatched to states including Kerala,Tamil Nadu,and Karnataka and their family members were assured of adequate compensation immediately by the company concerned, Governments and NGOs.Usually the legal redressal mechanisms may unnecessarily prolonged much. Indian Government should introduce a new comprehensive emigration policy where major stakeholders like Host country Governments, employers,Embassies, Ministries of External Affairs and Labour and concerned Government Departments of state Governments should be given appropriate roles. Periodical review and monitoring of the living and working conditions of emigrant workers as per bilateral MOU signed would make qualitative changes in the living conditions of emigrant workers. In fact in a country with the largest number of diaspora (with largest foreign remittances)spread across the globe restoring the erstwhile Ministry Of Overseas Indians by the Central Government would enable specific focus and timely intervention in issues related emigrant welfare.
Comments
Migration of labour was a phenomenon from time immemorial. Slave trade from Africa, plantaion labour to the colonies were there for centuries. Most of these slaves and labourers settled at the places they were taken to. After the Petrol boom, it was immigration of a different kind. That is when the remittances started. It enriches the countries which contributes the labour. They workers returned home on retirement. Kerala got enriched by these remittances. Then we saw the brain drain to the USA and Europe. Scientists, doctors and engineers went to these countries looking for greener pastures. They too settled at the places they went to. Now we see the IT boom to which again, India contributes the most. Thanks to the young population of our country.
Here are some statistics on international migrant workers:
In 2019, there were 169 million international migrant workers, which was 4.9% of the global labor force.
In 2020, the number of international migrants increased to 281 million, which was 3.6% of the global population. This is more than three times the number of international migrants in 1970 and 128 million more than in 1990.
In 2020, 48% of international migrants were female, and almost three out of four were between the ages of 20 and 64.
Most international migrants live in Asia and Europe (31% each), followed by Northern America (21%), Africa (9%), Latin America and the Caribbean (5%), and Oceania (3%).
The top five countries of origin for immigrants to the United States are Mexico, India, the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, which account for 45.3% of all foreign-born people in the country.