STATEMENT OF SHRI EDUARDO FALEIRO, COMMISSIONER FOR NRI AFFAIRS, AT HIS
PRESS BRIEFING
(NOVEMBER 19, 2007)
I was in Kuwait and Qatar during the last week. The purpose of the visit was
to meet Goan expatriates, identify their grievances and study the labour
market there. The other members of the delegation were Shri John D'Silva,
Vice-Admiral (retd.) and Chairman of our Overseas Employment Agency and Shri
U.D. Kamat, Director, NRI Affairs. Ms. Sabina Martins representing
"Bailancho Saad", also joined the delegation. My visit was organized by our
Embassies in those two countries and at all meetings I was accompanied by
our Ambassador to the respective country.
The Indian communities in Kuwait and Qatar number around 6 lakhs and 2 lakhs
persons respectively. The Goan community is estimated to be more than 40,000
strong in Kuwait and about 9,000 in Qatar. At my meetings with senior
officials of both Governments they remarked that though Indians constitute
the largest group among expatriates, Indians create the least problems. The
Indian community is regarded as the expatriate community of first preference
in the Gulf countries. Those countries recognize India's capabilities as a
fast growing economy, source of highly qualified professional and technical
personnel and a stable market for their oil and oil products. Of late, there
has been an increase of highly qualified Indian experts in high tech areas
especially in the software and financial sectors in the Gulf countries. In
the field of health, India not only supplies top specialists but also
para-medical staff who enjoy a high reputation. Yet, a significant
percentage of Indian expatriates, including a few Goans, are unskilled and
semi-skilled workers. They are not covered by the Labour laws of the Gulf
countries. Some of them complain of non-payment or delay in payment of wages
and harsh living conditions, substitution of contracts, retention of
passports, cheating, physical exploitation etc. I shall meet the Ministers
of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs and submit to them my report
at the end of my tour of the Gulf countries. However, my tour is not yet
complete. I shall be visiting Bahrain, Oman and the UAE in the first week of
December next.
In the meanwhile, the following are some of my observations:
1. Many of the problems troubling our unskilled and semi-skilled expatriates
are created by recruiting agents. Some such agents have a very elastic view
of ethical standards. They charge exorbitant amounts, which are much above
the norms fixed by the Government of India, and offer terms which are highly
unrealistic and which they know are not going to be honoured. They also send
people on visit visas which are not legal for employment purposes in the
Gulf. Last April, I brought to the notice of the Minister of Overseas Indian
Affairs seventeen such spurious recruiting agencies operating in Goa and the
Goa Police is investigating these cases. We shall monitor the progress in
this regard.
Emigration laws need to be amended with emphasis or regulation and deterrent
punishment. The Government of India is already in the process of amending
the Emigration Act for this purpose. This Office will draft a law to deal
with unregistered agents and middlemen operating in Goa and to punish
recruiting agencies involved in illegal emigration.
2. During my visit, I was informed that some male domestic workers were
taken by their employers to Saudi Arabia and abandoned in the desert without
proper papers, no food and water and no medical attention. It appears that
the law of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) allows the citizen of a member
country to take his employee to another member country to work in his
estate. The GCC law does not require the employer to bring the employee
back. This lacuna in the law causes a lot of human suffering.
3. The condition of Indian housemaids and other domestic workers is often
distressing. We received complaints of physical torture and abuse,
non-payment of salary for several months and filing of false cases against
them. Many of the local people appear to consider a housemaid as a commodity
to be used and abused at will. As a result, Pakistan has banned the export
of maids a long time ago. Nepal banned it six years ago. The Government of
the Philippines has set enforceable conditions in all such contracts which
ensure a fair treatment to housemaids and empower their Embassy to enforce
the contract. Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi maids face a situation similar to
Indian maids. The Government of India could provide a system similar to that
of the Philippines to safeguard the dignity and safety of Indian domestic
workers.
4. Indian, including Goan, expatriates are generally a happy and contented
lot. The cases mentioned above may be the exception rather than the rule.
There are however too many such exceptions and the Government cannot remain
unconcerned about them.
(ends)
