ISSUES OF INDIAN MIGRANTS
News: A
retelling of the Indian migrant worker’s plight
What's in the news?
● This
year, International Migrants Day
(observed annually on December 18)
must be seen in the backdrop of unprecedented volatility that began in 2020 as
a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
● Besides
this infectious disease outbreak, there
were events such as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine, worsening poverty in the sub-Saharan region, and also climate change,
resulting in large-scale migration.
Key takeaways:
● According
to the International Organization of Migration (IOM)’s World Migration Report
2022, there were 281 million
international migrants globally in 2020, with nearly two-thirds being labor
migrants.
● While
there were 169 million labor migrants in 2019, the figure touched 164 million
in 2020.
● In
the larger pool of migrants, South Asia's share is nearly 40%; further, the
South Asia-Gulf Migratory corridor is the world's largest migrant corridor.
● Long-term
data on international migration show that "migration is not uniform across
the world and is shaped by economic, geographic, demographic and other factors,
resulting in distinct migration patterns, such as migration corridors developed
over many years".
How does International Migration benefit India?
1. Employment opportunities:
● India
also sends out the world's largest number of emigrants - 17.5 million as per estimates from the International Organisation
for Migration's (UN-IOM) World Migration Report 2020.
● Thus,
migration offers job opportunities to the skilled workers in the form of blue collared and white collared workers.
2. Remittance:
● India
had received $89.4 billion in
remittances in 2021, according to the World Bank report, which then made
India the top recipient globally.
● Remittance
flows to India were enhanced by the wage hikes and a strong labor market in the
United States.
● Thus,
these remittances contribute much to India's forex reserves, which ideally
contributes to the development of the economy as a whole.
3. Diaspora:
● According
to a Ministry of External Affairs report, there are 32 million NRIs and OCIs residing outside India and overseas
Indians comprise the world's largest overseas diaspora.
4. Soft power status:
● The
vibrant and dynamic diaspora abroad
has a potential to contribute to India's soft power status.
● The
Indian diaspora has played a significant role in deepening the country's
engagement with the Indo-Pacific nations as well as European nations due to
their significant presence in the regions.
5. Education:
● Indian
students accounted for nearly 10 percent
of the overall students in OECD countries.
● Indian
students tend to have a higher stay rate than the overall international student
population.
● This
makes our demographic dividend to get the international education and skill
potential.
● Easing
in visa and immigration policies, new scholarships, work permits, and permanent
residencies also adds fuel to the education abroad.
6. Foreign investment:
● Indian
nationals have shown the greatest appetite for investment migration in the
world - whereby wealthy investors acquire alternative residence or additional
citizenship in exchange for making a substantial contribution to the host
country.
7. Technology transfer:
● Immigrant
inventors can indeed act as carriers of
knowledge across borders and influence the direction of technological change.
● In
this way, the migrants can act as a carrier of advanced technology to the gates
of India to gain maximum economic potential.
8. Social values:
● The
migrants bring out change in norms and values, attitudes and behavior,
motivation and expectation, material and social status, social priority and
change in the circle of interaction in the host nation.
● For
example, the migrants can bring out the values
of liberty, freedom, equality to the far away villages of India.
Issues faced by Indian Migrants Abroad:
1. Issues in recruitment:
● Overpricing visas.
● Incomplete
information of the contract period, salary, overtime and related details.
● Exacerbated
and complicated by corruption.
● Involvement
of middlemen and fraudsters.
2. Problems in crisis/emergency situations:
● The
Gulf has been facing frequent crises and turmoil.
● Several
migrants have faced complicated issues during COVID-19 pandemic induced lockdown and Russia-Ukraine crisis.
● The
Indian government has so far not institutionalized any permanent mechanism with
host countries to evacuate its workers.
● The
evacuation of 1-2 million workers in a limited time becomes not only tough, but
also a security challenge.
● Government
deploys navy and airbuses as ad hoc measures to bring the workers home.
3. Workers falling into wrong hands:
● Majority
of Indian migrants are illiterate and blue-collar workers; they migrate to earn
money.
● Hence,
their first preference in the host countries is to maximize their earnings and
remit it to home.
● With
such a background, they can be susceptible
to the inducement of extremist groups.
4. Hardships of distress-return workers:
● About
80% of Indian migrants are poor.
● They
migrate to support their families and remit all their earnings.
● Consequently,
on distress return they encounter dire economic situations at home.
● In
the 1990 Gulf crisis, thousands of Indian workers returned but the state
governments failed to provide them either job or loan to start afresh.
5. Anti-immigration Wave:
● Rise
in hate speeches & hate crimes against the Indians.
● Isolation
from the native community leads to discrimination.
● Examples:
Maldives, USA, Australia.
6. Protectionist Policies:
● Several
protectionist policies by the government of host nations affecting the free
movement of laborers and migrants.
● Example:
H1B Visa issue in USA.
7. Issues in employment:
● Lack of social security
measures and hazardous working conditions
affecting their livelihood and human nature of the migrants.
● Irregular
payment, poor working conditions, negation of labor rights.
● There
is absence of a proper grievance redress
mechanism.
● They
don’t have access to a transparent judicial system.
● The
pandemic has resulted in unemployment, under-employment.
Government Initiatives:
1. Emigration Act, 1983:
● The
Emigration Act, 1983 is currently the only
legal instrument in India that deals with emigration matters and the
welfare of migrants
● The
Emigration Act, 1983 provides the regulatory framework for emigration of Indian
workers for contractual overseas
employment and seeks to safeguard their interests and ensure their welfare.
● The
Act makes it mandatory for registration
of Recruiting Agents with the Protector General of Emigrants.
2. Emigration Bill 2021:
● The
Bill envisages comprehensive emigration management, institutes regulatory
mechanisms governing overseas employment of Indian nationals and establishes a
framework for protection and promotion of welfare of emigrants.
● It
launches a new emigration policy division in (MEA) which will be referred to as
the Central Emigration Management
Authority.
● It
proposes a Bureau of Emigration Policy
and Planning, and a Bureau of Emigration Administration shall handle
day-to-day operational matters and oversee the welfare of emigrants.
● It
proposes nodal agencies under a Chief Emigration Officer to ensure the welfare
and protection of the emigrants.
● It
permits government authorities to punish workers by canceling or suspending
their passports and imposing fines up to Rs 50,000 for violating any of the
Bill’s provisions.
● It
aims to improve the protection measures through registration of all emigrants,
skill upgradation and training, and pre-departure orientation. For example,
skilling of migrant workers, foreign language training etc. can be of great
help for workers.
WAY FORWARD:
1. Recruitment stage:
● Indian
missions/embassies should make the recruitment
process more transparent; put worker's contract details on the web.
● Fraud
in recruitment by the agencies should be treated as a criminal act and should not be dealt with under the company law.
● The
government should display names of defaulting recruitment agencies and agents
on the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian embassies websites and protect
the interest of potential migrants.
● Government
should declare visa trading a criminal act in India.
2. Prevention from Extremism:
● The
Indian government should incorporate this aspect of the pre-departure training programme.
● Potential
migrants should be informed about the real cause of turbulence in the region,
which is purely political and not religious.
● Government
should establish institutional intelligence linkages with the host countries.
● Government
should maintain accurate data of migrant workers in different countries.
3. Taking care off after their return:
● Government
should ‘insure’ the migrant workers, so on distress return, they can start
their own businesses.
● Government
can grant them soft loans.
● These
workers can also be given preference in opening up SMEs.
● Government
should establish a pension fund and
contingency fund for them.