Lakhs of Indian workers in Gulf suffer as government insists on eMigrate system

Indian government's insistence on foreign employers switching over to eMigrate system and also asking them to commit on increasing referral wages from Rs 13,598 (Saudi Riyal 800) to Rs 25,497 (Saudi Riyal 1,500) has created an unsavoury situation for over eight lakh blue collar workers serving in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.

In the wake of terrorist threats in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and other unstable Gulf countries, options of Indians had already been limited to a few sheikdoms such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Recruiting agents say, even though, the project was launched to protect Indian labourers, it has resulted in a loss of half-a-million jobs since February, when it was stared.

The project was aimed at protecting labourers from frauds and ensuring minimum wages to them. But the move has not worked in their favour, as foreign employers have switched over to hiring labourers from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Philippines.

A meeting called by the protector general of emigration last month was told that in the absence of a solution, an increasing number of Indians whose contracts warrant renewals, would be returning home, resulting in losses to the tune of $30 billion in the form of remittances. Agents are worried that one lakh jobs advertised during last three months will also expire in the next few months. India gets the highest amount of remittances in the world – to the tune of $70 billion – which is almost three times the total FDI coming into the country.

"The Gulf-based employers are generally not tech-savvy to fulfil such cumbersome formalities and emigration processes," says a note circulated by CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat to MPs. She pointed out that the government's intent to protect interests of Indian workers is not disputed but the bureaucratic procedures were bound to defeat the purpose.

The system is also cumbersome. Ranjan Ramanee, head of Association of Oversees Recruting Agencies, states that the earlier system had a capacity to handle 7,000 clearances a day, but the expensive eMigrate handles just 1,500 clearances a day,

A two-page circular issued by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs on May 21 had set deadlines for all foreign employers to register themselves with the Indian embassies and missions and carry out recruitments directly or through the recruitment agents only online. The circular says that "with effect from July 1, 2015, individual Indian workers shall be permitted to approach the PoE (Protector of Emigrants) offices for emigration clearance only when the demand has been approved online along with the specific employment contract."

The bureaucracy, that prepared the circular, has failed to realise why a foreign employer would take so much pain and headache to hire an Indian worker? And that too when India has so far failed to implement such regulations within the country.

The minutes of the meeting called by the protector general of emigration states that foreign employers having more than 150 approved jobs in eMigrate system were required to register themselves with the Indian missions by June 1 to recruit the Indians.

The deadline for those having 50 or more jobs was July 1 while those offering 20 or more jobs were required to register by August 1. Even those recruiting less than 20, no matter even if it is for one or two jobs, will have to come into the system as the circular says: "With effect from 01.10.2015, rest of the foreign employers shall be required to raise demand and seek a permit to recruit directly or select RAs in online manner only after getting registered with Indian mission through eMigrate system.

The circular also makes it clear that as soon as the country-specific employment contract for each country is finalised, the manual attestations for direct recruitment of individuals for unskilled and domestic works shall be discontinued as every foreign employer has to go through the eMigrate system.