Opinion - Editorials

A clean-up in the UAE

An amnesty and regularisation scheme the United Arab Emirates launched in June to address the problem of an unacceptably high number of expatriate workers staying on in violation of its residency laws was a salutary initiative. The amnesty offer enabled a large number of them to get their stay regularised, and others to leave without facing punitive measures. By November 3, when the period of amnesty ended, some 95,000 illegal residents including 40,000 Indians had secured regularisation, many of them getting reabsorbed in the workforce. The UAE gave out 3.42 lakhs as the number of people who benefited from the exercise, which should mean that at least a couple of lakhs — a large section of them Indians — left for their home countries. India has been emphasising the need for such cleansing exercises, while underlining the need to ensure just and dignified treatment to the expatriate workforce in general and improve their living and working conditions. The concerns of those who have had to leave — a significant chunk of them from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and many of them unskilled or semi-skilled — deserve sensitive handling. Many of them come from the poorer sections of society. Back home, they have to contend against debts incurred for the sake of the Gulf dream.

India should look into the genesis of the problem and take a long-term view on it with respect to all the countries of the Gulf. Many of those who faced the crunch were those who moved away from their contracts in a bid to beat a bad deal. Unscrupulous agents, who work with poorly regulated visa-providers at the other end, often extend false promises to recruits, only to give them a raw deal once they reached their destination. The promised wages are often a mirage. Remittances are additionally facing a crunch created by the rising rupee vis-À-vis the dollar. The government’s long-pending move to give more teeth to the Emigration Act, 1983, becomes particularly relevant in this context. The Act should provide for harsher punishment for malpractices. Recruiting agents need to be reined in by means of a better regulatory mechanism. Channelling all employment contracts through the respective Indian embassies is one of the correctives suggested. The workers’ interests should be safeguarded and their welfare ensured. The memorandum of understanding on labour and manpower signed between India and the UAE in December 2006 commits both the countries to ensuring the welfare and protection of Indian workers.

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