BY MOIZ MANNAN
The safe return of distressed Indian workers from different parts of West Asia is not the end, as the government appears to think, but rather the beginning of an anguished life for the returnees.
Sporadic and isolated philanthropic initiatives by government departments, voluntary organisations, business groups and individuals may sometimes seem to tackle the issue, but they fall short of addressing the issue, which is effective rehabilitation and resettlement of migrants whose rosy dreams have been shattered.
We saw how some well-meaning businessmen came forward in Kerala to rehabilitate the nurses who had returned from Iraq. A few days ago, another lot of Indian workers, mostly from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, landed on home soil following their evacuation from the strife-torn Gulf country.
They have joined legions of confused and dismayed returnees from earlier incidents such as the ‘Gulf war’, the Saudi amnesty scheme for illegal migrants, the recession-prompted construction sector layoffs and ‘nationalisation’ policies. For some it is alright to say that they have returned to a state they were in before bagging a ticket to El Dorado. But only the affected souls know the severity of the psychological and emotional trauma of re-adjusting to penury.
The most significant problem of Gulf return migration is the economic integration of the returnees. The problem of unemployment is particularly acute among the highly educated and technically qualified persons. A substantial proportion of the Gulf returnees belong to this category of workers.
There is yet another dimension to the problem of unemployment among Gulf returnees. They are status-conscious, and their actual occupations abroad are often concealed. They will not risk their prestige or their backs by taking to farming, nor will they ever contemplate turning again into porters, waiters or labourers.
Already there are media reports regarding the plight of the latest Iraq returnees.
In Hyderabad alone, nearly 500 such workers have landed from Iraq. The worst hit are those who could not stay long enough or did not get jobs with the promised salaries to save money to even repay their debts. Most of those caught in this tangle had borrowed upwards of Rs100,000 from private moneylenders to pay the touts and agents. Now the lenders are at their throats.
P Narayan Swamy of Migrants Rights Council has made a representation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj demanding action against agents who took heavy sums from the workers and calling for directions to the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments to rehabilitate the workers.
It was with much fanfare several years ago that the Indian government had launched a ‘Resettlement and Rehabilitation Fund’ under the aegis of the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs (MOIA). Later, slightly modified and renamed as the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana, it was first launched in the United Arab Emirates in October 2013.
The response has been pathetic, with less than one percent of the intended beneficiaries enrolling for the scheme.
Under the scheme, if a subscriber contributes Rs5,000 each year — Rs1,000 towards the National Pension System (NPS) Lite and Rs4,000 towards the UTI Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) — the government puts in Rs1,900. Of this amount, Rs1,000 goes to NPS and Rs900 to MIS. The latter is used for two purposes: old age pension and for the person’s return and resettlement.
There are some technical flaws such as absence of ECS facilities in rural Indian bank branches, the hassles in opening a new NRE account, the cap on drawing from the pension fund until the age of 60, and the stipulation of a minimum deposit of Rs5,000 to avail of the government’s contribution. Apart from this, there is a general lack of awareness about the benefits of the scheme.
Even otherwise, considering the meagre sums promised, the scheme can at best be a part of a broader and more comprehensive rehabilitation package which has not been forthcoming.
Besides putting together a proper migration policy to include rehabilitation of returnees, it has been suggested that the government set up a permanent advisory committee to follow up on the problems of Gulf returnees, in particular.
