An online safety net for Indian immigrants

India Dispatch: The UAE and India have signed an agreement to validate blue-collar workers' contracts online.

Every year, millions of Indian labourers leave their homes in search of a better life in the Gulf. And only a small number of them are aware of their rights or of what awaits them. Pawan Singh / The NationalShow less

MUMBAI // Srikant Shekhar is eagerly waiting his first day at work in the Gulf. At just 22, his first trip overseas will take him to Dubai and he is due to leave home later this month.

Speaking at his house in a village near Varkala, in Kerala, he does not know much about his employment rights as a construction worker nor has he been formally offered a contract.

"I don't have a contract yet, but I've been promised one when I get to Dubai," he says.

When asked, he is not even sure about the name of his employer since everything was done through a recruitment agent who visited his village.

His story has a familiar ring to it. Every year millions of Indian labourers leave their homes in search of a better life in the Gulf. And only a minority are aware of their rights or what awaits them.

But things are about to change for people such as Mr Shekhar because the UAE and India have signed an agreement to validate blue-collar workers' contracts online.

The planned portal aims to increase transparency for workers so they can check their conditions prior arriving to the UAE, so people such as Mr Shekhar will feel safer.

The plan was welcomed by the non-resident Indian (NRI) community. "As a rule I don't think that government cares enough for NRIs, and something like this is long overdue. But it's a step in the right direction," says Nehal Sanghavi, a diaspora liaison officer at Gateway House, a global think tank.

The move could bring about more transparency for the estimated 1.7 million-strong contract workers in the Emirates alone and it might be extended to include millions more across the Gulf.

The system will enable the UAE Ministry of Labour to processapplications and provide access to the electronic records of government-approved recruitment agencies in India. They, in turn, are required to get a worker's approval.

Recruiters say the current system is chaotic and bringing order to it will help both workers and recruitment businesses become more transparent.

"Currently, the worker recruitment process is totally mismanaged. This sort of initiative [the portal] will be surely going to help in preventing fraud, cheating, illegal and fake job offers because the new system safeguards the interests of workers and employers alike by validating the contract conditions of the Indian worker in the UAE. Also, it can help to streamline the recruitment process," says Prachi Kumari, a director at Nrijobportal.com, a specialist recruitment site.

But the electronic system is not able to weed out rogue contractors and the experts fear it could create a black market for labour.

"I foresee a potential black market of undocumented, unscreened employers and labourers much like the Latino population in the United States. Millions of undocumented workers exist there and are often too fearful to get medical attention in the case of an accident for fear of being deported.  The same will happen to those who circumvent the system in UAE," says Mr Sanghavi.

The most vulnerable in the NRI community are often the blue-collar workers who emigrate for financial reasons. Often illiterate and from poor backgrounds, they are unable to check their contract details prior to leaving. In Mr Shekhar's case, he has not even seen his contract and so is unsure of what to expect.

In these cases, the country's embassy should offer a helping hand for the worker, Mr Sanghavi says.

"Each Indian embassy should have a committee whose full-time responsibility it is to just look after the rights of immigrant workers."

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