Saturday 28 / September / 2024
Muscat: Every Indian female who wants to work in Oman must obtain a job offer via a government approved agency, the Indian government has announced.
In a bid to tackle exploitation of Indian female workers, at least six approved manpower agencies have been listed by the government of India and the Indian ambassador to Oman has confirmed they are working with the Sultanate to implement the new rules.
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The new ruling has become effective immediately after an announcement in the Indian parliament on August 3.
The move is a bold move to cut down on exploited Indian females being conned into jobs in the Gulf region, via backstreet employment agencies.
Women seeking a job in Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries, including Oman, have to migrate only through government recruitment agencies, says an Indian government decision tabled in its parliament.
In an answer to a query raised in the Indian parliament on August 3, 2016, VK Singh, the Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, said that the government’s attention has been drawn from time to time to the issue of exploitation of women workers leaving for employment to Gulf countries.
“Therefore, a decision has been taken to make recruitment of female workers for ECR countries mandatorily through government agencies,” the minister said.
According to the minister, Indian Missions and Posts abroad are regularly in contact with the host government concerning welfare and protection of Indian emigrants including women workers.
“Multi-lingual helplines and emergency contact numbers are also operational in India and in Gulf countries to assist Indian emigrant workers in distress and in emergency situations,” the minister added.
India’s Emigration Act, 1983, provides that no citizen of India shall migrate unless he obtains emigration clearance from Protector of Emigrants and currently 17 countries, including all GCC countries, have been categorized as Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries.
Indra Mani Pandey, the Indian ambassador to Oman, confirming the decision, said that all Indian women seeking jobs in ECR countries have to migrate through government agencies.
“We have shared the list of agencies with the government of Oman. We will work together with the Oman government for smooth implementation of the decision,” the Indian ambassador said.
Recently, there have been a number of exploitation cases concerning women who have not migrated to Oman through proper channels.
An Indian woman, who migrated to Oman through unofficial channels and who is awaiting repatriation, said the Indian government’s move will help others avoid falling into the same trap.
“I didn’t migrate through the official channel. I came to UAE first. Then from there, I came to Oman. I was not getting the salary which was offered and the working conditions were not okay here. So, I sought help from the Indian embassy and Indian government to get me out of this trouble.
“There are many fake recruitment agencies in India who trap potential migrants, especially women,” she said, on condition of anonymity.
Currently, there are 38,806 Indian women working in the Sultanate according to Oman’s National Centre of Statistics and Information’s data released in July.
An official from Oman Human Rights Council (OHRC) said that they believe it is crucial that both sending and receiving countries of women expatriate workers set clear frameworks which ensure the protection of those leaving their countries of origin to work elsewhere. “The framework should provide protection for expatriate workers prior to their departure to ensure that both governments and recruitment agencies are not only abiding by strict guidelines but that there is regular monitoring of the process as a whole. “Expatriate workers should be given hotlines and contact details of what and who should be contacted in times of hardship,” Laila Al Aufi, an official at OHRC, said.
Josephine Amala Valarmathi, from India’s National Domestic Workers Movement (NDWM) said that they have been asking the government to act for a number of years.
“The Indian government should ensure their agencies don’t act like private ones,” Valarmathi said.
Trapped
Shaji Sebastin, an Indian social worker in Oman for the last 30 years, said that he has come across a number of cases where women struggle after falling into the trap of unofficial recruitment agencies.
“I welcome the move. It can help to uphold fair recruitment practices. However, government should ensure that this doesn’t lead to increase of illegal practices. Tightening laws will push people to look for easier ways, which most often are illegal,” Shaji added.
Mohammed Khaldi, a trade unionist in Oman, said that all sending countries should adopt such measures to safeguard their citizens in a foreign land.
“The sending country has a vital role in safeguarding the interests of their citizens abroad. Such measures will help the migrant workers a lot. Other sending countries should also adopt similar measures,” the trade unionist said.
According to Indian government data, 84,981 Indians have migrated to Oman in 2015 and 37,643 have migrated in the first six months of this year.
In March 2015, the Indian government had implemented, a digital system of Emigration Clearance (EC) called e-Migrate, in which the data of all emigrants holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports, emigrating for overseas employment to ECR countries is captured.
In February 2015, the Indian government launched an online Consular Grievances Management System named MADAD, to extend a helping hand to Indians abroad requiring consular assistance and to redress their grievances. According to the latest data, 11,160 complaints have been registered through the portal, of which 51 per cent (5,709) were reported from GCC countries.
