India’s Low-Skilled Migration to the Middle East

Middle East countries absorbed high volume of labourers from Asia to work in both unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. This mobility has given rise to various issues; unsolved labour issues such as operation of illegal recruiting agents and illegal migration, and problems such as salary issues, working and living conditions and abuse at destination countries are discussed in this chapter, with major focus on India. Importantly, emerging new destinations like Israel are discussed to highlight the swift mobility of Asian female care workers from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries due to large number of exploitations reported in recent years and the ban imposed by some source countries in Asia to recruit female care workers. Thus, gender-wise and sector-wise labour mobility to Middle East is discussed to show the characteristics of Asian migrant workforce in this region. Finally, the economic diversification taking place in the Gulf countries shows optimism with regard to their economic growth and job creation. However, in the past few years we saw a decline in Asian workforce moving to Gulf, but the ongoing economic reforms in Gulf needs cheap expatriate workers to meet their labour shortage in private sectors.

The present chapter reviews Egyptian labour migration to the Arab Middle East in the last 40 years and its outcomes. It also signals the issues it has faced all along and which still call for solutions. Egyptian labour migration to countries in the Arab Middle East transformed into a mass movement in the mid-1970s. Two factors were behind this transformation. The first was the very high growth in demand for labour in oil-exporting countries in the Gulf after the historical oil price increase in 1973–1974. The second factor was Egypt’s drive to find external employment outlets to its fast growing labour force. In addition to the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Egyptian migrant workers also headed to Iraq, until 1990, as well as to Libya, Jordan and Lebanon. Labour migration to the Arab Middle East has come to represent 75 per cent of total Egyptian migration. In the present chapter, the authors opined that migration has not been a solution to the employment question the country has and still is experiencing. Supply of labour is still in excess of demand. Further, the authors observed that the job quality has not improved. The overall skill quality of the labour force has not been upgraded either. However, individual workers and their families have benefitted from their migration experiences through remittances, which allow meeting their needs and alleviating their poverty.

The chapter provides a brief overview of labour migration of women from the Philippines to Lebanon, beginning with nurses in the 1980s (during the civil war), followed by live-in domestic workers from the 1990s (post-civil war) and their evacuation during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006. The importance of labour emigration for the Philippines economy and the particularly entrepreneurial policy of maximizing labour remittances are shown as a countervailing pressure against periods of restrictions and bans on deploying Filipinas to Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries due to abuse and exploitation. The role of the government of the Philippines in regulating the deployment of Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) is given more prominence in this analysis compared with other accounts of the topic. Of particular importance are the ways in which the stringent protective regulations in the recruitment of domestic workers, such as the minimum wage requirement, are circumvented. The chapter concludes with an account of the unresolved deaths of four domestic workers from the Philippines in 2004 that involved the Philippines embassy in Beirut and resulted in the recalling of their ambassador back to Manila.

As compared with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Saudi Arabia has distinct demographic features. This leads the Saudi government to take measures to revisit its existing policies and schemes concerned with population. With this brief outline, migration data used in this article are pitched to understand five dimensions: (1) to look at the Saudi citizens’ migration trends within the Kingdom, (2) to analyse the impact of migration on the Kingdom’s population growth and also on the neighbouring GCC countries, (3) to look at the changes taking place annually in the Kingdom’s migration trends and in the other GCC countries, (4) to examine the migrants, looking at their origin place and (5) to analyse the variation between immigrants and Saudi Arabia citizens in terms of demographic parameters like population growth, sex ratio, broad age groups and age-sex distribution. Various databases available at both national and international levels were taken to address the five dimensions. The findings showed that push and pull factors and infrastructure differentials are taken into consideration while Saudi population internally migrate. All the GCC countries, including Saudi Arabia, experience international migration streams subject to the labour requirements and governmental regulations for both Arabs and non-Arabs. Immigrant demographics are characterized by Saudi Arabia’s labour demand controlled by adult males from other countries.

The present chapter highlights the exploitation faced by low-skilled Indian migrants to the Middle East and attempts to enhance the understanding of evolution of the policies and measures undertaken by India for their protection. The chapter revisits a study done by the author on Indian migrant workers based on first-hand data collected in the host country Lebanon during the late 1990s, regarding poor living and working conditions of migrants and their exploitation. The study had brought out the need for the intervention by the government of sending countries to frame effective policies to protect the migrant workers from exploitation and inhuman treatment. Since then, the Indian government has undertaken several measures for protection of low-skilled migrant workers, especially in the Middle East. Drawing upon comprehensive literature review and anecdotal evidence, it has been observed that the exploitation of low-skilled migrant workers, including Indian workers, in the Middle East still continues. Thereafter, comprehensive look is taken at the efforts made to protect migrants’ rights at various levels, including the steps taken by India as a sending country. Detailed analysis is undertaken as to why exploitation continues in spite of extensive proactive measures taken by India to protect the migrant workers. It is found that several factors join together in continuing exploitation of migrant workers in the fiercely competitive labour markets in the Middle East. The chapter concludes with several suggestions, including adoption of pro-migrant policies by sending countries as well as destination countries in order to empower the migrants, to ensure that they do not fall prey to unscrupulous agents at home and are protected in host countries and to harness the migration for the benefit of both sending and destination countries.

South-South migration has been a largely neglected subject matter in migration studies, although it constitutes an important part of overall migration flows. Especially labour migration to the Gulf region occupies a central position in this regard. The aim of this chapter is to analyse Indian labour migration to the Gulf region, one of the most important migration paths to the region, by emphasising on the whole process of migration, from its initiation to return migration which gained less academic attention. The chapter proposes an analytical framework covering the dimensions of entry, stay, work and exit of migrant workers, allowing incorporating the reasons for and the process of migration, the working and living conditions of migrant workers in host country and the process of return migration. Based on semi-structured interviews with Indian migrant workers, the chapter analyses these different dimensions and critically discusses the results with reference to the already existing literature on these different dimensions. On many occasions, the interviews confirm findings already presented in different studies. But they also highlight many points which did not gain much academic interest, especially regarding differences between skilled and low-skilled migrant workers. The chapter concludes by discussing three less-analysed topics for further research emanating from the interviews, namely, (i) the importance of intra-class differences within the Indian migrant working class, (ii) the role of the Indian state in the context of Indian labour migration and (iii) the need for an approach incorporating the mobility of both capital and labour from India to the Gulf region.

India to Gulf emigration is not a new phenomenon. Its history dates back to several centuries ago. The massive flow of emigration from India significantly started from the mid-1970s. During 1973–1974, the oil companies were mushrooming in West Asia. Thousands of Indians came to the Gulf countries, especially those who were mostly from Kerala. In India, Kerala has significant number of emigrants who end up in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries every year. According to Centre for Development Studies (CDS) migration survey series from 1998 to 2014, international migration from Kerala accounted for 13.6 lakhs people in 1998, which increased to 24 lakhs in 2014. Among the gulf emigration registered, about 93.9 per cent of the total emigration was recorded in 1998, which declined to 86.3 per cent in 2014. Based on this background, the study attempts to analyse the trend of Keralite emigrants to the Gulf countries and the role of their remittances on Kerala’s economy. In addition, the study also analyses socio-demographic conditions of emigrants from Kerala to the Gulf countries. The study used the data obtained from Kerala migration survey series from 1998 to 2014 undertaken by the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. The study uses ratio method to estimate the total number of migrants in Kerala during this survey period (2014). In this survey, to estimate the total emigrants from Kerala, two approaches of ratio method have been employed. The first method is referred to as household method in which the migrant ratio in the sampled locality is used with the same locality Households (HHs) number. The second method is referred to as population method; in this, migrant ratio in a locality is used with the same locality population. This study found that gulf emigrants and their remittances significantly contributed to the state economy and at the same time improved educational profile of the emigrants. Based on these results, it can safely be assumed that similar trends in the socioeconomic conditions of the emigrants from Kerala would be seen wherever they had migrated.

In India, the literature on migration studies significantly captured the phenomena of emigration from Kerala to the Gulf countries. In Kerala, largest chunk of emigrant population is constituted by Muslims, but the existing literature put less focus on Muslims migratory pattern. With this outline, this chapter examines the forced nature of migratory pattern among the Muslims from Malappuram district, Kerala, to the Gulf countries. The findings from the fieldwork conducted among the Muslims shows that the factors that motivated the Muslim youth in Malappuram go beyond the reasons mentioned in the existing literature on migration from Kerala. The evidences from the village suggest that the socioeconomic situation that existed during 1960s, 1970s and 1980s and also the prevalence of poverty and unemployment level among the Kerala Muslims triggered them to emigrate to the Gulf countries, mainly to Saudi Arabia. Poverty, joblessness, availability of Umrah and free visa to Saudi Arabia, prevailing dowry system and the practice of luxurious marriage culture existed in the village. Coupled with one or more factors mentioned above, the dream and aspiration to work in the Gulf to enhance their standard of living motived them to emigrate. These suggest the forced nature of emigration from Malappuram to Gulf region.

This chapter investigates the determinants of international remittance flow into the Kerala economy. It explores the influence of socio-demographic and migration-specific characteristics of the migrant and the migrant-sending (remittance receiving) households on the amount of remittance transfers. Using data from the 2011 Kerala Migration Survey, we employed Heckman selection correction model and Tobit model for the analysis. The results suggest that the migrant’s individual characters have a strong influence in the remittance-sending behaviour while the characteristics of the remittance-receiving household have a weaker influence. The migration-specific characteristics—the duration of migration, destination country and presence of dependents abroad—significantly affect the amount of remittance sent.

Tamil Nadu migration survey 2015 was conducted to collect the migration data for Tamil Nadu and understand its impact as the series of Kerala migration surveys helped Government of Kerala in framing policies based on the results. Tamil Nadu migration survey results have estimated that 2.2 million emigrants from Tamil Nadu are living abroad, which is around 3 per cent of the total population of Tamil Nadu. Though Singapore is estimated to receive the largest number of emigrants from Tamil Nadu accounting to 410,000 followed by the UAE with 400,000 emigrants, GCC states between them receive over half of the emigrants, estimated to be 1.1 million. Tamil Nadu has a long history of its people migrating to Singapore and Malaysia and settling there. This had started in the pre-independence era, but the Gulf migration started recently and it gives different opportunities compared to Singapore or Malaysia. This chapter explores the characteristic distinctions of migration to GCC states. Through descriptive data analysis, the chapter explores the demographic data and it shows how 20 per cent of all migrants to non-GCC countries are female whereas it is 9 per cent in case of GCC countries. It also finds that Muslim population migrating to GCC is four times larger than the share of Muslim population migrating to non-GCC countries. Educational status of migrants is naturally different as the GCC countries require different educational qualification as compared to non-GCC countries and it is especially seen that one-third of the migrants to non-GCC countries has a college degree or more. Wage problems seem to exist with return migrants from both the countries, but it is slightly higher in case of GCC countries. As problems such as compulsory expatriation and poor working conditions are some of the reasons for returning among GCC migrants, most migrants in non-GCC countries return due to family problems and/or expiry of contract. Though countries such as Singapore and the USA has higher per-migrant remittance, the analysis and approximation of remittances reveal that GCC countries contribute to almost 50 per cent of all migration. The chapter concludes explaining the need to emphasize the importance of devising policies for migrants to GCC countries by understating their characteristics thoroughly.

The Indian labour migration to the Gulf countries gained momentum during the early 1970s as a result of the price hike of oil. The consequent earnings of large revenues from oil led to the process of industrialization and modernization in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries characterized by massive investment in social and economic infrastructure. This development required the service of a large number of foreign workers, as the GCC countries could not provide the indigenous labour supplies. These foreign workers mostly came from South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka for working in construction sites and oil companies. However, in recent times, the situation has changed either because of huge competition among foreign labourers in the Gulf countries or because of Gulf economic crisis. As a result, the Gulf countries are not allowing free migration and instead charging huge visa fees from migrants; they have also become very selective. The present chapter attempts to study the reasons for migration of Indians to the Gulf countries with a case study of Telugu migrants from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states. The chapter further examines in detail the push and pulls factors for migration, migrant networks, social conditions of migrants and the socioeconomic impact of the Gulf migration on the migrants and their left-behind families.

The magnitude and pace of international migration has been on the rise in the history of human civilization. The revolutions in information and communication technology along with speedy advancement in transportation facilities have accelerated the process incredibly in recent times. The cross-border movements of people for long distances and considerably for a long duration have many dimensions attached to it. These also vary with time and space as well as at the same time for different migrant groups. In the present chapter attempt has been made to study labour emigration from three districts namely Sikar, Jhunjhunu and Churu of the state of Rajasthan (India) and to find its impact on the development of the three districts. They emigrated to the Gulf region for better job prospects and financial avenues. For the present study, a purposive sample of 600 emigrants was selected from the study area and required data were collected through personal interview method. The primary objective of the present study has been to ascertain whether or not the emigrants were able to provide economic, social and psychological security to their left-behind families at the origin. The present investigation is also aimed at identifying multifaceted problems faced by semi-skilled and unskilled labourers and the role of the mediators in resolving their issues. The empirical evidence has been gathered from the analysis of the data collected from semi-skilled and unskilled labour emigrants’ attempts to uncover migration and development relationship for the study region.

The present chapter aims to investigate the process of male emigration from urban areas of Bijnor district of Uttar Pradesh—the most populous state of India. The state, being the most populous state of the country and one of the poor and underdeveloped states of India, is unable to provide employment to a very large proportion of its young and adult populations. Thus, in the absence of adequate employment opportunities, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the largest supplier of unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour within the country as well to overseas, especially to the Gulf countries. In the present chapter an attempt has been made to find the annual trends of emigrants, their engagement in economic activity in host country, destination and amount of money sent home, along with its frequency. In addition to these information, arrangement of money to bear the emigration costs, as well as the data on the total amount of money spent on the entire emigration process including the expenses incurred on fraudulent payment made (if any) to unscrupulous agent and/or middleman, has also been discussed. The study is based on both primary and secondary sources of data. Simple descriptive statistical methods have been used to analyse the data. The data revealed that Uttar Pradesh has been the largest supplier of labour, especially to the Gulf countries. Most of the emigrants were motivated by economic reasons or had poor economic conditions at home. However, after emigrating to the Gulf countries they were not only employed but also getting higher wages and were able to send money to their homes regularly. Further, the data revealed that since the urban areas of Bijnor district were predominantly inhabited by Muslims, Saudi Arabia has been the most preferred destination for majority of the emigrants.

Migration is a gendered experience. Who moves and who does not, the resources that can be allocated for an individual’s movement, the networks that can be tapped to facilitate mobility, the sectors of the economy where there are possibilities of employment, the conditions of work, family support required and the usage of remittances and so on are issues that impact men and women differently. Moreover, the impact of migration on personal relationships is said to be more significant for women migrants than men. While structuralist, neoliberal or network theorists explain migration in a gender-neutral manner, feminist theorists draw out the contexts and challenges specific to women’s migration. Moreover, they give equal importance to the question of what happens after migration. They prefer to study the migration through personal narratives that help explain the nuances of experiences. This chapter draws upon some extant anthropological studies on the migration experience of women from Kerala who work as nurses and domestic workers in the Middle East and critically analyses them through the feminist lens. The section Feminist Lens of Migration Research presents the essence of the feminist framework. Using this analytical frame, the section Deconstructing the Narratives of Migrant Nurses revisits the narratives of nurse migration. In a similar manner, the section Deconstructing the Narratives of Migrant Domestic Workers explores the narratives of domestic worker migration. Finally, the section Comparing the Two Migration Streams compares the experiences of the two migration streams.

Growing socio-political pressure compelled GCC countries to implement nationalisation policy at different points of time to bring down the participation of foreign workforce and to recruit their nationals to address unemployment problem faced by their citizens. This situation has raised serious academic discussion on Gulf nationalisation policy and its impact on foreign workforce flow in past and future. In this context, this chapter comprehensively addressed this point by examining the composition of Gulf labour market, economic diversification plans in this region, need of expatriate workers and major issues in the implementation of nationalisation policy. Associated with labour market, kafala system is also discussed to bring out the vulnerability faced by blue-collar workers due to this practice and the recent reforms incorporated by the Qatar government to abolish this system. Hence, Gulf countries should come forward to make policy measures to replace kafala system so that more flexibility and fair treatment of workers can be exercised.