For decades now, Indians have been migrating to parts of Middle East, Europe and America in search of a better future for themselves and their families. The dream of “making it big” has captured the Indian imagination, partly thanks to Bollywood which glorified the “American return” protagonist who falls in love with the desi-girl.

It is this class of educated Indians, who migrated to various parts of the globe, in search of better higher education and thereafter, well-paying jobs, that was termed ‘brain drain’, that was regarded as a bane for our country. A majority of these well-settled Indian-origin Americans, Britains, and others, who are now the flag-bearers of the Indian supremacist hegemony being advocated by Narendra Modi. To a question in the Parliament in mid-2023, the Minister for External Affairs responded that 2,25,620 Indians gave up Indian citizenship in 2022 and about 87,026 people had renounced their citizenship by June 2023.

On the contrary, in 2021, India ranked first among the OECD-member countries with emigration numbers at 4,00,000 individuals, while excluding students ! This is 7.5% of the total migration flows across the globe! While these are official statistics, it is said that an unprecedented number of undocumented Indian immigrants were also crossing borders by foot. The US Customs and Border Protection data states that between October 2022 and September 2023, about 96,917 Indians were apprehended, expelled or denied entry for having tried to enter the US without papers . The Ministry of External Affairs states that over 2,00,000 illegal Indian immigrants had an encounter with the US authorities in the past five years . It is said that in 2023, more than 1,000 Indians risked their lives by crossing the English Channel from Europe in inflatable small boats to reach the UK. This disconcerting emigration from India could be attributed to various factors, including unemployment in India, growing oppression of minority communities in India, and an overall growth in global migration since the pandemic, among other reasons.

While lakhs of people are getting out of India in search of better lives and future, incidents like the exploitation of domestic workers by the Hinduja family, loss of lives in the Kuwait fire tragedy, death of an Indian worker in an Italian farm, over 5,000 workers being trapped in a cyberscam in Cambodia, exploitation of Dalit workers in a temple in New Jersey, Indian construction workers being “exported” to a war-torn Israel, death of Indians in war conflicts and other such incidents, snaps you into the world of exploitation that the documented or undocumented Indian emigrants are facing in other countries.

Dalit Workers at Hindu Temple in US

It was in 2021, when reports of workers belonging to the Dalit community being exploited at a temple construction site in New Jersey surfaced, where the workers were deemed to be ‘volunteers’ on R-1 (religious) visas. The Akshardham temple of Robinsville, New Jersey is allegedly the largest Hindu temple outside India. During the construction of this temple which went on for over a decade, Dalit workers were being brought to New Jersey on religious visas and exploited for their labour.

Over 200 Indian workers were forced to work for 87 hours a week, for $450 a month, and were living and working in a fenced compound guarded by security guards. They were not allowed to leave the premises unaccompanied, and lived in crowded trailers that were hidden on the 162-acre property of the temple. The workers, who would be summoned to work through a siren at 6.30 AM, would work 13 hours a day, come rain or snow, with one day holiday for every 30 to 40 days. The workers were constantly threatened with pay cuts, if they spoke to any visitor. One of the workers was also reported to have died on the work site.

The Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) who was found to be in violation of US labour and human trafficking laws had also confiscated the passports of the workers and kept them under constant surveillance. The sanstha was booked for violation of state labour laws, Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Fair Labour Standards Act. Ironically, this temple was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in October 2023.

Kafala system in the Gulf

When 49 workers died in a fire tragedy due to a short circuit in a labour accommodation in Mangaf, southern Kuwait, the all-pervasive ‘Kafala system’, which is made up of “complex laws and practices that ensure state and citizens hold all the power, while migrant workers are treated as temporary, even if the dependency on their labour is near-permanent”, was brought forth yet again. Of Kuwait’s population, 70% or 4.3 million of them are foreigners, and whereas other Gulf states, including Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait, put together houses 35 million migrant workers, i.e., 10% of all international migrants. Indians constitute the single largest group amongst them.

Labour accommodation of these migrant workers has been a hot topic for years, with concerns of overcrowding, lack of safety and unhygienic environment, thus making its working-class residents vulnerable to all sorts of risks. Prime example was during the outbreak of covid-19, where the countries in the Middle East struggled to contain its spread in these labour accommodations. Kuwait deported thousands of workers at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 due to their highly discriminatory practices. It is not just the construction workers who are vulnerable and exploited in this part of the world, but domestic workers, who constitute 27% of the workforce in Kuwait are not only exploited, but are excluded from protection of any labour laws and are among the most marginalized of the migrant population.

Conviction of the Billionaires

The conviction of four members of the Hinduja family and their business manager for exploiting the domestic workers at their mansion in Geneva is the epitome of the unabashed feudal and casteist oppression. While the Hindujas themselves migrated to Europe to expand their business prospects, their treatment of Indian workers denotes the class contradiction that this article is attempting to highlight.

The Hinduja family was accused of seizing workers’ passports, preventing them from leaving the premises, forcing them to work long hours for minimal pay that was allegedly transferred to Indian bank accounts with no access. Workers reported a “climate of fear” and said that they were forced to work 18 hours a day, for seven days a week, without statutory holiday, and were made to sleep in the basement on mattresses. The Swiss Court found that they were guilty of providing unauthorized employment, offering minimal health benefits and paying wages which was less than one-tenth of the standard rate for such jobs in Switzerland. 

Italy’s Notorious Caporolato System

Satnam Singh, a 31-year-old Indian farm labourer, was the 100th migrant worker to die in Italy this year. He was dumped in front of his house by his employer, after he suffered grievous injuries when he was sucked into a heavy machine on the farm leaving him with a severed arm and crushed legs. Satnam, an illegal migrant worker from Punjab, is one among the 32,000 Indians living in Agro Pontino, which is known as the hub for greenhouse farming of olives and melons, that sees a high labour demand throughout the year. It is said that there were almost 3,62,000 documented migrant workers in agricultural sector in Italy by 2022, which amounts to 32% of their farm workforce. News reports have stated that if undocumented workers were to be taken into consideration, the estimates would go up from 32% to 50%.

Italy’s notorious Caporolato system, where “gangmasters, who act as middlemen in the agricultural sector, recruit immigrant labourers and subject them to poor wages and working conditions”, makes it one of the most exploitative labour markets. With their passports confiscated by these gangmasters, the illegal migrant workers often get caught in debt bondage, as the workers were provided with loan incentives to migrate to Italy. Once they reach Italy, workers live in crammed rooms or in discarded containers/sheds, which are often without any toilet facilities, and for which they even pay rent! They work about 8 to 12 hours a day for about 3 to 4 Euros, i.e., Rs. 350 an hour.

Satnam had reached Napoli in Italy through the illegal route with help from agents who would’ve fed stories of a life of plenty in Italy.

Trapped in Cambodia

Over 5,000 Indians were defrauded and sent to Cambodia, where they are now being held against their will and forced to carry out cyber frauds on people back in India! The Mumbai police arrested two persons in connection with defrauding Indians by offering high paying jobs in Thailand. However, these workers were instead taken to Laos and forced to commit cyber crimes. The fraudulent companies took away their passports and made them work 12 hours a day. When anyone refused to work, they were assaulted, treated to electric shocks and solitary confinement. The Ministry is working to bring back these migrants, and three people from Bengaluru have already been rescued and brought back. The government has estimated that the trapped migrants were forced to dupe people back in India of at least Rs. 500 crores in the past six months.

Indians Workers in War Zones

About 35 Indian migrants who were promised jobs in Russia, ended up being sent to fight against Ukraine after being trained for combat. The Indians who were recruited as “army helpers” by agents soon had their passports confiscated and forced to fight on behalf of Russia. Their calls for help through the Indian embassy fell on deaf ears. In 2014, 40 Indian construction workers went missing in war-torn Iraq and were suspected to have been taken away by ISIS, and whose calls for help had gone unheard by the authorities. In March 2018, 38 of their bodies were found in a mass grave.

The Israel-Indian bilateral ties has yet again pushed thousands of workers to go to Israel for construction jobs. The Indian government proudly proclaimed that it was “exporting” 42,000 workers to Israel, who would actually replace Palestinian workers. Indian workers who are eager to take up a job, despite the war, are attracted by the high salaries offered which is 10 times more than what they can earn in India, i.e., about Rs. 1.5 lakh per month! But at the same time, it is also true that many workers are spending their entire savings to get such employment through brokers and agents. Upon arrival in Israel, they have realized that the working conditions and the political climate has endangered their lives.

Fend for Yourselves: A Message by the BJP Govt

While a staggering number of Indians are renouncing their citizenship and claiming permanent residency or citizenry of other countries for better economic prospects, education, quality of life, among other reasons, the working-class international migrant workers are having to choose between the frying pan and the fire.

The workers in the country are facing a complete assault on their rights and livelihoods due to the anti-working-class policies of the BJP-led Union Government – be it the anti-worker labour codes, the unprecedented levels of unemployment or the communal-casteist-misogynistic assault on Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, women and other oppressed sections. On the other hand, there is no respite from the exploitation and fraud they have to face when they migrate to other countries in search of a better life, or to escape the oppression within the country. This is despite being equipped with the knowledge of severe exploitation and precarious living & working conditions. The BJP Government has resolved to turn the workers of this country into slaves, whether within or outside India.