Bank surety gone, new exodus of domestics to Kuwait likely

CHENNAI: Officials expect a renewed exodus of

housemaids

to Kuwait from the country — primarily from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh — with the Centre on Tuesday scrapping a $2,500 bank guarantee it had made mandatory for employers in the Gulf country to pay for recruitment of Indian domestic workers.

The Centre imposed the rule in 2014 for all Gulf nations to protect domestic workers from the country against exploitation or non-payment of wages. Under the rule, Indian embassies in those countries would receive the guarantee before it endorsed the worker’s recruitment.

Kuwait was the only Gulf country to refuse to comply with the condition and New Delhi, in November that year, asked that nation to stop issuing visas to Indian domestic workers. Indian ambassador to Kuwait Sunil Jain told TOI that he now expects a resumption of the former annual flow of 30,000 Indian housemaids to Kuwait. “Kuwaitis prefer Indian house maids because they have proven to be honest and hardworking,” he said. “[The government’s decision] will provide thousands of Indian housemaids employment opportunities in Kuwait.”

A statement the embassy in Kuwait released on Tuesday said the Indian government had taken “the decision to implement the bank guarantee provision of 720 Kuwaiti dinars ($2,500)... as a welfare measure” because of “some cases of maltreatment and abuses suffered by Indian female domestic workers in Kuwait”.

The decision created an uproar in Kuwait, it added, because of “some misunderstanding in a section of the media” there. Kuwait had, since then, repeatedly sought to assure New Delhi that local domestic labour laws included all guarantees for domestic help and prevented problems pertaining to non-payment of salaries and working hours, India diplomats said.The decision to scrap the bank guarantee comes coincides with a scheduled visit to Kuwait by minister of state for external affairs M J Akbar on September 18.The embassy statement said six government recruitment agencies will from now regulate future recruitment of domestic workers in Kuwait. The agencies are Overseas Manpower Corporation Ltd (OMCL), Chennai; the Kerala government’s non-resident Keralite affairs department; Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultants, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; Uttar Pradesh Overseas Manpower Recruiting Agency; Telangana Overseas Manpower Company; and Overseas Manpower Company of Andhra Pradesh.