India, a nation of 904 million people -the second most populous nation in the world - is comprised of five major ethnic groups. This country of rich culture and diverse political history has 16 official languages and 1,672 recognized dialects. After gaining independence from British colonial rule on 15 August 1946, it took the country four years to devise a comprehensive economic plan. In 1951 India implemented its first Five-Year Development Plan, and for decades the country maintained a closed-door economic policy. With the onset of modernization, however, policy makers feared India would be "left out in the cold," and in 1991, introduced sweeping economic reforms. Massive privatization and the adoption of various liberalization policies, including tariff cuts on various trade sectors, were the immediate results of the IMF's structural adjustment programs (SAPs). During the course of privatization, approximately one million state workers lost their jobs.
Like other developing countries, India has many economic achievements to brag about. For instance, in 1996, the economy fared better than what was projected the year earlier. The growth rate rose from 6.2% to 7.0%. Inflation was down from 10.4% at the end of 1994-95 to 4.4% at the end of 1995-1996. Foreign reserves also rose to US$17.7 billion after a slight decline the year earlier. However, the net effects of economic progress were not felt by the vast majority of the population. The government has taken too little direct action to raise the income and productivity of the poor or to promote a fairer distribution of benefits and results of economic growth. While industrial development tended only to suit the interests of the higher income groups and foreign investors, one of the key sectors that was neglected was agriculture. The opening of the economy to outside market forces also failed to create enough jobs to accommodate the unemployed. Environmental degradation has now become a major concern, as has rampant graft and corruption among government officials. The Kashmir issue is also a long-standing problem that has wrought havoc among Indians living near the Pakistan border.
Economic liberalization did not solve any of the existing social problems in the Indian society. Though India has unleashed economic reforms, these are without any clear agenda on social reforms, and might further marginalize the rural and the urban poor who lack access to basic services. Among the most deprived groups are women - particularly migrant women - and children. The minority ruling class still dominates the economy, while the working class continues to toil in poverty.
India is one of many countries in South Asia marked with high foreign debt, unemployment and poverty. Under these economic conditions, the export of labor has become increasingly more important in alleviating India's social and economic problems. Migrant workers' earnings are an important supplement to the meager wages received by the vast majority of India's poor.
Although voluntary international migration from India formally started in the 1960s, it has intensified in the last two decades. Along with other Southeast Asian migrants, Indians flocked the Persian Gulf during the oil boom of the 1970s and 1980s According to the 1992 Gulf Cooperation Council market report of Birks, Sinclair and Associates, the listed migrant non-national population of the 6 GCC states (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE) is 7,075,851. Of this population, the Indians topped the list at a total of 1,428,438 people. About a third of this number were construction workers, while the rest included domestic workers, nurse aids, technicians, engineers, accountants and other laborers.
On the other hand, the export of domestic workers has become an increasingly important source of foreign exchange for the Indian economy, and as a form of labor absorption in a situation of chronic unemployment. For migrants' families, the remittances are an important supplement for household incomes. The high demand for domestic workers abroad is attributed to the fact that as the educated women in countries experiencing high economic growth enter the labor force, there is an increasing reliance on the import of migrant women to handle domestic work, e.g. household maintenance, and care for the young, the old, and the sick, etc.
Major receiving countries of Indian domestic helpers are the Gulf States, Hong Kong, Singapore and to a lesser extent, the UK, Italy, and the US. Of these countries, only Hong Kong provides a legal contract, the conditions of which are protected under the employment ordinance. For those entering the other countries legally, there often is a "contract" that describes the terms of employment. However, this contract is neither binding nor enforced by the laws of the receiving country, and more often than not the conditions of the contract are ignored completely. In the Gulf States, the contract signed in the sending country is often replaced with a new contract which offers considerably less than the original contract. Since there is either very minimal or no protection offered to the legal or documented migrant domestic workers, their working conditions are very exploitative. Thus, for those coming in illegally, the situation is much worse.
In mid-1995, a baseline study was done to get a profile of these domestic workers and understand their situation. Most of them were between 25 and 40 years of age, and a significantly large percentage of the women had been married but were either separated, divorced, or abandoned. They had also been physically and psychologically abused by their husbands. The burden of supporting their own children and other family dependents forced them to leave their families and search for work. Recently, trends indicate that younger, unmarried women, commonly between 18-25 years old, arrive with a dream of working abroad in a land "paved with dollars." Unfortunately the reality of the situation is quite different and they have severe problems trying to cope.
Indian migrant workers, including domestic helpers and others, face various difficulties with their new jobs in receiving countries. Contract-related conflicts are one of the more common problems. In the Middle East in particular, the practice of providing two contracts is rampant. Migrant workers under this kind of practice are more vulnerable to all forms of exploitation. At the work place, the migrant worker may be forced to sign a fresh contract, and usually in the local language (Arabic). This contract is often incomprehensible to the migrant worker, and changes are often made to suit the employer. (See also: Arabian Gulf report)
Moreover, migrant workers rarely receive any copies of their contracts. The contracts signed in India are invalidated in the country of work since the law does not recognize any of the provisions stipulated therein. Consequently, workers' salaries, work nature, benefits, vacation, etc. are reduced to the lowest standards. Sometimes, the provisions are totally removed, making it more difficult for migrants to claim benefits or file a complaint when disputes eventually arise. Some domestic workers are also required by their employers to submit their travel documents to ensure that they do not run away. While employers are required to register their workers, they often willfully neglect such obligations in order to harass, or extort money from, their employees when they need to renew their working permits.
In Hong Kong, underpayment is the most common problem. Although there is a law stipulating the minimum wage, Indian domestic helpers are frequently cheated out of their earnings. Some Indian residents who bring their domestic helpers to Hong Kong continue to pay their helpers the wages comparable to what they received in India, while completely neglecting the drastically higher cost of living in Hong Kong. Among all foreign domestic helpers, Indians and Sri Lankans are by far the lowest paid. Educational levels among the Indian domestic helpers are extremely low, and those who have been to school have typically had a negligible education of 2-4 years in the vernacular medium. This lack of education makes them firstly ignorant about the terms of their contract, and secondly, makes them easy victims of unscrupulous agencies and employers who force them to sign, or put their thumb impressions on receipts for full wages, bogus loan documents, termination letters, and so on.
Studies in Hong Kong, the U.K., and elsewhere on domestic workers reveal a group urgently in need of assistance and support. This is primarily because domestic work is devalued as informal work - the work that women are supposed to do without any training. It is thus seen as a cheap, easily available, and an unskilled form of labour. These workers are consequently subjected to long work hours, gross underpayment, inadequate rest periods, and improper diets. They commonly have their passports confiscated and are treated as indentured servants (they are not allowed to leave the house or contact anyone on the phone), and many times are subjected to physical and sexual harassment or assault. Nevertheless, many of them are prepared to suffer through all these indignities and worse, as the salary they receive is many times more than what they would receive in their home countries.
India needs to address the needs and problems of its workers migrating abroad, in particular, the domestic workers. We need to look into the possibilities of educating potential migrants on the conditions of work abroad, on the provisions of their contract, and on the available avenues for assistance in times of need. We also need to push for Indian embassies and consulates abroad to actively monitor the situation of these workers in the host countries, and also to provide better protection and assistance to nationals with problems.
This report was compiled from the following sources:
D' Souza, Felix (Domestic Workers' Movement - Migrant Desk, Bombay) and Pinto, Xavier (Domestic Workers Movement, Goa), paper submitted at the conference, "Migrant Workers Challenging Global Structures," August 28 - September 2, 1996, Seoul, Korea.
"Migrant Workers in the Arabian Gulf", paper submitted at the conference, "Migrant Workers Challenging Global Structures," August 28 - September 2, 1996, Seoul, Korea.