Employment agents promise gold in the Gulf, cheat workers

Indian agents supplying workers to Gulf employers are known to have cheated close to 20 percent of illiterate workers from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Most of them illiterate and aspiring for better standards of living get trapped in the picture that the agents paint. Once they are convinced and are shifted to the middle east for employment, the agents are paid hefty commissions. And the workers end up being in exploitative jobs. 

According to a survey, agents supplying manpower to authorised agencies in the Gulf nations are paid a commission of Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. Whereas, agents that deal with illegal individuals in the Middle East are offered much higher, which account for Rs 50,000 and more. Moreover, the Gulf countries have already issued orders to employers not to take away the passports of their employers. But, the illegal agencies still continue to do so, irrespective of the directive, leaving Indian workers in a lurch. In addition, the world agreements that are issued to the workers are in Arabic and is not understood by the workers. They sign the documents without the knowledge of what they may land into and get into trouble.

Many such cases of corruption have come to light, following which the Indian government asked Gulf agencies to mend their ways. While some of the reputed ones have improved their track records, there are others that continue to function as they used to previously. The workers are promised anything between Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 by these agencies, but are given just a fraction of the promised sum. An employment agent, under conditions of anonymity said, "The worker only comes to know that he/she has been cheated after getting the first salary. Most employers in Saudi, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and other Gulf countries pay only Rs 10,000 per month. Workers who go through unauthorised agents don’t even get salaries."

• telangana
• andhra pradesh
• employment
• labourers