Indians in Saudi Arabia: MEA wants exploitation to stop

New Delhi, Oct 12: The Ministry of External Affairs will advise the embassies in Saudi Arabia to set up special cells to address the grievances of Indian workers in the country.

The MEA has decided to take a more proactive stance following the horrific incident in which a Saudi employer attacked and chopped off the hand of a Indian lady worker for demanding more wage.

Indians working in Saudi Arabia have often had a difficult time and most of them are not even paid well, a source informed.

Data base on Indian workers in Saudi:

The MEA has suggested that the Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia keep an up to date database. However the MEA feels that there ought to several centres set up where Indian workers in Saudi Arabia can redress their grievances.

An MEA source informed OneIndia that if grievance cells are set up then it helps the workers from India to redress their problems. In most cases, the workers tend to suffer in silence and are not aware of how and where to redress their grievances.

Further, the MEA will also look into the issue of agents who send Indian workers to Saudi Arabia. It has been found that the agent promises these workers a huge salary, but when they finally end up at their work place, they end up getting paid a much smaller sum of money.

The agents will come under the scanner as we find that in most cases they have cheated gullible Indians. In the case of the lady who was assaulted by her employer, she was promised nearly Rs 30,000, but ended up getting paid just Rs 15,000.

Need for human rights:

The Indian government has said that there is an urgent need for better human rights in Saudi Arabia. Workers from India are exploited. In fact, if one looks at the condition of Indians working outside, they are most exploited in Saudi Arabia.

Indians in Saudi Arabia constitute 7 per cent of the population. They are not provided the best of amenities and very often live in unhygienic conditions. The living standards need to improve, an Indian government official informed. Moreover they need to be provided social security, the official also added.

OneIndia News