There are over 81 million Indian diaspora that is spread over more than 134 countries in the world. The Gulf is one of the strategically important regions where more than 8 million Indian diaspora community lives. It is thus important to develop a more cordial and stronger relationship with this region. Keeping it in view, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the UAE and Bahrain in 2019 for strengthening bilateral relations.
India's relationship with the Arab countries could be traced for many centuries. Many Indian merchants went to this region for trade and investment. Thus, people to people contacts have been found to be strong for a long time. Our relations have been strengthened further especially with the Gulf countries that include Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These bonds are still improving and they are coming closer considering their mutual interests in terms of trade, energy and Indian diaspora.
Our priority to the Gulf is mainly due to a large influx of labour from India to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. There are over 8 million Indian community living in the region. The oil boom of 1973 led to a migration of both skilled and semi-skilled workers from India to the Gulf countries. The boom not only led to the unprecedented economic advancement of the region but also attracted a large labour force from abroad. Therefore, it is important on the part of the policymakers to make Indian diaspora a reference point in formulating India’s foreign policy. On the other side, Saudi Arabia and UAE are in search of investment partners, so maintaining cordial relations with the region becomes vital. The total percentage share of foreign nationals in the GCC countries accounts for 51 per cent and the composition of Indians is more than 30 per cent of the total expatriate workers in the region.
Remittances are considered to be one of the important sources of income in many developing economies including India. This is because remittances contribute significantly in foreign exchange earnings, GDP growth of nations and improved conditions of the migrants’ families. India is the world’s largest remittance recipient country with $79 billion in 2018. The remittances from Gulf countries total $ 37 billion in 2018. In addition, the role of social remittance is also significant as Gulf migrants bring them home. Social remittances refer to new ideas, know-how, work culture, discipline, knowledge, scientific outlook, new skills, etc. As a result, it is noticed that there is a visible positive change in the attitude of migrants’ families towards Indian society.
In order to protect the rights of Indian workers in the Gulf region, several MoUs have been signed between India and the Gulf countries. In spite of these MoUs, one cannot overlook the violations of Human rights of the migrant workers. The workers employed in the destination countries are subjected to abuse and exploitation, long tedious working hours, delays in payment to name a few. Public sector jobs are reserved for the nationals and private sector jobs for the migrants who come under the system of Kafala an ‘employment framework in the Gulf’ whereby a national employer sponsors a migrant. This framework has been criticised by human rights activist as it leads to exploitation of the migrant worker in the host countries.
There is a need to further strengthen our relations with West Asia, especially the Gulf countries. The West Asian countries have fully realized the economic and diplomatic potentials of India. They are willing to widen their ties with India in strategic fields. Working together would enable them to meet the challenges of contemporary times. India can be instrumental in promoting stability in the region, which also helps its own energy and security requirements, and workforce employment. It would be in our own interests to further develop economic, diplomatic and cultural relations with these countries. Emphasis should be given to diversify relations beyond trade and energy and focus on human resources. We must develop a sound bilateral labour policy that addresses the issues concerning the Indian labour working in the region for our mutual benefits.
