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2. EVIDENCE OF WAGE THEFT AGAINST INDIAN RETURNEES:
EXCERPTS FROM A PRIMARY SURVEY
The survey was conducted among the returnees to Kerala, and Tamil Nadu who returned via
repatriation mission. The lack of availability of reliable data prevented a full-fledged scientific sample
survey across Indian states. However, Kerala and Tamil Nadu accounted for the significant share of
repatriated migrant workers7. The study relied on the personal details of the returnees provided by
both the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments, and stratified random sampling was conducted on this
dataset. The survey was conducted among 2252 migrant workers who had returned during May 2020
and December 2020. Among the respondents, 49.1% had returned from UAE and Saudi Arabia. It
underlines the large-scale return of workers from the GCC countries. Among the respondents, 32.2%
were employed in the industrial sector, while workers from the construction and hospitality sectors
constituted 15.1% and 12.3%. Considering the impact of covid-19 on the economy of the Gulf region,
this trend is predictable. As per the data, only 0.79 percent of the total returnees were government
employees. The low share of government returnees indicated that the private and informal sector in
the Gulf suffered the most, a trend which was seen in other regions of the world (Rajan and Akhil 2021).
2.1. Who lost jobs among the returnees?
Among the returnees, 45.5% of the workers chose repatriation due to job loss, and 28.4% returned due
to fear about the virus. If we consider other reasons that indirectly led to job loss, such as expiry of the
contract and compulsory repatriation, the figure would be more than 55% of the total returnees. These
figures are in proportion with the data provided by the Government of Kerala.8 The data indicates that
60 percent of the workers repatriated to Kerala had lost their jobs. Among the 44.5% of the people who
lost the job and returned to India since May 2020, 30.7% of the workers returned from Saudi Arabia.
Even though UAE has the most prominent Indian diaspora population, more workers from Saudi Arabia
lost their jobs compared to UAE (22.3%). Repatriated workers from Qatar constituted 7.1% of the total
number of workers who returned due to job loss from the GCC countries.
The industrial workers (33.5%) followed by the workers in the Construction (17.6%) and hospitality
sector (14.4%) were the primary victims of job loss during the pandemic. The government employees
(0.6%) hardly lost their jobs. Among the workers, 15% of the domestic sector, including drivers, faced
job loss. As the predictions indicated around 60% of the job loss during the pandemic was in the service
sector followed by the industrial sector.
It is essential to understand the nature of job loss, how they lost their jobs and the employers'
responses. Among the people who lost jobs, most of the workers (30.18%) were asked to resign.
Notably, 18.7% of the workers were advised to travel back home without paying their salaries, and a
few workers (2.6%) were threatened with termination. Among these workers, only 12.79% of the
workers received a favourable option of returning to home country with the wages and dues. However,
the workers in the industrial sector (17.8) had a more pleasant experience from the employers due to
the labour protection system in the industrial sector in the GCC countries. Among the industrial
workers, 27% were offered a termination option, and 22% were asked to travel back with salary. Apart
7https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/state-sees-largest-reverse-migration/article34163811.ece
8https://norkaroots.org/covid-services