workforce to be paid higher salaries. Inflation, the value of the Indian currency and a rise in the cost of living in the Gulf were the factors that led to the decision." The Impact Of The New Referral Wages The Telangana government has opposed the new wage reductions. Telangana's NRI affairs Minister K.T. Rama Rao tweeted to India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, calling the new circulars, “a cause for huge concern” and said “the wages of lakhs of migrant workers from Telangana working in the Gulf countries will get adversely impacted.” “Already there is considerable distress among all migrant workers due to wage losses as a result of Covid & lockdowns, Rao said, “I request you to use your good offices to ensure that our migrant workers’ interests are protected.” The residence status of migrants in the Gulf are tied to their contracts and employers. When contracts expire, or are terminated, migrants—who sometimes spend half their lives in the region—must return promptly home. Because of this restrictive labour sponsorship system, employers retain significant control. “Employers might pressure existing workers who are paid more, to work for the $200 wage listed in the circular. That is one danger. Or they can send workers back to India, and recruit freshers for a lower wage,” said Bheem Reddy. “The foreign remittances also, naturally, will come down. This is one way of looking at it.” There are other problems. The $200 referral wage for Qatar is lower than the country’s $275 minimum wage, effective this March. The minimum wage, like other recent progressive labour reforms, have been established after years of campaigning by human rights observers and the United Nations regarding Qatar’s poor treatment of its migrant workforce. “It [the referral wage] doesn’t make sense because Qatar already has a minimum wage,” said Ray Jureidini, PhD, research professor on migration and labour at the Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. Under Qatar’s new wage law, workers who are not provided free food and housing must be paid at least 500 riyals for rent and 300 riyals for provisions. The new wage circulars are silent about worker stipends. The Impact Of The Pandemic The coronavirus pandemic, the country-wide lockdowns, the economic downturn in the region, have hit migrant workers hardest. Across sectors, companies big and small, reduced worker salaries, placed them on unpaid leave, or sacked them without notice. Employers who couldn’t afford to pay workers, simply didn’t, and embassies and labour courts were flush with labour complaints—most of them unaddressed, months after they were filed.