Notable observations of the JWT India Report (August 2021) "Empty-handed and Demoralized: New evidence of 18 wage theft among Indian return migrants during COVID-19" by Akhil CS, Irudaya Rajan  India’s response to the grievances of migrant workers was poor compared to other origin countries, especially regarding labour disputes. The number of unresolved cases in 2019 and 2020 alone was 6,988. This figure consists of cases only from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries except the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Grievances included non-payment of wages and end of service benefits, contract violations, labour right violations, harassment at the workplace and confiscation of documents.  Among returnees, 45.5% of the workers chose repatriation due to job loss, and 28.4% returned due to fear about the Corona 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 conformity with the data provided by the Government of Kerala. (https://norkaroots.org/covidservices)  Among the people who lost jobs, most 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% received a favourable option of returning to home country with the wages and dues.  65.5% of the respondents who lost their jobs had spent more than two years at the destination. Among returnees, 30.3% who lost their jobs had work experience of more than ten years in the Gulf. More than 60 percentages (61.1%) of the workers who did not receive their wages and benefits had work experience in Gulf for more than five years. Moreover, most of them preferred to rush back home due to the fear of the virus as the COVID-19 cases in major destination countries were much higher than in India during the initial wave.  Sustainable reintegration and facilitation of remigration: Among the victims of wage theft, people of working age preferred to emigrate for work. The most vulnerable returnees, such as low-skilled workers who crossed working age, and women domestic workers, preferred assistance from stakeholders for reintegration. Workers who preferred to remigrate were concerned about retaliation from the employers if they filed a legal complaint against wage theft. The massive cases of wage theft and other grievances among repatriated workers indicated that addressing and solving grievances of migrant workers need to be part of long-run, sustainable reintegration strategies. Regarding remigration, the stakeholders, including the government, should find avenues of co-operation with the destination countries to ensure the safety and well-being of the workers who fight legal battles with the employers.  Access to grievance mechanisms and legal services: Among the 1,004 respondents who lost their jobs since March 2020, only 3.3% received advice about addressing non-payment of wages. Among the victims of wage theft, only 26% were aware of the MADAD platform, and 6% availed the helpline facilities provided by Indian missions, national and state governments to report their grievances on wage theft. Wage theft impacted migrants regardless of their class and skill set possessed. However, the class question will be relevant in the future because high-skilled and well-paid migrants had awareness about the issue, and most of them had issued powers of attorney to lawyers in the destination countries to approach the legal mechanism. Where the claim amounts were small, it was difficult to find lawyers who would take up the cases.  Involvement of sub-national governments: Notably, the Kerala government's NORKA department set up a tollfree number and provided complaint forms to report wage theft cases. They received around 600 cases so far and forwarded these to the Indian missions in the Gulf (Rajan and Akhil 2021). Inadequate responses prompted NORKA-Roots to handover cases to NORKA lawyers in the destination countries. However, these efforts did not produce many successful results in the past year. The Andhra government via Andhra Pradesh Non-Resident Telugu (APNRT) society and Overseas Manpower Corporation (OMCAP) documented the information of returnee migrants to reintegrate workers into the domestic labour market and enhance remigration by sharing data with foreign employers. Such efforts might help the victims of wage theft in the state. However, the state and national governments are still reluctant to cooperate with the non-state stakeholders. Disclaimer: The figures, statistics within the report are based upon the limited documentation of cases submitted to the JFWT platform or separately to MFA. It does not intend to implicate any country, government, industry, employer, etc.