The Indian worker is neither feted nor celebrated. Much like in the country the construction worker, the farm labour, the thousands of drivers, cooks, plumbers, maids, carpenters and electricians who go abroad for employment are seldom noticed. The country is justly proud of the achievement of its professionals and constantly highlight their contribution to India’s economy and prestige. Yet, the worker contributes as much to the economy. The money they send back to the family keeps the home fire burning and has led to the development of southern states like Kerala.

The plight of the blue collar worker comes into focus when there is a disaster like Tuesday’s fire in Kuwait that killed 45 Indians. Or when there are stories of desperate people lured by greedy agents to Moscow to fight for the Russian army. So far four Indian’s were killed lives in the Ukraine war. India may be the world’s fastest-growing major economy, yet the growth has not been able to generate jobs leading to what economists term as jobless growth. India is now a country providing the largest number of blue collar workers to the world spreading out across continents to Europe, Australia as well as the US. The need for a job is so acute that many risk going in without valid papers. According to US authorities in 2023 as many as 96,917 Indian workers tried to come into the country illegally. In 2014, there was an incident of migrants from South Asia who were found in desperate condition inside a British cargo ship. They had smuggled themselves into a container ship crossing the English Channel. Among the 34 were a few Indians. Luckily most survived and were sent back to their respective countries after treatment. In 2022 a Gujarati family of four were found frozen to death while crossing the US-Canada border. However this was not a working class family.

But the largest number of unskilled or semi-skilled labour head to Gulf region. The massive migration of workers began after the oil boom in 1973 as the oil money led to major construction and modernisation of infrastructure in the region. Today besides the blue collar workers there are also a large number of Indian professionals working in the Gulf, most of them in the UAE. But the majority are ordinary workers. There are now 8.5 million Indian workers in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. These workers send back as much as $12 billion in remittances each year.

Those going to the Gulf are from the four southern states, with Kerala contributing the largest number, followed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. UP, Bihar and Punjab also contribute.

Last week’s fire in a Kuwait labour camp in which 45 Indians were killed, brought the blue collar worker to the spotlight back home. The families not only lost their loved ones but now face an uncertain future.

"The workers deserve much better treatment by both India as well as the host countries they serve. What happened is unacceptable," says S Irudaya Rajan, Chair of the International Institute of Migration and Development, Kerala. There are almost a million Indians living and working out of Kuwait, making it the largest expatriate community in the country.

Since Tuesday’s horrific incident there has been criticism about the working condition of Indian workers in the Gulf and demands for better monitoring by the government. In the past there were plenty of horror stories of exploitation of Indian labour in the rich Sheikhdoms. Apart from inhuman living conditions, long working hours, there were instances of employees not paying the promised salary, restricting movement by taking away the passport of the worker and numerous cases of abuse of domestic helps especially house maids. However over the years the situation has improved considerably. Indian embassies in the Gulf together with the labour ministries of the host countries work together to ensure that Indian workers get a better deal.

Retired ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, an expert on the region who had been ambassador to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman says that the situation today is no longer what it was in the past. "Yes, the fire in Kuwait was tragic, more so as many lives were lost. It was an accident. But overall the living and working condition of Indian workers in the region are good, thanks to the efforts of the government of India as well as the excellent co-operation of the local authorities who work closely with the Indian missions in the region. The host governments have always extended support and try to quickly resolve issues brought to their notice.’’

Ambassador Ahmad says that the labour camps are generally three or four storied buildings that are fully air conditioned have running water and functioning toilets. The workers cook their meals here and so the gas cylinders that were lined up on the first floor. There was negligence by the owner of the building who possibly in the hope of making a fast buck overcrowded the building and allowed cardboard and plastic sheets to partition the rooms. But the Kuwaiti authorities took prompt action against the owner of the building. Kuwait's Public Prosecution department detained a citizen and some expatriates on charges of manslaughter and negligence for not implementing fire safety measures, according to reports in the Kuwaiti newspapers. Sheikh Fahad Yusuf al-Sabah, the country's deputy prime minister, had accused property owners of greed and said violations of building standards had led to the tragedy. The authorities also

Ambassador Ahmad also said that the "e-Migrate’’ process that was introduced during Manmohan Singh’s term helped the Indian work force in the Gulf. This is a system which is integrated with the Passport Sewa Project of the ministry of external affairs and bureau of immigration of the home ministry on one-hand and the Indian missions in the region, as well as the foreign employers and registered recruiting agents. Every worker or recruiting agent has to provide a copy of the appointment letter of the employee to the embassy before he enters his destination. This is done to ensure that they get the promised salary at the time of accepting the job.

"After the introduction of the e-migrate system, and the special insurance policies for the workers conditions of the blue collar Indian workers in the Gulf have seen an incremental improvement. There is a constant endeavor to work with local ministries of Labour to improve their living conditions, working hours and nutrition. Mechanisms have also been put into place to ensure that their grievances are attended to in a timely manner by the community welfare wings of the missions in the Gulf,’’ says Anil Wadhwa another former ambassador to Oman. "The wage situation however needs to improve vis a vis local and other foreign workers to remove discrimination,’’ he adds.

Though both the MEA and former ambassadors speak of the improvement in the condition of India’s blue collar workers in the Gulf, many of them are exploited and suffer at the hands of recruiting agent. Despite regulatory safeguards, there are many loopholes that continue to be exploited. Yet while working towards securing better terms for our labour force abroad, it is time to also take a deep dive into the conditions in which blue collar workers in India operate. Much has to be done here.