The Clay Pigeons

• It’s mandatory for Indian embassies to check if there is a job demand for unskilled workers
• An okay from the embassy is a must for emigration clearance
• To bypass this, agents present unskilled workers as skilled
• They charge Rs 60,000 per client, forge documents, pay bribes
• CBI estimates that PoE officials collect Rs 64 crore in bribes yearly
• 8.4 lakh people went to the Gulf in 2008, up from 6.5 lakh in 2007

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It’s a scam affecting thousands of Indian labourers seeking employment in the Gulf. The method is old-fashioned and simple: get visas on the basis of forged papers and bribe officials of the Office of the Protector of Emigrants (PoE) for emigration clearance. A well-networked chain of travel agents, recruiting agencies and touts are behind this operation, which gives Indian workers a raw deal while their foreign employers get away without complying with the labour laws of their countries.

Sending unskilled workers abroad as skilled ones is the name of the game: this ‘conversion’ helps bypass mandatory checks put in place by the Indian government to ensure that uneducated workers aren’t sent across to a life of exploitation. Forged documents are submitted and officials on the take (Rs 1,500 is the going rate per passport) sanction emigration clearance. A change in the emigration policy in 2004 made certain documents from employers and checks by the Indian embassy a must for all semi-skilled and unskilled workers. The objective was to ensure that emigrant workers are not shortchanged on wages, are given medical insurance cover, basic facilities and are not made to work over eight hours a day. While most employers in the Gulf pay wages recommended by the Indian government (600 dirhams for the unskilled, 1,800 for the skilled), the workers—especially those who arrive illegally—are often made to work 16 hours a day, not given annual leave, medical facilities or to-and-fro air fares and are made to live in appalling conditions.

The fixing allows recruitment agencies to get past the requirement that the Indian embassy check up if there’s a genuine requirement for which unskilled labour from India has to be brought in. Only after the embassy gives its okay can emigration clearance be given. But this does not apply to skilled workers, who are expected to have the qualifications and hence the ability to look after themselves and guard against exploitation.

Everything comes at a price. Recruitment agencies charge Rs 60,000 per person even when the Union ministry of overseas Indian affairs has fixed the service charges at Rs 2,000. Clearly, a massive fraud running into hundreds of crores is going on unchecked.

The ministry, under which the protectorate of emigrants operates, is aware that such a racket exists and wants to introduce new laws to book the guilty. Vayalar Ravi, the Union minister for overseas Indian affairs, told Outlook: “We are trying to introduce preventive measures. The problem is there are no stringent laws (six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2,000) to deter others from continuing with the racket. If anyone is found guilty, the ministry can’t act on its own—we have to put up a request to chief ministers. This leaves a fair chance for the accused to manipulate the system and go scot free. We have drafted a law and sent it to the law ministry for approval. It has to go through Parliament and so will take time. Meanwhile, we are transferring the suspect officers. But that is not enough.”

Incidentally, in July itself, a CBI probe into bribes being paid to officials in the protectorate of emigrants revealed that on average 300 emigration clearances were being issued every day in Chennai. And the daily bribe being collected was Rs 3 lakh. According to the CBI, corrupt officials of the eight protectorates of emigrants nationwide earn Rs 64 crore from the racket every year.

As per rules, recruitment agents are supposed to provide an agreement between the employer and employee, stating the terms and conditions of the job, the job category and specified salary of the employee. The agreement must also be backed by a medical insurance policy. The agent is also supposed to produce a document from the employer confirming that there is a job vacancy. Lastly, a power of attorney on behalf of the employer to the agent is required to get the authority to ask for an emigration clearance. According to CBI officials investigating the racket, almost all documents used by these suspect recruitment agencies are forged.

Agent Waseem Gazi, being probed

One agent being investigated by the CBI is Waseem Gazi, who runs more than 19 offices across the country and has been in the business since 1977. He gets anywhere between 200 to 300 emigration clearances in a day from the protectorate of emigrants in New Delhi. Other than this, Gazi operates from Hyderabad, Calcutta, Chennai, Ghaziabad, Mumbai and Chandigarh.

Danish Mahfooz, who worked for Gazi, explains the modus operandi. When a client seeks employment in the Gulf, the agency checks if his passport is in order. Through contacts in the Gulf, the agency organises a visa. Then the supporting documents are forged.

But what about medical insurance? Mahfooz came up with this startling revelation: “There is an understanding with the insurance company. For example, Gazi would take 50 insurance policies at one go from a private insurance company with an understanding—for each policy the recruitment agency pays Rs 250, but 45 of those cheques bounce as they are from an account with insufficient funds.”

Currently contesting assembly bypolls from Okhla, Gazi told Outlook: “I believe in insaniyat. I have seen poverty. The rules for furnishing certain documents made for emigration clearance are not fair. None of the people I have sent have ever been deported. I do agree that I have ignored rules: one may call it illegal, but it is for the welfare of poor people who sell everything to travel to the Gulf countries and want to live a decent life. It is for their welfare.”

However, Gazi’s so-called welfare visas do not help the unskilled worker who arrives in the Gulf with forged documents that say he is a trained driver, electrician, mason or cook. The fact that his employer knows he has come on fake documents makes him vulnerable to exploitation, given the risk of being jailed if he’s caught at any point. Also, he cannot lodge a complaint with the Indian embassy because he has used forged documents to get there.

Talmiz Ahmed, the Indian ambassador to the UAE, says, “The problems of illegal migrants are grim. We are helpless and cannot provide any kind of social security in such situations. There should be stringent laws to deal with the errant agents. In 2007, under the amnesty programme around 1.25 lakh workers were sent back to India, while 45,000 to 50,000 people got employment with our help. For illegal migrants, there is nothing we can do. They have no proper food to eat, no freedom to move around, no medical facility. They live on the margins.”