R.K. Radhakrishnan is an Associate Editor at India’s national magazine Frontline, who focuses on migrant worker labour issues. He joined the online webinar organized by the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism, which took place on the 23rd of June 2020.According to his observations, there exist two narratives regarding migrants in media: one concerning national migrants and the other one concerning international migrants. Different Indian media outlets prefer to talk about national migrants neglecting the international ones.
Indian migrant workers stacked in the Middle East
He expressed views on Indian migrants abroad. It is estimated, that between 8 to 10 million Indian migrant workers live in the Gulf countries (GCC). In 2018, the remittances sent by Indian migrant workers from these GCC countries were around 80 billion US dollars. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of migrant workers lost jobsand they are desperate to return back to India.
Indian government making business with the of process of repatriation of migrant workers
Unfortunately, not all of them are able to come back as a result of a lack of international flights. Despite the fact, that the Indian government has started the program of repatriation and has arranged flights back to India. As Radhakrishnan noted, the government of India actually charges its own citizens for these flights and therefore, for example Qatar officials denied Air India landing rights.
Other countries, including the United States (US), blame India for operating commercial flights. “The US has said, that India is operating these flights on a commercial basis and why is India not giving us the opportunity, you know, to fly into India. The charter flights US carriers, why are they not allowing them into India”: R.K. Radhakrishnan.
Internal migrant workers walking thousands of miles back to their homes
Talking about internal migrant workers in India, most of them decided to return back to their homes during lock down. Due to the lack of transportation, many of them walk or cycle thousands of miles.
Societies fear the returnee migrant workers as possible spread of infection
However, as Radhakrishnan noted, when both groups get home, most of them are stigmatized, since the community fears they might bring the COVID-19 with them. For this reason, many of them are placed into isolation facilities, which do not even provide basic needs.
Based on the current situation, the biggest problem regarding migrant workers is the inaction of the Indian government in bringing their citizens back home, despite they are desperate and scared. Many of them are undocumented workers or those, who are running out of money. However, both groups, internal and international migrant workers face similar challenges. Both groups are not able to get to their homes, and even if they are lucky, they are many times feared by other members of their communities.
Michal Tengeri, PhD Candidate in Asia-Pacific Studies at National Chengchi Univeristy Twitter: @Michal8810