A Malayalam TV show has helped track down as many as 530 missing migrant workers in the Gulf. For the families of the missing, the show is a saviour A cousin’s sudden suicide within days of taking up an engineer’s job in Muscat saw Rafeek Ravuther wake up to the dark side of Gulf migration. […]
Unlike other countries in West Asia, Jordan lacks petrodollars. In 1996, an agreement with the US gave the country preferential duty-free and quota-free access to the American market. This was the first such agreement the US ever had with an Arab nation and saw the establishment of Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) – essentially, industrial zones created […]
Despite having a valid passport and visa, Bangladeshi migrant workers are facing difficult times in Malaysia. The Ringgit’s value has dropped and the number of illegal migrants has increased; so have their suffering. They’ve spent a lot of money to come here but suggest it might not be worth it. (As broadcast on Ekattor TV, […]
Among the factors dissuading Nepalis from working in Malaysia is widespread harassment and robberies by locals After getting his boarding pass for a Kathmandu-bound plane, Basanta Basnet, 22, looked relaxed at Kuala Lumpur airport last week. He was going home after four years in Malaysia. When asked if he plans to return, he replied firmly: […]
Private manpower recruitment agencies claim that migration costs will be around 2,00,000 Bangladeshi Taka when the Malaysian market opens. Recruitment agencies told Ekattor TV that they have paid bribes every step of the recruitment process from Malaysia to Bangladesh. But the Bangladeshi government maintains that the cost of recruitment will be less than 80,000 Taka. […]
More than 4 lakh people hailing from Telangana work in Gulf countries. They are often unaware of the politics, economy, cultural system or even the climate of their destination. As the plane crosses the terrain of Muscat towards Doha, Jyoti and Kumari look in wonder at the 3D display in front of them running images […]
“I want to go back to Muscat to earn as I am not getting a good job in my own country,” says 56-year-old Appukuttan who met his family in India after living miserably for 22 years as an undocumented worker in Muscat. All these years, he has missed the big moments of his personal life. […]
Under sustained international criticism Qatar has reformed its controversial laws governing migrant workers. But for significant improvement in labour conditions there have to be changes in the way the Nepal government and recruiters treat their own workers. After Qatar’s king approved an amendment to the law last week, more than 400,000 Nepali migrant workers, mostly hired for construction of […]
Pushpa is an anomaly, but also a part of an increasing phenomenon, in which urban youths have one eye fixed on the Gulf countries and the other further west, on Europe and North America. After a month-long vacation, Pushpa Bajracharya flew back to Dubai on Thursday, to resume his work as a merchandiser at a […]
Malaysia appoints Synerflux to recruit workers from Bangladesh; rights groups say the decision will lead to monopoly Malaysia has appointed a private company to manage recruitment of Bangladeshi workers under the new G2G Plus system, despite rights groups’ fears that the appointment of a single company will lead to monopoly. The Malaysian company — Synerflux […]