1.4 million Indians regularised in Saudi Arabia

New Delhi: About 1.4 million Indian workers in Saudi Arabia were regularised, while nearly 140,000 have returned due to the kingdom’s ‘Nitaqat’ labour policy, Overseas Indian Affairs Secretary Prem Narain has said.

“Some 250 people are still there. They are stuck because of cases related to incomplete documents,” Narain said.

The government is talking to the Saudi authorities to get them back, Narain said.

“Recently, Saudi Arabia’s Labour Minister was here. We requested him to allow those workers to come back to India. They [Saudi authorities] have given assurance ... they are trying to finalise those cases,” he said.

Narain said the Indian mission in Saudi Arabia was providing all the necessary help to the affected workers.

More than half of the nearly 2.8 million Indian workers in the kingdom were affected by the Nitaqat policy aimed at increasing job opportunities for locals. Nearly 1.4 million Indian workers were regularised, while some 140,000, who lacked proper documents, were forced to return due to the new policy implemented in November 2013.

The secretary claimed that proactive steps taken by the Indian government and strong diplomatic relations helped avert a major crisis.

“We persuaded them to extend the grace period and finally around 1.4 million people were regularised,” Narain said.

Narain added that the new policy is good for the genuine expatriate workers holding proper documents.

“A majority of the Indian workers in Saudi are in blue collar jobs. A lot of them are illiterate and they are prone to exploitation. The new policy is good for them,” he said.

India and Saudi Arabia recently signed an agreement to protect the interests of domestic workers. The agreement was signed during Saudi Arabian Labour Minister Adel Bin Mohammad Fakeih’s official visit to New Delhi earlier this month.

Narain said India would soon sign similar agreements with other countries to protect the interests of low-paid workers, who are generally prone to exploitation.