Gulf losing its lustre for NRIs

Post World War II, the Gulf region reigned as the most favorite destination for job seekers from India. The region’s large scale development endeavors generated job opportunities by millions, attracting as many hopefuls. Lucrative salaries and the feeling of working abroad drove many skilled workers from India to move Gulf wards, increasing the number of NRIs in Gulf.

But with the upward growth of Indian economy, salaries in both private as well as public sectors have gone up. And become better than what is offered in Gulf countries. The result—a slow down in outflow of skilled professionals.

Coupled with disparity in salaries, other factors like stringent labor laws, especially in Saudi Arabia and UAE have also discouraged people from entering into the Gulf countries for furthering their career prospects.

The NRI community in the Gulf countries mainly comprises of people from South Indian states, like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. A majority of NRIs in UAE belong to Andhra Pradesh.

Further fueling the disinclination for Gulf countries are the rising instances of harassment at the workplace and troubling trade and social policies. Ignoring the due humane treatment towards Indians, UAE has set September 30 as the date for deportation of illegal immigrants from UAE. Cases of harassment against NRIs in Gulf countries by employers have also been in the news off late.

To help struggling NRIs in UAE and Gulf countries, the Indian government has taken some remedial measures. The State government of Andhra Pradesh has appealed to the UAE to extend the deadline by a year. In another development, the Ministry of Overseas Affairs, New Delhi , plans to set up a toll free helpline for NRIs from Gulf, exclusively to lodge their complaints for speedy redressal.

Amitabh Kumar, a writer by profession has been part of content research team of magazines, journal dealing with NRI, non resident Indian news, stories, and issues. Presently he is content writer in website - http://www.nrirealtynews.com emphasizing on nri property services, property investment scenario in India.