No help for Indian helps when ‘dream’ foreign job turns into a nightmare
- Sneha Bhura
- TNNUpdated: Jul 3, 2024, 12:56 IST IST
Both nanny institutes and immigrant consultancies are mushrooming but as Hinduja case shows, domestic workers need legal protection
Anjali from Ulhasnagar in Thane has quite a few stamps on her passport. Having worked in Dubai, Hong Kong and Muscat (where she was employed by a ‘sheikh’) as a domestic worker, she reels off the dos and don’ts. “Do not give your phone to your employer. Remember, they need you more than you need them. Ensure that you are allowed to speak to your family every day. Clients will say they have spent lakhs on your visa, so they have a right to take away your passport but don’t fall for that. Don’t go for a lower salary, and don’t fall for scammy agents,” says the 35-year-old, who has drawn a salary of up to Rs 45,000 a month abroad and wants to go to London for her next job.
Not everyone is as savvy. While the money is more than what they would get in India for a similar job, it’s still nothing compared to what a local would be paid. Before that comes the hurdle of getting there. Many of them take loans to pay greedy agents who don’t give them the proper paperwork. Without that, they are held hostage by employers who take their passports and withhold salaries. As the recent Hinduja case in which four members of the family were convicted for exploiting domestic staff at their luxury villa in Geneva showed, even wealthy NRI tycoons can behave that way and not just a sheikh in the Gulf. Besides other charges like confiscation of passports, low salaries and long hours, the lead prosecutor pointed out that the family’s annual spend on their pet dog surpassed the salary they offered their house-help.
Not everyone is as savvy. While the money is more than what they would get in India for a similar job, it’s still nothing compared to what a local would be paid. Before that comes the hurdle of getting there. Many of them take loans to pay greedy agents who don’t give them the proper paperwork. Without that, they are held hostage by employers who take their passports and withhold salaries. As the recent Hinduja case in which four members of the family were convicted for exploiting domestic staff at their luxury villa in Geneva showed, even wealthy NRI tycoons can behave that way and not just a sheikh in the Gulf. Besides other charges like confiscation of passports, low salaries and long hours, the lead prosecutor pointed out that the family’s annual spend on their pet dog surpassed the salary they offered their house-help.
