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The Migration Industry in Asia pp 109–131Cite as

An Industry of Frauds? State Policy, Migration Assemblages and Nursing Professionals from India

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Abstract

India’s governmental regulation of emigration and the emergence of the country’s migration industry have both been largely guided by the facilitation of low-skilled outmigration. Taking the rapidly growing migration of nursing professionals from India as a point of departure, this chapter seeks to understand the way the Indian state’s concerns and interests entangle with that of an emerging migration industry in significant ways. Recounting in detail a case of migration fraud, it argues that there is a dialectic relationship between the character and functioning of the migration industry and state policy.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Emigration Policy Division, F.No. O1-11012/10/2013/EP, March 12, 2015, https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/9-nurses-recur.pdf, accessed May 24, 2017.

  2. 2.

    The ECR countries are (1) Afghanistan, (2) Bahrain, (3) Indonesia, (4) Iraq [presently suspended], (5) Jordan, (6) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, (7) Kuwait, (8) Lebanon, (9) Libya [presently suspended], (10) Malaysia, (11) Oman, (12) Qatar, (13) South Sudan, (14) Sudan, (15) Syria, (16) Thailand, (17) United Arab Emirates, and (18) Yemen [presently suspended]. See, Emigration and You, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, http://www.mea.gov.in/Images/attach/20_Emigration_and_You.pdf, accessed April 10, 2018.

  3. 3.

    According to the rule, the charges that a recruiting agent in respect of services renders could be ‘equivalent to wages for 45 days as per the employment contract subject to maximum Rs. 20,000’.

  4. 4.

    Mathew International, established in 1974, with its Headquarters in Mumbai, India, is one of the pioneers of overseas recruitment and manpower placements and held a good portion of the Mumbai’s overseas recruitment when Bombay was the hub of recruitment. It expanded over time and Kerala remains one of their key catchment areas, with an office in Kochi.

  5. 5.

    Hawala, meaning transfer or trust, in its classic form is an informal system of money transfer across national borders and is largely trust driven. Of late, the system and its network are getting significantly formalized. See ‘How hawala money-transfer schemes are changing’, The Economist, October 15, 2015, https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/10/economist-explains-12, accessed April 15, 2018.

  6. 6.

    Signed blank cheques and stamp papers were extracted from them as securities.

  7. 7.

    The Act of 1922 specified procedures for emigration and steps to be taken by foreign agents in India for the welfare of such emigrant workers, apart from making government notifications mandatory for recruitment and emigration.

  8. 8.

    An office called ‘Controller General of Emigrants’ in the Ministry of External Affairs was supposed to work broadly on the principles laid down by the colonial Emigration Act of 1922.

  9. 9.

    The formation of the ‘MOIA’ in September 2004 could be seen as a testimony of Government of India’s growing interest in the affairs of overseas Indians. It got merged with the Ministry of External Affairs in January 2016, with a stated reason of avoiding duplication of work and improving efficiency.

  10. 10.

    The PGE administers the through field offices called Protectors of Emigrants (POE) located in the seven cities originally, subsequently increased to ten. They are Chandigarh, Madras, Delhi, Hyderabad, Calcutta, Bombay, Cochin and Trivandrum, and recent additions being Jaipur and Raibareli.

  11. 11.

    Governmentality combines government and rationality in it and, according to Michael Foucault, is the “art of government” that include a wide variety of control techniques by a ‘liberal state’ seemingly for the benefit of the people and with their consent. It is governing people through positive means to generate willingness of individuals to participate in their own governance (Foucault 1991).

  12. 12.

    Till late 2007, the ECR passport holders had to get their ECR status suspended by the POE for even visiting any of the ECR counties. Unlike individual submissions, the RAs are required furnish additional documentation including demand letter, power of attorney from the employer, and employment contract, besides indemnity bond (upon the discretion of the POE) and a duly sworn in affidavit (see Rajan et al. 2011).

  13. 13.

    The POE is empowered to reject an application for emigration clearance on various grounds; see Rajan et al. (2011, 33–34).

  14. 14.

    See for the terms and conditions of the Registration Certificate, Emigration Rules, 1983, Section 10; and for the grounds on which registration may be suspended or cancelled, Emigration Act of 1983, Chapter III, Section 14. The Emigration (Amendment) Rules, 2009, has made a few timely amendments to it. There are 1187 registered and active recruiting agents functioning in India as of September 21, 2018; see https://emigrate.gov.in/ext/openPDF?strFile=RA_LIST_REPORT.pdf, accessed September 21, 2018.

  15. 15.

    In case of exploitation of Indian workers, upon recommendation from the respective Indian Missions, the PGE could also place any foreign employer or Company under the ‘Prior Approval Category’ (PAC).

  16. 16.

    The documents include (1) Demand Letter, (2) Employment Contract, (3) Copy of VISA, (4) Copy of first page and last page of passport, (5) Emigrant photograph, (6) Copy of Aadhar Card (mandatory in case UID is entered in the emigrant registration form), (7) Copy of PBBY policy, (8) Copy of Rs. 20 lakhs life insurance policy (mandatory in case destination country is Libya), and (9) Affidavits, as applicable as per the jurisdiction POE office.

  17. 17.

    https://emigrate.gov.in/ext/home.action.

  18. 18.

    All information from eMigrate platform, https://emigrate.gov.in/ext/home.action.

  19. 19.

    See Emigration and You, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, http://mea.gov.in/images/pdf/emigration_and_you_new.pdf, accessed March 15, 2018.

  20. 20.

    For a comparative understanding, this is 3% in China and 8.3% in the United States (Kalra 2015).

  21. 21.

    FIR No. RC 5(A)/2015- CBI/Cochin, registered by the CBI.

  22. 22.

    ‘CBI files the charges: How Kerala’s nurses were ripped off by consultants,’ Indian Express, January 21, 2017, http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2017/jan/21/cbi-files-the-charges-how-keralas-nurses-were-ripped-off-by-consultants-1562063.html, accessed May 15, 2017.

  23. 23.

    ‘Ten months on, MEA nod awaited to prosecute protector of emigrants in nursing scam,’ Indian Express, January 21, 2017, http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2017/jan/21/ten-months-on-mea-nod-awaited-to-prosecute-protector-of-emigrants-in-nursing-scam-1561894.html, accessed May 15, 2017.

  24. 24.

    All these information is taken from the Central Administrative Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench Order (O.A. No.180/00451/2016), December 7, 2016, on the compliant of the said POE to revoke his suspension and reinstatement in service; https://indiankanoon.org/doc/119649230/, accessed May 20, 2017.

  25. 25.

    ‘Kerala nursing recruitment scam: Uthup Varghese remanded in shooting case,’ Deccan Chronicle, April 6, 2017, https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/crime/060417/kerala-nursing-recruitment-scam-uthup-varghese-remanded-in-shooting-case.html, accessed May 21, 2017.

  26. 26.

    ‘It was rags-to-riches for scam accused,’ The Hindu, August 11, 2017, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/it-was-rags-to-riches-for-scam-accused/article19469753.ece, accessed April 23, 2018.

  27. 27.

    ‘HC rejects bail plea of Uthup,’ The Hindu, June 13, 2015, http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/hc-rejects-bail-plea-of-uthup/article7311805.ece, accessed May 23, 2017.

  28. 28.

    http://www.iikwebadvt.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=36743&SECTION=0, accessed May 23, 2017.

  29. 29.

    It is reported later that the recruited nurses did not get government jobs in Kuwait, instead are being accommodated in the school health program on a much lesser pay than the promised. See ‘More than 800 recruited nurses are jobless in Kuwait,’ The Times of India, June 19, 2015, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/More-than-800-recruited-nurses-jobless-in-Kuwait/articleshow/47728151.cms, accessed April 28, 2018.

  30. 30.

    Minister of State for External Affairs V. K. Singh in Rajya Sabha, reported in NDTC as ‘India’s Remittance Inflow Further Declines By $4.3 Billion In 2016–17,’ NDTV, March 16, 2018, https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/indias-remittance-inflow-further-declines-by-4-3-billion-in-2016-17-1824471, accessed April 28, 2018.

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  1. Department of History, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

    V. J. Varghese

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  1. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Michiel Baas

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Varghese, V.J. (2020). An Industry of Frauds? State Policy, Migration Assemblages and Nursing Professionals from India. In: Baas, M. (eds) The Migration Industry in Asia. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9694-6_6

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