A
human tragedy in Qatar
The front page news in The Hindu
under the heading, “Is world cup killing Indian workers?” on May 31st disturbed my mind
instantly. There is an explanation
regarding the statistics concerning the mortality rate among Indian migrant
workers who are engaged in construction activities in Qatar which are plenty due to the
world cup event in 2022 . The general view that, “statistics is very carelessly
collected and carefully presented” is proved right in
this matter.
It is reported that, 1093 Indian
workers have died between 2011 and 2015 in Qatar.
It seems that, the year 2014
witnessed highest Indian workers death in Qatar which works out to be .5 per thousand
populations since, the Indian migrants in 2013 was 5.8 lakh.
The point of consolation seems to be based on
the comparison between the death rate in
India and Qatar for the 15-59 age group i.e.,
it is, “4.1 per thousand in India according to the record of Registrar General
of India and that is over eight times the death rate in Qatar”
The Hindu further reports that, “the
statistics cited by FIFA take into account only the incidents that occur in the
foot ball stadium” indicating an understatement of the real situation regarding
the mortality rate among Indian workers.
For the media, statistical
analysts and the readers it has only news value which would be forgotten once
the news paper is closed. But if we bother to spend few minutes to ponder over the
human aspect of this report our hearts will be saddened. Who are these Indian workers?
They are manual laborers ready to work hard, even under the most inhuman
conditions and extreme whether conditions in the foreign countries under the
impression that, they would get far better salary than what they would get
otherwise in India,
for the same hours of work. They venture to face all types of risks in unknown counties
without even knowing about the provisions of the labour laws which would ensure
compensation in case accidents or death. They decide to go out of the country
for the sake of providing better standard of life to their family members, so that,
the next generation would be able to equip themselves with tools of empowerment
like education, skill training and better health facilities. The basic aim is
the dream of welfare of their families which the Indian salary would not
provide.
For the readers it is yet another data on
mortality rate. But , can the families who have lost the earning member and the
head of the families console their hearts and minds by the fact that , higher mortality rate of Indian labourers in the 15- 59 age group is higher in India than
in Qatar? Won’t the fact that, their fathers lost their lives in an attempt to
provide them a better standard of life haunt them for ever? Can’t the
government of India, just think for a minute the plight of the future of these
families and arrange for awareness creation programmes to the labour community
regarding dangers that they would face if, they take up jobs in countries like Qatar
which believes in slavery and bonded
labour system even in this century, instead of arguing over with the authenticity
of the statistical reporting by journalists?
Let our government at least analyse these factors from human angle and
rush to the aid of the victims. “If the Qatar development model is based on
enslaved model” as reported by Sharan Burrow, the Secretary General of the International
Trade Union Confederation ( in the interview given to the Hindu ) let the
Indian government raise this issue of abuse of labour rights by countries like
Qatar in the internationals forums, since, the
number of workers going abroad for better survival from India is significant . Let not the government of India
wastes it’s energy over arguments over the
authentic source of the statistical data in this matter. Our government
has the moral responsibility to take care of the welfare of our workers who are
in toiling under such in such cruel conditions
in countries where the humans are treated like beasts of burden.