"Indian migrant workers are not really benefiting from Qatar's labour reforms," 30 Dec 2020

[Data] from the Indian Embassy in Qatar reveals that “not many pro-migrant worker changes are happening” on the ground [despite labour reforms in recent years]... the RTI data revealed that workers have not been benefiting from these reforms...

in 2020, the Indian Embassy received 1,200 grievances on repatriation-related issues till October... [followed by] repatriation of mortal remains (323), followed by grievances filed by domestic workers (273)... there were 235 grievances regarding salaries and dues...

According to Suresh Kumar S, a security guard at a company in Qatar, his company never bothers about these labour reforms. He alleged that the company would look for an opportunity to convolute these reforms and exploit the workers...

[a new minimum wage law in 2020] backfired on workers like Suresh Kumar.

“My monthly basic salary was QAR 1,250 plus QAR 250 for overtime, amounting to QAR 1,500 (approximately Rs 30,000). When the Qatar government recently announced that the minimum basic salary should be QAR 1,000 (approximately Rs 20,000), they reduced my basic salary to QAR 1,000. Now, my basic salary is QAR 1,000 plus QAR 250 for overtime, making it QAR 1,250. They now give us only accommodation. There is no food allowance,” Suresh Kumar explained...

“By analysing the data, I feel that it may take more time to see the reforms happening on the ground,” Hubertson Tom Wilson, a migrant rights lawyer based in Tamil Nadu, told TNM. “Since 2016, the number of Indian workers approaching with labour grievances is above 2,000. Before reforms or after labour reforms introduced by the Qatar government, these high numbers continue to be worrying. All stakeholders of labour migration should study this seriously,” he said.