KT Rama Rao urges S Jaishankar to reconsider its decision lowering the Minimum Referral Wages by 30-50 per cent

Hyderabad: NRI Affairs Minister K T Rama Rao has urged Union Minister for External Affairs S Jaishankar to reconsider its decision lowering the Minimum Referral Wages (MRW) by 30-50 per cent at the earliest and address the fears expressed by migrant workers from Telangana State working in Gulf countries.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Rama Rao said the recent circulars were a cause of huge concern as wages of lakhs of migrant workers from Telangana working in the Gulf countries will get adversely impacted.

“Already there is considerable distress among all migrant workers due to wage losses as a result of Covid-19 and lockdowns. I request you to use your good offices to ensure that our migrant workers’ interests are protected. Urge you to take up the matter at the earliest,” the Minister tweeted, tagging Jaishankar.

The Centre’s recent circulars lowering the Minimum Referral Wages (MRW) by 30-50 per cent has been a cause of great concern for lakhs of Gulf migrants from Telangana State. This will have a major impact on more than seven lakh migrant workers from Telangana State working in the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE) among others.

Overseas Employment and Protector General of Emigrants Division in the Ministry of External Affairs issued two separate circulars on September 8 and 21 signed by the division director Rajkumar Singh. Accordingly, the MEA fixed MRW at



US$200 (approximately Rs 15,000) for workers going to Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the UAE, and US$245 (about Rs 18,400) for Kuwait and US$ 324 (about Rs 24,300) for Saudi Arabia.

Making things worse, the MEA has tied all categories and skill levels together causing adverse impact on livelihood of those with better skill levels, experience and occupation. For instance, the MRW for workers moving to the UAE (Dubai) was 800 to 1,700 Dirhams (approximately Rs 16,000 to 34,000) until recently, depending on their skills and occupation. 

But according to the new circulars, the MRW has been reduced to 735 Dirhams/$ 200 (approximately Rs 15,000) applying the same rules for all occupations and skill levels. As a result, the Indian government had allowed the companies operating in the Gulf countries to pay lesser wages to Indian migrant workers.

“The pandemic has left many Gulf migrants without jobs and many of them returned home. These new circulars will have severe impact on livelihood of thousands of migrants to the Gulf countries. They went abroad in search of livelihood and working in adverse conditions to feed their families back home in India. 

As the Indian government itself has lowered the wages, the local companies will pay much power salaries to our workers. Nearly one crore Indians will suffer due to this decision,” TRS NRI wing coordinator Mahesh Bigala told.