Kuwait’s National Assembly, after the direction of its Legal and Legislative Council, approved the Expatriate Quota Bill. This decision has been taken in order to reduce foreign workers. As a result, approximately seven lakh Indians would be negatively impacted.
The gulf country on Monday declared a draft law, proposing the Expatriates quota as constitutional. After this, a huge question has been put on the large group of Indian workers who reside in Kuwait.
The Legal Committee of the country put forth the conclusion so as to reduce the country’s pressure developed by foreign workers. According to the report, many Indian immigrants would suffer and may lose residence in the Gulf country.
The Bill, which directs that the number of Indians should not surpass 15 percent of the country’s 4.8 million population, will be switched to another committee for a detailed plan to be chalked out. Indians number about 1.4 million in Kuwait, forming the largest expatriate community in the nation followed by Egyptians. The bill formulates related quotas for people belonging to other nations, as well.
With Kuwaitis turning into a minority in their own nation, the bill is seen as a manifestation of the fact that Kuwait no longer prefers to remain an expat-majority nation and is working on curtailing its dependence on foreign workers.
The anti-expat verbiage spiked since the commencement of coronavirus pandemic with law creators and governmental administration so as to lessen the foreign workers in Kuwait.
Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah told media that he suggested decreasing the number ex-pats from 70% to 30% of the whole population.
India has not released an official statement in this regard. However, sources confirmed that the Indian embassy was closely observing the developments related to the suggested legislation.
Another report in the Kuwait Times cited interior minister Anas Al-Saleh as telling that a separate draft law on modifying the residency law will be accepted to the National Assembly within two weeks as Parliament prepares to finalize legislation to reduce the number of expatriates within a few months.
This draft law calls for Kuwait to aid from neighboring and progressive countries with the aim of encouraging only those expatriates who are required in the country, he added.
National Assembly speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem also told that he and a group of legislators will defer yet another draft law calling for a phased deduction of expatriates. He asserted that 1.3 million of the 3.35 million expatriates are either illiterate or can merely read and write, and are not the type of tribe Kuwait needs. He also said 100,000 foreign workers are uneducated.
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Ex Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, who worked extensively in West Asia, including in Kuwait, said the move appeared to be propelled more by sentiments rather than good sense, in wake of the economic crisis due to the pandemic.
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The Indian community of 920,000 in Kuwait includes nearly 28,000 appointed in the government sector and more than 426,000 in the private category. Their annual remittances to India are almost $4.8 billion.
