MEA needs to get a grip on whereabouts of Indians overseas

The MEA has no data about the number of Indians illegally staying outside the country. This is unacceptable.

In conflict zones and in war times, a fine line separates migrants and mercenaries. Media reports almost coinciding with the second anniversary of the Ukraine war said migrants from India, who had agreed to work for the Russian army in non-combat roles, had been forced to fight in areas where the Kremlin forces are trying to seize more Russian-speaking territory from Ukraine.

This episode, combined with an earlier bizarre incident in which some 300 Nicaragua-bound Indians ended up spending several days at a small French airport, point to serious challenges to pervasive human mobility out of India. Mysterious silence, amounting to a news blackout, in following up the truth behind thousands of Indians who travelled to Nicaragua before one such flight was detained for human trafficking around Christmas in 2023 is intriguing. However, it has stirred some action in the sprawling Consular Services Division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). But this is far from adequate to deal with the huge problem.

Inside and outside the governments in the Centre and in the states, there is a reluctance to take the bull by the horns. They are unwilling to describe recruits to the Russian army as fulfilling a mercenary role. Nor is the media describing these recruits as mercenaries.

Foreign media, such as the Agence France Presse (AFP), have translated Russian Defence Ministry contracts signed by Indian recruits. These documents clearly state that recruits will be in the ‘military service in the armed forces of the Russian Federation’, with the very specific requirement to ‘participate in hostilities’ and ‘serve the Russian people without limit’.

The Indians had the choice to decline the contract just as they chose to desert the tightly controlled Russian army as the fighting became too hot for them. Foreign media spoke to at least one Indian who escaped from a hospital after he was wounded in active fighting. Declining a contract to fight as a mercenary should have been far easier than deserting the army or escaping from a military hospital. Within India, it is easy to find excuses out of sympathy for these compatriots, but circumstantial evidence and documents cited in the foreign media point to many Indians having agreed to be mercenaries in the Ukraine war.

In the same week that a chartered plane carrying Indians was grounded at Vatry airport by French authorities as it arrived for refuelling, the MEA launched Project PRAYAS. The acronym stands for Promoting Regular and Assisted Migration for Youth and Skilled Professionals. The MEA says the project ‘aligns with the government’s priorities for the promotion of safe and orderly migration.’ This is the latest of several baby steps taken by multiple authorities to tackle migration challenges. Ironically, on the very day the Legend Airlines chartered plane was detained in France, ostensibly on an intelligence tip-off from the United States, the Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, told the Rajya Sabha that “our Missions and Posts do not have any reliable data on the number of Indians staying or working illegally in foreign countries.”

This is unacceptable and runs counter to goal number 10.7 of the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which India is committed. The goal is to ‘facilitate orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration and mobility of people.’ Muraleedharan even said the exact number of Indians deported from foreign countries is not available with the MEA. He blamed the absence of ‘reliable data’ on the unwillingness of foreign governments to provide information on illegal migrants whom they detect or catch.

He said the MEA has no up-to-date information on deportees because foreign immigration agencies do not tell India when its citizens are deported. They seek assistance from their counterparts only when an Indian does not possess a valid passport and an emergency certificate for deportation must be issued in place of it.

Last week the MEA issued a detailed FAQ for intending emigrants to save themselves from being lured as mercenaries and other recruitment irregularities. This was preceded by a warning on ‘illegal recruitment’ by agents on December 14, and a list of pre-approved overseas employers on January 4. There are several Ukrainian companies on this list but none from Russia. The December warning does not mention Russia as a potential magnet for mercenaries either.

Perhaps for diplomatic reasons, Russia is not among the 18 countries for which unskilled workers require Emigration Clearance (ECR) before they leave India. It is time to do both. 

(KP Nayar has extensively covered West Asia and reported from Washington as a foreign correspondent for 15 years)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.