The frustrated pursuit of happiness

Sunil's desperate pursuit of a better life abroad leads to a harrowing tale of exploitation by illegal recruitment agents.

Pain and disappointment writ large in his face, Sunil, 40, sat down to narrate his story at a lodge on Anna Salai in Chennai. Hailing from Malappuram, he began driving an autorickshaw at his hometown after completing Class X. Since he was struggling to make ends meet, and inspired by tales of people from his district going abroad, he began dreaming of a better life in a foreign country. He was directed to an agent at Palavakkam in Chennai.

In the very first meeting, the agent claimed that he had successfully sent many abroad for jobs, and Sunil was quickly convinced. He paid ₹40,000 to him in processing fees for a job in Israel. However, thereafter, there was no progress at all for months. Sunil met the agent frequently to push his case. Every time, the agent collected more money, and altogether Sunil ended up paying ₹7 lakh, which he mopped up by mortgaging his house, pledging his wife’s jewellery, and borrowing from relatives.

The agent claimed he had tied up with a tour operator in Israel for sending 46 men and women en masse as tourists. Tickets for onward and return journeys and hotel rooms were booked in their names. The plan was that they would travel like tourists and on reaching a famous church in Jerusalem, would disappear amid the crowd. Later, they would stay in the houses of relatives or friends who had already settled down as migrant workers and seek jobs. A plan fraught with danger and rejection, but Sunil went ahead because he was desperate to “go abroad”. However, the visa was rejected. Neither could he leave Chennai nor was his money repaid. The agent advised him to stay back and wait for another opportunity, promising this time a job in Canada. He demanded a further ₹8 lakh, and Sunil coughed it up too, borrowing from every one he knew.

On May 1, the agent sent Sunil forged ID cards and documents identifying him as a senior scientist in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) attending a conference of scientists in Canada. This time the visa came through, but as Sunil tried to board a flight at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the authorities came to know that there was no such conference happening and stopped him. “My dreams are gone. I had to come back and begged the agent to return the money. Instead of returning the money, he threatened me. I am staying at a cheap lodge for five months now, and I’ve been starving. If I go back home, all the people who lent me money will be at my door. So I am hiding in Chennai. My aged father is down with a terminal illness and my wife is unable to bear this life any more.”

Later, investigation revealed that his agent was running an office as a registered bus travel operator. His modus operandi was the same: sending people abroad with forged documents and ID cards as scientists from prestigious research institutions.

But Sunil is far from alone in his predicament. The police say there has been a huge increase in the number of overseas job-seekers being cheated by unscrupulous recruitment agents. Once Gulf countries were the most sought-after, but the pattern of migration by unskilled and semi-skilled aspirants indicates that eastern European nations, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania and Armenia, are popular. South Korea, Israel, and Canada have also come into the picture.

Recently, it came to light that job-seekers from several districts, especially from South India, were recruited through illegal manpower agencies and sent to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar on tourist visas. Victims are then held captive in Cambodia or Laos for work in harsh and restrictive conditions. They are forced to commit online cyber frauds, which is known as “cyber slavery”.