Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Lost in the Gulf: India's missing migrants...

For a man who carries a heavy weight on his shoulders, Rafeek Ravuther is remarkably upbeat as he shows me around his studio. For the past 11 years, he's directed and produced a unique weekly television programme broadcast on Kairali TV, a Malayalam-language station based in Kerala, southern India.

And it was a personal tragedy that sparked his venture.

"A cousin of mine committed suicide just two days after starting a new job in Oman. Another cousin who worked in a cattle feed factory went missing for four months. I knew there would be hundreds of cases like this."

He was wrong: It turns out there are thousands of such stories.

Pravasi Lokam or "Migrants World" is part reality show, part investigative journalism and part community activism. The simple premise is to help families in Kerala find their missing relatives, most of who went to work abroad in the countries of the Arabian Gulf. Full story...

Don't miss:
  1. Thousands of Indians in prisons world-wide, especially in Middle East...
  2. Indian workers stranded in Jeddah, living under a bridge...
  3. One Indian expat commits suicide every three days in the UAE...
  4. 17 Indians sentenced to death in UAE for Pakistani's murder...
  5. Dubious Dubai and the quest to be real...
  6. More and more maids in Kuwait being abused...

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