Saudi India relations

[Bengal_Tiger]

A THREAD DEDICATED TO MONITORING SAUDI-INDIA RELATIONS


Background

Saudi Arabia is a highly controversial state condemned the world all over for its laws (not based on true Islam but on a combination of alleged prophetic statements collected in books centuries after the holy prophet's [solAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam) death and other factors e.g. Najdi desert culture) as well as for promoting radicalism and terrorism the world over. It has traditionally been working very close to another controversial state, Pakistan, which is also seen as a major source of tourism. However in the past decade Saudi Arabia has been warming up to India despite its close friendship with Pakistan.



Spotlight on Saudi investments abroad: Is India the next frontier?

Published March 31st, 2014 -


Indian investments in Saudi Arabia amount to approximately $1.6 billion, but KSA has only invested $228 million in India (Shutterstock)Indian investments in Saudi Arabia amount to approximately $1.6 billion, but KSA has only invested $228 million in India (Shutterstock)

Though the trade between India and Saudi Arabia reached $43.17 billion in 2012-2013, registering a growth of 35.14 percent over the previous financial year, the level of investments on both sides, however, is still very low, according to Consul General Faiz Ahmad Kidwai, who is also vice patron of SIBN (Saudi Indian Business Network).


Addressing a seminar on foreign direct investments (FDI) in India and the taxation system at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) on Sunday, Kidwai thanked Mazen Batterjee, vice chairman of JCCI and president of SIBN, for the opportunity to conduct the seminar at the chamber premises. He extended congratulations for the “very successful” Jeddah Economic Forum that was held recently.


Kidwai stated that Indian investments in Saudi Arabia till date amount to about $1.6 billion with some other large investments in the pipeline. Whereas Saudi investments in India totaled about $228 million till last year.


“It is quite an appalling situation as Saudi Arabia has about a $1 trillion worth sovereign fund, which is lying safe for investment, and India has a huge domestic market to ensure profitable investments,” he added.


“I feel that there is a need for the two countries to understand each other and to, more importantly, believe in each other. It is with this intention for dissemination of information among Saudi businessmen that we are organizing this seminar,” he added.


He recounted that during his visit to the Kingdom in January Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram discussed the importance of Saudi investments in India and presented some very specific projects for investment there. These include the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor which is a huge project being implemented with the help of the Japanese government, and certain petrochemical complexes at Dahej in Gujarat, at Mangalore in Karnataka and also in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Orissa. “These could be of interest to Saudi investors,” said Kidwai.

By Habib Shaikh

http://www.albawaba.com/business/saudi-arabia-india-565323

[Bengal_Tiger]

Indian national stabbed to death in Riyadh


Mansour Al-Shahri
Okaz/Saudi Gazette


RIYADH – An Indian national was stabbed to death in Al-Areeja, west of Riyadh city on Tuesday morning. A Saudi young man was arrested in connection with the death of Saidalavi Muhammad, aged 34, from Malappuram district of Kerala. According to reports, the assailant allegedly attacked Saidalavi, who was working at a grocery store, for refusing to sell a packet of cigarettes without giving money. The infuriated man left the scene and soon came back with a knife and stabbed the victim. When the expatriate tried to run away, he chased him and knifed him down on the street in front of the store.

A few days ago, the man tried to attack an aged man at a mosque in the neighborhood for asking him to wear clean dress, according to eyewitnesses.

Saidalavi is survived by wife Mubeena, son Adil and daughter Adila. The victim had been in Riyadh for three years. Recently, he came back on a new visa and was working at the store.

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20140402200632

*The Indian probably did not do anything because he was terrified of resisting a Saudi. In Saudi Arabia if there is any sort of incident between a Saudi and a non-Saudi even if the Saudi initiates it and the non-Saudi is trying to defend himself the non-Saudi will get in trouble.

Saudi and its fellow Gulf states such as the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait are all known for their barbaric treatment of expatriate workers.


The following is an example of a Saudi abusing an Indian for "fun":


Black Saudi Guy hitting an Indian guy with a guitar on camera - YouTube


I will not post the video of the incident in the article above showing the Saudi stabbing the dead Indian as it may horrify some members.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Indian government abets repression of workers in Saudi Arabia

By Kranti Kumara

2 April 2014

In a series of hostile statements issued in late March, the Indian government has joined Saudi authorities in threatening eleven Indian female cleaning workers at a Saudi hospital who stopped work because they have not been paid for nine months.

When the workers initially contacted the Indian embassy in Riyadh for help in getting their back wages, Indian authorities did nothing other than issue a series of perfunctory, pro-forma statements about how they were seeking to contact the employer and the Saudi government to “resolve the issue.”
With no aid forthcoming from this quarter, the workers, who all hail from the southern state of Kerala, decided to go on strike until their Saudi employer paid them their full nine months’ back wages.

After the workers took this action, the Indian embassy turned decidedly hostile. It issued a series of stridently intimidating statements, warning the strikers that they would be subject to prosecution, imprisonment and deportation by the Saudi absolutist monarchy if they did not immediately end their job action.

“Anyone who is found to be in violation of Saudi laws and indulg[ing] in strike-related activities would face penalty, imprisonment and deportation by Saudi authorities,” declared an Indian embassy statement. “The embassy,” continued the statement, “has a mechanism in place to take up all issues related to the welfare of Indians in Saudi Arabia with the concerned authorities.”

This statement is unprecedented even for a government that has long been indifferent to the plight of the 2.8 million migrant Indian workers in Saudi Arabia—most of whom work under barbaric conditions and all of whom are denied basic democratic and collective bargaining rights.

The Indian embassy statement went on to accuse unnamed social workers and “illegal agents” of encouraging the hospital cleaners to take job action.
“It has come to the notice of the embassy that some self-styled social workers and illegal agents have been instigating some Indian female workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to go on strike. These illegal agents have also [been] found to have circulated reports on the strike through social media trying to get it” publicized, according to embassy.

By issuing these statements the Indian government is inviting the Saudi autocracy to suppress these workers and their supporters and to make of them an example so as to intimidate all foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.
One of the female cleaners involved in the agitation, Maniyamma Vilasini, complained to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) that the Indian Embassy has done nothing to help them. She then gave an inkling of the harrowing conditions the workers face, noting that their employer had denied them any vacations and refused to allow them to leave at the end of their two-year contracts. “They are discriminating against Indian workers,” said Maniyamma Vilasini. “All the other workers have received payment. We have had many problems because of this."
India’s corporate media has largely blacked out the worker protest in Saudi Arabia. One of the few if not the only prominent daily to report on the dispute—the Wall Street Journal-affiliated Live Mint —carried a single article. That article gave great prominence to the brazenly hostile statement issued by the Indian Embassy.

It is well-documented that the working and living conditions of the millions of Asian workers who have flocked to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries to escape unemployment and destitution at home are deplorable. Lacking any legal rights, they are liable to suffer severe punishment from their employers and the state, including, fines, severe beatings, imprisonment and deportation for even small infractions, such as not having a requisite stamp on their passport.
In January of this year the Saudi regime, which does not even have a written criminal code, thus allowing it to act with complete impunity, beheaded an Indian worker after convicting him in its kangaroo courts of killing a Saudi citizen. Similarly 40 Indonesian workers have been convicted of “sorcery and witchcraft,” a not too infrequent charge, for practicing their own religion, and are languishing in jail. Five of these workers, having exhausted their appeals, are now facing possible execution.
Late last year the Saudi regime waged a concerted nationwide campaign to enforce a “Saudi-ization” labor law named Nitaqat, aimed at limiting the number of foreign workers and further intimidating them (see: “Migrant workers clash with Saudi police amid mass deportation raids”). In January the Saud regime announced in a brief statement that in just three months it had deported over 250,000 foreign workers, of whom 134,000 were Indians. While several other governments have asked for a reprieve for their nationals, the Indian government has voiced no objection, in effect endorsing the mass deportation of its own citizens.

What explains the transformation of the Indian government’s attitude toward expat Indian workers in Saudi Arabia from indifference to open hostility?
Unquestionably, the Indian government and elite are anxious that worker agitation not disturb the annual inflow of $30 billion from the 7 million Indian workers in the Middle East. This sum is equal to fully 10 percent of India’s foreign currency reserves.
Another major reason is the increasingly close relations between India’s government and the medieval Saudi monarchy. During the past decade in which the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance has formed India’s government, New Delhi has courted the Saudi royal family.
By cozying up to Riyadh, the Indian elite hopes to temper the longstanding support the Saudi regime has extended to India’s arch-rival, Pakistan. Even more importantly, Saudi Arabia is providing India with an increasing share of its oil imports. India relies on imports for close to three-quarters of its oil consumption.
This reorientation of India’s foreign policy toward ever-closer ties with Riyadh was heralded by the four-day visit King Abdullah made to India in 2006. His was the first visit by a Saudi monarch to India since 1955.
The Saudi leader was accompanied by a huge entourage of businessmen and other senior officials. Ironically, this medieval despot was given the high honor of being the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade, an annual commemoration of the formal adoption of a written republican constitution by the Indian elite on January 26, 1950.
In 2010, UPA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a return visit to the Saudi Kingdom. The visit concluded with the two sides issuing the “Riyadh Declaration,” which set forth the framework for much closer political, military and economic collaboration between the two countries.
Over the past decade India has dramatically increased its oil imports from Saudi Arabia. A key reason for this is US pressure on India—backed by the threat of economic sanctions—to dramatically reduce its imports of Iranian oil. Saudi Arabia now accounts for fully 20 percent of India’s annual crude oil imports, and Iran less than 10 percent.
Bilateral Indo-Saudi trade for 2011-2012 amounted to $37 billion dollars, although $31 billion of this was Indian oil imports.
As a part of its growing partnership with the Saudi regime, New Delhi has started to share intelligence information with Riyadh to combat “terrorism,” despite the long-history of the Saudi regime financing, arming and bankrolling Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.
Relations between the two countries reached a new high point this February with the visit of Crown Prince and Saudi Defense Minister Salman al Saud. The highest-level visit of a Saudi official since that of King Abdullah in 2006, it concluded with an unprecedented MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) on Defense Cooperation. Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has stressed this defence cooperation marks a new departure: “I would stress that it should not be merely buyer-seller, but rather go beyond this to see the two sides working on training, joint production and military exercises.”
Given the reactionary foreign policy trajectory of the Indian ruling elite, the open hostility displayed by the Indian embassy toward the brutally exploited and repressed migrant Indian workers in Saudi Arabia should come as no surprise.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/04/02/saud-a02.html

1. Saudi Arabia is a backwards and barbaric society where Saudis regularly torture, rape and brutalize foreign workers.


2. The Indian regime does not care because aside from the geo-strategic reasons, India is a very casteist and classist society where the rich look down upon the poor as inferior, so a middle-class bureaucrat instead of sympathizing with an Indian worker abroad being beaten by Saudis will actually despise him as inferior and "wasting" his time.

The Bangladeshi consulates are also indifferent to their workers but not as bad as the Indian regime (Bangladesh does not have Brahmanic-style casteism).


3. The Saudis also abuse Pakistanis.


Helpless Pakistani Workers Oppressed by Sponsors in Saudi Arabia - YouTube

[Bengal_Tiger]

Unpaid Indian women workers sent home from Saudi Arabia

The 10 women were on contractual jobs with a cleaning company and not paid salaries for the past nine months


15:41 April 13, 2014

Riyadh: The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia has finally repatriated a group of Indian women workers who were not paid their salaries for the past nine months by their employer.
The Indian embassy in Riyadh arranged the flight tickets for ten workers, who were on contractual jobs for a cleaning company here, from the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) and mediated with the contracting company to safeguard their final exits, local media reported on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the contracting company that had employed the cleaners for two-and-half years allowed their final exit.
Eleven Indian women from Kerala last month appealed to the Indian embassy for help after they were allegedly not paid their salaries for the past nine months.


A worker, whose travelling documents could not be processed, will be repatriated next week.
They were not going to work since March 16, demanding that they will return to work only after their dues are paid.
Earlier last month, the Indian embassy expressed its concern over the matter.

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/unpaid-indian-women-workers-sent-home-from-saudi-arabia-1.1318789

- Saudis got free labour i.e. slave labour.

- The Saudis then kicked them out of the country after using them and sucking them for labour.

- The Saudis kicked them out for free as it was the Indian government that had to pay for the plane tickets.


This is the cunning nature of the Saudis, Bedouin. I knew a friend that was in Jiddah and he said that in an estate agency he dealt with Saudis did not feel comfortable in doing business with other Saudis and preferred foreigners, as they knew how dishonest and devious the Saudis are.

Allah in the holy Quran has warned us about the bedouin, the 'A'raab as they are called.

[Bengal_Tiger]

India to discuss domestic workers' issue in Saudi Arabia

Diaspora | Indo-Asian News Service | Updated: April 30, 2014 20:32 IST


Riyadh: The Indian government has sought to create an effective legal framework to address the issues facing Indian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.

Indian officials, who arrived this week, are slated to meet Saudi Deputy Labour Minister for International Affairs Ahmed Al-Fahaid to discuss legal modalities of a framework to facilitate mechanisms to address disputes arising between domestic workers and their employers in Saudi Arabia.

Officials from both sides will discuss the framework that regulates contractual relations between employers and domestic workers, ensures authenticity and implementation of the employment contract, promises action against recruitment agencies violating laws and seeks to establish a mechanism to provide round the clock assistance to domestic workers, Arab News reported on Wednesday.

The Indian team is headed by Protector General of Emigrants Ruolkhumlien Buhril and includes senior officials.

Minimum wages, working hours, paid holidays and a dispute settlement mechanism will be marked in the standard employment contract.

A committee of senior officials from both countries will monitor the implementation of the pact to straighten out difficulties.

The visit aims to address the issues of domestic workers for which an official agreement was signed in New Delhi between Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Valayar Ravi and Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakeih in January this year, the report stated.

Indian domestic workers, who are mostly employed as house drivers, workers on private farms and house-maids, are still not covered under the contractual mechanism and face difficulties to redress issues in the event of disputes arising with their employers, the report said.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/diaspora/india-to-discuss-domestic-workers-issue-in-saudi-arabia-516459

1. India is a nuclear state and regional "superpower". Saudi Arabia is fully aware of that.




2. The fact that India is telling the Saudis to sort out their behaviour in terms of dealing with Indian workers is good as:

a: Indians are the biggest foreign community in Saudi.

b: It sets a precedent for other governments to follow e.g. Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia etc.


I do not think Saudis can continue to abuse and torture foreign workers as they have been doing for the past few decades.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Indian driver shot dead by employer's son in Saudi

Last Updated: Sunday, May 25, 2014, 15:40

Riyadh: A 24-year-old Indian, who had arrived in Saudi Arabia a week ago, was shot dead by his employer's son in Mecca.

Anas Pudvilikalvi from Kerala, who was employed as a driver, died after sustaining several gunshot wounds yesterday, Mecca police spokesman Aati Al-Qurashi said.

"The shooter, who was in his twenties, suffered psychological problems," he said.


"Anas Pudvilikalvi, 24, from Kerala, arrived in Mecca a week ago to work as a family driver. The driver went to Taif on Friday night along with the sponsor's family and returned to Mecca the same night, after which the fateful incident occurred," the Arab News reported, citing a source.

The body has been shifted to King Faisal Hospital in Mecca and the shooter has been taken into custody.

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/indian-driver-shot-dead-by-employer-s-son-in-saudi_934718.html

*When an expat worker is killed by a Saudi the Saudis claim that the Saudi has "mental health" issues.

- The murdered Indian was a Muslim from Kerala who had been in Saudi Arabia for a week before being killed.

[Bengal_Tiger]

Indian firms highlight engineering services



Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao inaugurating the Indian pavilion at Saudi Energy 2014 in the presence of DCM Sibi George and Nishikant Jumde, deputy director, EEPC India.(Photo by Rashid Hassan)

RIYADH: RASHID HASSAN
Published — Tuesday 27 May 2014
Last update 29 May 2014 6:23 pm


Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao opened the Indian pavilion consisting of 25 companies at Saudi Energy 2014, the International trade show of electricity, power generation, alternative energy, water technology and lighting, which kicked off at Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center (RIEC).
The show hosts more than 300 exhibitors from 28 countries.
These Indian companies export a variety of high-quality electrical and engineering goods the world over, he said, adding that the participation of Indian companies, led by Engineering Exports Promotion Council of India (EEPC India), is considerably the largest at the prestigious energy show this year.
Nishikant Jumde, senior deputy director of EEPC India who is leading the team, told Arab News: “We are here to explore the opportunities in Saudi market, which is undergoing rapid economic developments and we want to discuss the same with Saudi companies to further enhance cooperation among us.”
The ambassador said the energy show is one of the largest and most specialized in the Gulf region and the energy sector in the Kingdom is witnessing unprecedented growth due to a significant rise in demand and considerable increase in investment.
Rao added: “We are also organizing India Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS 2014), which offers foreign companies a never before opportunity to explore business partnerships and joint ventures, seek investment opportunities in India and abroad, and soar business to greater heights, and we would like Saudi companies to participate in large numbers for better tie-ups among us to further enhance B2B cooperation.”



IESS, India’s largest display of engineering products and services, mainly with focus on building global partnerships, is organized by the ministry of commerce and Industry, and EEPC India.

“This is first participation under EEPC in the Kingdom and we look forward to it for greater tie-ups,” said the envoy.
Owais Ahmad, MD, ARMS International Constructions and a Saudi-based Indian businessman, pointed that such events give us good opportunity to meet a number of potential suppliers and business partners in engineering products and services and offer chances for outgrowth.
The Indian embassy hosted a reception for the representatives of visiting companies.

Furthermore, coinciding with the energy show, the Saudi India Business Network (SIBN) will organize sector-specific event focusing on electrical, power and engineering sectors in India to promote business-to-business interaction between India and Saudi Arabia in these sectors, at the embassy auditorium on Tuesday (May 27).

http://www.arabnews.com/news/577301

By the way apart from Pakistan, most Muslim countries have good relations with India including

- Saudi Arabia (see above)
- Afghanistan
- Turkey
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Central Asian Republics
- UAE
- Oman

The one country that the Pakistanis and Saudis are sabotaging from having good relations with India is Bangladesh.

Why?

For the Pakistani generals and nationalists, Bangladesh is "east Pakistan" and spiritually their province/ex-province and good relations with India means "betrayal", an extension of the removal of Pakistani influence since 1971.

The Saudis are bullies and racist thugs and view Bangladesh as a weak state so to entertain their Pakistani friends they will join with the Pakistanis to bully Bangladesh.

The fact that Bangladesh is a poor country and has 160 million mouths to feed and thus Bangladesh needs to have optimal trading relations with India to create jobs and feed its people is of no concern to the Pakistanis/Saudis who have a battered ego due to their 1971 humiliation and want revenge.

However I doubt India will accept Saudi interference in Bangladesh anymore including Saudi support for the anti-Indian Jamaat e Islami terrorist organization.