YEREVAN, Armenia, Dec 5 2023 (IPS) - Every evening, the smell of Indian food takes over Yerevan’s northwestern district of Halabian. Indian workers who left early in the morning are back home. “We work in construction,’’ Sahil, 23, tells IPS from the yard of a humble one-storey house. He left his family in Punjab – a state in northern India- two and a half months before, bound for Yerevan with two other friends.
“We heard there was a high demand for labour and that the pay is good. We get 5000 AMD a day (US$12,5). In India, you can live comfortably with that money,” says Sahil.
However, considering the minimal consumer basket is around US$200 one can barely get by with such a salary.
“We all share rooms and cut costs to a minimum. That way I can send at least $150 to my family in India every month,” explains Sahil, before stressing that he has a work permit from the Migration Service of Armenia.
Armenia has become a popular destination for Indian people seeking work opportunities. According to the Migration Service of Armenia, more than 37.000 Indians entered Armenia only in the first nine months of 2023.
20-year-old Koma Mera works as a cleaner in one of Yerevan’s most popular gyms for $12,5 a day. “I have three sisters and one brother. I miss them a lot, but we had financial problems, so I’m here now,” Koma tells IPS sitting on her bunk bed, just after she had spoken to her mother on a video call.
After paying the rent for the accommodation and covering the household expenses, she sends the remaining money to India so that her younger siblings “do not miss anything back home.” “Living in other countries would be too expensive, so I came to Armenia. It’s a great country for making money, that’s why you find so many Indians here. When I see them in the streets I feel I’m not alone,” adds the young migrant.
Nonetheless, Koma believes things would be easier if the locals changed their attitude towards them.
“There are good people here, but also those who are rude to us,” she explains. “When I sit down at work, they make such a face to tell me that I must keep working. Moreover, Armenians do not sit at the table with us during the lunch break,” says the Indian woman.
link: https://www.ipsnews.net/2023/12/little-india-little-armenia/
archive link: https://archive.ph/Ic9Jr
I know its bad but I feel like India is just tech support for the rest of the world. I’m sure there’s more to it but most of the India’s I’ve talked to have been tech support.
I think it is good that India is growing but will they ever get past the bias the rest of the world has about them.
