Now Saudi women may drive thousands of NRI drivers out of the kingdom

coastaldigest.com news network
September 30, 2017

King Salman’s recent decree that grants driving licenses to women in Saudi Arabia may snuff out the livelihoods of tens of thousands of NRI ‘house drivers,’ including those from Karnataka and Kerala. The royal order will officially come into force from Shawwal 10, 1439, corresponding to June 24, 2018.

Even though the international media hailed the decree as a great “social reform”, for the Saudi government, this is mere a continuation of Saudization. When women are at the wheel, it means the majority of Saudi households will no longer need chauffeurs to drive women to shops, workplaces, colleges and schools.

So far women in Saudi had to depend on chauffeurs and taxi drivers. Better-off Saudi households employ permanent house drivers who take homemakers to shopping malls, girl students to universities and schools and working women to their offices. Working women spend a sizeable chunk of their salaries on chauffeurs.

‘House driver visa’ hitherto was one of the easiest and cheapest for the uneducated Gulf job aspirants in India. Though the salary was not very attractive, the main attraction of ‘house driver’ was the free board and lodging, plus, the generous tips from the employer’s household.

There are nearly 14 lakh chauffeurs and taxi drivers in Saudi Arabia. The huge majority of them are from India. At a time when hundreds of Indian workers are returning home every week in the wake of the Saudi government’s nationalisation of the labour force, the new reform will accelerate the job loss of drivers.

Another fallout of the reform is that more and more educated Saudi women will join the white-collar work force, replacing expatriate employees, executives and professionals. There is a large army of highly educated women in Saudi Arabia, where women are better educated than men. Self-driven cars would make their job entry easier. And, as the Saudi women drive into the workplace, a section of the expatriate workers will be driven out.

Comments

Mohan
 - 
Saturday, 30 Sep 2017

Read properly. It means that women get driving license and they can drive alone. Only thats it. It not about they are taking that job instead of current drivers

Yogesh
 - 
Saturday, 30 Sep 2017

LOL... Their husbands wont allow to wear modern dress, Still you people believe that because of them, THOUSANDS OF NRI DRIVERS will be jobless...! Govt allowed but will see how many are ready for this

Unknown
 - 
Saturday, 30 Sep 2017

Total rubbish. NRI's are experts. These ladies cant replace them. 

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 21,2020

Shivamogga, May 21: An FIR has been registered against Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi in Sagar taluk of Shivamogga district of Karnataka over tweets on May 11 by the party's official handle about PM-CARES fund.

The FIR, registered under Sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), identifies Gandhi as the handler of the social media account.

The complaint by advocate Praveen KV alleged that the Congress party, through the tweets, has made rumourous statements against the Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was trying to provoke the people against the government.

According to the FIR, the Congress party had on May 11, 2020, made false and baseless allegations, claimed misappropriation of PM-CARES Fund and cast aspersions on the Government of India through the tweets.

"A Twitter account handled by All India Congress Committee headed by Sonia Gandhi had on May 11, 2020, published tweets terming PM CARES Fund as PM CARES Fraud. They had claimed that the PM CARES fund is not being used for the public," Praveen KV told ANI on Thursday.

He said that he has collected all the details related to the tweets and account from the handle and filed a complaint in the matter, following which a preliminary enquiry was conducted and an FIR was registered in the matter.

"They had also said that the Prime Minister was enjoying and going to foreign trips with this fund. This is clearly rumourous news against the Government of India in this COVID-19 pandemic situation. In this regard, I had filed a complaint. After a primary enquiry, the Sagar Police has filed an FIR against Sonia Gandhi, who heads the INC Twitter account," Praveen KV said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 20,2020

New Delhi, Mar 20: An official of South Western Railway has been suspended for "hiding" her son, who returned from Germany and later tested positive for coronavirus.

The youth has been hiding at a railway guest house in Bengaluru, officials said on Friday.

"She (the railway official) not only failed to inform authorities about her son's return from Germany, but also endangered the lives of others by lodging him in a railway rest house near the main Bangalore railway station," railway spokesperson E Vijaya said.

The Assistant Personnel Officer (Traffic) has been suspended, Vijaya said.

The 25-year-old man, who came from Germany via Spain and was instructed to be in home quarantine after he landed at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on March 13, later tested positive for Covid-19 on March 18.

"She virtually hid her son to protect her family but endangered all of us," a South Western Railway official said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
March 27,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 27: India should take a cue from the UK and Italy and allow final year medical students to skip exam and bring them into the hospital system immediately to fight the war against COVID-19, noted cardiac surgeon Devi Prasad Shetty on Friday said.

The Chairman and Founder of the city-based Narayana Health said there should be some reforms in medical education like the UK and Italy.
In the UK, he noted, final year medical students have been told that they don't need to appear for the exam, and they will be given pass based on the past performance and they can get into the hospital system to fill the shortage.

Italy got 10,000 more doctors following the move to cut short the duration of MBBS by nine months, according to him.

COVID-19 battle can be only won by young doctors and young nurses. Its like a war, Shetty told PTI.

He said: Senior doctorsnone of them will be able to touch the patients because they are past the age of 50. A person who is past the age of 50 is very vulnerable himself.

This is a very contagious disease. "But we dont have that many battalion (of doctors). We need one and half lakh doctors to manage all these government
hospitals and private hospitals (to fight COVID-19)", he added.

​​​

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.