NEW DELHI // Ms Muanpuii, a refugee from Myanmar, has spent the past three years moving from job to job in India's so-called informal sector - working in a garment factory, then a creche. At the factory in Delhi, she earned 1,800 rupees (Dh117.8) a month - half the wage of her Indian co-workers.
"There were reductions in my wage but I was never told what they were about," said Ms Muanpuii, who like many people from Myanmar uses only one name.
Such exploitation by unscrupulous employers is common in India where refugees are not granted the legal right to work.
A decision by the Indian government two weeks ago, announced by the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Delhi on Tuesday, is about to change this. The Indian government will now grant long-term visas to all refugees in the country. This means that Ms Muanpuii and the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 undocumented Burmese refugees in north-east India should be able to escape the cycle of exploitation.
"We would like to express our appreciation to the government of India for its recent decision to grant all refugees recognised by UNHCR long-term visas," said Montserrat Feixas Vihe, the UNHCR's chief of mission for India.
Calling the move a "huge step forward" for refugee protection, Ms Vihe said: "Refugees will also be able to work in the private sector and access higher education, which is so important for the growth and development of any individual. We are extremely happy, this could not have come at a better time. We are grateful to and continue to count on our donors so that refugees can take advantage of this wonderful opportunity."
The long-term visas, awarded for one year at a time, will be renewable for up to five years. Previously, such visas were restricted to certain nationalities and they had to be renewed every six months. Iraqis, Iranians and Somalis and refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan had been denied these visas altogether.
Ms Muanpuii fled from Myanmar to India in 2009 in a lorry. The police had come looking for her brother, an activist working for the rights of the Chin people, one of Myanmar's many ethnic minorities who face persecution and discrimination.
Today Ms Muanpuii works for herself, she sat in the corner of a bedroom in Vikaspuri, north-west Delhi, working on a loom, making a traditional Chin sarong, while her mother watched over her.
The sarong is woven in red, yellow, green and purple cotton and silk threads - the colours of the Chin tribe. It will be sold for 4,500 rupees (Dh300). This is only money Ms Muanpuii will earn to support herself, her sister and her mother this month.
During yesterday's World Refugee Day, Ms Muanpuii contemplated joined her friend, Sawmte, 30, a community worker with the Burmese Women group in Delhi, to see an exhibit that highlighted the challenges these women face in Delhi.
Ms Sawmte, 30, is, also from the Chin tribe of Myanmar, previously known as Burma. She came to India in 2007 to escape persecution. "From time to time there is something that is called 'push back,'" she said. "The local government in those areas will come around, round up the refugees, put them in trucks and send them back to Burma."
Ms Phunmawi, 36, who was a primary schoolteacher in Myanmar, fled to India in 2007 after she was raped by a soldier who came to buy chickens from her neighbour. After she complained to the military chief stationed in her village, the soldier came back the next day, brandishing a gun, looking for her.
One of her colleagues sent money through a child to fund her escape from Myanmar.
"She said to me, 'go now or you will die.' I left everything behind," Ms Phunmawi said.
Ms Phunmawi escaped across the border in a lorry carrying pigs.
She left behind a husband and two children. Her husband died last year and her children live with their grandparents.
Ms Phunmawi is employed as a community worker with the Burmese Women group in Delhi, which helps victims of abuse among the community in Delhi, abuse that she says is all too common.
She said she would like nothing more than to see the women in her community gain access to more educational opportunities.
She welcomed the long-term visa decision by the Indian government, saying it offered hope. "If I could get the certification I need, I could go back to teaching," Ms Phunmawi said.
sbhattacharya@thenational.ae
EPL's youngest
- Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
- Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
- Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
- Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
- Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Racecard
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The%20specs
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The%20specs%3A%20Taycan%20Turbo%20GT
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Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
Why does a queen bee feast only on royal jelly?
Some facts about bees:
The queen bee eats only royal jelly, an extraordinary food created by worker bees so she lives much longer
The life cycle of a worker bee is from 40-60 days
A queen bee lives for 3-5 years
This allows her to lay millions of eggs and allows the continuity of the bee colony
About 20,000 honey bees and one queen populate each hive
Honey is packed with vital vitamins, minerals, enzymes, water and anti-oxidants.
Apart from honey, five other products are royal jelly, the special food bees feed their queen
Pollen is their protein source, a super food that is nutritious, rich in amino acids
Beewax is used to construct the combs. Due to its anti-fungal, anti-bacterial elements, it is used in skin treatments
Propolis, a resin-like material produced by bees is used to make hives. It has natural antibiotic qualities so works to sterilize hive, protects from disease, keeps their home free from germs. Also used to treat sores, infection, warts
Bee venom is used by bees to protect themselves. Has anti-inflammatory properties, sometimes used to relieve conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, nerve and muscle pain
Honey, royal jelly, pollen have health enhancing qualities
The other three products are used for therapeutic purposes
Is beekeeping dangerous?
As long as you deal with bees gently, you will be safe, says Mohammed Al Najeh, who has worked with bees since he was a boy.
“The biggest mistake people make is they panic when they see a bee. They are small but smart creatures. If you move your hand quickly to hit the bees, this is an aggressive action and bees will defend themselves. They can sense the adrenalin in our body. But if we are calm, they are move away.”
Juliet, Naked
Dir: Jesse Peretz
Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke
Two stars
Coming soon
Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
