What makes GCC nations such a big draw for India's emigrant labour?

The deplorable conditions of migrant workers in Gulf countries, have been well documented across media reports over the last few decades

Khaled Habib works as a “helper” at the Dubai International Airport, assisting passengers with their picks at one of the numerous chocolate and snack shops at the airport’s expansive international terminal. Habib has been living in Dubai for eight years now, and hasn’t visited his home in Murshidabad, West Bengal, even once. “The kafeel cooks up some excuse or the other to keep me here. Corona is the latest. My family says it’s safe to travel back, but my kafeel insists that he will not sponsor my return if I travel back, citing health safety.”

In Gulf countries, the kafala,