Devyani Khobragade case: Ministry of External Affairs fixes home affairs, prepares a list of maids

NEW DELHI: The arrest of India’s Deputy Consul General Devyani Khobragade in New York over charges of underpaying her maid has led the Ministry of External Affairs to prepare a list of domestic helps hired from India by diplomats working abroad, especially in the US and Western Europe.

There are currently 14 India hired domestic helps working with Indian diplomats in the US and another 35-40 in Western Europe. Besides the embassy in Washington, India has five consulates in the US – in Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and New York - and a permanent UN Mission in New York. It has missions in almost all Western European countries.

The ministry is currently in the process of compiling a list of such domestic helps in India’s diplomatic missions worldwide, senior MEA officials told ET. India has 162 missions and posts including embassies, high commissions, consulates, deputy or assistant high commissions and permanent missions. About 30% to 40% of the domestic helps working with the diplomats posted in such missions are hired from India.

Until recently, the MEA didn’t have any list of domestic helps accompanying Indian diplomats. The missions in the US and Western Europe are the government’s current focus as minimum wages in these places are higher than in India and many other parts of the world. The ministry is worried that human rights bodies, NGOs and lawyers would not leave any chance to take up cases such as the one involving Khobragade.

Last week, the MEA issued an advisory to its diplomats posted in the US, particularly in consulates, to put in place the required paperwork on the domestic helps accompanying them. The advisory also cautioned them to watch out for lawyers or human rights organizations who could instigate their domestic helps to take legal action over issues such as pay, senior officials said.

Indian ambassadors are allowed to take up to two domestic helps from India, sources said. Other diplomats are allowed to take one. In some countries, the junior-most diplomats (third secretaries) in Indian missions are not permitted to take domestic helps from India. Also, in some places, hiring locally is cheaper.

“Hiring helps locally is more prevalent among Indian diplomats posted in South Asia, parts of Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Salary of domestic helps in these countries is similar to India,” a senior official said.