The plight of about a hundred Indian workers trapped in the worsening turmoil in northern Iraq is naturally a major concern for the people of India. As it focuses on rescuing the Indian citizens in Iraq, Delhi will be making a big mistake if it treats the current crisis as a one-off incident. Given India’s long-standing tradition of exporting labour and the impact of more recent economic globalisation that takes millions of Indians on work and business to distant corners of the world, there is always the danger of some of them being caught in zones of violent conflict or major natural disaster. Even though all of these citizens have travelled at their own risk, the government of India has a definite responsibility to assist them during moments of crisis.
Unlike in the past when India had limited resources to bail out its citizens in crises beyond its borders, its ability to respond has improved in recent years. During the civil war in Libya in early 2011, for instance, India evacuated nearly 17,000 citizens. While the current political attention to the plight of Indian workers in Iraq appears to be driven by television news, it is time that Delhi devised a solid institutional mechanism to cope with what is clearly a recurring challenge. This involves sustained monitoring of gathering crises, warning Indian citizens in time and planning for a variety of contingent actions — diplomatic, political and military — both unilaterally and in collaboration with friends and partners in the region and beyond.
