LPP Scheme: In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a new life insurance program for Indian workers in blue-collar jobs went into effect on March 1. The Life Protection Plan (LPP), which aims to give financial support to the relatives of deceased workers, was unveiled by the Indian Consulate in Dubai.
Thousands of Indian laborers employed in the UAE will profit from the LPP initiative.
LPP scheme details
The Life Protection Plan is available to individuals between the ages of 18 and 70 for annual premiums that range from Dh37 (about Rs 834) to Dh72 (around Rs 1,623), according to a Khaleej Times report.
Depending on the chosen premium, beneficiaries may get compensation of up to Dh75,000 (about Rs 16,90,922) in the event that a worker passes away from an accident or natural causes.
According to the newspaper, the initiative also provides Dh12,000 (about Rs 2,70,547) in coverage for the repatriation of the insured employee’s body.
The LPP insurance plan also includes coverage for permanent total or partial disability brought on by an accident.
LPP scheme premium and benefits
The annual pay for Dh72 premium is Dh75,000. It is Dh50,000 for Dh50 (about Rs 1,127) a year. For Dh37, the annual premium is Dh35,000.
Why was LPP scheme introduced?
There are 3.5 million Indians living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of whom 2.27 million are blue-collar workers.
In the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, many firms offer health insurance and pay for work-related deaths and injuries; however, in the event of an employee’s natural death, coverage is not required.
To address this, a press release stated that the Indian Consulate in Dubai organized a joint meeting between significant UAE companies hiring Indian blue-collar workers and the insurance service providers, Gargash Insurance Services LLC and Orient Insurance PJSC, to develop an insurance plan that could cover worker deaths due to natural and accidental causes.
It went on to say that it had been “noticed that most companies are insuring their employees under Workers’ Compensation and Health Insurance [for work-related deaths and injuries].”
“However, there is no mandatory insurance coverage for the natural death of employees, and hence the legal heirs/dependents of the deceased do not receive any compensation in cases of natural death,” the statement added.
Deaths of Indian workers in UAE
1,000 of the 1,513 Indians who passed away in Dubai last year were laborers. Out of 1,750 deaths worldwide in 2022, 1,100 workers died in Dubai, according to the Indian embassy.
“It has been observed that in more than 90 per cent of the cases, the cause of death is natural,” the statement said.
According to data from the Indian government that was presented to Parliament in 2022, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia reported the highest number of worker deaths in India between 2019 and 2021, including the pandemic years, according to The Hindu.
2,454 Indian laborers lost their lives in the UAE in 2020, an increase from 1,751 deaths the previous year. In 2021, this number rose to 2,714.
In the six Gulf countries, there are up to 30 million migrant workers from Asia and Africa, 80 percent of whom engage in low-wage industries like construction, hospitality, and domestic work.
According to a worrisome assessment published in 2022 by a number of human rights organizations, 10,000 migrant laborers from South and Southeast Asia pass away in the Gulf countries each year.
According to a survey cited by The Guardian, more than half of the deaths remain unexplained and are commonly attributed to “natural causes” or “cardiac arrest.” Additionally, it mentioned that low-wage migrant workers in the Gulf face a number of health hazards, including air pollution, heat and humidity, psychological stress, hypertension, excessive workloads, abusive working conditions, and inadequate occupational health and safety procedures.
According to The Guardian, the research said that “long hours of manual labor in intense temperatures can result in heat stress, which can lead to organ damage.”
Sometimes, agents would lure migrants in by promising them big money in Dubai in a short period of time. According to a 2017 Reuters study, although workers frequently take out loans to pay agents, they rarely earn the promised amounts from their employment as laborers or cleaners on building sites.
The report stated at the time that over the years, migrant workers had complained to the Indian government and non-governmental organizations about a variety of issues, including maltreatment and nonpayment of wages.
After 16 years of employment, Ramanna Chitla told Reuters in 2017 that laborers in Dubai were “underpaid and poorly treated.”
