THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:When the office-bearers of a local club called Suhail Muhammed, working as a cook in Dubai, requesting him to contribute to the fund that was being collected back home for flood victims, he had no qualms in loosening up his purse strings.
Apart from his philanthropic enthusiasm, there was another factor that was prompting him to exhibit his generosity. And that has got nothing to do with humanity or any other virtues we extol. It’s pure economics! The rupee has weakened beyond 70 to the US dollar, and for expats slogging it out in West Asia and elsewhere, it’s a real good news. Naturally, Suhail was at ease when it came to helping the flood-affected.
He earns a monthly salary of 3,000 dirhams. While in January one dirham fetched Rs 17.3, it has now increased to Rs 19.08, after the Indian currency depreciated further. When converted, Suhail’s earnings now come tantalisingly close to Rs 60,000. “Since dirham has become more powerful, we send money immediately to Kerala as saving it in Dubai won’t help us. In January and now in August, my salary is the same. But, when sent home now, I am getting almost 4,000-5,000 more. This time I told my family to spend it on flood victims,” Suhail said.
Like Suhail, there are hundreds of expats who are making the cash boxes of Kerala rich by their remittance at the time of currency depreciation and that’s even helping the rehab activities of the flood victims.
According to Punnakkan Muhammedali, general secretary of INCAS, the Congress party’s offshoot in the UAE, the expats are making use of the slump in rupee value, and are remitting it to Kerala in a big way, a section of which is being spent on flood charity.