Monday, December 12, 2011

NIGHT FUSION - MY NEW ADDICTION !!

One night in September, a friend called and asked me to tune into Capital Radio 93.6 FM. There was an interview going on with an artist. So, for the first time I tuned into a radio channel from my phone. This is how I knew about Capital Radio 93.6 FM.

I was looking for an English show. And soon I knew about an English show which comes from Capital Radio 93.6 FM. Name of the show is Night Fusion sponsored by Wataniya. This show is hosted by an awesome RJ, RJ Bad Boy.

Night Fusion is a show which plays all the latest and hottest English songs. The show airs on every night Saturday to Thursday at 21 hours to 23 hours. Every night a topic is included in the show and participants share their views about the topic.

From Saturday to Wednesday participants can request any song they like. But Thursday is the playlist night. Bad Boy will bring on a playlist and participants have to choose a song from the list, therefore no new requests on Thursdays.

This show is mainly focused on youths in Maldives and also to those who are studying or living in abroad. Night Fusion is the best English show airing on in Maldives.

I have been listening to the show from October. And now I am a big fan of the show and a big fan of Bad Boy as well. I can say I am addicted to the show.

In order to participate in the show, you can call, text or even join to the shout box by login into www.capitalradio936.com. And also you can request any song and you can contribute topics for the show via Bad Boy’s fan page on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/rjbadboyfanpage)
Follow Bad Boy via twitter @RJBadBoy.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Increase in expatriate workers in Maldives - A plague? (1)


Maldives is a small nation consisting of a population of 350,000 people. Recently, the population of expatriate workers has increased s to 80,000. This means 25% of the population is covered by them. Simply, for every 3 Maldivian there is one expat. Most of this foreign-born population consists of Indians and Bangladeshi. This increasing rate of expatriate workers in Maldives is much higher than the rate of some developed countries like Dubai. This hasty increase in expatriates has got a lot of problems in Maldives including social, economical and political as well. Before highlighting these problems first we should know why the expatriates appeared.

Traditionally fishery was the main occupation in the Maldives. Economy was based on fishing industry. Transformation to a modern economy was never in our ancestors mind. This is because Maldives is not blessed with many natural resources other than its beauty and rich seas. And also there was not much connection with the outside world. This narrow thinking has kept them in a ‘nut shell’ until the Maldivian economy started propelling into a modern economy from a fishing economy. This rapid change has occurred within a generation. This fast transformation of economy left a serious gap between the skill needed to operate a modern economy and the amount of nationals trained up to the required skills. In order to fill this gap expatriate workers turned up.

In addition to this, construction is one of the most important economic sectors in Maldives now. This sector has grown rapidly in recent years due to tourism sector and other developments. Contractors mostly rely on foreign labour markets (India, Bangladesh, Nepal etc). This is because number of locals engaged in these works was low. According to the information provided by Ministry of higher education employment and labour, by the year 2003, 6,502 expatriates have brought to Maldives for constructions work. Higher education and high skill levels are not required in this sector. Therefore, this is how less educated or low skilled expatriates started to appear in Maldivian economy.

Furthermore, Tourism is the most dynamic economic sector in Maldives. The country mostly depends on this sector. When tourism sector started in Maldives, there were fewer locals educated in the same field. Therefore, for this sector also there was a need of expatriates. Here the only difference compared to the other two sectors is, expatriates employed in this sector should be highly educated. Ministry of higher education employment and labour says that, by the year 2003, the amount of expatriates brought for this sector was 9,420. This is how expatriates appeared in Maldivian economy through this sector.

Other than economy, expatriates have appeared in our social life as well. Recently people in Male’ or people in capital islands of atolls use to accommodate children from islands in order to educate them. These children do almost all the household works. But from recent years, families are moving to developed islands. Because of this, those people were not getting locals to do those simple household works. As a result people started seeking for foreign people who would do these works. For this works, most number of females was brought. Other than the females, most of the males engaged in these works are doing it for part time.

Expatriates have appeared into our politics as well. When the number of expatriates increased rapidly, there is little percentage of people disobeying the law. Number of illegal expatriates was increasing day by day. There are around 30,000 illegal expat workers in Maldives today. These expats are working in the black market for low prices without informing to their local employer. 

To be continued . . . .