Ek baar jaan ki baazi lagakar kya pata kismat khul jaaye? (Once we put our lives at stake, who knows, fortune might smile upon us?)” Ravindra Yadav, a 27-year-old iron bender from UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri, encapsulated the common sentiment among skilled labourers selected for jobs in war-scarred Israel, viewing the opportunity as a source of prosperity for their families.
Israel’s request for 10,000 ad hoc construction workers to alleviate a labour shortage caused by its war with Hamas had prompted thousands of men from Haryana, Punjab, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP and Delhi to converge on a recruitment centre in Rohtak between Jan 16 and 21. However, fewer than 400 passed the test, a source said.
Faced with struggles to find jobs and meagre earnings in India — Yadav currently earns just Rs 100 after 12 hours of work — masons, painters, electricians, plumbers, and even aspirants with university degrees expressed their readiness to venture into a country embroiled in war for the opportunity to pocket significantly more money — Rs 1.4 lakh a month.
Yadav, a humanities graduate, shared his enthusiasm for securing a construction job in Israel, highlighting the financial benefits it offers. “It’s good that even workers like us with little or no experience are getting the opportunity to work abroad with such a high salary and other privileges. I have three sisters to marry off. How much can my old farmer father earn? Here, earning Rs 100 for 12 hours of work feels like dying every day,” said the second eldest of five siblings.
Living under a thatched roof with his parents, Yadav is determined to go to Israel — his first trip abroad. “Life is in the hands of god,” he remarked. “Compulsions separate us from our parents.”
According to Isha Verma, a co-convener of the recruitment programme in Rohtak, applicants underwent skill tests in plastering, bar bending, tile repair, and carpentry. In Israel, they will earn Rs 1.37 lakh a month, she confirmed.
For Mukesh Kumar Rawat, 34, a mason from Lucknow, taking a job in Israel represents a new chapter.
“I desperately need a job,” he confessed. “The salaries here are too low to make ends meet. Imagine, in two months, I will have over Rs 2.5 lakh, a sum I have never seen in my life… Soon, things will change. Life and death are predetermined,” said the father of four, whose monthly income varies between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000.
He sees the job abroad as a chance for economic security. “In 15 years of work here, I have not been able to pay my children’s school fees on time. My eldest daughter, who is in class 11, will not be allowed to write her exams and may quit studies if I don’t pay her fees,” said the class 12 dropout, who earns nothing when he is unwell or unable to go to work.
The son of a marginal father, Rawat acknowledged the ongoing war. “Govt is sending us. People like us are at war with society and with our souls anyway.”
Applicants like Rohtash Kumar, a postgraduate in history from Haryana’s Jind, prioritised employment opportunities over the risks. “It’s better to die working than die of hunger without a job here,” he asserted.
Some aspirants faced challenges with intermediaries. Manish Kumar from Rajasthan’s Sikar said: “I had been sent by an agent (to Rohtak) against a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh.”
Israel’s request for 10,000 ad hoc construction workers to alleviate a labour shortage caused by its war with Hamas had prompted thousands of men from Haryana, Punjab, UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, MP and Delhi to converge on a recruitment centre in Rohtak between Jan 16 and 21. However, fewer than 400 passed the test, a source said.
Faced with struggles to find jobs and meagre earnings in India — Yadav currently earns just Rs 100 after 12 hours of work — masons, painters, electricians, plumbers, and even aspirants with university degrees expressed their readiness to venture into a country embroiled in war for the opportunity to pocket significantly more money — Rs 1.4 lakh a month.
Yadav, a humanities graduate, shared his enthusiasm for securing a construction job in Israel, highlighting the financial benefits it offers. “It’s good that even workers like us with little or no experience are getting the opportunity to work abroad with such a high salary and other privileges. I have three sisters to marry off. How much can my old farmer father earn? Here, earning Rs 100 for 12 hours of work feels like dying every day,” said the second eldest of five siblings.
Living under a thatched roof with his parents, Yadav is determined to go to Israel — his first trip abroad. “Life is in the hands of god,” he remarked. “Compulsions separate us from our parents.”
According to Isha Verma, a co-convener of the recruitment programme in Rohtak, applicants underwent skill tests in plastering, bar bending, tile repair, and carpentry. In Israel, they will earn Rs 1.37 lakh a month, she confirmed.
For Mukesh Kumar Rawat, 34, a mason from Lucknow, taking a job in Israel represents a new chapter.
“I desperately need a job,” he confessed. “The salaries here are too low to make ends meet. Imagine, in two months, I will have over Rs 2.5 lakh, a sum I have never seen in my life… Soon, things will change. Life and death are predetermined,” said the father of four, whose monthly income varies between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000.
He sees the job abroad as a chance for economic security. “In 15 years of work here, I have not been able to pay my children’s school fees on time. My eldest daughter, who is in class 11, will not be allowed to write her exams and may quit studies if I don’t pay her fees,” said the class 12 dropout, who earns nothing when he is unwell or unable to go to work.
The son of a marginal father, Rawat acknowledged the ongoing war. “Govt is sending us. People like us are at war with society and with our souls anyway.”
Applicants like Rohtash Kumar, a postgraduate in history from Haryana’s Jind, prioritised employment opportunities over the risks. “It’s better to die working than die of hunger without a job here,” he asserted.
Some aspirants faced challenges with intermediaries. Manish Kumar from Rajasthan’s Sikar said: “I had been sent by an agent (to Rohtak) against a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh.”
