IranIsrael crisis clouds plans for Indian workers

He explained that he had taken a loan from a relative to pay for all the expenses ahead of the trip.

According to the terms offered by the Israeli agency, the workers are expected to travel at their own expense and will only receive contracts once they land in Tel Aviv. A sample contract available on the PIBA website seen by The Hindu details that insurance, accommodation, and food will be arranged by employers but their costs will be deducted from workers’ salaries. Even so, the contracts for a promised ₹1.37 lakh a month are far higher than what these workers could hope to receive in India, and tens of thousands had applied for the roughly 10,000 jobs listed, seeking skills such as carpentering, welding, plastering, and ceramic tiling.

“Now, with uncertainty looming over the process, we feel we are at a crossroads. On our social media groups, the desperation is evident from messages by candidates,” Mr. Kumar added.

Israeli officials had been pushing to fasttrack the recruitment process for the past few months, given a major shortfall in labour since the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas, following which the Netanyahu government revoked the entry permits for more than one lakh Palestinian workers.

K.C. Singh, a former Ambassador to Iran and the United Arab Emirates, said the Union government’s actions “reflected poorly” on its planning for this eventuality. “The government has known for several months about tensions in the region. If an advisory was in the works, how morally justified was it to send workers there at this time?” he asked, in comments to The Hindu.

About 18,000 Indians live in Israel at present, working or pursuing their studies there. In addition, more than a thousand workers are believed to have travelled there in the past few months on private individual contracts before the governmenttogovernment recruitment process began.

Labour activists who asked not to be named said that the “temporary pause” in sending workers to Israel should be used by the government to ensure more protections for them. At present, neither Israel nor Iran are on the government’s Emigration Clearance Required (ECR) list of countries where workers are mandated to register on the “Emigrate” portal that offers more facilities for those travelling to conflict zones. They also said that New Delhi should press Israeli authorities to provide more clarity on the locations where Indians will work.