WHY INDIAN WORKERS ARE FLOCKING TO RUSSIA

With the Ukraine war causing a labour shortage, Russia is luring in Indian welders, drillers, tailors and other workers

- Devina Sengupta

Clockwise: A scaffolding test in progress at Rabale, an industrial centre in Navi Mumbai; candidates wait before the scaffolding test; workers check out job requirements for Russia and West Asia displayed on a notice board; passports submitted with job applications; document checks in progress.

(DEVVINA SINGGHIA/MINT)

“I wanted to run the 1,500 metres for India,” said Anil Kumar, after completing a test to ascertain his skills at building a scaffolding, a structure used in construction projects to support workers and materials.

Once, he was a state-level middle-distance runner but did not have the money for the kind of food a sportsman needs. He did land a college seat under the sports quota but had to give it up after a year because his family needed him to earn money.

“I worked in Dubai and Qatar, but now I want to work in Russia,” said Kumar, 28.

Deendayal Gondh, 36, from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh, who has studied till Class 10, saw an advertisement for the same job on Facebook and applied. He just wants to make enough money so his child can study, preferably in an English-medium school.

Gondh had worked in the Gulf, where monthly salaries were below the $700 figure (around ₹63,000) that many working in Russia were drawing.

The duo were not bothered by the Russia-Ukraine war. Money for home trumped safety concerns, and their experience in the Gulf gave them an edge over the other contenders.

Kumar and Gondh were among about 60 workmen who had assembled at a building in Rabale, an industrial centre in Navi Mumbai. There was a signboard that said “Russia”, below which, in a smaller font, was the job description: Long Term Oil & Gas Project. The word 'scaffolders' was mentioned prominently and below it were the words: 'free food and accommodation; Gulf experience preferred'.