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Nepal’s Umbilical Cord

by Samudaya.org | August 2006

Source: Nepalnews: viewpoint

By Nischal M. S. Basnyat

Migration for work is nothing new to Nepal. Although Nepal was a late entry in taking advantage of Middle Eastern labour demands, Nepal's first famous expat-migrant was the Gorkhali hero Bal Bhadra Kunwar, who left Nepal to join the army of the Punjabi Sikh King Ranjit Singh in 1816. During the two world wars, over 300,000 Nepali men fought for the British, suffering over 45,000 casualties. Thousands of Nepalis fled to work in India during the injustice of the 104 year Rana regime, while the Gurkhas stationed overseas in Hong Kong and Singapore made up for 40 percent of all Nepalis working abroad.

Migrant workers and other Nepalis working abroad have kept this country alive through the last few decades of economic depression, political instability and domestic uncertainty. Today, labor is Nepal's greatest export and even the most rural household depends on at least one member's earning away from home. Despite having a poor industrial base and although agricultural production is lagging in such an agrarian economy like ours, remittance from abroad has kept commercial banks in Nepal not only operating but profiting. From the revenue made by sophisticated hotels and restaurants in Kathmandu to the increase in vehicle sales, most of Nepal's economic survival owes debt to the foreign currency brought in by Nepalis residing away from home. The Nepali economy in 2004/05 earned over USD 922 million in remittances from overseas workers, accounting for 12.4 percent of national GDP. However, as most remittance is channelled through informal conduits, Nepal's actual benefit from remittance will easily top USD 1.2 billion per year. The remittance economy of Nepal is more significant and imperative than foreign aid, domestic businesses and tourism. Despite Nepal's economic growth rate decreasing from 8% to less than 3% in the span of only six years, the inflowing cash from Nepalis abroad has kept the country breathing.

Comments

August 30th, 2006

1 | Mystichacker:

Nischal,

Let me comment on few crucial points that you have raised in your column.

First, getting over with the formalities - I think the piece is generally very well written. And second, you bring up a very crucial and inconvenient truth about Nepali socio-economic reality that is progressively being taken for granted — in Nepal as well as in ‘host’ countries; with obnoxious Nepalis and their general disposition towards fellow laborers, as well as sub humane treatment of laborers by the industry in general - globally.

Although I cannot necessarily provide factual data as to how many cases of maltreatment and injustices have been reported so far; the crux of the problem also lies with the rest who go through those process without reporting any mistreatment for the fear of losing what they have — their job. But how can you blame them either — it is a catch-22 proposition.

The accountability-transparency issue is crucial. Where else can an ordinary citizen look for help besides its own government? Post 1990, actually, government did help bring the ‘manpower’ industry to its glorious heights by loosening codes of foreign employment act and freeing foreign currency inflow/outflow restrictions. Further, while corruption persisted, bureaucratic processes were reduced for anyone interested in engaging in labor-migration venture.

However, that took care of the business-proprietor side. People-consumer-labor aspect of manpower industry still remained unattended by the government. As a solution, in my opinion, accountability and transparency must go through two levels — proprietor and government; regulated to an extent through several layers of minimal codes of conduct concerning: guaranteed employment, standard of living, health facilities and provision to forfeit employment if found to be below basic working condition.

Additionally - like you said, there has to be some agreement or treaty governing cheap labor condition between Nepal and various host countries — whether it be on mutual partnership to prevent ‘human trafficking’ and provide better working conditions for workers; or be it on a more reciprocatory level of aid and developmental grants that enhance mother country’s ability to be more economically responsible for its citizens.

But behind this paradigm, the underlying rhetorical fact remains — how long can our country continue to survive on remittance, without any sound economic policies to keep the domestic labor force employed. While remittance is extremely crucial to Nepal’s economy at present; it remains only a temporary solution to the larger problem of putting in place a somewhat warravaged economy and making it functional once again.

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Nepal’s Umbilical Cord

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