KATHMANDU, JUNE 21

Newly-elected President of Association of Nepali Teraian in America Mridula Gupta said the Nepali diaspora should be given rights to acquire and dispose property in Nepal on par with Nepali citizens.

Talking to THT, Gupta said there should be no hurdle for Nepali diaspora to transfer their property and benefits earned through investments in Nepal to their countries of residence. 'At present, a lot of Nepalis who want to invest in Nepal are not doing that because non-resident Nepalis faced hurdles in transferring their profits back to their countries of residence,' she said.

There are only a few countries where Nepal can send migrant workers for foreign employment. This means the chances of getting remittances are limited.

Liberalising rules for non-resident Nepalis' investment in Nepal would help Nepal create more jobs and opportunities in Nepal.

Gupta said that her organisation wanted to link the Nepali diaspora to their cultural roots in Nepal by exposing the children of Nepali diaspora abroad so that they could be exposed to their native culture. In order to inculcate Nepali cultural values in the new generations of Nepali diaspora in foreign countries, ANTA is trying to expose the new generation to Nepali culture, language and festivals.

Her organisation is trying to start online classes of languages spoken in Nepal such as Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and Nepali for children of Nepali diaspora in America and other foreign countries. 'Knowledge of language is important to inculcate native culture in children,' she said.

She said Teraians have good presence in America and elsewhere and there was the need for linking them with Nepal. She said ANTA was also mulling support for 10 Nepali students, preferably girl children, to attain 10+2 education annually.

ANTA will select 10 students on the basis of merit, keeping in mind their financial situation. ANTA, being a diaspora organisation, is always ready to help Nepal in times of natural disasters as it did during the 2015 Gorkha earthquakes, Gupta said.

She also said during her two-year tenure, she would try to unify the fragmented groups of Madhesi diaspora.

'We are a non-profit organisation, there is no need for Teraian communities abroad to remain fragmented,' she argued.

A version of this article appears in the print on June 22, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.