Nepali labourers continue to be hoodwinked even after the gory incident of August last, 2004, when twelve Nepali workers met a gruesome end at the hands of ultras in Iraq. Because they were promised jobs in Jordan but ended up in war-torn Iraq, the public blamed the manpower agency which had promised the men work in Jordan for the killings. This attitude of some manpower agencies that assure good work positions and deliver the opposite, has continued to tarnish the image of the overseas employment sector as a whole. But ensuring the workers their promised wages has been a difficult job even for reputed agencies. Over five dozen Nepali youths working in Malaysia are now being paid only half the salary as agreed by their employers. One Nepali agency has even compensated those who returned from Malaysia after the workers were offered unsatisfactory wages. That is an indication that some agencies are coming of age. Labour rules stipulate that Nepalis cannot go to Mala-ysia unless they are guaranteed 473 ringgits per month but repo-rts are rife that they are working there for half as much salaries.

It has to be acknowledged that it is a difficult job to deliver at the other end what has been promised at home because middlemen often negotiate between manpower agencies and actual employers. But that has also been an excuse for those agencies who never had any intention of knowing what happened to those people that they sent overseas, after pocketing their share of the bargain. Last year’s public outpouring of anger and grief might have awakened a few agencies, but many have yet to mend their ways. While it will immensely help the manpower agencies to live up to their reputation, caring to see that their promises are delivered will mean winning the confidence of many job-seekers. Many unreliable manpower agencies seem to forget that it is the cardinal rule of business. If that is true for the law-abiding agencies, the unscrupulous ones need to be punished, for which, the government must take stringent measures.

The findings of the probe team the Deuba-government appointed in the aftermath of September 1 rioting and its recommendations to make the employment sector credible, transparent and reliable have produced no results. Because remittances are vital for an economy which is sagging by all reckoning, it will be both wise and useful to ensure that overseas employment is made a reliable sector. If the manpower agencies need to seriously meet that challenge, the government must focus on sending trained and skilled manpower abroad. Bilateral and multilateral employment alliances besides strong diplomatic presence abroad would certainly yield results.