KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 24

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) has started collecting data of workers who have returned from abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the COV- ID-19 Crisis Management Centre (CCMC), more than 150,000 Nepali workers have already returned to Nepal from 60 countries so far. And around 90 per cent of the returnees are migrant workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Thus, as per the government’s plan to collect data of returnees and arrange employment for them, the Cabinet meeting held on November 9 has decided to collect the data of workers and students, among other Nepalis, who have returned from abroad during the pandemic.

As per the decision of the Cabinet, the MoFAGA has already sent a letter to all the local level governments to cooperate with Employment Service Centres established in their offices to collect the data. “We have already circulated the government’s decision to all local levels with the details that we need to collect from returnees,” said Basanta Adhikari, spokesperson for MoFAGA.

As per him, each local government will collect the data of workers, students and others who have returned home during the pandemic and will submit it to the federal affairs ministry. After the data is collected, the MoFA- GA will prepare a report and submit it to the Ministry of Finance.

“Besides the other general details, our data will also include the skills the returnees learnt and the area they want to work in,” Adhikari said. “With these details and based on the need of workers, the finance ministry will prepare a programme to motivate the returnees to stay back in the country and work,” he added.

The Cabinet has directed the Finance Ministry to prepare a programme through which the government can offer jobs to returnees and also provide them skills so that they can start their own businesses. According to Adhikari, the report will be compiled within one to two months. The service-seekers can visit their local level office and register their names at the Employment Service Centre.

Stakeholders have been requesting the government to manage the workers who have returned home. Targeting the migrant workers, the government has also announced it will bring different programmes aiming at encouraging them to work in the country itself. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development has also announced that it will introduce programmes for the workers who have returned home.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has also committed that the government will create an environment for migrant workers to either work here or begin their own businesses.