Kathmandu, February 1:

The tide of Nepali migrant workers leaving for various destinations abroad has ebbed after the government stopped issuing work permits for Malaysia and other countries also reduced the number of Nepali unskilled migrant workers. According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoEF), in the month of Poush, the number of Nepali foreign job-seekers dropped to 12,313. It was was 18,685 in Mangsir and 20,543 a month earlier in Kartik.

Taking cue from the global economic meltdown, the Gulf countries — major markets for Nepali migrant workers — have reduced the workforce strength especially unskilled hands and those working in manufacturing and service sectors.

Labour expert Dr Chiranjivi Nepal said the government should tackle this issue diplomatically. “Nepali diplomatic agnecies in those countries have failed totally,” he alleged. Dr Nepal also suggested that they could use the laid-off workforce for reconstruction. “The capital expenditure has been very less this year compared to last year,” he said adding that if the government has positive intentions it should start mega projects and employ Nepali youths.

Instead, the government is scouring for new destinations like Oman and Libya to mitigate the crisis. “What can be more risky?” Dr Nepal said. Libya and Oman both have 30 per cent and 15 per cent unemployment. Besides, there is no Nepali mission in either country.

Japan is another lucrative market to where the government has started the process for sending trainee workers. “But this also is for a limited number of semi-skilled and trainee workers, not unskilled ones,” said Dr Nepal.

The drop in number of migrant workers will hit remittance which in turn will put more pressure on government exchequer.

The impact of the drop in number of outbound workers will be on next year’s remittance as the first half of this fiscal year has already passed. Remittance is a lifeline for the Nepali economy.

“In the long run, it might have an impact,” opined Atish Shrestha, country manager of Western Union, one of the major remittance companies. “Remittance from the US and the European countries has seen nominal drop,” he said adding that till December, the transaction size was around $1100 per month but in January it came down to $800.

Top 10 spots

KATHMANDU: Malaysia tops the list of top 10 destinations in proportion to the number of Nepali migrant workers, according to official figures. Qatar comes second followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and Quwait.

•Malaysia 4,26,778

•Qatar 3,50,453

•Saudi Arabia 2,31,444

•The UAE 1,48,249

•Quwait 13,420

•Bahrain 11,220

•South Korea 6,378

•Hong Kong 4,213

•Oman 3,525

•Israel 2,650

— HNS

Nepalis’ plight

DOHA: Poor implementation of the government’s decision to stop Nepali domestic workers from working in Qatar has led to dire consequences. Nepali women continue to enter this country and some of them meet an unimagined fate. Earlier, the plight of Nepali domestic workers was an unheard of matter in Qatar, with only numerous of cases of exploitation and deceiving reported in Saudi Arabia. More women, after finding themselves at the receiving end of exploitation and cheating, are taking refuge at Nepali embassy here. In recent times, the number of their arrival in Doha is on the rise with the Nepali Embassy rescuing eight, including two on Friday alone, in the last one month. The duo — Asha Bhujel and Anita Nepali — were lured by Nepali agents on the pretext of good jobs and landed here via Mumbai.

Meanwhile, 10 Nepali workers were killed in separate incidents in Qatar in January, according to the embassy. . Most of them died in road accidents, it said. The embassy added that incidences of Nepali workers meeting their death in road accidents in this Gulf country are on the rise. — RSS

More Qatar visas

DOHA: The government of Qatar has approved 1,12,000 working visas for Nepali workers for 2009. According to Dr Surya Nath Mishra, Nepali ambassador to Qatar, 1,64,000 more visas are in than pipeline. “If so many Nepali workers come here, they would be the largest foreign community here,” Dr Mishra said after meeting Qatari Labour Minister Dr Sultan Bin Hasan. He said his meeting with Dr Hasan’s on Tuesday was fruitful and cordial. “The Qatari government has clarified that the global meltdown would not affect either the country or Nepali workers working here,” the Nepali envoy said. — RSS