We need to train our youths in all sectors to discourage imports and strengthen the economic base that will at last help boost exports

The private sector has been holding a series of consultations with the government policymakers, including Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada, urging them to focus more on discouraging imports and giving a boost to domestic production, which will enable an economic base for exports. They have come up with these suggestions on the eve of the fiscal budget scheduled to be presented on May 29, coinciding with Republic Day. During the consultation meetings, which have been going on for the last several days in view of the upcoming fiscal budget for 2019/20, the private sector, represented by various organisations, has especially drawn the finance minister’s attention towards producing skilled workers within the country; investing in infrastructure development to see that the connectivity across the country is greatly enhanced; and creation of a production base, both in the agriculture and industrial sectors, in all the provinces so that skilled labourers could be better utilised to improve the country’s sluggish export, which at present stands at around Rs 78 billion while imports have shot up to more than Rs 1.1 trillion within ten months.

The private sector that plays a crucial role in economic development has also asked the government to allow it to invest in building transmission lines from the powerhouse to the sub-stations. Delay in building the transmission lines has hampered the timely evacuation of energy generated by the private sector. One of the major concerns the private sector has raised with the government is the high and unpredictable interest rate. It has asked the finance minister to stabilise and simplify the interest rate in a manner that investors will not need to worry about its unpredictability. The next budget should try to address this problem if the government is to achieve double-digit growth in three years.

The desired economic growth is impossible unless the country has adequate skilled workers in place. Most of the industries and modern greenhouse farms find it hard to get skilled workers though around 12 million workers are engaged in various sectors in the country. Only 10 per cent of the total workforce is engaged in the formal sector. Due to a dearth of skilled workers, private firms are forced to hire foreign workers to fill the void. In order to overcome the scarcity of skilled labourers, the government needs to establish state-of-the-art skill development centres in all the provinces. These centres should be able to provide the relevant and required training to the youths so that they can be easily absorbed in the domestic and international markets. We need more skilled labourers mainly in the agriculture, animal husbandry and horticulture sectors. These are the areas where we can provide jobs to thousands of youths, and we can also export our goods if these sectors are modernised.

The Prime Minister Employment Programme and the Social Security Scheme, launched this fiscal, should be tied up to the vocational training centres to be run by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. The five lakh youths who enter the job market every year cannot be fully employed unless the government provides them training as per the market demand.

Child welfare

That the government has scrapped the operating license of 64 child care homes in recent times raises serious questions about the motive behind the running of such shelters for poor children. According to government figures, there are 533 child care homes in 46 districts of the country with at least 14,800 children. As many as 880 children, including 249 girls, have been rescued from such homes for not meeting the set criteria during inspection and monitoring by the Central Child Welfare Board. The children come mostly from the far-flung districts.

Apart from lacking the needed physical infrastructure or a child-friendly environment, there have been reports of sexual abuse, especially of girls, and pedophilia cases involving foreign volunteers. Quite a few of them have been used for the forceful conversion of children to Christianity. It is poverty that pushes children into these shelters in the hope of getting two square meals a day and an education. Since nearly all of the child care homes are funded by foreign donors - a good many of them by faith-based organisations - the Board must see to it that they are not misused for religious conversion or sexual perversions.