A sound policy is required to make productive use of the remittance, instead of squandering it on importing luxury goods

Pandemic or no pandemic, international labour migration is a reality for many countries like Nepal that depend on the remittances to keep their economy running. With no work back home, going abroad to make a living is the only option available for tens of millions of people across the world. In 2019, there were an estimated 169 million migrant workers globally, a rise of 3 per cent since 2017, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), although the figures might have climbed down today due to the coronavirus pandemic that has ravaged all countries. These international migrant workers made up 5 per cent of the global labour force in 2019, as per a new report 'ILO Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: Results and Methodology'.

According to the report, more than two-thirds of all international migrant workers are concentrated in high-income countries of Europe, Central Asia and the Americas.

As for the Nepali migrant workers, their main destinations are India, Gulf countries, Malaysia and South Korea. In 2019, the migrant workers remitted more than $8 billion dollars back home, helping to sustain their families and the country's economy at large. Despite predictions of a fall in remittances due to the pandemic, there has been no let-up in the inflow in 2020; actually it saw an increase compared to the previous year. The pandemic has not stopped Nepali youths from migrating to India or overseas in search of work, which shows the precarious employment scenario in the country. Although the millions of Nepali migrant workers make them an integral part of the host country's economy, yet their working conditions leave much to be desired. Nepali migrant workers are mostly involved in 3D jobs – dirty, dangerous and difficult - that often put their lives at great risk.

Little wonder that hundreds of Nepalis return home in coffins after succumbing to injuries at the work place or heat strokes in the Gulf countries.

The pandemic has only exposed the insecurity that the migrant workers face at the workplace in a foreign land. With them often being the first to be laidoff, difficulties in accessing treatment and often excluded from national COVID policy responses – as per the ILO – their work can be nothing but demeaning.

Despite the huge remittances the migrant workers send back home, foreign employment cannot be a long-term solution to Nepal's unemployment problem. Jobs have to be created in the country itself by training our youths in different skills, which could replace the migrant workers in Nepal and prevent the outflow of hard-earned foreign exchange that go to pay them. A sound policy is required to make productive use of the remittance, instead of squandering it on the unsustainable import of luxury goods. Until now, migration for work, whether in India or overseas, has largely served as a safety valve, with the government never having to be serious about creating employment in the country. The new ILO report with its reliable data could help the authorities to formulate effective labour migration policies to respond to shifts in labour supply and demand, stimulate sustainable development and update workers' skills.

Clash over resource

At least 10 people, including police personnel, were injured in a clash that broke out between the locals and police in Belaka Municipality of Udaypur on Wednesday. The locals of Ward numbers 3, 8 and 9 had picketed the municipality office to protest against its decision to lease out 176 hectares of land belonging to the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve to a private firm on May 20. The clash ensued after the locals started vandalising the municipality office where talks with the officials were being held over the issue.

Once the forest area is leased out to the private firm – Barah Herbal and Agro – many landless squatters will be forced to move out. The people have become highly conscious about their local resources – be it water, minerals or forest products – that they have since the country was restructured along federal lines. The federal government had taken the decision to hand over the forest land to the firm under the concept of leasehold forestry. This incident and the protests being launched against the government's decision to divert the water of the Kaligandaki River have taught us that the stakeholders should be taken into confidence before taking any decision that affects them.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 2 2021, of The Himalayan Times.