FEATURE: Nepalis pursue overseas employment despite risks

By Pratibha Tuladhar, dpa =

Kathmandu (dpa) - Seven months ago, Dorje Gurung returned to Nepal from Qatar, where he was imprisoned after a student alleged that he had called him a terrorist.

His documents were confiscated, he was denied several months of salary and incarcerated.

“A student made racist remarks at me in the cafeteria. I told him his calling me names would be the same thing as me stereotyping him and that got me behind the bars,” said Gurung, 44, who was a science teacher there for two years.

Pressure from the Nepali intellectual class managed to secure his release after 12 days, and he was sent home.

Since then, he has been raising funds to educate children of dead migrant workers.

“If an educated person like me could be subject to being imprisoned on false charges, how deep must be the problems facing the other Nepalis in that country, who cannot even communicate properly in a foreign language,” he said.

Gurung met many other Nepalis in prison who said they had been locked up on false grounds.

“The Kafala system in Qatar gives full authority to the employer over the employee, which means the right to the legal documents or even a change of employment can only take place with the employer’s permission,” he explained.

“That has often been termed modern-day slavery.”

Mistreatment or incarceration is far from the worst fate for Nepali migrant workers, up to 1,600 of whom head each day for Malaysia and the Gulf countries, mostly as manual labour.

And every day, the bodies of between two and four dead Nepali workers arrive home at Tribhuvan International Airport, according to Department of Foreign Employment spokesman Divas Acharya.

According to government reports, about 7,500 Nepali migrant workers have died in the major labour destinations in the Gulf and Malaysia since 2000. At least 60 have died within the last four months, the data showed.

When the bodies arrive in Nepal, they are reported by the employers as "natural deaths."

“In Qatar, workers' deaths are mostly reported as cardiac arrest or heat stroke,” said Gurung. “Sometimes, employers say workers went to bed and didn’t wake up, and not all employers abide by the rest period for employees during the day, when the mercury is at its highest.”

In September, Nepal asked Qatar look into the treatment of its workers after reports that 44 of them had died during June-August.

“The Qatar government has stepped up monitoring of their companies and our embassy has reported that things have improved in terms of living conditions of the workers,” Acharya said.

But others including Gurung disagree.

“Nepal government’s presence is weak. Our embassy did nothing for so many innocents, who are still languishing in prison.”

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, young men and women queue up from as early as 10 pm for the offices to open the next morning, so they can apply for passports.

At the Department of Foreign Migration in Kathmandu, hundreds of Nepalis line up every day, shivering in the winter cold, to seek labour permits.

“What can you do in Nepal?” said Mohan Singh Basnet, who has been hopping countries since 2005, in search of work. “Either you have to cheat or you have to have the right connections to get a job.”

“The politicians have no intent of changing things in this country. The political situation is bound to get worse in this country. Where are jobs for people like us?”

“I’ve worked in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. I knew I could die there. But at least I made enough to fend for my family.”

Despite media reports on the deplorable condition of the migrant workers, the labour migration has not slowed.

“I used to work in Kuwait as a maid but moved to Qatar, because I got mistreated by my employers,” said Maya Tamang, whose husband also works in Qatar.

"We can’t live as husband-wife there because of strict laws but at least we’re in the same country instead of being jobless in Nepal.”

Foreign remittance accounts for 28 per cent of Nepal’s GDP.

“Those who apply for these jobs are mostly unskilled and uneducated, which makes them physically, socially and economically vulnerable,” Ganesh Gurung, former member of the National Planning Commission explained.

“The agents sell them hope, saying there’s money abroad and they can take care of their family. And it is easy to sell hope to the hopeless,” said Dorje Gurung.

Some people he met in prison were minors, who had faked documents to get jobs.

“An entire group of construction workers had been jailed on murder charges because their colleague died after they took him to hospital when he fainted,” he said.

One of them, a 22-year-old, has not had any contact with his family since his imprisonment five years ago.

“I had it easy," Gurung said as tears welled up in his eyes. "But there are thousands out there who have lost everything.”  

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## Internet
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## dpa Contacts
- Reporting by: Pratibha Tuladhar
- Editing by: Thomas Long
Tel: +66 2 7142073; <englishservice@dpa.com>
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Nepal crisis deepens as government, opposition war over budget =

   Kathmandu (dpa) - Nepal's political crisis deepened Monday as a standoff between the government and the opposition over the annual budget threatened essential services.

   Salaries for soldiers, teachers and other government employees could be blocked if the Thursday budget deadline is not met.

   The problem is already taking a toll on stalled development projects, while senior citizens and disabled people complained Sunday that they had not received monthly stipends for the past several months.

   An emergency budget was announced in July by the caretaker government, which runs out on Thursday. The government has prepared a another spending plan of 460 billion rupees (5.23 billion dollars) that it planned to announce through an ordinance on Monday.

   But the opposition says the caretaker government lacks that authority and vowed to block it.

   “On what principles can you have a budget when there is no parliament?” said Surendra Pandey, former finance minister and an opposition leader.

   “The government has to first form a consensus on bailing the country out of political transition before promulgating a budget.”

   Posta Bahadur Bogati, a minister in the Maoist-led administration, said another emergency budget is necessary because of the political impasse.

   “They (the opposition) will not offer us an alternative, but keep harping on the government stepping down,” he said.
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KFC and Pizza Hut locations in Nepal close due to worker threats =

   Kathmandu (dpa) - International fast food chains KFC and Pizza Hut were shut down indefinitely in Nepal by management over threats by employees, local media reported Wednesday.

   Bishnu Reddy, the outlets' country manager, said they were closed after "workers turned violent, manhandled a management official and threatened to kill some other officials," the Kantipur news portal reported.

   Media reported that the employees had disagreed with management over the formation of a trade union.

   KFC and Pizza Hut were the first international fast food chains to arrive in Nepal. They began operation in 2009, drawing throngs of people.

   Foreign investors took their arrival as a sign of encouragement that the Himalayan nation, which suffered from a decade-long insurgency, had found political stability.

   "The closing of KFC and other international brand names has left a bad image among foreign investors," said Tejendra Nath Shrestha, chairman of Nepal's Restaurant and Bar Association.
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Foreign remittances lift Nepalis out of poverty

Pratibha Tuladhar, dpa

   Kathmandu (dpa) - On a foggy November morning, Sobha Chaudhary sits on a pavement outside the Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu with just a frayed shawl over her shoulders against the cold.

   She is waiting for a passport, which would then allow her to apply for a job in Kuwait.

   Chaudhary, 20, comes from a poor farmer's family in the south-eastern plains of Jhapa, and wouldn't be able to find Kuwait on a map. But she knows she can make enough money there to pay off her family's debts if she can get a job as a housemaid.

   "My village sisters work in Kuwait and they have been able to send money home," says Chaudhary, referring to other women who grew up in the same community. "I hope to do the same."

   Sobha Chaudhary is among the hundreds of aspiring migrant workers lining up outside the Foreign Ministry or employment agencies in the capital every day, in search of a better future.

   Remittances already make up an increasing proportion of the country's gross domestic product, and are a significant contributor to the country's declining poverty levels, according to economists and development experts.

   "More than 50 per cent of Nepalis are receiving remittances, which has given them better living standards," said Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission.

   Just over 25 per cent of Nepalis live below the poverty line, a government study published in October said, 5.7 percentage points lower than the previous survey found in 2004.

   The progress is particularly positive given the past five years of political instability, and the decade of civil war before that.

   The extra wealth is translating into other improvements, observers say.

   "Food consumption patterns have drastically changed in the last 15 years," said Anil Sharma, an expert with the Central Bureau for Statistics. "Nepalis are eating more protein-rich food items like meat, eggs, fish and milk."

   Despite the rising income levels, many Nepalis continue to be driven abroad by the shortage of career opportunities, and the promise of a better lifestyle elsewhere, even those with jobs at home.

   Rajendra Nagarkoti, 25, left his job as a teacher in Kathmandu two years ago to become a waiter in Saudi Arabia.

   "His monthly salary as a teacher was 4,000 rupees (53 US dollars), and that was barely enough to support the family," his mother Sanu Nagarkoti said.

   "But since he went to Saudi, he's sent home 100,000 rupees a year."

   Nagarkoti has not only been able to repay bank loans, but put some money aside, his mother said.

   The percentage of households who depend on family members working abroad has increased by 33 per cent since 1995, according to the government.

   Migrant workers sent home 259 billion rupees in 2010, up from 13 billion rupees 15 years ago, government figures released in October said.

   This "substantial remittance inflow from migrant workers" has been a major reason for progress in national health and education statistics in the last 30 years, according to the Human Development Report 2011 published by the United Nations Development Programme.

   Between 1980 and 2010, the country's Human Development Index score more than doubled, the report said.

   However, a remittance-based economy is not sustainable in the long run, according to experts.

   "What if migrant workers start to return home?" National Planning Commission Vice-Chairman Pitambar Sharma asked, at the press conference to launch the government report last month.

   "Migration has been the safety net for Nepal in last 15 years but it is not a development solution," said UN resident and humanitarian coordinator Robert Piper.

   "Migration has a lot of negative consequences on agriculture and families and has especially devastating impact on women."

   But so far, the allure of working abroad does not seem to be fading, despite the frequent headlines depicting the hardship, abuse and injustice suffered by migrant Nepalis in their host countries.

   "I've heard it's not easy," Chaudhary said. "But we're poor and it's the only way I can help my family pay off our debts."
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