Dikshya Singh

“I can’t wait to get on that plane and fly,” Rajesh Bhandari from Ratmate, Nuwakot, said impatiently shifting the strap of a red hold-all on his shoulder while waiting to be allowed inside Tribhuwan International Airport’s departure hall.

Along with a group of six young men, Bhandari is leaving for Malaysia for three years to work as a security guard at one of the business centres in Kuala Lumpur. Bhandari, a 22-year-old high school graduate, who never had a job, is animatedly discussing a plan with his friend to buy a smartphone as soon as he saves enough. However, his long term plan is to return with enough money to repay family debts, set up a small business, and get married.

A similar enthusiasm and excitement, hopes and nervousness were also visible on the faces and gestures of his companions. Almost all Nepali migrant workers who are leaving to work in foreign countries have similar aspirations but not all dreams come true. One among every 214 Nepalis who leave to work in foreign countries is duped by outsourcing companies, agents or the employers, according to official statistics.

Every day, about 1,330 Nepalis legally leave to work in foreign destinations — Nepal being one of largest sources of low skilled labour for Gulf nations and Malaysia. According to the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE)’s statistics, 399,084 Nepalis have been given approval to join foreign jobs in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year. There are

756 licensed outsourcing companies that mediate the recruitment of Nepalis in foreign companies.

Most of the men and women are promised good wages, adequate working hours and comfortable living conditions by their agents but when they reach the work place the reality is starkly different. DoFE has received 1864 complaints of outsourcing fraud in the last 10 months with claims amounting to Rs 985 million.

“Most migrant workers are given false promises by recruiting agents and they fall for it,” says president of Prawasi Nepali Coordination Committee (PNCC) Mahendra Pandey.

“By the time the workers realise that they have been charged excessive recruitment charges or there are changes in job terms and salaries it is too late and they are already stuck in a foreign land,” he added. PNCC advocates for the rights of migrant workers and helps victims of outsourcing fraud get justice.

According to Pandey, the most common frauds include fake contracts that depict better pay and working hours, agents swindling money from prospective workers, and charging excessive mediation fees, among others. “There are even cases of workers being trafficked to other countries while being shown the contract of companies of another country without the worker’s knowledge,” he added.

Kumar Gurung — a driver by profession — was promised a job of a driver with a monthly salary of Rs 50,000 in Doha, Qatar, in 2010. He left his job of a micro bus driver in Kathmandu, took a loan of Rs 250,000 from a relative and added his savings of Rs 100,000, paid the agency to get all the documents ready, including work permit and visa, and left for Doha.

“The manpower agency had told me that I will be received by an agent in Doha and taken to the workplace, but when nobody turned up at the airport I realised I had been duped,” recalls the 27-year-old.

Gurung then contacted one of his relatives working in Doha and worked at a garage for two years to raise enough money to pay back his debts.

“I could not return home empty handed with a burden of loan on my family, so I literally sweated it out in the desert to make enough money,” Gurung said.

However, once back he did not give up easily. Gurung lodged a case against the agents involved and his case is currently under investigation. “The worst thing is that the agent who landed me in this trouble is my cousin,” he lamented.

“If workers use legitimate outsourcing agencies, chances of being duped get minimised a lot,” points out president of Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies Bal Bahadur Tamang. “We have our own internal mechanism to regulate our work so if migrants use the services of authorised agencies they will not face problems,” he added.

So far, DoFE has cancelled the licence of 264 outsourcing companies for not complying with regulations.

A majority of people who opt for foreign employment hail from rural areas and are easy prey for clever agents who know exactly how to exploit naïve Nepalis.

“The level of awareness regarding the realities of foreign employment among migrant workers are found to be very minimal,” according to director general of DoFE Govinda KC.

“We are mobilising local bodies and sources across all Village Development Committees to disseminate information regarding foreign jobs — the cost involved, the amount that workers can earn, and how crooks dupe the gullible people, among others,” he informed, adding that in a large number of cases, relatives and acquaintances are in the forefront of such fraudulent activities.

Economic implication

The massive amount of remittance inflow has made Nepal’s Balance of Payments surplus, despite the ever-widening trade deficit. Remittance has emerged as the lifeblood of Nepal as earnings through agriculture in rural areas is insufficient and the youth prefer to go abroad where they have higher chances of earning more. “However, by allowing such large scale youth migration for foreign employment, Nepal has wasted one of the most valuable economic resources — human resource, especially youths,” pointed out senior economist Dr Chiranjivi Nepal who is also an economic advisor at the Finance Ministry. Though the country is earning substantial remittance income, the downside is that a majority of the able workforce are leaving for better opportunities which is not good for the economy in the long term. “It is good for the short term, when industrial and agriculture production is low, but prolonged outflow of workers has left resources unutilised which will be dangerous for future generations,” pointed out Dr Nepal. Moreover, due to the absence of a government policy that encourages the channelling of remittance into capital formation, if the movement of labour between countries goes through a temporary halt, Nepal has a lot to lose.

Published on: 27 May 2013 | The Himalayan Times