RAJENDRA SENCHUREY

Finding a job in Nepal is almost like chewing an iron nail, in other words, next to impossible. Along with the geometric growth in the population, the literacy rate has also gone up. Consequently, the number of youths acquiring skills and knowledge in different sectors has increased unprecedentedly. More than six million unemployed young people are looking for appropriate opportunities. Whether unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled, educated or uneducated, they are finding it difficult to eke out a living in the motherland. This pathetic situation has led to many people leaving the country.

Each year, 450,000 job seekers enter the job market, among whom, three-fourths go abroad for employment. Unable to find the work of their desire, even educated youth have been going abroad in search of 3D (dirty, difficult and dangerous) jobs. More than 1,500 physically fit young people leave the country daily seeking a brighter future. This has resulted in remittance becoming a major contributor to the Nepali economy. But is that all the state should think about? For how long do we need to irrigate alien lands with our priceless sweat? Two generations of migrant workers have already spent their adulthood as blue-collar workers there. Will our posterity also be trapped in this predicament?

Labour migration has not merely created a problem of rampant brain drain, it has also heavily messed up our social fabric and identity. Psychological, verbal, physical, economic and sexual abuse of labour migrants has gone beyond limits in many cases. News comes of our sisters working as domestic migrant workers being held captive and sexually harassed. We are earning this international disrespect because of the change in our legacy from brave warriors to cheap labourers.

We cannot blame our geography and topography when we can see the tremendous development of countries like Switzerland and Japan. Switzerland is a landlocked country and Japan consists of 80 percent rocky hills, but both have strong economies. The problem is that we never focused on industrial development, despite its huge potential. We are compelled to starve by growing crops over a goldmine. If only our water resources could be managed, 15 million people could get jobs in the country. And if all the natural resources like forests, minerals, water, tourism and agro products were to be utilised rationally, we could create jobs for 50 million more. To achieve this goal, the only means is industrialisation and entrepreneurship.

Meanwhile, there is a widespread presumption that the national revenue is being spent on bureaucrats and the administrative sector. Only a few offices can engage their employees properly. At most offices, due to an abundance of time, employees either kill time gossiping, surfing the net, doing politics or operating private businesses after signing their attendance books. The state cannot prosper by itself. It is the people who need to invest their knowledge and labour to uplift it. There is nothing like a magic pill to draw out the country from the mire of underdevelopment. The crux of this tragedy is that our youth are straying hither and thither for nothing. Some of them have been exploited by provocative and manipulative politicians and are deployed as muscle groups. Another great mass is found scattered in public places like Ratna Park, just killing time. Some of them are trapped on a pleasure treadmill of drugs and illegal substances while many others are engaged in illicit practices like burglary and prostitution. As it is said, in an empty mind, the devil dwells.

So what is the solution to these maladies? First of all, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the National Youth Policy 2010 should be made accountable for youth employment and labour. While vocational education is imperative to produce a skilled workforce, we only have the Council for Technical Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) to produce technical human resources and it has a very meagre output of graduates. Technical education should be given priority from junior school. For instance, in Japan, the Public Employment Security Office runs the Job Support Programme in coordination with schools to provide vocational training to students. The education should also be adequately tailored to meet the needs of the job market.

Fresh ideas and projects that come from innovative young minds turn into quixotic fallacies when the matter of money comes up. In order to prevent this from happening, the government’s Youth Self-Employment Programme formulated the Youth and Small Entrepreneur Self-Employment Fund to provide loans of up to Rs 200,000 without collateral for unemployed youths to start up small businesses. Like in developed countries, these programmes help build strong coordination between the central government and local authorities. In the coming years, the government should try to reach out to more unemployed youth by increasing the budget allocation. Also, a monitoring body should be formed to ensure that loans are not distributed on the basis of nepotism and political inclination.

Following a concept developed by the Labour Department, the Labour Ministry is planning to open at least 100 Job Shops in the country, in partnership with the private sector. The effort aims to provide jobs to half a million Nepalis in the very first year. This is a laudable vision of our government. Furthermore, it should study and implement popular models from developed countries like the Job-Rich Growth and Local-Based Job Posting System of South Korea.

Supposing that five million people have gone abroad in the last couple of decades for skill training, business and higher education, the government should now make full-fledged preparations to bring them back with enticing opportunities by creating a conducive environment for legitimate and lucrative jobs, investments and further studies. To meet the International Labour Organisation’s concept of full and productive employment and decent work for all, the government should establish at least one factory in each district or possibly one in each VDC. Traditional occupations should be modernised and made more respectful. If employment and macroeconomic policies are inter-related, it will help create more job openings. Most of all, a comprehensive policy framework is needed for a significant and tangible increment in youth employment.

Senchurey is the publisher of Conflict Management monthly

Published on: 14 July 2013 | The Kathmandu Post