Challenges galore for new labor minister

KATHMANDU: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Vice President Dol Prasad Aryal has returned to the Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Security after a year. He briefly served in the ministry in the Maoist-UML alliance formed after the November 2022 polls.

Minister Aryal, who resumed office late on Wednesday, has stated that he will make internal employment, foreign employment, and the labor sector more organized by coordinating and cooperating with the ministry’s staff and taking suggestions from experienced experts. “I am open to everyone’s suggestions. I will consider the suggestions while tackling problems and challenges in the sector,” said Aryal.

Domestic employment, labor contracts, fraud in the name of employment, fraud in free visas and free tickets, human trafficking in the name of employment, and wrongdoings of recruitment agents are the major problems that the ministry needs to tackle. Even after going abroad for work, there are many cases of economic exploitation, workers being stranded abroad and being cheated, and being subjected to human trafficking. The Ministry of Labour has not been able to solve these problems. Aryal will also face the challenge of solving these problems.

Although the free visa and free tickets scheme was implemented eight years ago, it has not been implemented effectively. Hundreds of thousands of Nepalis are leaving for countries where the free visa and free ticket scheme has been implemented, paying hefty sums to recruitment companies. Various studies of the ministry have shown that such problems are increasing rather than being solved.

The previous Labour Minister Sharat Singh Bhandari stalled the plan to include wage hikes, accident insurance, health, and skill training for workers. The development of the National Employment Management Information System for integrated data management of employment-related programs and the framework of an integrated national system of employment is also pending.

Although the directive to prepare an environment for self-employment through social and economic reintegration programs to use the skills and competencies of workers who have returned from foreign employment in the country has been prepared, it has not come into implementation. Although various countries have allocated budgets for this program, the Secretariat of the Foreign Employment Board Secretariat has not been able to implement it.

Six years ago, the government introduced a plan to create internal employment and stop forced foreign employment. Although a needful budget was also allocated for the program, the plan did not go into implementation. With the number of workers going for foreign employment on the rise, the ministry is gradually reducing such programs.

The then labor ministers Kisan Shrestha and Sher Bahadur Kunwar put forward a proposal to conduct skill development training in all seven provinces with the help of employment destination countries. Although former minister Bhandari talked about opening a skill development training center, he failed to build such a facility. He went on to scrap the free visa and free ticket scheme by coming under the influence of recruitment agencies. However, the ministry has kept the decision confidential.

Complaints of many young people being cheated and sold in the name of foreign employment are coming to the Foreign Employment Department daily.

Although training and orientations have been provided to local employment coordinators, this program is also not becoming effective. Such plans have been sidelined by the labor ministers again and again. How the new labor minister will tackle these challenges remains to be seen. The responsibility of making employment safe, dignified, and organized lies with Minister Aryal.

Challenges Galore

The government has signed labor agreements with the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Romania, and Mauritius, but has not been able to send workers. Although there is a labor agreement with these countries, the ministry seems to be in a state of confusion about sending workers to these destinations.

Although the formation order to establish vocational and skill development training institutes with residential facilities to conduct training according to the demand of the national and international labor market has been approved, the work has not progressed.

The government is in the process of signing labor agreements with Saudi Arabia and Seychelles and revising labor agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Qatar. Likewise, discussions are ongoing to send workers to the construction sector in the Maldives, the Seychelles, and Israel. Many labor recipient countries are postponing plans to sign or revise labour agreements stating that they need more discussions.

Minister Aryal said that he would review past problems and work comfortably. “Instead of saying this is what we want now, I will study the problems of the labor sector and move forward accordingly,” Aryal said.