KATHMANDU, Nepal (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 southeastern 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 percent 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 percent 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 percent 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.’’
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