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Kathmandu Friday November 10, 2000 Kartik 25, 2057.
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UAE’s new recruiting policy won’t
affect Nepal
Vijaya Babu Khatri
KATHMANDU, Nov 9 - Though the United Arabs Emirates (UAE)
has revived the policy of recruiting skilled manpower from the Indian sub-continent, it
would not affect the supply of skilled manpower from Nepal to the UAE, say concerned
entrepreneurs.
They claim that recently, the UAE has decided to recruit
highly-skilled manpower from Indian sub-continent nations like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
and Sri Lanka.
Krishna Adhikari, Managing Director of The Gorkha
Re-employment Agency - one of the major suppliers of Nepali manpower to the UAE - says
very few skilled labourers go to the UAE for employment.
Around 15 months ago the UAE decided not to recruit workers
from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, which was an important opportunity for
Nepali workers. Within a year of the announcement, the official number of Nepali workers
registered in the UAE jumped to 30 thousand employees from a modest 10 thousand.
After AFP, an international news agency, made public the
decision of the UAE, it was expected to have an adverse effect on the supply of Nepali
manpower to the country.
However, the new policy does not affect Nepali workers.
Another 30 thousand job seekers have already initiated the process of acquiring visas for
employment in the UAE. Within the next six months, the number of Nepalis working in the
UAE is expected to top 60 thousand, says Adhikari.
According to Krishna Adhikari, around one million Indians -
including businessmen, 600 thousand Bangladeshis and some 400 thousand workers from each
Pakistan and Sri Lanka, are currently working there. Compared to these high figures, the
number of Nepali workers is negligible.
The number of foreign workers in the country is estimated
to be two thirds of its 3 million plus population. The country is considered to be more
liberal than other Gulf countries and offering better pay and benefits to foreign workers.
Favorable climatic conditions of the country is another factor that makes foreigners
prefer the UAE to other Gulf countries.
Ganesh Aryal, an official at the section of foreign
employment in the Labour Department says, over seven thousand Nepali workers went to the
UAE during the last fiscal year through the Department. This is a dramatic increase in
comparison with the one thousand one hundred and eighty-eight Nepali workers who had
travelled to the UAE over the previous five years.
Concerned entrepreneurs claim that the number of Nepalis
going to the UAE unofficially, is three times greater than those going officially.
According to them, some 20 thousand Nepalis went to the country last year alone - the
majority of them unskilled.
They say that the UAE’s policy of not recruiting
workers other than Nepali had helped the unskilled labourers to enter the country for
employment. Generally, such unskilled labourers work in construction, the hotel industry,
super markets and aboard ships.
Criminal activities rose in correlation with the increasing
number of workers from Indian sub-continent nations, other than Nepal. Nepali workers were
in the minority and were peaceful. Therefore, Nepali workers were allowed to enter the
country while workers from other nations were banned.
Dan Bahadur Tamang, Chairman of the Foreign Employment
Entrepreneurs’ Agency says, "People of the UAE are positive towards Nepali
workers as they are sincere, laborious and peaceful. Nepalis have made a very good
impression in the UAE and unless the image is tarnished, nothing can affect the supply of
Nepali manpower to UAE".
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