Minimum Wages

HIS Majesty's Government has finally fixed the minimum wages for agricultural workers at 60 rupees a day and 7.5 rupees an hour. According to the Ministry of Labour, the decision on minimum wages for the agricultural labourers will not affect those who already are receiving more than that in some parts of the country. In a similar vein, the government has made mandatory provision to provide equal wages for both men and women for similar kinds of works they do and has directed the local authorities to make proper arrangement and ensure strict monitoring to see that the new government decision, concerning minimum wages for agricultural workers is implemented uniformly throughout the country. Despite the fact that the agricultural sector is the largest contributor to the national economy, and absorbs the largest labour force in the country, the farm workers had been facing big problems at the absence of minimum wage rate. The agricultural labourers in general and in the western terai in particular have been exploited because of the absence of officially fixed minimum wages. The case in point is the Kamaiya system which, in the absence of minimum wages, can be cited as the extreme exploitation of agricultural labourers. This has been felt as a serious problem in the agricultural sector of Nepal. Human rights organisations and trade unions had for long been demanding that the government fix the minimum wages for the agro-workers. Considering the problems faced by the agricultural workers and demands of the human rights bodies as well as trade unions, the government has finally fixed the minimum wages, which must be taken as a positive and welcome move. With this government decision, the problems of the farm labourers would be solved to a large extent. Similary, the government has taken decision relating to prohibition of employment of children under the age of 14 in any kind work.

The government has time and often expressed its commitment to work for the interest and rights of the people especially those who are relatively underprivileged and the present decision is in conformity with the commitment of the government to protect and promote the rights of the workers. One thing, however, needs to be noted here is that only laws and policy measures may not be sufficient in curbing all the aberrations seen in various fields including labour. As the implementation aspect of Nepal's legal and policy measures has been found weak, the implementation and monitoring aspect of the recent decision concerning minimum wages for agricultural workers also needs to be made effective.

Responsibility Of Press

WITH the restoration of multiparty democracy in the country about a decade ago, the press has certainly made tremendous progress. Indeed, it is only the press has been able to make leap ahead in the past decade. The huge investment in the press from the private sector and the rising number of publication houses, are an indicator that optimism has prevailed as regards providing news and views to the people. Not only the print media but electronic media has also flourished after 1990. The private F. M. radio stations and the TV channels justify this point. A large number of enthusiastic youths today seem to be interested in a career in journalism. This has resulted because of the fact that the press can only flourish in a democratic environment and that has been aptly proved. The Constitution of Nepal has also incorporated the right to information as a fundamental right. However, the Nepalese press is yet not completely free from certain maladies.

It is quite a disconcerting reality that the Nepalese press is not free from party politics of one kind or the other. Moreover, the lack of responsible journalism, especially among the weeklies, is regarded to be a great challenge in the present times. Speaking at a seminar on "Press Freedom and its Utilisation", organised by the Department of Information the other day, Daman Nath Dhungana, former Speaker of the House of Representative and a senior advocate, said that press primarily bears a social responsibility and should focus on issues related to human rights and social justice. Certainly, the press that informs the public about everyday events of the society should bear social responsibility. However, the media here do not seem to be very serious over its social responsibility as it should be. It may be said with certainty that the majority of newspapers, especially the weeklies, have their own glaring colour. Though the Nepalese press has been playing a crucial role in informing, it is still unable to break relations with alignment with certain political parties and this is a matter of serious concern. This makes us realise that professionalism must prevail and conducive environment be created for journalists to express freely and without any tilt to this or the other political party so that the press can give prominence to its social responsibility.