Wholesome Reforms

FOLLOWING the landmark announcement by the government to introduce land reforms it is but natural that a public debate has surfaced on the various facets of hoped-for and proposed land reforms. Not surprisingly, voices of differences are being heard from some quarters following the announcement that banned the buying, selling and transfer of lands pending the fixing of land ceiling. But politically speaking, the government is on pretty firm ground, having received an unequivocal support from the main Opposition in the House of Representatives, Communist Party of Nepal (UML). This support was repeated by a central member speaking at an interaction on Tuesday where Minister for Agriculture and Cooperatives Mahesh Acharya also tried to put the proposed land reforms in its true perspective. He emphasised that the progressive and reforms programme was not an exclusive agenda of a certain political party but was a means of bringing about social and economic transformation in the country. The fact that the largest Opposition party has solidly backed the government in this venture proves it quite categorically that such a move was most welcome. Indeed, political parties over the years have made strident calls for drastic land reforms, the reason being that without appropriate land reforms most Nepalese would continue to languish in poverty and backwardness.

Even though agriculture accounts for livelihood for over 80 per cent of the population, lack of land reforms has meant that most people are forced to just eke out a livelihood somehow with great hardships. Every successive government of the past did promise land reforms, but action was not forthcoming. The long awaited land reforms, depending on how comprehensive and pro-poor they would be, have the potentials to change for the better the socio-economic face of the country. But land reforms are much more than just fixing a land ceiling. As rightly pointed out by Minister Acharya the programme has to aim at putting in place a scientific, modern and planned land use practice. The government has to implement a scheme that pushes for structural and technical reforms in an all-inclusive manner. Only a wholesome package of reforms would spawn benefits for the multitude of poor Nepalese. When reforms are reliably set and other necessary economic interventions are introduced, the process of lifting millions of Nepalese out of the poverty trap would genuinely start.

Implement The Report

APART from the service charges mentioned in the Foreign Employment Regulations, from henceforth manpower agencies would not be allowed to collect from foreign job-seekers more than Rs.80,000 in service charge, including visa fee, two-way plane fare, service charge and miscellaneous heads. This was agreed at a meet held the recently among the concerned government officials, representatives of the Foreign Employment Association and the proprietors of manpower agencies. The meet was held to bring about uniformity in the service charge and other tariffs charged by the foreign employment companies from Nepalese workers after a study and observation team constituted by the government handed in its report to the Minister for Labour and Transport Management Palten Gurung. Now that an accord among all the concerned parties associated with sending Nepalese workers abroad had been reached, it looks to reason for all to implement it as quickly as possible. For, it is an open secret that among the many formidable hurdles faced by Nepalese desiring to go abroad as migrant workers, the arbitrary way and manner in which manpower agencies levied service charges on them is the most vexing and taxing one. So much so that if many are simply discouraged from going abroad to find employment by the manpower agencies’ exorbitant charges, then others are forced to sell off or mortgage their ancestral properties just to realise their dreams of finding work abroad. This apart, it is a common practice among manpower agencies to charge higher service charges for more lucrative job placements, be they in the Gulf countries or in South East Asian nations like Malaysia or Singapore. But more often than not, Nepalese who have shelled out the unreasonably high fees for better-paying jobs are still forced to slave away as mere labourers in their new work sites. One reason for this could be the falsifying of job descriptions by some unscrupulous manpower agencies. Another could be that such Nepalese lacked the required skills. Since foreign job placements are becoming increasingly competitive, it looks to reason on the part of all concerned to impart Nepalese workers with necessary skills. The report’s emphasis on pre-departure orientation classes to the migrant workers is timely and commendable in that such orientations would assist them greatly in their new working places.