Professional guarantee of labourers stressed

Lalitpur, Jan 25 (RSS): Concerned experts have expressed the view that though economic activities carried out domestically have made significant contributions to the country’s economy, these have not been accounted and no one seems worried about the health of those involved in such activities, their professional guarantee and their wages.

This view was expressed at a two-day national seminar on the condition of homebased labourers in Nepal here recently.

A total of 70 persons involved in different homebased works in nepal and laborers from 13 districts are taking part in the seminar organised by the homenet-nepal with the assistance of UNIFEM.

Finance Minister Dr Ram Sharan Mahat, who was inaugurating the seminar, said the unorganised and the private sector have significantly contributed to the national economy, but this sector is always in shadow for lack of a strong social voice.

Dr Mahat spoke of the need to fix minimum wages of labourers to bring them into mainstream of the country’s economy, provide for their health facility and security, and enhance their skills.

Giving assurances that the government is ready to provide utmost cooperation to skilled technical manpower for self-employment, the Finance Minister remarked that the laborers should be skilled since it is only through them that quality goods can be produced.

Minister of State for Labour and Transport Shivraj Joshi, inaugurating a homebased product exhibition on the occasion, said that efforts made by the Homenet to unify the scattered forces that can play an important role in the country’s economy are praiseworthy.

Such home-based production would help curtail the import of similar items from foreign countries, he noted.

Deputy Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Transport Devratna Tamrakar, Homenet member Kabita Bhattarai and others also spoke at the function chaired by Homenet Nepal chairman Diwakar Chand. In Hetauda, most of the saving and credit cooperatives here are in a critical condition as they have not been able to refund the savings to the concerned depositors.

The transactions of such cooperatives have come to a virtual halt since September last year when a saving and credit institution was unable to pay back the money in time to one of its customers.

The customers seem to have lost their faith in the cooperatives now. Many people visit the cooperatives everyday to take back their deposits. Now the promoters of some cooperatives do not want their customers to see them. Depositors say that the cooperatives have paid back only some parts of their deposits. They have filed a lawsuit against some cooperatives at the District Administration Office, demanding necessary legal action against them. Officiating cooperatives officer of Makawanpur Cooperatives Office Jyoti Raj Aryal said that the cooperatives are in a pitiable condition because of lack of cooperative-related skills and knowledge of the promoters.

Many promoters are blamed for taking services and facilities from the cooperatives. The depositors are still ignorant about the services and benefits they could get from such institutions.

A total of 150 cooperatives have been registered at Makawanpur District Cooperatives Office. Many of them have yet to be taken approval from the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB).

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