PM stresses job creation through investment boost

By Our Correspondent,Biratnagar, May 31: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' has said that the government's policies of creating employment by increasing investment in the field of production and productivity would be effectively implemented.

While addressing the ‘Shramadhan Employment Fair’ in Biratnagar of Koshi Province organised by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security on Thursday, Prime Minister Prachanda said that priority would be given to agriculture as the base sector and IT as the leading sector.

"The government will ensure employment according to knowledge, capital, skill and technical ability," Prime Minister Prachanda said, “by implementing the concept of employment bank, the labour, skills and experience of those returning from foreign employment or existing in Nepal will be utilised through entrepreneurship development.”

He said that the government was going to implement the concept of employment bank in the management of employment demand and supply. 

He said, "We have arranged the necessary provisions through the budget to ensure the employment to at least 100,000 returnees according to their knowledge, capital, skills and technical capabilities.”

He said that the government was committed to protecting the rights and interests of workers.

“Emphasis was placed on increasing the productivity of the economy through utilization of remittances and increasing internal employment. The government is focused on promoting safe and productive foreign employment and long-term domestic employment promotion,” he said.

Stating that the ‘Shramadhan Employment Fair’ is a meaningful programme of the government, Prime Minister Prachanda emphasised that coordination between the workforce and the employers involved in labour and employment should be increased. 

He expressed his belief that the constitutional right to employment of the citizens would be guaranteed by addressing the opportunities and problems through a one-door system.

He emphasised on the effective implementation of the concept of 'Made in Nepal, Make in Nepal’, encouraging the use and consumption of domestic products. 

On the occasion, Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security Dol Prasad Aryal said that the ministry was preparing programmes for creating jobs in the country. 

“It seems the jurisdiction of the ministry was to send youth overseas as migrant workers, now we are focused on how to create jobs within the country.”

Minister Aryal said that the programme would be implemented through the ministry to develop the skills and knowledge of Nepali people to work in the industries of Nepal. 

"Foreign citizens are selling their skills and knowledge in Nepali industries, Nepali citizens are migrating abroad for employment," Minister Aryal said, “the ministry wants to end this situation through this fair.”

He informed that fairs had been arranged between employers and employees in seven provinces with the intention of producing the labour force required by the industry and managing the produced labour force in the industry.

Chief Minister of Koshi Province Hikmat Kumar Karki said that the province was also with the programme announced by the federal government and said that it was necessary to overcome the challenges in the development of national capital.

He emphasised that the coordination between the three levels of government should be further strengthened to end the situation of weakening of labour and employment creating industries.

Stating that if employers were weak, the development of national capital would decline, Chief Minister Karki said that it would be difficult to find the goal of a socialist-oriented economy. 

Chandra Prasad Dhakal, President of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said that the Prime Minister was positive towards the private sector and suggested that some laws passed through the Ordinance should be taken to the Parliament soon.

According to the organiser, the job fair could become a suitable place for skilled manpower who are looking for a job.

More than 50 industrialists from Koshi Province have called applications for jobs in the two-day fair.

Rajendra Raut, president of FNCCI, Koshi Province, said that the fair held in Biratnagar, where about 70 per cent of the industries are located, would be a meeting place between the workforce looking for employment and the entrepreneurs looking for workers.

The two-day fair will take place in all seven provinces on different dates between May 30 to June 12.