Invest In Youth To Achieve Prosperity

What are those dreams and aspirations that are driving a significant number of Nepalis with the population size of 29,164,578 further and further away from the ancestral land every year? Are we just a wandering species, always in search of the proverbial land of milk and honey, or is there something else behind this great exodus? Let’s first delve into some data on the exodus. International Labour Organisation (ILO) has published the Labour Migration in Asia Report, which shows that Nepal has the highest increase in migration outflow between 2019 and 2023. More than 200,000 Nepali citizens went to Malaysia in 2023 alone, and about 30,000 to East European countries, including Romania, Croatia, Malta and Poland. The report highlights that about 1,600 Nepalis leave Nepal daily for foreign employment. 

What’s more, half of all Nepali families rely on financial support from relatives abroad, making it clear that remittance has become the mainstay of an economy that relies excessively on imports, with unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled human resources,  which footing the bill for dependent populations living in their home country. The situation is more complex than initially thought whilst talking to the experts. Chiranjivi Baral, chairperson of the National Network for Safe Migration, said that lack of attractive and dignified employment opportunities, social discrimination in terms of caste and gender and interest to see the world, the imbalance between income and increasing expenses have forced the youth to seek their future in the international labour market. 

Push-and-pull factors

Similarly, factors such as failure of political leadership to deliver on their promises, existence of a job-seeking culture (not a job-creating/self-employment tendency), education not being able to enhance employability skills, little hope of enjoying individual freedoms away from traditional social norms and deceptive agents selling unrealistic prospect of foreign employment to the prospective migrant workers. Milan Gyawali, a senior lecturer at De Montfort University with a PhD in business performance from the University of Leicester, stresses the need to understand the situation in depth. He takes migration as a natural process for enhanced life. He claims migration takes place mainly with push-and-pull factors. Outflow migration due to the push factors could be dangerous, whereas the migrants may get better options such as education, living standard and financial gains that are unavailable in the home country. 

Despite a major loss of population dividend to Nepal and significant gains for destination countries, the society can take some solace if someone is migrating for further education, career aspiration and the development of one’s full potential. Remittances aside, the sad part of the migration saga is that most of the migrants end up doing dirty, difficult and dangerous jobs in sweatshops abroad, causing a near-total collapse of the economy, especially in rural areas with no farm hands left to tend the fields. An National News Agency's report, published on May 29 last year, stated that over 4,000 Nepali workers died abroad between the fiscal year 2020-21 and 2022-23, highlighting a “concerning rise” in the number of deaths and illnesses among Nepali migrant workers over the past three years. Citing data from the Foreign Employment Board, it states that 870 Nepali migrant workers also suffered injuries or fell ill during this period.

Out of 1,250 fatalities reported in 2022-23, 27.96 per cent occurred in Malaysia, 26.36 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 17.98 per cent in the UAE, 17.32 per cent in Qatar, 6.04 per cent in Kuwait and 4.43 per cent in other nations. These fatalities occurred despite the completion of medical tests before departure, the report states, listing adverse weather conditions in destination countries, increased workloads, liquor consumption, conflicts with colleagues, familial pressures, lack of awareness of local laws, technical errors in handling and the operation of machinery, traffic accidents, workplace incidents, burns, suffocation, drowning, and illnesses as some of the challenges that Nepali workers face abroad.  Between the barren fields and smoking chambers of the Tribhuvan International Airport from where migrant workers make frantic calls to their near and dear ones amid chokes and plumes of cigarette smoke before their departures lie several points of intervention to retain the young workforce so crucial for national transformation. 

Grave concern 

This exodus, going on unabated for years, should be a matter of grave concern for all three tiers of the federal polity as it has been robbing Nepal of brain and muscle power. The onus is also on our youth to introspect and explore opportunities for growth within a country endowed with considerable natural resources. While heading abroad, they should be quite clear on what they want to do abroad. Otherwise, they might find themselves between the devil and the deep blue sea.  Finding faults with political and bureaucratic leadership is a self-defeating narrative. Well aware of ways of the world, youths should bear in mind that the major onus is on them to make the leadership more accountable and responsive to the needs of the people instead of leaving their homeland as if it were on fire. 

As for the cream of the cream, the government should reach out to them and try every bit to use their expertise in the service of the country by encouraging them to take online classes, conduct guest lectures at educational and academic institutions, invest their capital and energies in national progress and prosperity, and foreign-born wards of Nepali nationals to connect with their roots.  If this mid-sized country can provide jobs to lakhs of people from across the border, there is no reason why it can’t provide for its children. In summary, before flying out, youths should also seriously think about the impact of the exodus on a rapidly shifting demography and national sovereignty.

(Gautam is a freelancer.)