Labour Minister urges for granting labur permits to female workers

KATHMANDU, JULY 7: Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Sharat Singh Bhandari, urged the parliamentary committee to permit Nepali women to go for overseas employment in a legal and systematic way. In today's meeting of the Parliament's Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interest Committee, Minister Bhandari came up with such an appeal.  

"Thousands of females have already been flying to foreign countries on tourist and student visas to work there illegally. So, it is necessary to adopt measures to facilitate them by issuing labor permits for overseas employment,"   he argued.

"This is beneficial from two perspectives. First, the female migrant workers of Nepal will enjoy job-related facilities offered by the states wherein they are working. Second, the Nepal government will be able to get information about them and their working conditions whenever necessary.

It is said there are more than 20,000 women workers alone in the Gulf countries llike Kuwait and UAE.

 Stating that the framework for the implementation of the agreement regarding the selection of Nepali nurses in order to send them to the UK systematically and effectively has already been approved by the Cabinet, Minister Bhandari added that a policy has been adopted for seeking opportunities for employment for skilled human resources in the countries that have friendly relations with Nepal.

Similarly, secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security Kebal Bhandari urged concerned authorities to manage for the returnee migrant workers to utilize their skills acquired from foreign jobs in agriculture by providing them with concessional loans.

The government has come up with a policy to provide skill development and livelihood training for around 15,000 people at 220 local levels in the next fiscal year. A total 751,263 people aspiring to go to foreign countries for job opportunities received labour permits as of July 6 (682,206 men and 69,057 women). Service seekers can get facilitation in getting individual labour permits and getting labor permits renewed from the employment service centres in 753 local levels established to make foreign employment safe, decent and accessible, said the Ministry. ---