Views of a Nepali Economist

Here's a good piece on exploitation of female labor force in Nepal. Some highlights from the article:

A poor economy and lack of opportunities are forcing more and more Nepalese women to leave home and earn money abroad as domestic workers. Separated from their own children to take care of other women’s children in the Middle East or America, many of these women are mistreated and exploited. Aware of the risks, tens of thousands continue to leave every year. Of the approximately 83,000 Nepalese women that leave the country every year to work for foreign employers, fully 90 percent are victims of exploitation or sexual violence, says a study by the Foreign Nepali Workers Rescue Center (FNWRC).

Remittances from Nepalese women constitute 11 percent of the total. However, these numbers do not take into account the massive exodus of women leaving through informal roads via border-free India and Bangladesh, especially en route of the Persian Gulf countries. This year, Nepal’s Department of Foreign Employment recorded only 23,000 women of the 2 million believed to be working in the region.

In June 2011, the International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted the Domestic Workers Convention. This is the first instrument that officially recognizes the rights of domestic workers, one of the most vulnerable groups of workers, around 83 percent of whom are women and girls and most of them migrants. Although no country has ratified it yet, its adoption represents a victory for nannies and housekeepers worldwide.

Even Gulf countries' news and social research sources have cited the abuse of Nepali female workers in that region. It's just that not much of that noise gets heard.Here are some excerpts from this source:

According to a press release issued by Nepalese Embassy in Saudi Arabia on Jul. 12, housemaids are sometimes sold from one master to another if they aren't satisfied with them. On Jul. 11, 15 women between the ages of 22 and 28 landed by a Gulf Airlines flight at Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport. One woman was clad in a burqa (a veil that covers from head to ankles), torn slippers on her feet. She was clutching a big plastic bag, tears streaming down her cheeks. Shobha Raut (name changed) was weeping with joy, she says. "I was happy just being alive and I couldn't believe my luck," she told IPS in an interview at a local shelter for abused women, Paurakhi Nepal - a non government organisation working for the welfare of migrant women workers. "I can't explain it in words," she says. "It was living hell. They used to beat me so badly for everything. I used to sleep only two hours, and if I dozed off during the day, the men would kick me," she cries as she talks.

In 2002, UNIFEM initiated an Asia Pacific and Arab State Regional Programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers (WMWs). The "Foreign Employment Act (2007) specifically calls for an end to all forms of discrimination based on sex in foreign employment and specifies provisions to protect the WMWs.

...in the absence of labour laws to safeguard domestic workers, their undocumented status, lack of information and skills, increase their vulnerabilities many times at different stages of the migration process: recruitment, entry, stay and work.

Here's a paper by the ILO(PDF document...right click to download)on overseas employment of Nepali laborers that sheds some light on the issue.

Here's a nice paper written for the UN (PDF document...right click to download)on the topic of women's migration in the Asian region. It covers a range of countries and a range of issues, including, but not limited to, the abuse of women laborers.

. Rising inflation to increase number of poor

According to recent report of Asian Development Bank (ADB), a 20 per cent food price inflation would cause the poverty ratio to rise by over four percentage points, increasing the poor population by more than one million. According to Central Statistic Bureau (CBS), a quarter of the total 26.62 million population is under the new poverty line meaning they earn less than Rs 54 per day on the basis of consumption. The rising inflation will pull one million more population under the poverty line from the current around 6.7 million to 7.7 million, thanks to the current trend of rising food prices that is above the average of developing Asia. Both India’s inflation and international oil prices have strong spillovers — one third of the impact — to Nepal. But imported inflation has a quick spillover effect, while the impact of international oil prices is slower but more persistent.

Government relief package fails‚ food prices skyrocket

Hoarding and cartelling forces are active in market and monitoring agencies are silent at the time, he said, adding that it has hit hard the urban poor and working class people....According to Department of Commerce, rice (Jira Masino) price has jumped to Rs 70 kg from Rs 60 kg in last two months. Jira Masino is widely consumed by urban populace. Likewise, prices of pulses (Rahar and Mas) have also increased by 5.54 per cent during the period.

Customs revaluation makes Chinese apparel dearer

Chinese winter outfits entering Nepali market through Tatopani Customs Office have become expensive by up to 75 percent due to rise in customs valuation and appreciation of US dollar and Chinese yuan against Nepali rupee...Chinese apparel occupies almost 90 percent of Nepal´s clothing market.

Action against tax evaders boosts VAT collection

Till December 2010, before IRD scooped down on fake VAT receipt racketeers, IRD was complaining of shortfall in VAT collection by Rs 700 million than the target. But after it launched a sweeping action, it recorded a sound growth in collection, leading to 22 percent growth in VAT collection in 2010/11 compared to a year ago....According to the Ministry of Finance, VAT collection grew by 32 percent in the first month (mid-July to mid-August) of 2010/11 and continued to grow by 39 percent, 31 percent and 32 percent in the second, third and fourth months respectively.

Coffee export increases to double in a year

Nepal exported 279,762 kg of coffee during the fiscal year 2010 -11 from a fiscal year ago’s around 120,000 kg, according to National Tea and Coffee Development Board. “We have been able to double the export volume of Nepal Coffee in a year which is quite encouraging,” said acting director of the board Raman Prasad Pathak. Last fiscal year 2010-11, the country exported coffee worth Rs 93.08 million while it imported Rs 12.51 million worth coffee only.

Contractors urge to control price

Federation of Contractors’ Associations of Nepal (FCAN) urged the government to control and monitor the arbitrary price hike of construction materials. According to the association, in an interval of one month price of one kg of iron rod increased by 25 per cent to Rs 84 per kg.......The sector boosts of 11 per cent contribution to the GDP and direct employment of about 14,000.

Plea to issue labour card

The association of Nepali diaspora spreading over 57 countries has submitted a five-point suggestion that includes appointment of Honourary Counsel in Gulf countries Bahrain and Oman to the government. Likewise, the association has also suggested the government ease payment system in Department of Foreign Employment, proper management of labour desk at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) and starting of mass awareness campaign.

. Nicholas Kristof has a piece in New York Times about the need to send girls to school.

The head of the impoverished household during the week is a malnourished 14-year-old girl, Dao Ngoc Phung. She’s tiny, standing just 4 feet 11 inches and weighing 97 pounds...Yet if Phung is achingly fragile, she’s also breathtakingly strong. You appreciate the challenges that America faces in global competitiveness when you learn that Phung is so obsessed with schoolwork that she sets her alarm for 3 a.m. each day.

Phung wakes her brother and sister, and then after breakfast they all trundle off to school. For Phung, that means a 90-minute bicycle ride each way. She arrives at school 20 minutes early to be sure she’s not late.

Kristof compares the Asian culture with American, and writes about the emphasis that the Asian cultures put on education and meritocracy.

Phung yearns to attend university and become an accountant. It’s an almost impossible dream for a village girl, but across East Asia the poor often compensate for lack of money with a dazzling work ethic and gritty faith that education can change destinies. The obsession with schooling is a legacy of Confucianism — a 2,500-year-old tradition of respect for teachers, scholarship and meritocratic exams. That’s one reason Confucian countries like China, South Korea and Vietnam are among the world’s star performers in the war on poverty.

Granted, Asian schools don’t nurture creativity, and Vietnamese girls are sometimes treated as second-class citizens who must drop out of school to help at home. But education is generally a top priority in East Asia, for everyone from presidents to peasants.

Labels: education, gender inequality, new york times, usa, vietnam

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Banks slash short-term lending rates

Commercial banks have announced a cut in short-term lending rates by half to 2 percentage points in a bid to stimulate borrowing, which has slumped over the last three months due to slowdown seen in manufacturing and real estate sectors. Overall, interest rates on short-term loans - which include demand loans, overdrafts and export bills, among others - have now come down to an average of 12 percent from around 14 percent earlier.

Price of vegetables continue to rise

Price of seasonal vegetables has increased by Rs 2 to Rs 15 per kg due to lower supply from neighboring districts.

Korean firm seeks go-ahead for 2nd international airport

Landmark Worldwide (LMW), a South Korean company that carried out detailed feasibility study (DFS) for the second international airport in Nepal at Nijgadh in Bara district, has filed an application with the government to allow it to construct the much-talked airport.

Guidelines for Farmer Card ready for Cabinet to endorse

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) has prepared a set of guidelines for the proposed Farmer Concession Card to provide agriculture inputs at subsidized prices to poor farmers having less than four hectares in Tarai and thirty ropanies in Himalayan and Hilly districts. The guidelines envisage providing subsidy to the farmers on fertilizer, seeds and other agriculture inputs.

SC issues interim order to ban sale of tobacco products without cancer warning signs

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued an interim order to ban the production, import and sale of tobacco products that do not bear signs warning the harms of tobacco consumption. As per the law, the signs must come with message written in Nepali and the provision will be applicable also for imported tobacco products like cigarette and chewing tobacco. This particular provision is expected to discourage the import of foreign brands.

Duty exemption limit raised to Rs 1,000

The government has raised the customs duty exemption for goods imported from bordering markets for household purposes to Rs 1,000 from Rs 100. A cabinet meeting on Monday took the decision to this effect. This means that those who buy goods worth up to Rs 1,000 by crossing the border will not be required to pay import duty. Although the Finance Ministry had proposed increasing the limit to Rs 500, the ceiling was increased further after immense pressure from Madhesi parties.

Nepal’s trading partners changing, says WTO report

Nepal is witnessing a “gradual diversification” when it comes to its trading partners as well as products in the last few years, according to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) International Trade Statistics-2011. The European Union (EU) is now the country’s second largest export destination with a share of 11.1 percent of the total exports. However, the US that was the second largest destination in 2008 has slipped to the third position. Likewise, Bhutan has entered the list of Nepal’s top five export destinations. Not only in exports, there have been changes in the country’s import destination list also. India and China are still top two import destinations for Nepal, but the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has entered the top-five list in 2010 as the third largest destination. The UAE accounted for 8.9 percent of the total imports in 2010, mainly due to the huge import of gold. Nepal’s bullion traders that used to import gold from Australia, are now importing gold from the UAE.

Why Monsanto?

Two years after the introduction of Monsanto seeds in Canada and the United States, for example, yields started to go down between 10-15 per cent. There has been a substantial increase in the use of chemicals resulting in the creation of "super weeds" requiring more highly toxic "super" chemicals, some containing agent orange. USAID and Monsanto are not implementing this program for the 'development' of Nepal and the betterment of the people. It will profit both, and cement the relationship between the US government and Monsanto already revealed in Wikileaks. A small number of thulo manchhe haru in the Nepal government will profit, but Nepali farmers will get poorer, Nepali soil will be damaged. The export potential will very likely be damaged with many countries refusing to import food products from Monsanto's hybrid and GMO seeds. If the pilot program goes ahead, the United States will leave a legacy of environmental degradation, human health issues, social disintegration and hardship. The USAID-Monsanto partnership is blatant exploitation of a corrupt and unstable government in Nepal. There is no 'point of no return' when it comes to this issue. Monsanto's presence in Nepal will be irreversible and will result in the introduction of genetically-modified crops, further alienating farmers from their land and food production, with disastrous consequences.

Exporters fail to verify value addition

Exporter’s failure to verify exact value addition to Department of Industry has kept them away from the cash incentive facility. According to the exporters, the Cash Incentive Policy should be hassle free. According to the government criteria for cash incentive, if a product has a value addition of 30 per cent to 50 per cent, the exporter will get cash incentive of two per cent, whereas if the value addition is 50 per cent to 80 per cent, the exporter will get three per cent cash incentive, and value addition of more than 80 per cent will get a total cash incentive of four per cent. But, cash incentive will only be granted to exports made in convertible currency and the exporters will get cash incentive from the same bank with which they are doing the transaction.

Private banks increase asset size

From the assets size, the banks can be divided into four groups; largest (with above Rs 60 billion worth assets), large (Rs 40 billion-Rs 60 billion), middle (Rs 20 billion-Rs 40 billion), and small (with below Rs 20 billion worth assets). Only one commercial bank features in the largest bank category, whereas eight banks feature in the large banks category. The middle banks category has seven banks and the small banks category has 15 banks among the 31 commercial banks. The huge gap in the size of the banks calls for the necessity of merger immediately. The size of the banks can give some indications on which banks should be merged and how can a strong bank be formed.

Only 17 per cent projects meet government target: NPC

At the 24th meeting of National Development Problem Solution Committee, vice chairman of the NPC Deependra Bahadur Kshetri said that only 38 projects met the target out of the total 224 projects. “The data shows that the project completion trend is also not satisfactory,” he said, adding that some 18 per cent development projects have completed 50 to 80 per cent of its works. Due to delay in their execution they have been hit by the time overrun cost. “The expenses of some of the big projects have increased in unpredictable manner because of delay in their execution,” he added.

IMF projects 3.25 per cent growth for Nepal

IMF forecast for the current fiscal year is below the national growth projection of 5 per cent. Last fiscal year, IMF had projected GDP growth 3.5 per cent which was close to 3.7 per cent actual rate of growth achieved by Nepal. “Real GDP growth is expected at 3.25 per cent in 2011-12, with good agriculture output compensating for subdued non-agriculture activity,” according to IMF’s report on Nepal. The report also cautions that the forecast is subject to high degree of uncertainty, with risks on the downside chiefly owing to banking sector fragility. Inflation projection by IMF is at eight per cent while the financial authority had estimated inflation to moderate at seven per cent in the current fiscal year. An expected moderation in India’s inflation and a stabilisation of commodity prices is anticipated to ease the domestic prices of Nepal, according to the report.

Labels: asset size, excise, farmer card, IMF, korea, Monsanto, NPC, rates, tobacco, VAT, vegetables, WTO

. Few banks show interest on credit insurance Rising jobless rate pushes workers migration to six times

Current year seems to be more promising as about 109,554 job aspirants joined foreign jobs in the first three months. However, quality of workers and job destinations has not changed. Above 70 per cent of the Nepali migrant workers are still unskilled involved in 3D (Difficult, Dirty and Danger) works in Malaysia and Gulf countries – Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others. More than two million documented Nepali workers are currently in those destinations. According to the department, four top destinations have hired 17.31 million workers in the last two decades and equal number of undocumented migrants are estimated to be in those destinations. Malaysia has hired the highest number of Nepali migrant workers (675,573) followed by Saudi Arabia (412,441); Qatar (384,714) and UAE (258,979) since the fiscal year 1994-95.

Govt unable to spend on development activities

The government has been able to spent Rs 36.76 billion, some Rs 10 billion less than the disbursement. As always, the government spending revealed that it is spending more on salaries and administrative expenses rather than on development. It has spent Rs 34.14 billion under recurrent expenditure, Rs 1.10 billion under capital expenditure and Rs 1.52 billion under Financing head by October 7, according to Finance Ministry. More recurrent expenditure means government has failed in creation of assets.

No buyers for new listed shares

“None of the newly listed companies’ net worth are below Rs 100 so the minimum opening price will not be less than Rs 300, at that price range buyers will chose to buy the shares of established commercial banks — as some of them hover around Rs 200 — instead of some new and unknown development banks or finance companies,” said president of Merchant Bankers Association of Nepal (MBAN) Bhisma Raj Chalise.

'Take action against VAT evaders' Workers migration booms in last decade

...about 55,045 had joined foreign jobs in first year of the decade while migrant workers number reached to 354,716 last year. Current year seems more promising as about 109,554 job aspirants has joined foreign jobs in first three months. However, quality of workers and job destinations has not changed. Above 70 per cent workers are unskilled involved in 3D (difficult, dirty and danger) works in Malaysia and Gulf countries– Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and others. According to the department, four top destinations have hired 17.31 million workers in last two decades and equal number of undocumented migrants estimated in those destinations. Since the fiscal year 1994-45, Malaysia has hired highest number 675,573 Nepalis followed by Saudi Arabia (412,441), Qatar (384,714) and UAE (258,979).

When your washing machine decides which detergent to buy

There are only a few detergents which can be used in washing machines to a good result. Major brands like Henko, Ariel, Tide, Surf Excel and Mr White can be used to wash clothes in a washing machine due to their reliable quality. For manual use, detergents like Shakti Wheel and Wheel Lemon Fresh are in high demand, according to traders. At Bhatbhateni Department Store, Henko is the highest selling brand for use in washing machines. Ariel and Tide follow Henko in the same order in terms of volume of sales. Henko is priced Rs 130 per kg, Ariel Rs 255 per kg and Tide Rs 147 per kg at Bhatbbhateni Department Store.

Land acquisition rate fixed for KTM-Tarai expressway

Ending long-standing dispute over acquisition of land for much-hyped Kathmandu-Tarai Fast Track Road, compensation fixation committee on Monday has decided to fix the price of land to be acquired in Makawanpur district for the 76-km express highway in the range of Rs 110,000 to Rs 280,000 per kattha (3,638.20 square feet), depending on location of the land.

Visitor arrivals cross 70,000 in Oct 2011

The visitor arrivals has increased by 16.8 percent to 73,264 in the month of October 2011 compared to the same month last year and crossed 70,000 mark for monthly air arrival for the first time in the tourism history of Nepal. Arrivals from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Israel, Spain, Switzerland and UK were up by 18.2 percent, 48.8 percent, 19.3 percent, 25.5 percent, 88.3 percent, 20.7 percent, 15.8 percent, and 7.3 percent respectively. Asia (other than South Asian region) saw overall increase of 40 percent in October 2011. Except for Malaysia (-1 percent), almost all the markets recorded positive growth with China (105.9 percent),Japan (7.3 percent) Singapore (5.7 percent), South Korea (29.4 percent) and Thailand (23.6 percent) compared to the same month last year.

Nepal improves in human development index

“The HDI of South Asia as a region increased from 0.356 in 1980 to 0.548 at present, placing Nepal below the regional average, the annual flagship publication of the UNDP said, adding that the HDI trends tell an important story both at the national and regional level and highlight the very large gaps in well-being and life chances that continue to divide the interconnected world.

Myagdi villagers producing Gundruk in commercial way as demand grows in Europe

The local farmers started producing Gundruk as they get demand for it from the hotels in UK and European countries as well as Pokhara, and Kathmandu of late, local youth Ratna Singh Garbuja told RSS.