Amid the overpowering nostalgia of Dashain and the beautiful memories of years gone by, I have been browsing Nepali websites more frequently of late. One news in particular caught my attention.
An exodus of over a million people from the capital city to their hometowns across the country for Dashain got me thinking. The outflow of residents from the only metropolis in the nation has perhaps become banal for us. The figures are only rough estimates suggested by security checkpoints setup in the valley. [break]
They do not include people using private transportation and air routes. Presumably, the actual number is closer to 1.5 million. In a metropolis that houses only about three million people, this is a startling statistic !
Perhaps the largest mass departure for a holiday season from any city in the world in terms of percentage, this should be a wakeup call for our policymakers, planners and bureaucrats that job opportunities should be created across the nation. Private corporations, non-government institutions, and international organizations should also factor this observation into their operational, tactical, and strategic priorities.
Travelers who depart from Kathmandu for festivities originally come to the capital city in pursuit of education and career opportunities. The lion’s share is involved with institutions and colleges for short term trainings or academic degrees, en route to opportunities overseas.
As private institutions charge exorbitant fees and public academic establishments have a dismal record, most young folks go abroad. Some fortunate ones make it to Europe and the US, while those with little means embark to Gulf nations. Only a handful of them passionately wish to work in Nepal.
No wonder Nepal continues to climb up the ranks of international student enrollment in US universities. According to a report compiled by the Institute of International Education (IIE), it ranks 11th in the list of the number of students in the US. It is to our advantage that technological innovation and globalization offer opportunities for us to learn from best practices around the world. Students from a least developed nation like Nepal thriving in one of the most advanced nations could add to our intellectual clout.
However, in the absence of highly qualified, technically adept and agile human capital, this increasing brain drain has detrimental impact our capabilities and competitive advantage. Lack of government and private sector initiative to retain resourceful human capital has not only contributed to manpower poaching among firms, but also forced organizations to operate with less than desirable resources. This hinders our institutional ability to bolster growth and foster innovation.
On the other hand, lack of opportunities at home compels many to take up physically arduous jobs in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Malaysia. The majority of this workforce is semi-skilled and linguistically poor, making it vulnerable to exploitation, both financially and physically. State-run institutions and private training establishments—most of them located in Kathmandu—running vocational and short term training courses rack up millions in training fees and tuitions. But the talent they produce is run-of-the-mill, thanks to poor monitoring and evaluation.
In idyllic villages of Arghakhanchi, Dolpa and Baitadi, young folks are nowhere to be found. Fertile fields are turning into barren lands; cellphones and televisions sets have widened the social space; more households are buying consumables which used to be produced at home; and income generating activities are plummeting. Even with soaring living expenses with new phones, cable lines and bus trips to district headquarters, families have thrived, thanks to remittance, the ultimate savior.
The Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) recently concluded its annual convention in Kathmandu. As always, stories of power brawls and politicking reigned. A few hundreds nonresident Nepalis from over the world, some with rags-to-riches sagas and others with family business dynasties, holidayed in Kathmandu’s premier destinations for a few days before returning to their chosen abodes.
I vividly recall the newly elected president Shesh Ghale, a business mogul from Australia, announcing prior to his bid for NRNA presidency that he would set up a five-star hotel near Thamel. He offered the Kathmandu-centric vision—typical of settled-yet-confused swadesi-bidesis—for the development of the country where 81.8 percent of the population lives in rural areas.
Better will be entrepreneurial ventures like offseason apple storage in Jumla, ginger processing factory in Gulmi and organic orange-juice plant in Kaski. These projects require smaller budgets, and will not only create significant employment opportunities in villages and small towns, but also reduce the colossal trade deficit of around Rs 42,000 million.
The nation is experiencing another election fever. Political leaders are once again hitting the familiar roads and territories, soliciting favor. However, nothing they have done has benefitted the country as much as foreign employment. New destinations are being added to the labor department’s roster, and airlines are booked for the next six months. It offers a gloomy picture of Nepal.
In the upcoming elections, it would be up to each voter to make a truly informed choice, a decision that could add to the prosperity of thousands of villages and remote towns. The candidates should be measured on the basis of their stand on education and employment across the country.
Election manifestos should clearly describe the type and number of industries to be set up at contenders’ constituencies, and back them up with plausible plans and policies. Without doubt, employment generation doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
It needs robust physical infrastructure, technology and expertise. But the rate of employment is perhaps the best yardstick to measure the economic health of a nation and to hold leaders accountable. Such promises, when delivered, would truly test the vision and mojo (if any) of our leaders.
The writer is a fellow at Vision for Nepal Foundation, a Washington DC based diaspora think tank
arun.america@gmail.com
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