The steps are being taken in a bid to reopen jobs in Israel after the country stopped granting working visas to Nepalis for the last three months, expressing objections over growing malpractice in the recruiting process.
"We are taking steps through a six-point action plan to regularize the worker sending process and make different institutions responsible for the welfare of workers," Purna Chandra Bhattrai, joint secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM) told myrepublica.com.
Bhattarai said the work plan mainly aimed to minimize incidents of cheating and manpower agencies charging exorbitant fees from jobseekers.
Although the government has set a maximum charge of Rs 240,000 for Israeli jobs, manpower agencies have been collecting up to Rs 800,000, citing they have to pay a huge commission to local Israeli agents.
The MoLTM has also formed a high-level panel comprising of representatives from the Foreign Employment Promotion Board, Department of Foreign Employment, foreign employment agents, and an Israel-based Nepali mission to find the ways to minimize the irregularities pointed out by Israel.
Bhattrai, who is also co-coordinator of the panel, said the government will extend relief to jobseekers by strongly enforcing the government-set service charge and establishing transparency in sending Nepali workers to Israel.
In a bid to check Nepali workers from working as manpower agents, the government is making it mandatory to send workers through the institutional way involving manpower agencies, said Bhattrai. Enhancing skills of Nepali workers through job-related training is also included in the plan.
The action plan also makes it mandatory for agencies to obtain documents attested by the only Nepali embassy in Israel. This is expected to check the present rise in incidents of submission of fake documents by the manpower agents to acquire permission to work from the Department of Foreign Employment. So far, the notary public, the local chamber of commerce and the Nepali mission have been recognized as authorized agencies to prove the authenticity of the document.
Once the action plan comes into effect, officials are optimistic that Israel will retake Nepali workers.
In response to Israeli concern over increased malpractice in sending Nepali workers to Israel, the MoLTM and the manpower agencies have agreed upon a code of conduct for employment agents.
An estimated 12,000 Nepali workers, of which more than 80 percent are women care takers, currently work in the prosperous West Asian nation.
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