The national census 2011 put the population of Kathmandu valley at around 2.04 million. This is already an awful lot of people for 520 square kilometers of land. Unofficial estimates put the population of valley as high as 4 million, with a floating daily population of 3.5 million. To make matters worse, most of these people are crammed into the 50 square kilometers of metropolitan Kathmandu. [break]
There is no reliable data on the number of people who shift to the capital from the outskirts in search of better work opportunities. Again, unofficial estimates are in ‘hundreds of thousands’. Most low-income families who enter the valley in search of better livelihood soon realize life is even more difficult in this seething, ever-growing cauldron of people. Even the menial job market is competitive, with those involved struggling to earn Rs 10,000 a month, which is believed to be the bare minimum necessary for a single person to survive comfortably in Kathmandu. The trouble is: many of the low income families who now call Kathmandu their home have to feed a whole family on this meager budget.
The government has recently added to their woes. Following the budget announcement of 18 percent pay increase for government employees (with an extra Rs 1,000 thrown in as ‘inflation allowance’), prices of virtually all daily necessities shot up overnight. This happens since there is a tendency among businesses to see an increase in earnings of government employees as a signal to up the prices of their products. Since most businesses these days are run by cartels that have strong political backing, the government is in no position to ensure a degree of price stability in the market.
As a result, following the budget announcement, vegetable and fruit prices have literally shot through the roof. Since low-income families spend most of their disposable income on food, inflation in food prices hits them the hardest. If that were not enough, home owners tend to increase rents after annual budget. A half-decent two-room flat in Kathmandu now costs at least Rs 5,000—exclusive of electricity and water tariffs. For a family with a sole breadwinner who brings home Rs 10,000-15,000 a month, it is an impossible situation.
This is the reason thousands of people are thinking of moving out of the capital following the latest budget announcement, their dreams of better life for their family shattered. The case of Amrita Aryal, a 34-year-old housewife originally from Fujel, Gorkha typifies this trend. Amrita and her husband had come to the capital three years ago ‘in the hopes of earning a decent livelihood and providing good education to our three children.’
The whole family is now moving back to their native village: the Rs 10,000 her husband, a professional driver, earned was insufficient to even manage the household, forget about getting their children enrolled in a decent boarding school. Other families in similar situations have taken drastic measures.
For instance, there is a growing trend among low-income families in Kathmandu to send young children to serve as servants in urban households: not only can it fetch the hard-pressed family some extra bucks, but it also means one fewer mouth to feed. The ‘city of dreams’ is fast turning into a ‘city of nightmares’ for hundreds of thousands of families who now find themselves priced out of the ‘fourth least expensive city in the world to live in’ in the esteemed analysis of the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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