Nepal's Supreme Court question: "Isn't India a foreign country for Nepali workers?"

Kathmandu, Ta. 13 July 2020, Monday

Nepal's Supreme Court has sent a "show cause notice" to the Oli government for Nepalis working in India. The Supreme Court of Nepal has questioned the government on why citizens working in India are not included in the category of foreign employment and why they are considered different from citizens working in other countries of the world. In fact, a writ petition is being heard in the Supreme Court of Nepal.

Nirmal Kumar Upreti and Deepak Raj Joshi from Forum for Nation Building Nepal have filed an application questioning the status of Nepalis working in India. "The Foreign Employment Act, 2007 clearly states that every citizen, regardless of country, is a migrant worker," Upreti said. But Nepalis working or working in India were never employed abroad. The government has no record of citizens working in India.

According to a report, there are about 30 to 40 lakh Nepalis working in India. According to the petitioner, most of the citizens working abroad are in India as the borders of the two countries are open to each other. Nepalis have to apply for a labor permit to work in a third country while no such permit is required to work in India. Because of this they cannot even take facilities like insurance before migration.

Before going abroad, any worker in Nepal has to contribute to the Migrant Workers Welfare Fund and buy insurance. The Government of Nepal provides financial assistance to those who die, get injured or become seriously ill abroad, but no such rule applies in the case of India. Nepalis have been working in India for almost two centuries. In 1815, the East India Company recruited Nepalese Gorkhas into the army and even today there are Gorkhas in the Indian Army.

In 1950, Nepal and India signed a peace and friendship treaty under which the people of Nepal and India can easily enjoy freedom of movement within each other's borders. This kind of exemption has made it easier for Nepalis to get employment in India. During the last financial year, Nepal received Rs 128.5 billion in remittances from India (Nepalese working in India who send money home). This is the highest number of remittances Nepal receives from any country.

However, according to petitioner Upreti, the treaty of friendship allows people of both the countries to cross the border without any kind of passport, but still India is a foreign country. For this reason, citizens going to work in India must also be included in foreign employment. He further said that the government of Nepal uses remittances from India but does not consider the people living there as migrant workers. Sadly, the Nepalese Embassy in India does not even have a Labor Department.