Reaching out to the unreached Diaspora Nepalese

Reaching out to the unreached Diaspora Nepalese

Historical background

Nepal is known as the country of mountains, carrying the glory of Mount Everest as the highest pick in the world. It is one of the world’s least developed countries. In the most recent year, government spending equaled 17.3 percent of GDP. About 85% of the population lives from subsistence agriculture in rural areas, coping with great disparities of caste, gender, and geography. Poverty, unemployment, declining natural resources, and more recently the Maoist insurgency are major reasons why international labor migration is an increasingly important source of income. For younger people it is also a way to experience the wider world. International migration patterns are diverse. Labor migration is found throughout Nepal, but the majority of migrants are from the western and far western Mid-Hills. The major destination, for about 77% of the migrants, is India. Because migration to India has a long history and Nepalese and Indians cross the border freely, migration between India and Nepal is largely undocumented. There are an estimated 1.3 to 3 million Nepalese in India, 2 to 5 times higher than official statistics show. The Gulf States have become another important destination since the 1990s. Migration to these countries or to other Asian and European countries requires resources far beyond the means of most migrants. They lack education, information about recruiting procedures, and the financial means to contract recruiting

Migration History

Nepal has a long history of foreign employment in India, dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, when men from the hill areas of what was then known as Gurkha migrated westwards to the city of Lahore in the northern region of Punjab. There they joined up as soldiers in the army of the Sikh Rajah, Ranjit Singh. Even today, those working abroad are popularly known as “lahures.” During the 1920s and 1930s in particular, there was a significant increase in the number of Nepali men and women working in India. During the 1920s and 1930s in particular, there was a significant increase in the number of Nepali men and women working in India.

According to research done by the Nepal Institute for Development Studies — the first systematic look at Nepali foreign labor migration — as many as 750,000 men and women were working in India’s private sector. Most were engaged in manual labor jobs in industry, construction work, agriculture, or the service sector. Their wages tended to be low and the work was often dirty, dangerous, and even degrading. For example, some 100,000 to 150,000 Nepali women are estimated (by many sources, but with little empirical evidence) to be employed in the sex industry across India. The majority of women migrant workers beyond India were in two countries — Hong Kong (44 percent) and Japan (9 percent) — with 56.5 percent in East and Southeast Asia. The remainder were in the UK (12 percent), the US (9 percent), Australia (6 percent), Bahrain (4 percent), and other countries. Most of them were working as domestics or in other areas of the service sector. In February 2001, the Malaysian government officially “opened” its labor market to Nepali workers. Within six months, over 12,000 labor migrants had left for Malaysia, and a year later Malaysia was hosting some 85,000 Nepali migrant workers. By August 2001, 87 percent of officially registered migrant workers (those recruited by recognized manpower agencies) were headed for the Gulf. An analysis of Nepali migrant workers in 2002 — by the Nepal Institute for Development Studies for UNIFEM, the women’s fund at the United Nations — revealed that two-thirds of Nepalese working overseas were employed in the Gulf, mainly in Saudi Arabia (42 percent), Qatar (11.5 percent), and the UAE (nine percent). The total was estimated at 465,000 — 10 times more than in 1997.

Key problems of Migrants

a. Girls trafficking

Some figures refer only to women and girls trafficked into the sex industry. These include estimates that between 100,000 to 200,000 Nepali women are working in the Indian Sex industry, and that between 5000 and 8000 young women are trafficked for prostitution into India each year. Many figures are prone to exaggeration. For example, one report notes that the “majority of the 40,000 prostitutes in Sonagachi (a red light area in Calcutta) are Nepali. It is extremely difficult to estimate the number of Nepalese women and children who have been trafficked. The difficulties arise partly because of a lack of reliable research in this area.

Nepali women and children victims who are working in different parts of India.

Bombay 45,000

Calcutta 36,000

Gorakhpur 04,000

Pune 03,000

Patna 04,000

Lucknow 02,500

Madras 03,500

Surat 01,500

Others 26,000

Source: Informal Estimation, CWIN Nepal, 2002.*

b. Education

Research shows that migrants Nepalese are forced to work abroad in low scale salaries though government passed the mandate for minimum level of salary scale. Because of the lack of education they are easily being cheated and driven away BY others. That made them to find the job mostly in Chaukidar ( security guard) or in Chinese fast food. Though they have got full right to join their children in Indian government school as per the 1950s treaties between India and Nepal but they are deprived to so because of the lack of education. They are often denied their basic legal rights and are vulnerable to labor rights violations and various forms of exploitation.

c. Social awareness

Social awareness is another key area where migrants’ people need to be awakening. Thousands and thousands Nepalese girls are sold in Indian brothel. Nepal government ignores to control this alarming issues rather Nepal seems busy in political reformation which looks ultimate joke to the Nepal. Friends! We need the food not the plate! We need water, not a flask! We need houses, not a palace! We need basic things, not the political reformation with modifying and debating constitution.

Church and mission

I keep on writing over this issue! And once again I want to emphasize about the Churches’ role in present context. Evangelism should not be exclusive in nature. We should think about the people, society and nation. Jesus considered people much beyond than our expectation. Each and every individual were important in sight of God, Be it a Samaritan woman, or a single leper! Neglecting our society and people is making us exclusive Pharisees of this world. Nepali church is mature enough to think and dealing with the issue. My point here is not to criticize over being migration from Nepal but how people are being looked down, brutally used in brothel, forced to work in low scale salaries in gulf world and the rest of the World.

The task seems to be challenging for the Nepali churches. The role of the some of the organization in Delhi has played as an excellent job in the upliftment Nepali migrants. Church should take this responsibility seriously and it is the church which plays the key factor for bringing changes in society. So, Nepali church should think over mission with an open mind. So far we were expecting the missionaries to come and help us here! The scenario has changed now! Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.. Matthew 28:19. We need to send missionaries to every corner to reach out to the Nepalese at large. The mission can’t move further unless we go hand in hand with the local church. I would like to motivate Nepali Churches to carry the missions in their respective areas. Somewhere it may be needed to steer the churches. Christian organization will play the important role to bring the changes in society.

Sources

The Nepal Institute for Development Studies (2003). “Nepali Women Workers in Foreign Lands: a study conducted for UNIFEM.” Kathmandu, July.
Seddon, David, Jagannath Adhikari and Ganesh Gurung (2000). “Foreign labor migration and the remittance economy of Nepal: A Report to DFID, Kathmandu.” Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia, Norwich.
Seddon, David, Jagannath Adhikari and Ganesh Gurung (2001). “The New Lahures: foreign employment and the remittance economy of Nepal.” The Nepal Institute of Development Studies, Kathmandu.
Fr. Fulgentius Vannini, Christian settlements in Nepal during the eighteenth century, Stylish printing press, New Delhi, 1977
Perry Cindy, A biographical History of the Church in Nepal, Wheaton, Illinois, 1989.

Republished in new layout on 8/14/2013

Previous Comment

Ms
written by Thiru , February 23, 2009

Great to know about Nepali migrants. Please keep posting such a article. It is really shocking to know about Nepali sister. Church should think and take it seriously. Ministerial approach need to be broaden.

Thanks lot