KATHMANDU: Nepal government has signed an agreement with eight labor destination countries even as it issues work permit to Nepali out migrant workers for as many as 110 countries.
It is supplying youths to 102 countries without signing labor agreement.
Signing labor pact is a must for ensuring labor rights, including insurance and social security of the Nepali migrant workers.
Nepal has signed a dual labor pact with a total eight countries including Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan, South Korea, Japan, Israel and Malaysia in the past 14 years, according to the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security. The first labor agreement was signed with Qatar in 2005.
“From now on, Nepal government is planning to supply Nepali workers to destination countries only after signing or renewing the pact,” said Dr. Ram Prasad Ghimire, joint secretary and chief at the Department of Foreign Employment.
Ghimire further said the government has formed a five-member panel to this effect and is making preparations to sign or renew labor pact with the labor destinations in line with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Nepal Labor Law Act, 2017.
He further said, “Free visa and free ticket should be prioritized while renewing and signing the labor agreement.”
Similarly, the ministry is also serious about expenses incurred in supplying migrant workers, their security, pay perks and health facilities, he added.
Some countries are shying away from signing a labor pact with Nepal citing that Nepali workers lack required skills and qualification, according to a source at the department.
While Nepal had signed the first labor deal with Qatar, the latest deal was sealed with Malaysia on October 29, 2018. Similarly, Nepal government had signed agreement with South Korea and the UAE in 2007.
Similarly, Nepal government signed labor agreement with Bahrain and Japan in 2008, with Israel in 2015, with Jordan in 2017 and with Malaysia in 2018.
Despite having signed the labor agreement with three countries – Japan, Israel and Malaysia – Nepal has not yet supplied Nepali workers to these countries in line with the pact.
Malaysia has stopped receiving Nepali workers for the past nine months. The agreement needs to be renewed within three to five years as per the labor agreement.
The process of renewing labor agreement with Qatar, Japan and the UAE has reached the final phase, according to the ministry.
Nepal government has called on all the employment providing countries to sign and renew the labor agreement stating that that would supply Nepali workers to destination countries only after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Qatar, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE and Jordan are the major labor destinations, absorbing around 80 percent of the Nepali migrant workers as per the statistics maintained by the ministry.
KATHMANDU: Two people have died while six others sustained injuries when a bus carrying wedding attendants met with an accident at Chainpur Danda in Makwanpur district this afternoon.
The accident took place when an ill-fated bus, Na 4 Kha 2217, heading to Hetauda carrying wedding attendants from Bhaktapur met with an accident in Gadi Rural Municipality, Makwanpur, DSP Yagya Prasad Bhattarai of Makwanpur District Police Office, told Khabarhub.
According to Bhattarai, the condition of one among those injured is critical. The injured are receiving treatment at a local hospital.
POKHARA: Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba reiterated that the agreement recently signed between CK Raut and the Nepal government is detrimental to the national integrity.
Deuba also said that the agreement with CK Raut on ‘referendum” is against the national independence and sovereignty.
Speaking at a press conference organized by Nepal Press Union in Pokhara, he also objected to the agreement signed between the government and CK Raut, saying that any kinds of activities against the democracy would be unacceptable to the NC.
Meanwhile, Deuba stressed on the need to sort our the issue surrounding the high-profile wide-body aircraft purchase scam at the earliest. He said that the Ncell should pay tax to the state.
He also accused the government of trying to curtail press freedom in the name of National Civil Code 2017, saying that democracy and press freedom are interdependent.
KATHMANDU: Main opposition Nepali Congress has expressed its serious concern over the signing of 11-point pact between the Nepal government and CK Raut side and their subsequent activities.
Issuing a press release, NC parliamentary party office has said the differing interpretations being made by two sides of the agreement have created a situation of confusion.
The release stated that no one has authority to make any deals and agreements in a way to weaken independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and dignity of the country.
“CK Raut side has construed that the intent of the phrase ‘people’s mandate’ laid down in the pact is referendum for independent Madhes nation. The banners and placards shown up during Raut’s visit in Janakpur following the signing of deal and slogans chanted on the occasion is likely to instigate unfavorable situation”, reads the press release.
The statement jointly issued by Balkrishna Khand, NC chief whip at the House of Representatives, and Surendra Raj Pandey, NC parliamentary party leader at National Assembly noted lack of seriousness in the implementation of the pact from both the sides, there by creating confusion.
Meanwhile, NC expresses its serious concern over the deal and activities hurting national unity and territorial integrity the statement added.
KATHMANDU: The country has seen an influx of over 200,000 tourists in two months alone, a 33 percent up as compared to the same period last year, according to the Department of Immigration. Altogether, 216,214 tourists visited the country in January and February (91,793 in January and 97,694 in February).
A total of 163,694 tourists had visited the country in the same period last year. The tourist inflow in the two months saw a rise by 92.5 per cent in Indian tourists as compared to the same period last year. Likewise, SAARC tourists surged by 85 per cent, and Chinese tourists by 5.3. Tourist influx from European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and France increased 8.7, 27.9 and 7.6 per cent respectively. In February alone, 7,133 tourists from the United States of America visited Nepal, which is five percent increment than last year.
Dipak Raj Joshi, chief executive officer of the Nepal Tourism Board, credited it to various promotional activities carried out by the Board and the private sector for the increment. Additional tourism promotional program would be launched to make the government’s announced ‘visit Nepal year 2020’ a success, he said.
WASHINGTON: The United States of America (USA) on Monday claimed that it was safe to fly 737 MAX 8 planes amid growing concerns over the safety of the airbus that crashed near the town of Bishoftu, killing all 149 passengers and eight crew members.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a “continued airworthiness notification” to assure operators of the plane saying that it was safe to fly.
It said it was collecting data on the crash and keeping in contact with international civil aviation authorities and would take immediate action if it identified any safety issues.
China and Indonesia grounded their fleets of 737 MAX 8 aircraft earlier on Monday, citing safety concerns, resulting in a drop in Boeing Co shares.
Investigators in Ethiopia found two black box recorders that will help piece together the final moments of the plane before it plunged, trailing smoke and debris, and crashed killing all the people on board.
A jet of the same model had crashed in Indonesia in last October, killing 189 people. (Agencies)
KATHMANDU: President Bidya Devi Bhandari reached New York of the United States on Monday to attend the 63rd Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, leading a Nepali delegation.
In the evening of March 11, President Bhandari attended a welcome dinner hosted by the President of UN General Assembly (PGA) Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces in honor of the women Heads of State/Government.
The President was received by Nepali Ambassador to the US Arjun Bahadur Karki, Permanent Representative to the UN Amrit Kumar Rai and high-ranking officials of Nepal’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations at the John F Kennedy International Airport.
In course of the session taking place at the UN headquarters on Monday, President Bhandari will address a high-level event entitled ‘Women in Power’ hosted by the President of UN General Assembly (PGA) Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces in New York today. The President will deliver her speech on the theme “How Women Leaders Change the World”, shared the Nepal’s permanent mission to the UN.
The delegation comprises Tham Maya Thapa, Minister for Women, Children and Senior Citizen, Chairperson of the Women and Social Committee of the House of Representatives Niru Devi Pal, expert at the Office of the President Laxmi Kumari Karki, Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi, Secretary at the Office of the President Binod K.C., Secretary at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies Yam Kumari Khatiwada and other senior officials from the Office of the President, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen of the Government of Nepal.
KATHMANDU: Nepal Communist Party Chairman (NCP) Pushpa Kamal Dahal is scheduled to visit the United States of America for the treatment of his ailing wife Sita Dahal on March 18, according to a report of The Kathmandu Post.
According to Dahal’s personal secretariat, Sita will be receiving treatment in the US but the hospital and the time has yet to be fixed.
Daha is considering Baltimore-based John Hopkins Hospital as their first priority for Sita’s treatment, a senior leader close to Dahal told Khabahub on the condition of anonymity.
Sita Dahal’s health condition deteriorated after the death of their only son Prakash Dahal. Dahal took her wife to Singapore twice for her treatment last year.
According to close aides to Dahal, doctors in Singapore recommended that Dahal take her wife to America for treatment.
Dahal is visiting the US nearly a month after the controversy over his statement on the US position on Venezuela.
KATHMANDU: The body of Ekata Adhikari, who died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash Sunday, will be brought to Nepal only after DNA verification, according to her kin.
Ekata was the lone Nepali national on board the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 aircraft that crashed near the town of Bishoftu, killing all 157 people.
Ekata, 28, who originally hails from Gorkha district, was working with the United Nations World Food Program based in Ethiopia.
According to family sources, she was unmarried and had visited her family in Nepal two months ago. She was working with Nepal-based WFP before she left for Ethiopia seven months ago.
Her parents are in California with her other two daughters.
KATHMANDU: Nepal is taking on Bhutan in the opener of the SAFF Women Championship at Sahid Stadium in Biratnagar on Tuesday.
The three-time finalist, Nepal is eyeing the SAFF Women Championship tile. India is the main obstacle for the tile dream of Nepal.
Nepal is in group A along with Bhutan and Bangladesh while India is in group B along with Sri Lanka and Maldives.
The game will begin at 3 pm according to Nepali time.