Lalitpur, June 27: A three-day national conference on Social Safety Nets kicked off here this morning.
The conference jointly organised by Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Asia Pacific Regional Office of International Confederation of Free Trade Union (ICFTU-APRO) and LO-FTF, a Denmark funded project aims at finding way to enhance social safety situation in the country.
Speaker Taranath Ranabhat at the inaugural ceremony said that the concept of social safety should be taken in a broad perspective to cover all the social, economic, political and security aspects of the country.
“We should think of social safety in terms of Nepal’s present context of poverty, unemployment and Maoist violence,” he said. “Social safety is inadequate for the common welfare; it should go hand in hand with social justice.”
Referring to the Maoists insurgency that has claimed more than 1300 lives so far, he said, “They are wrong if they think that would be able to bring about changes by killing innocent citizens.”
Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Chairman Pradip Kumar Shrestha said that a joint effort of the government along with the employers and the employees could work towards enhancing social safety that was essential for especially underprivileged people.
Stating that economic development played a pivotal role in all round development of the country, he pointed out the need to make Nepal’s trade and commerce compatible with the rising trend of globalisation.
From the chair, NTUC Chairman Laxman Basnet said that they wanted to negotiate with the government and FNCCI to ensure social safety of the industrial workers.
Stating that there was a gap between demand and supply of skilled manpower in the country, he stressed on the need for the production of such human resources within the country.
ICFTU-APRO South Asian Incharge P. Haridashan said that social safety was necessary to relieve the people during national crises, including economic depression and natural calamities.
Economic development alone would not suffice; social safety such as old age fund, medical and disaster insurance were needed to ensure normal life in abnormal situations, he said.