Kathmandu: Nepal has signed a protocol with Israel to send 500 Nepali workers. Kumar Dahal, Director General of the Department of Foreign Employment and Khanan Goder, Ambassador of Israel to Nepal, signed the protocol.
According to the agreement, 60 percent of women and 40 percent of male caregivers will go to Israel. Those who have passed SLC and studied health care for 15 months or have completed 12 months and completed three months of care giver training, who can speak English and Hebrew will be given the opportunity to go for this job. The Government of Nepal will select the workers.
The government’s previous agreement with Israel in 2015 to send care givers did not benefit enough workers. The lottery system was implemented in the selection after many applications were received in low demand. As a result, many could not go to work even after learning the language. Manpower companies used to send care givers to Israel.
Now, workers going to Israel will have to bear the cost of visa fees, medical fees, tickets, insurance and so on. Labor experts have questioned the agreement. The government has taken a policy that all the fees have to be paid by the employer country or the company there when sending workers through a manpower company. The manpower company has a policy of charging only the prescribed service fee.
In the case of Israel, experts say, the old policy is being scrapped by an agreement to supply workers from the government machinery.
The Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Development has been interpreting the policy of ‘Visa Free, Free Ticket’ as foreign employment policy. The government has been taking action against the manpower companies that do not follow this policy.
Due to the policy of ‘zero cost of labor’ for sending workers abroad, the manpower company is not allowed to charge service fee of more than Rs 10,000 to the workers going to Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Dubai, Oman, Kuwait and other Gulf countries.
There is a provision not to send workers for employment if the employer does not provide ‘free visa-free ticket’. The government has made zero cost a ‘bottom line’ when negotiating labor in major labor destination countries. On the basis of this, labor agreement has also been reached with Malaysia and both. The decision has not been implemented due to lack of effective monitoring.