Govt to guarantee jobs to poor

KATHMANDU, Aug 10: In an ambitious move, the government has drafted Employment Guarantee Act promising to provide a job to all the families living below the poverty line.



The Act has been drafted as per the Constituent Assembly´s initiative to implement job as fundamental rights of people.[break]



“We are holding talks with different stakeholders, including various government ministries and private sector bodies, among others, to give the bill a final shape,” said Dhruba Dahal, joint secretary at National Planning Commission (NPC), adding that the NPC plans to submit the draft Act to the government soon.



The draft Act cites guaranteed job as a critical part of socio-economic security and fundamental rights of citizens, and promises a job of at least 100 days per year to at least a member of poor families.



“If enacted, at least one member of families living below the poverty line will enjoy a job, fetching income equivalent to minimum wage fixed by the government,” said Purna Chandra Bhattarai, joint secretary at Ministry of Labor and Transport Management (MoLTM).



According to Bhattarai, such jobs will be provided in sectors like construction, infrastructure and other development projects.



The draft committee is also holding discussions with the private sector to establish a formal tie so that such jobs could be provided in industrial sector as well.

In case the state failed to provide jobs, the draft says the government will pay unemployment allowance to those families. The draft, however, remains silent on the allowance amount.



“Our recommendation is that the allowance should be half of the minimum wage fixed by the government,” said Dahal.



Concerned officials admitted that implementation of the Act was challenging, particularly as the government has no categorical records of poor households.

Nonetheless, they said village development committees (VDCs) and district development committees (DDCs) have some records of such data and the government will have to rely on it for implementation of the Act.


Based on such VDC-level data, the committee, which is drafting the Act, has suggested the government to issue cards to the beneficiary households. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the program, the draft Act asks the local bodies to hold public hearings every four months to dig out grievances and other anomalies.



“Likewise, committees headed by VDC and DDC chairmen will be put in place to monitor and regulate the program at the local level. A committee under the leadership of Vice Chairman of NPC will monitor it at the national level,” said Bhattarai.

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