Kamalamai (Sindhuli), 10 March: The market in Sindhulimadi, the district headquarters, is quiet. There is little activity at the tea shop near the bus park. Some of the youth who left the village to seek a future in the city are in a hurry, some are busy chatting. Pujan Basnet was found in a corner of the tea shop.
He is a resident of Tinpatan Rural Municipality-11, Kanyakhola. 22-year-old Basnet has a bachelor’s degree in Information and Technology (IT). He has skills in website design, mobile app development, graphics design and videography. But he does not have a job and income according to his skills.
Basnet tried to start a business with his friends with the idea of doing something in the district. But it was not possible due to lack of investment. The bank did not approve the loan, and the family’s financial situation was weak.
He said, “There is no investment. Banks do not give loans without collateral. That is why I have decided to go abroad, earn money, and then return and do business.” His decision to go abroad for employment is not a desire but a compulsion. In fact, he had applied for the post of ‘IT officer’ at the local level in many places. He took the exam 15 times. His name was selected in the written test, but not in the oral test.
Although Pujan is working in an organization in the district, he is feeling depressed because he is not getting the remuneration he deserves. He complains that he does not receive his monthly salary of Rs 10,000 on time even though he works from morning till night. This is not just Basnet’s story. Many young people like him, forced to go abroad due to this compulsion, have ceased to be seen as the youth who fetch water in rural areas of the district, work in the fields, brighten up the village, and take care of their parents when they are sick.
Sabina Danuwar, 21, a second-year BBS student, is also in a similar dilemma. She is unsure whether to continue her studies or leave them incompletely. “The situation at home is pathetic. There is no job. It is difficult to meet daily expenses. Now I am thinking of quitting my studies and going abroad,” said Sabina.
Some of Sabina’s friends are in Australia, some in Dubai. They talk to them. The idea that if you go abroad and suffer, you will earn better than here is forcing Sabina to choose that path. Pujan and Sabina are just representative characters. If we look at the crowd of students at the overseas sending consultancy firms operating in the district, it can be easily assumed that many youth from the district are eager to go abroad in search of employment.
It appears that 28,652 youth have obtained passports from the District Administration Office, Sindhuli, in the past five years. This number was obtained from the fiscal year 2021 to 2025 January 26. According to Bijay Dahal, coordinator of the Safe Migration Project, Sindhuli, which has been providing information, counseling, skill development, legal assistance, psychosocial counseling, and financial literacy to people going for foreign employment, 10,000 youth have emigrated from the district annually in the last two years.
Although the District Administration Office and Safe Migration Center have data on those youth who have gone abroad for foreign employment and studies, the relevant agencies do not have data on those who have returned. According to the Safe Migration Center, Sindhuli, 151 people who have gone abroad for employment in the past 16 years have died there due to various reasons. In the past 11 years, 51 people have returned sick or injured while working. It has been found that those who return are unable to repay the loans they had taken while going abroad.
According to Mukesh Ghimire, the general convention representative of the Nepali Congress, the government has not been able to provide proper opportunities even to those with skills. The local government is not seen to be running special programs to create employment at the local level.
