Indraman Gurung is the driver of Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security Rajendra Singh Bhandari. He has been Bhandari's driver for a decade. Gurung was taking Labor Minister Bhandari to the event venue on Wednesday to inaugurate a campaign to include informal and self-employed workers in contribution-based social security.

On the way, he asked the Labor Minister, ‘Those who are on contract in government services like us should also be included in social security.’

‘I was coming on the way. My driver is saying that we should also be included in the social security program,’ Labor Minister Bhandari added, ‘Where is the file to add them?’ The file to add government services, informal and self-employed workers to the contribution-based social security program is stuck in the Ministry of Finance. 

The government had taken a policy decision to include government, informal and self-employed workers in the social security program from 32 Shrawan 2080. For that, the Social Security Fund has issued a procedure. But in these two years, only 1,469 people have been added and regular contributions are being made from them. Of these, 809 are in the informal sector and 660 are in the self-employment sector. 

According to the Labor Force Survey, out of 70 lakh 86 thousand workers working in the internal labor market, 4.4 lakh 11 thousand (62.2 percent) are working in the informal sector. The largest number of people are employed in the agricultural sector, 1.434 million in non-agricultural sector, and 73 thousand in domestic labor. One in five people work in agriculture. Agriculture is the sector that provides the most employment. Only 17.5 percent of workers are employed in the trade sector, 13.8 percent in the construction sector, and 23.8 percent in the service and sales professions. 

Confusion over contribution

Why did only 1,469 people out of the 4.4 million labor force in the labor market join the fund? According to the working procedure, it is not clear about the contribution between the local, provincial, and federal governments, said the fund's executive director Kabiraj Adhikari. According to the working procedure, informal or self-employed workers must deposit 20.37 percent of the minimum basic wage set by the government into the fund.

The government has fixed the minimum wage at 19,550. Out of this, 11 percent is being paid by workers. The remaining 9.37 percent has not been clearly determined, according to the fund's executive director Adhikari. 'There is a provision for contribution in the law. There was confusion about who among the three governments would pay how much,' he said. 'Some municipalities have taken responsibility themselves. However, they have not been able to promote it.'

Municipalities should list informal or self-employed workers. For this, only 114 municipalities have signed agreements with the fund. Of those, only 6 municipalities have affiliated workers. The first municipality to affiliate informal workers to the fund is Bhimphedi Rural Municipality of Makawanpur.

Chairman Hidam Lama said that it is unfortunate that workers could not be affiliated in the name of procedures. 'We have affiliated 200 workers in the informal sector. We will add another 100 people in the current year. This has ensured that workers who work by crushing ballast will get pensions and free health care,' he said. 'Such an important issue is being overlooked in the name of donations.' 

Ghanashyam Subedi, the chairman of Syangja's Phedikhola Rural Municipality, claimed that the local government is ahead of the federal and provincial governments in providing social security to workers. 'We have identified and listed daily wage workers.

Phedikhola is the municipality with the lowest income among the 11 municipalities in Syangja. Despite the low income, we have not backed down,' he said, 'Even if the federal government initially allocated only Rs 50 million, it will be enough for now.' 

Municipalities in urban areas are still stuck with voters. Some municipalities have not registered workers who are not voters. 'Our geography is small. But the population is large. Most of the workers here are from outside districts. They are not voters of our municipality. Conflict has increased among the people's representatives of the municipality on this issue,' said Anita Lama, deputy mayor of Budhanilkantha Municipality, 'The contribution of the workers working here is significant. But we cannot ignore them just because their names are not in the voter list. The municipality where the worker works should contribute.’