The way has been opened for the government to provide welfare services to the Nepali workers working in the Indian labor market. With the passing of the National Labor Immigration Policy-2082 on the proposal of the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security at last Sunday's cabinet meeting, Nepali workers who have gone to India for employment will also be formally recorded.

The new immigration policy has opened the way for Nepali workers who go to India to work in labor migration. Now, to include Nepali workers going to work in India in the labor immigration system, data collection and management will be done through employment service centers at the local level. The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security has established employment service centers in every municipality. Officer-level coordinators are working in the center. 

Out of 753, 667 municipalities have appointed employment coordinators. "For the protection of the rights of Nepali workers going to work in India, a suitable model like the existing Foreign Employment Welfare Fund will be created and gradually incorporated," the policy reads, "Nepali workers going to India will be provided with information and information through the local level." Among them, about 37 percent are in the Gulf countries and 34 percent are in India. According to the latest National Labor Survey, about 969,000 Nepali workers are working in India. Those workers have been making an important contribution to remittances entering Nepal. 

India is one of Nepal's major remittance source countries. There are term life insurance and other welfare programs for workers going to Malaysia and Gulf countries. However, even if remittances are sent in the mentioned amount, the Nepali workers working in India are not included in the program. 

The Foreign Employment Act-2064 and the Foreign Employment Policy-2068, which were introduced to allow Nepalese workers to work abroad in a systematic manner, did not address the issue of employment in India. According to the new policy, workers going to work in India will be linked to social security programs and facilities through the Social Security Fund. 

'In addition to the lack of data on Nepali workers working in India, adequate initiatives have not been taken for their welfare. There has not been a detailed study on Nepali workers in India," Labor Minister Saratsingh Bhandari said. "This policy identifies workers going to India. It ensures that workers and their families get social security. The ministry will create the necessary laws to implement it.

It is said that most of the people who go in search of work in India are families with very low income. Middle and high income families tend to look for work in major destination countries other than India. Anil Pariyar from Achham, who is working in Mumbai, an industrial and film city, said that he came to India due to lack of money even though he wanted to go to the Gulf and Malaysia. It costs two to four lakh rupees only to go to the Gulf and Malaysia. "We don't trust anyone with a loan," he told Kantipur.

The Indian labor market has a traditional sign of Nepali society as the facility of open borders and people of village acquaintances keep moving. Due to the low cost and the low risk, the young people of the western region have to depend on Indian jobs for their jobs, even if it is at a low salary.

Although many Nepalis are established in the Indian labor market, India is becoming the only option for poor families to get employment at a low cost. "Even though Mumbai did not give us much money, it helped us to pay off the debt incurred in the house," said Pariyar.

There are three types of Nepali jobs in India. There are statistics of migrant organizations active in India. First – wage laborers and janitors are included. Domestic workers, janitors and informal sector workers who work on daily wages are the most numerous. Second - the middle class who have taken ration cards and have property in both Nepal and India. And thirdly, there is the data of working in the government and large industrial factories of India. 

An informal survey has shown that 80 percent of the Nepali workers in India are involved in low-income wage labor, dhabas, restaurants and liquor contract canteens, domestic workers and janitors. About 10 percent are in formal employment. 7 percent have property both in Nepal and India.

The then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal announced on January 11, 2073 that he would provide insurance facilities by keeping a record of all adult citizens going to India for employment. For this, a study task force comprising representatives of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Labor submitted a report with procedures. That report has not yet been made public. 

On June 12, 2071, the Foreign Employment Board decided to form an expert team to study the employment situation in India. A task force led by the then Director General of Labor Department (currently Labor Secretary) Krishnahari Pushkar, formed in January 2070 to organize the operations of the Foreign Employment Department, suggested that India-centric movement and Indian employment should be managed. Those announcements and suggestions were not implemented. 

The Nepali workers who were forced to return without pay during the Corona epidemic due to not being recorded did not get compensation from the Indian employer or relief from any state agency. Nepali workers going to third countries other than India have been assured of relief and compensation. But workers going to India for employment do not get such relief and compensation.