The family of Dhan Bahadur BK and Kashiram BK of Siddhakumakh-2 Takura in Salyan, who had reached Himachal Pradesh, India for employment, lost their lives in a fire on Sunday midnight. Dev Bahadur Wali, 50, his wife Bhima Wali, 48, and their 16-year-old son Mohan Wali, of Khahare, Tribeni Rural Municipality-9, Rukum West, were buried in a landslide in Kyara, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, on Ashar last year.

Three youths from Kalikot died in a landslide on 18 Shrawan 2080 in Gaurikunda, Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand, India. Prakash Tamrakar Tamta of Khadachakra-1, Tek Bishwakarma and Devi Bishwakarma of Ward No. 2 lost their lives in the landslide. They used to carry the burdens of pilgrims in Gaurikunda, where the footpath to Kedarnath temple begins.

In 2013, nearly 300 Nepalis went missing in Gaurikunda and Kedarnath areas. According to the Provincial Police Office, 11 people from Karnali died in floods and landslides in India last year alone. According to the office, 13 people also lost their lives in the fiscal year 2080/81. Six people from Karnali died in other accidents in India last year.

According to the Provincial Police Office, 39 people lost their lives in floods and landslides and various accidents in India in the past 5 years. During this period, 5 people have gone missing. ‘The number of people who go to India from Karnali to work as laborers is large, most of them work in risky places,’ says DIG Madhav Shrestha, the chief of the provincial police, ‘that is why Nepalis are losing their lives every year in accidents and disasters. Some incidents do not even reach the police.’

Tek Bahadur Khatri, the president of the Karnali Ekta Club in New Delhi, India, said that the families of those who died in accidents in India have not received adequate relief. According to him, to get relief, the government must either take diplomatic initiatives or fight a case in court.

‘It is known that only those who died in road accidents or worked in organized organizations have received relief. Those who went to work through local contractors have been provided with basic living expenses by the contractors themselves,’ said Khatri. ‘If they had received relief, at least it would have helped their families earn a living.’

Other members of the Wali family, who lost their lives in a landslide in Kyara, Shimla in Ashar last year, have not been able to receive relief. ‘We have to fight the case in court to get relief,’ said Hari Bahadur Khadka, ward chairman of Triveni-9 in Rukum West. ‘The family has not received anything as it has not been resolved yet. The family has been devastated after three members of the same family died.’ He also said that since their own produce is not enough to eat for even three months, the family is forced to work as laborers in India. 

According to Harichandra Basnet, chairman of Kushe Rural Municipality in Jajarkot, Karnali residents who go to Uttarakhand, Himachal and other areas in India work as agricultural laborers, house builders, porters, etc. ‘Those who enter India after completing the sowing in Asar return home to celebrate Dashain, go again in Asoj-Kattik after planting the grain crop, and come to import wheat and barley in Baisakh,’ he said. ‘Neither the food grains here are enough for the whole year nor the earnings there. Those who have small children at home are forced to travel both ways for 6 months each.’ 

Basnet said that most of the youth go to India for seasonal jobs because it is difficult to find good jobs due to lack of education and literacy. Although there is no data on how many people from the municipality have gone to India, he estimates that about 7,000 people go to India every year for local work.

Tanka Bahadur KC, a teacher at Nepal National Basic School in Kushe-4, said that the family situation of those who go to Uttarakhand for seasonal work is poor. ‘Now, due to the earthquake, the poor have become even poorer. They have to leave their families in temporary huts to go for seasonal work just to get food and clothing,’ he said. ‘They can find work there whenever they want. But they do not have insurance or government-rated salaries and other facilities. If they die, they have to make do with their normal living expenses.’

According to the National Census-2078, about 46 percent of Karnali, which has a population of about 1.694 million, is unemployed. There is data from the census that 514,818 people have gone for foreign employment. About 86 percent of them, or 442,743 people, work in various parts of India. According to the Karnali State Planning Commission, the unemployment rate in Karnali is 9.7 percent.

Those who go to other cities in India do temporary jobs, while most of those who go to rural areas such as Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh do risky jobs.

‘Nepali people who go to cities such as Delhi and Mumbai are doing temporary (contract) jobs in various industries, factories, and hotels. They also get monthly wages, leave, insurance, and other facilities,’ said Devika Kumari Singh, vice-chairperson of Kushe Rural Municipality. ‘But those who work seasonally in places such as Kedarnath, Badrinath, and Gaurikund have hard labor but low wages, and on the other hand, they are at risk of floods and landslides due to their geographical location.’

Kamal Lamsal, associate professor at Madhya Paschim University, says that the government has not shown much interest in the disaster-hit areas in India. He says that there is no strong diplomatic initiative from the government to provide relief and compensation to the families of the deceased. 

Why are Nepalis insecure in the Indian labor market?

Millions of Nepali workers are working in Indian labor destinations like Goa, Uttarakhand, and Meghalaya. Recently, these destinations have become a 'dungeon' of risk for Nepali workers. In India, which is considered a close and cheap labor destination, Nepali workers have been facing incidents of fear that they have never imagined in their lives.

Five Nepalis died in a fire that broke out after a cylinder explosion in a nightclub in Goa on December 20. Two of the deceased were 19-year-old Sudip Gurung of Kachankawal-2 in Jhapa and 20-year-old Sabin Khati Bishwakarma of Bhadrapur-3. The other deceased were Churna Bahadur Pun of Dang, Vivek (Lil Bahadur) Katuwal of Sindhuli, and Manoj Jora of Dadeldhura.

A landslide caused by heavy rains on the road to Kedarnath in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand took the lives of four Nepali workers on 7 Bhadra 2081. The deceased were Tul Bahadur Pariyar from Chitwan, Purna Nepali, Krishna Pariyar and Deepak Budha from Dailekh. They were working on the road construction. 

On 9 Jestha 2067, nine Nepali workers working in a coal mine in Meghalaya, northeastern India, were buried in the mine. They had hidden inside the mine tunnel to save their lives from attacks by the Khasi community. They were buried in the mine at that time. One of the dead was a newborn baby. Experts say that these incidents show that the lives of Nepali workers in the Indian labor market are at risk. They say that not only accidents but also policy weaknesses, lack of security and lack of assurance of labor rights are putting Nepali workers at risk.