Step at a time

Politicians and ministers should take practical steps to wean the state off remittance.

Almost every Nepali story of foreign employment can nowadays be summed up in a few images—hordes of men, and increasingly women, queuing up at the departure gates of the international airport; relatives with teary eyes seeing them off; and relatives with teary eyes receiving dead bodies at the same airport. In between, there are also countless positive remittance-related stories of Nepalis going to schools and universities, getting access to healthcare, and enjoying material comfort due to an increase in family income. There are countless stories, too, of mistrust between couples, parents waiting to see their offspring return home, and children growing up without guardians. Decades of foreign employment and cash inflows later, Nepal continues to export its youth power to rich countries, mostly in the Persian Gulf, Malaysia and South Korea. It happily consumes the remittances they sent and remains content in a zero-sum game.