By Narayan Prasad Mishra
It is a well-known fact that when you have a house and land, you live in that place and work to make it more prosperous and comfortable. Similarly, when you have a country, you reside in it and work for its progress and development. We own Nepal, whether it is developed or underdeveloped. If it is not developed the way it should be, it is our duty and responsibility to develop it according to our needs and necessities. If we have weaknesses, obstacles, or hindrances to moving forward, we must remove them with patience and courage.
However, the reality is that you may not be able to shape the country as you wish due to many factors—lack of an educated and skilled workforce, insufficient capital, scarce resources, selfless leaders, corruption, and more. Even in such circumstances, we try to make progress, overcoming obstacles in whatever way we can. In line with this effort, we have been working to develop our country since introducing democracy in 1951 after removing the Rana regime. We all know this history. I am proud to say that my beloved wife, the late Shanti Mishra, the first lady professor of Tribhuvan University, and I tried our best to uplift this country with complete dedication and honesty to the extent of our knowledge and capacity without compromising anyone—whether low or high—just as many other nation-lovers. However, we were not in positions of high power and responsibility.
Though our country did not have many industries—as we still do not—we had land and cattle. Nepal is an agricultural country. Our people worked hard and led happy lives, producing sufficient food for themselves. Until some decades ago, there was no system of sending our people to work in other countries as a matter of national policy, except for some recruitment under the treaty for the Gorkha Army. I remember these things from my childhood and my 84 years of life. During the reign of King Mahendra, we established some industries, marking the beginning of industrialization in Nepal. However, after the introduction of multiparty democracy in 1990, Nepal's situation drastically changed—but not in the way we had hoped.
We gained democracy with greater freedom of speech and expression, but we lost many other things, including our industries. Industries established and run by the state for the welfare of the people were sold to private parties in the name of privatization and democracy. The unemployment rate increased tremendously. Nepalese citizens became poorer and faced more significant economic hardship. Political parties worked only for themselves and their near and dear and focused only on theoretical debates about democracy, communism, and socialism while failing to address people's economic problems. This drove people to search for employment opportunities abroad. Our irresponsible government even made it a national policy to send large numbers of people to different countries for employment. The government thrived on remittances.
As a result, millions of people left the country to find jobs abroad. This migration left much of our agricultural land uncultivated, creating a food shortage and turning Nepal from a food-exporting country into a food-importing one.
On December 16, 2024, I left Nepal for the USA to visit my daughter via Korean Airlines through Seoul, South Korea. That was my first time traveling that route. I was shocked and saddened to see that around 90% of the Nepalese passengers were going abroad for jobs. Among them, about 30 Nepali passengers wore red caps labeled "Nepal" in English. They seemed to be part of a group leaving the country for the first time. When I saw them, the image of imported Tibetan sheep and goats separated by some color - red or yellow brought into Nepal during the Dashain festival came to my mind. We often hear and read that about one-third of our population is out of the country for skilled and unskilled jobs.
A picture of a Nepali migrant worker published in MyRepublica
Migration may not be unusual in an increasingly globalized world. Economic migration, the movement of individuals to foreign countries in search of employment, is often driven by the harsh reality of unemployment in their home countries. Economic stagnation, political instability, and poorly developed industries leave individuals with few options to sustain themselves and their families. Significant wage disparities between countries further push people to migrate, with many willing to endure the challenges of living abroad to earn better salaries and support their families. Underdeveloped economies with limited access to quality education, healthcare, and basic amenities also compel individuals to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Poor governance, widespread corruption, and political unrest exacerbate unemployment, forcing people to migrate. While migration provides individuals with a chance to improve their living standards, it carries significant consequences for both the migrants and their countries of origin and destination.
Migrants often send money back home, providing vital financial support to their families and boosting the local economy. They may acquire new skills and expertise abroad, which could benefit their home country if they return. Economic migration also fosters cultural diversity and mutual understanding in host countries, enriching societies with new traditions and ideas.
However, the emigration of skilled and educated individuals weakens the human capital of the home country, slowing development. This form of migration does not contribute to a nation's progress, even though it temporarily alleviates unemployment. Migrants often face isolation, cultural shock, and discrimination in their host countries, while families left behind experience emotional distress.
Although remittances can boost economies, overreliance on them discourages governments from addressing structural unemployment issues. Economic migration is more than just the movement of people—it is a sign of a country's and its government's failure. It represents a loss of national prestige and dignity for both the people and the country.
To address the root causes of economic migration, governments must prioritize creating sustainable job opportunities, improving infrastructure, and fostering political stability. Only then can we reduce the dependence on migration and ensure that people can thrive in their own homeland. But it is sad to see that our political parties in government are always occupied with their power-sharing processes, working for themselves and their close associates, and never have time to work for the people and the country. They never have time to think about giving justice to the millions of cooperative victims or bringing back our people from foreign lands.
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