Minister Shrestha calls youths in foreign employment to join social security

Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security Krishna Kumar Shrestha has appealed to those in foreign employment to join social security. A meeting of the Council of Ministers on April 17 decided to make regular working procedures for the accumulation of regular contribution amount of foreign employment and self-employed persons abroad and for the savers to get the return on investment. Minister Shrestha said that the dependent family protection scheme run by the fund will help in old age to spend the fertile time of life abroad.

According to Minister Shrestha, the disability protection scheme run by the fund will also provide assistance to those who are disabled and unable to work for life due to accidents while working abroad. Mentioning that a large number of Nepalis are working in different countries, he said that social security is indispensable for the respectable labor of the workers who are forced to do risky work.

Minister Shrestha said that the issue of including the people in foreign employment in the social security fund has also been mentioned in the budget of the coming fiscal year. He said that a committee has been formed in the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security and necessary infrastructure has been prepared to include the people in foreign employment in the social security fund.

Nepalese in foreign employment will be included in the social security fund through bilateral agreement with the destination country. Minister Shrestha said that we have given priority to the expansion of social security fund in the five year strategic plan prepared by the ministry including various activities to be carried out in the next five fiscal years (2079/080 to 083/084). Since the inception of contribution-based social security on November 27, 2018, about 3,40,000 workers and 17,000 employers in the private sector have joined.