NRNA welcomes SSF’s move to include migrants under its scheme

Kathmandu, Dec. 21

The Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA) has welcomed the Social Security Fund (SSF)'s step to include Nepali migrant workers employed in foreign countries and Nepalis running businesses outside the country in its social security scheme.

In a programme organised on Tuesday, the SSF had announced that the informal sector workers and Nepalis employed abroad can participate in the social security scheme run in their homeland. The SSF has implemented the contribution-based social security scheme run by the Social Security Fund (SSF) which will come into effect by the second week of March 2023. A 'procedure for the operation of contribution-based social security scheme for workers in foreign employment and self-employment' is recently ratified by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security (MoLESS) to facilitate Nepali migrant workers into the social security scheme.

Stating that the NRNA had been advocating and lobbying that the Nepalis living abroad also be included in this fund, the organisation maintained that it has been discussing and coordinating with the government at various stages by taking responsibility for this matter.

"Also, the NRNA represented the voices of Nepali workers in the labour market, especially in India, the Middle East and elsewhere. Today, after more than a decade, that discussion and initiative of the association has borne fruit," DB Chhetri, Vice President and Head, Foreign Employment Department of the NRNA, said in a statement.

The new scheme has opened the way for millions of Nepali workers who are employed abroad to formally join the SSF.

According to Chhetri, the NRNA had initiated the campaign to include migrant Nepali workers in social security programme. In 2016, an agreement was reached between the organisation and the government to cooperate in the security fund. In the same year, an agreement had also been signed with the Employees' Provident Fund.

Meanwhile, President of NRNA, Rabina Thapa said that the step to include Nepalis staying in foreign land under the SSF has sent a positive message among the Nepali communities across the globe. "It will make the immigration more secure and dignified," she said. 

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 December 2022.