Dalal Rule in Nepal

In the near future I might have to go back to Nepal and get visa stamped on my passport. This time though, I need to get labor certification from Ministry of Labor in Nepal as my visa status has been changed from F1 (student) to H1 (Working). The visa procedures in embassy is straight forward so only thing I need to worry is to get labor certification from sluggish Nepalese government agencies. I contacted my friend Bikram Shrestha who recently had to undergo all these processes in Nepal. I was very upset to hear what he had to do to obtain the certification. May be staying here in US and not having to face government office hassles of Nepal I might have forgotten that its way of life there.

He contacted one Dalal (broker), via one of his contacts, outside Labor Office, which is near Municipality Office in Teku. That dalal started filling out the labor permit form from his bag and took all Bikram’s documents. Bikram had already prepared medical document from a doctor stating his health condition. Now as per the law, labor office has to make sure that the employee has a health Insurance and in a bad event abroad, the families in Nepal are compensated. Bikram will definitely have health insurance as laws in US are strict about that. But the dalal made a fake insurance and the paperwork was ready. Bikram finally did get the labor certification but had to pay NRS 1,500 to dalal. In one way that doesn’t sound bad as his work was expedited. But what happens to all the Nepalese blue collar workers in Gulfs, if they die in work, their families won’t be compensated. Even a dalal can prepare a fake insurance and fool the law.

Although I don’t have many rough experiences in government offices in Nepal, there is one notable experience that I would like to share. I and my friends, fresh graduates from KU, wanted to register a firm so that we can independently set up an office. We wanted to bid on a proposal for Biodiversity project. Our proposal was eventually selected among the top five among hundreds applied, but we lost the race at the end. Nevertheless, registering our firm was more trouble than writing the proposal itself. We had to register our firm (in CDO office) before the proposal due date and incidentally that was the opening month for registration and renewal window. The constitution of the firm has to be approved before it can be registered and the clerk responsible for reading and approving the constitution was flooded with constitutions from prospective firms and surrounded by their representatives. I could see my file way down in the stack but was hopeful that it would be done within a day. Suddenly from nowhere there were other files brought by a peon with a chit, and the clerk started reviewing those first. People there protested but it was useless. I was adamant that I will go by the rule and make my work done; if I would have hired a dalal my work would have been swifter. Finally, around 5:30, one hour after scheduled office time, there was no one but me and the clerk in the room, all other people left in frustration. He was supposed to leave early at 4:30 but he received some more files accompanied by a chit. Once he was done with those files, he looked at me and asked for my file, I took it out from beneath the stack and then he reviewed and approved it. Then he started to share his frustration about those chits, his job will be on line if he disregarded it.

At that moment I had time and patience, but people don’t always have those. So they will have no option but seek help from dalal. I have thought about its possible solution which I will write in my next blog. I believe, at present, it won’t be unfair to say that ‘Dalal Rule in Nepal’.