29 December, 2021
Kathmandu,
Right to employment is one of the important fundamental rights as well as one of the important sources of livelihood and income generation. To map the situation of labor rights under Prime Minister Employment Program (PMEP), JuRI-Nepal reviewed the implementation status of the Prime Minister Employment Program Operation Guidelines and its implementation status in its working areas. The review report was handed over to Hon’ble Krishna Kumar Shrestha, Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security on 29th December 2021. The research has identified some gaps and offered some suggestions to make the employment program more productive in days to come and has pointed out some underlying challenges.
As government was also in the review process and realizing the CSOs feedbacks, government has increased wage of workers involved in the schemes under the Prime Minister Employment Program (PMEP). Workers’ wage and benefits have increased with the cabinet meeting held on the first week of January 2022 amending the PMEP Operational Guideline-2018. Now, Workers are entitled to get daily wage of Rs. 577/per day, earlier to that, the rate of daily wages was Rs. 517/per day. Similarly, the government has stipulated Rs 15,000 as minimum monthly salary inclusive of dearness allowance effective from last mid-July. See the policy brief report of Prime Minister Employment Program (PMEP).