By Kinley Tshering

Photo:Babu

Twenty year old, scruffy looking Nikhil, his hair tied into a pony tail scurries with plates of shawarma at the Al-bake restaurant at the Community Center in New Friends Colony. Speaking fluent Hindi as he takes the orders, at a glance, he looks like any other waiter. A closer look however confirms that he is not an Indian.

Leaving back his ailing father at home, Nikhil immigrated from Nepal in search of employment in 2006. Having landed a job at the restaurant, he has been working as a waiter since then.

Nikhil is not the only Nepali working at the restaurant. There are more than 12 others from across rural Nepal who work at the restaurant. There are still many other Nepalis who work in the various restaurants and eateries at the Community Center.

“We employ those boys who are good at work. I pay them salaries according to their work. The more skilled they are, more they are paid,” says Sonu Aggarwal, owner of Brijwasi restaurant. “For those who are not skilled, we train them with a minimal salary. When they become skilled, we increase their salaries.”

Most of these Nepali waiters have one thing in common to say: that they came to Delhi for want of employment opportunities back at home. And most of them come from poor backgrounds and have little or no education at all. The grim scenario at home has pushed these young men to look for greener pastures beyond the boundaries.

Dev Raj, 18, from Solokhombo village in Nepal, traveled to Delhi 15 months back looking for a job and a livelihood. Today he works at the Brijwasi restaurant at the community center. He earns a salary of Rs 2,200 a month. The restaurant he works at also employs about 20 other Nepalis.

The porous border shared by India and Nepal, lax immigration rules and a lack of VISA regime between the two countries also makes things easier for them.

Kamal Thapa, another waiter at the Al-bake, says that they just pack their bags, board a train and travel to Delhi. “That is as easy as that,” he adds.

Once in Delhi, through acquaintances, relatives and friends, they hunt for work. To curtail their expenses, most of the Nepali workers put up together in the same house. “We eat from the restaurant and share our rents. This way we are able to save some money from our meager salary,” Dev Raj says.

Nepalis are not just working for others. There are quite a few of them who run their own small businesses as well. And that is exactly what Sher Singh Lama, 30, from Dhaling village in Nepal, has been doing for the past 8 years.

“I used to work as a domestic help for more than 6 years. My employer had promised to send me to London to work for one of their cousin’s house but he did not keep his promise,” he narrates. “After that I started this momo business with two of my friends.” He earns a daily profit of about Rs1, 500-2,000 a day.

Lama lives at Lajpat Nagar along with more than 50 other Nepalis in a building, fully occupied by them. All of them are into momo business and go as far as Khan Market and Nehru place, to sell momos.

Be it working as waiters or selling momos on the streets, the Nepali immigrants have a reason to be glad. “It is better to be here, working and earning rather than being at home jobless,” says Kamal Thapa.

Eklavya Kumar of the Megh Pyne Abhiyan discuss flood situation in Bihar at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi

As the Government officials and agencies discuss the flood situation in Bihar, experts and organizations working in flood affected north Bihar area blame the Government’s flood control policies for the state’s nightmare. Dipu Shaw reports…

Dr. Dinesh Mishra, fellow at People’s Science Institute (PSI) recently released his book on floods in Bihar titled “Trapped Between the Devil and the Deep waters”. The “devil” of course refers to the corrupt Government officials who “gain from the almost regular Bihar floods”.

This time the Kosi River nicknamed as the “sorrow of Bihar” has devastated the state as never before. More than two million people in 14 districts of Bihar have been affected by the Kosi floods. The central government has sanctioned Rs 1000 crore for rescue and relief operations declaring it a national calamity. The National Disaster Management Authority has also been pressed into action in the state. It was reported by the Government that most of the marooned persons have been rescued and shifted to safer locations. Reports from the flood ravaged area, however, point to the contrary.

Kavindra Kumar Pandey of the Megh Pyne Abhiyan, which works with the flood-affected in north Bihar, was recently in the flood ravaged area. He contends “There is rampant looting and molestation by anti social groups. The relief camps and food material is also insufficient”.

Even the flood management policy of the government has received some serious criticism.

“It is a totally man made flood”, says Himanshu Thakar, Delhi coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People. “The Kosi has breached for the eighth time, no doubt that the floods could have been avoided”.

Dr N.C. Saxena, former Secretary of the Planning Commission of India is critical of the Government, both at the center as well as in the state of Bihar. He points out how there is no provision of a third party monitoring of the state expenditure. “When World Banks provide money, teams from Washington can come to monitor and survey the expenditure and its use, but for the government’s money, no one can know where it goes”, he says. “It is not the lack of funds that is affecting relief operations in Bihar. It is its improper application.”

Experts observe that it does not pay to tamper with the flow of a river that carries a heavy sediment load. And River Kosi carries a lot of silt with it. Dr. Mishra gives the example of the Hwang Ho River which has 18 embankments on it. “After breaching for the ninth time, the river did not return to its original course. Then, they built embankments on the new course”, he mentions. “When a heavily silt laden river is embanked, the sediment gets trapped within the embankments lifting the bed level and necessitating the raising of the embankments. There is a practical limit to which the embankments can be raised and maintained.”

The PSI fellow who is considered an expert on Bihar floods also suspects many more deaths in the Kosi floods than officially reported. “The dead bodies must be covered under the heavy silt and many would be carried away by the river. No one will come to know about them as the bodies will not be found”, he says.

Dr. Mishra recommends a combined effort to tame floods in Bihar. “The layman who lives on the riverbed, the engineer who works with contours and maps in his office and the politician who takes decision need to come together to save Bihar from the devastation”, he suggests.

Anna-Kaisa Heikkinen is the outgoing Second Secretary of Finnish Embassy at New Delhi। After spending four years in India, Anna-Kaisa is shifting to Moscow for a new assignment. She speaks to Kunal Majumder about her experience in India.