KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Sushila Karki has urged the private sector not to take their responsibility of enrolling workers and employees in the social security system as a burden.

Addressing a programme organised at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in Singha Durbar on the occasion of the Eighth Social Security Day today, the Prime Minister called on employers to regard this responsibility as a matter of prestige.

She added that social justice cannot be fully achieved without comprehensive social security, and stressed the need for the effective implementation of contribution-based social security programmes in a country like Nepal to ensure intergenerational cost balance and equity.

“Only through the successful implementation of such programmes, we can build a productive society where those who have support those who have not, the rich support the poor, and the healthy support the sick, based on the principle of social solidarity,” she said.

PM Karki informed the gathering that discussions are underway to address issues raised by stakeholders and to develop an integrated, sustainable, and efficient social security system. “I assure you that issues such as enforcing compulsory enrollment for formal-sector employees in social security, determining the federal government’s portion in the required co-contributions for informal workers, and ensuring that contractual government employees feel meaningfully part of the Social Security Fund will be addressed,” she said.

Highlighting the need for further study on how the rapidly expanding Social Security Fund can be utilised for nation-building, the Prime Minister stressed that the contributions made by workers and employers must be invested in areas capable of generating meaningful results.

Secretary at the Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Security, Krishna Hari Pushkar, reiterated that the Fund was established for the causes of workers and employees. He said the Ministry is committed to increasing enrollment and ensuring continuity in the social security scheme, as well as raising public awareness on its significance.

Chairperson of Joint Trade Union Coordination Center (JTUCC) Jagat Simkhada emphasized the need to make the social security plan contributor friendly.

The mass workers have been deprived of social security due to inadequate implementation of the social security plan, he said, adding that the government should come up with readiness to share in the contribution amount of the informal sector workers.

Likewise, Chairperson of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) Chandra Prasad Dhakal drew the attention of the stakeholders to bring the workers of informal sector to the ambit of social security albeit challenging.

Underlining the need to mobilize the contribution amount deposited in the fund in the productive sector, Dhakal urged for digitalization and expansion of the scope of its service.

International Labour Organization (ILO)’s Nepal Director Numan Ojkan said the ILO has been working to enable environment of ideal work relations.

Executive Director of the Fund, Kabiraj Adhikari informed that 649, 511 workers of formal sector, 1, 996, 575 workers involved in foreign employment, 799 of informal sector and 582 workers of self-employment sector have so far affiliated with the social security plan.

On the occasion, memorandum of understanding was signed between the Rastriya Samachar Samiti (RSS), Gorkhapatra Corporation, Public Broadcasting Service and Nepal Press Council under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, and Social Security Plan, separately to this effect.

According to the information shared by the SSF, as many as 2.65 million Nepali citizens have come under the umbrella of contribution-based social security.

The SSF has also been operating medical treatment, health and maternity, accident, disability and dependent families’ security and old age security plans.

As informed, Rs 95.68 billion has been so far collected in the contribution-based amount in the fund.