Outward migration of workers has been one of the most important features of contemporary Nepali society and economy. According to a World Bank report released in December 2018, Nepal's inward remittances as a percentage of GDP (30.1 percent) is the highest in Southasia and fourth highest in the world.
While countries like Malaysia and the Gulf states are some of the usual destinations for Nepalis seeking employment abroad, a significant proportion of Nepalis in fact migrate to India in search of livelihood. Since labour permits and complicated bureaucratic procedures are not required, Nepali workers often move back and forth across the open border. A large number of these migrants are women, about whom no reliable statistics are available.
Who are these women, and how do they experience life in a country that is not their own, yet not quite foreign? This photo essay is a glimpse into the daily lives of Nepali women migrants working in a range of sectors in various parts of India.
Urmila Danuwar, 30, worked with her husband in a poultry farm in Rajasthan. After their return to Nepal, her husband went to work in Malaysia, while she lives and works in their hometown at Danabari Tea Estate in Ilam.