areas. The 1991 study reported 8.61% of population were squatting and that they fell under the poorest of all household tenure groups. The future of these squatters is uncertain for His Majesty’s Government can remove them from the area at any time as there have been cases of eviction of settlers to give way to development projects. Physical and financial problems have been a major obstacle to own a suitable dwelling for the underprivileged such as landless and agricultural labourers, including the recently freed Kamaiyas (bonded labourers), Hali, Gothalo, internally displaced people due to state-Maoists conflict, Dalits, delinquent destitute women, street children, people having certain professions, and the elderly. The problem of housing for poor people, particularly for the labourers and workers, is most acute in the urban areas. Work: According to the His Majesty’s Government’s Employment Promotion Commission, unemployment and underemployment rates in Nepal are 4.9% and 47% respectively. Since majority (80%) of economically active population are engaged in agriculture, which is mostly a seasonal activity, a large number of people remain underemployed. Underemployment is a major problem contributing to rural-urban migration and lately migration to foreign countries. The number of educated but unemployed people is on the rise partly due to lack of opportunities and partly due to inadequate skills and expertise to enter in the job market. A forced labour system, involving the entire family of the worker, has existed in Nepal for hundreds of years in an institutionalised manner. Slavery was officially abolished in 1925, but the system 20 of Kamaiya (bonded labour), which has many features of slavery, continued to flourish, especially in the far western districts of Nepal. Whilst His Majesty’s Government abolished the Kamaiya system once again in July 2000 freeing at least 100,000 people from near-slavery condition of work, in the absence of proper policies as well as the problems in implementation of the existing policies, most ex-Kamaiyas are facing problem of finding work forcing many to return to their past masters. Following the declaration, landlords expelled the former Kamaiya from their land. The displaced Kamaiya have been forced to live in emergency makeshift camps where conditions are poor and have not been provided with alternative source of employment. Approximately 13,700 families (60-70,000 people) currently have no land to farm or live on. Moreover, Haliya, Gothalo system, etc. are still prevailing in various parts of the country. The legal provisions governing minimum wage or other facilities for improving working conditions of workers have not been enforced properly. Workers, especially in the unorganised sector, cannot complain about their working conditions or demand wages as fixed by His Majesty’s Government for fear of losing their jobs. And, there is widespread wage discrimination between men and women for the same work. Moreover, those engaged in caste-based occupations, such as sweepers, leather and metal workers, village tailors, etc. seldom earn enough for their family’s survival. Lately, the trend of seeking jobs overseas has been increasing. Thousands of men and women are becoming migrant workers. In the absence of a proper mechanism to regulate the conditions of employment, many workers have landed in slavery like work conditions or are swindled either by the employers or the employment agencies. This affects the women who work in the Gulf region more acutely.