Nepal's unemployed youth scramble for election jobs

KATHMANDU: Tens of thousands of young Nepalis have applied for temporary jobs policing upcoming elections, the first polls since a youth-led uprising spotlighted the Himalayan nation's economic woes.

Nepal estimated it suffered losses of about $586 million and that nearly 15,000 people lost their jobs after protests toppled the government in September.

The youth-led demonstrations, initially triggered by anger over a brief government ban on social media, were fuelled by deeper frustration over corruption and economic hardship.

After a police crackdown killed young protesters, the riots spread and parliament was set ablaze, prompting the government's collapse. At least 77 people were killed.

More than 27,000 people applied for the temporary police jobs on Friday and Saturday, the first two days of applications, Nepal police spokesman Abinarayan Kafle said.

Sarika Karki, 20, said she was crossing her fingers to "earn some pocket money".

"I am also Gen-Z, but I do not have a job," she told AFP in the capital Kathmandu on Sunday.

"I hope the election will go well, and I am able to help in my own way as a temporary police officer".

Nepal plans to fill 149,090 police posts ahead of the March polls, with each recruit paid roughly $280 for 40 days of service -- a princely sum where per capita gross national income in 2025 was $1,404, according to a UN monitoring report.

More than 839,000 Nepalis left the country of 30 million to work abroad last year, according to government data.

And 82 percent of the country's workforce is in informal employment, the World Bank says.

The temporary officers will be tasked with managing queues at polling stations, carrying ballot boxes and other logistical duties.

"Sunday was a public holiday but so many people, most (of them) youths, were queueing outside police stations with great excitement," police spokesman Kafle told AFP.

There were queues across all 77 districts to fill the application form on Monday, he said.

Many of the young applicants would be participating in their first election as a temporary police officers.

"I used to work in a hotel as a cook, but I am jobless now," Nischal Poudel, 30, told AFP from an application queue in Kathmandu.

"Only God knows if I will be selected, but now that I've applied and I am sure something good will happen".