Pushpa Kumari Karki is a stay-at-home mother of three. While her husband works as a general labourer in the highway town of Bardibas in Mahottari district, Pushpa Kumari spends her day doing house chores and looking after the children.

She would love to work and support her hardworking husband, but job opportunities are rare in her town. So when the local government opened job listings as part of the Prime Minister Employment Programme in March, the 31-year-old housewife jumped at the opportunity. It would provide so much relief to her family, she thought.

Launched in February 2019, the PMEP was touted as a scheme that would provide a minimum 100 days of wage employment for the unemployed citizens.

Pushpa Kumari was enlisted in the job of digging an irrigation canal in her area along with other local men and women. However, her work lasted only around 20 days for which she earned nearly Rs 11,000.

“I had no work besides daily house chores. So I thought of working. The amount I earned barely supported my family for a couple of days,” she told the Post.

Pushpa Kumari is once again jobless. She and her husband are once again scrambling to feed their children.

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