Nepal Information Gurkha Veterans pension dispute

The British Gurkhas: British Gurkha Vetereans

February 2001

Demonstrations by angry Gurkha veterans have become commonplace in the Nepali capital Kathmandu. The Gurkhas argue that they have sacrificed their lives for long enough but they do not get the same benefits as other British soldiers. The British say these are trouble makers, encouraged by the local communist party. With the cost of living an estimated £170 a year in Nepal, they argue, these men are amply rewarded. At the lowest level, pensions have recently been doubled to £750 a year.

But, encouraged by the way British tabloid newspapers have taken up their cause, the Gurkha veterans' organisation want more. Free education and guaranteed jobs for their children, right of abode in the UK and pensions equal to a British soldier.

Pension dispute

Such a pension would make a Gurkha veteran a hundred times wealthier than a retired soldier in Britain. "That's not the point," says Lieutenant Yam Bahadur Gurung. "The British owe a debt to the Gurkhas - an immense debt which cannot be valued in pounds, let's put it like that," he says. But the British army is sensitive to charges of exploitation. Asanta Rai, the widow of the Gurkha sergeant killed recently in Kosovo, has received a £54,000 death in service payment, equal to a British widow.

It makes her, in local terms, a millionairess. But, she explains, being a Gurkha in Nepal carries certain obligations. "It's true that a British Gurkha in Nepal earns a lot of money but then he is expected to support his own family and the extended family besides," she says.

Pressure

Which accounts for the pressure on young men to join. "I've wanted to join since I was little, mainly for financial reasons because it is very difficult to find a job in Nepal," says 18-year-old Mani Gurung. "That's why I want to be a British Gurkha." There are no jobs in rural Nepal and the only alternative for a young man here is subsistence farming. It is noticeable that the houses belonging to Gurkha veterans in rural Nepal are richer than their neighbours. Eight young men applied from Mani's village and I asked his mother how important is was that her son got in. "I will be devastated if he is not chosen," said Ril Suba Gurung. "We are counting on him. I am just waiting for the news," she said. And the news came the next day. Mani has got in and is on his way to the UK. "Now it's your turn," his mother says, to the next oldest brother. Whatever the rows going on in Kathmandu, up in the hills it is still every boy's dream to join the British army.