Policy shift on Ex-Gurkhas is not without costs
The news that retired Gurkha soldiers are finding their newly settled lives in the UK an “uphill struggle,” is telling of a very familiar story: that of immigrants’ move to a new and prosperous nation.

It was in 2007, after an arduous campaign from the British Gurkha Welfare Society and with the help of an ever-charming Joanna Lumley, that ex-British Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 were given equal pension rights to that of their British counterparts. A few years later, those who retired before 1997 were also granted the right to settle in the UK. This came as welcome news, as it seemed like what once was branded a rather racist policy, had finally come to an end. And insofar as equal pension rights and the right to settle in the UK is concerned, the shift in UK government policy was a necessary move. However, the mass uprooting of ex- British Gurkha families away from Nepal and to the UK comes with a price. First, it brings to surface the age-old conundrum of the immigrant’s wœs. Considering that those that have decided to pack their bags in search of a well-deserved, better life in the UK are families of retired soldiers of the British Army, adjusting to a new and foreign way of life has been difficult. Many of the immigrants have crossed the age of 60, and though they have been granted a British pension, life in the UK is both expensive and hard to acclimatise to. This is especially true for the ex- Grukha’s as they can no longer be taken into the labour market, and also find cultural assimilation in the UK difficult. Often their families will have moved from a remote corner of Nepal straight into the UK. As can be imagined, culture shock is inevitable. With some 8,000 families having already migrated to the UK after the shift in policy, it has not been without a loss for Nepal. Ex-British Gurkha army men, even prior to change in the pension policy, received a pension from the British government which, in the Nepali context, was not a meagre pension. What has been a common case, however, is that now many families have not only received higher pensions—encouraging them to move to the UK— but they are shifting home after liquidating all assets in Nepal. In a way, a portion of Nepal’s middle-class has not only left the country, but left with everything they possessed. They are settling in the UK, buying houses and making a new life, with the money from their assets sold in Nepal. Without doubt, this is a matter of personal choice and the choice is well-deserved. But with the recession still in swing in the UK, it may be in the interest of both countries and the families involved to encourage ex-British soldiers to stay in Nepal. It’s certainly worth pondering what a British pension could do in Nepal for both the families and wider society.

Published on: 2 August 2011 | The Kathmandu Post