By Pushpa Raj Pradhan

Chief Editor

The People’s Review Weekly, Kathmandu, Nepal

A youth Prem Prasad Acharya ended his life pathetically. He seemed ambitious and there was a lack of opportunity for him. This is just one example only. Every day, thousands of youths are going abroad in search of a job. Thousands of students are in a queue to go to foreign universities for further study, in fact, to get a better job abroad. Hundreds of thousands of youths are waiting for a working visa to South Korea and hundreds of thousands of youths are studying Japanese languages with the hope of getting a working visa for Japan. Nurses are waiting for the UK working visa. Except for those elderly people and kids, nobody is eager to stay in the country. However, those political thugs, looters, and cheaters love to stay here.

This country has been transformed into a haven for those brokers, commission agents, middlemen and frauds.

Such a situation has not occurred overnight. Since the dawn of multiparty democracy in 1990, the country’s economy started to distort.

In the name of economic liberalization, the government sold away established industries; in the name of an open market economy, the government allowed multinational companies discouraging national industries from running through small-scale investments; foreign debts being spent in non-productive sectors and terms and conditions were imposed against the country’s benefit while receiving donations and loans from the Western donor countries and financial institutions are responsible for the present state of the national economy.
The government-run industries were either closed down or sold away. No environment was developed to run industries by private sector investors. The country gradually turned into a consumer country from a country exporting agro-products. Moreover, since the country adopted the present federal structure in 2015, the domestic revenue could not meet the increased expenditure needed to operate added federal structures. When the revenue collection was less than the general sector expenditure, the country started to take foreign and domestic debts due to which the amount of the foreign debt became double in the past five years.

Moreover, political-level corruption practices flourished extensively. Corruption as well as commission practices have been institutionalized under political protection. Even for the ambassadorial and constitutional appointments, those candidates have to pay a commission in advance. The recent commission rate for constitutional or ambassadorial appointments is 60 million rupees. The political parties in the government are exploiting the government treasury through policy-level corruption.

As the nation has been divided into partisan politics, the economic analysts and concerned authorities also explain the economy by looking after their personal interests.

The other day, the Nepal Rastra Bank governor said that the economy is on the course of improvement.

Immediately after the governor’s remarks, Prime Minister Pushpakamal Dahal said that the country’s economy is passing through a crucial stage. On the other hand, the Nepal Rastra Bank says that the government lacks the necessary funds to pay the salary of government employees. As the government revenue didn’t meet the target, the federal government is managing funds from the budget allotted for the provincial and local governments, according to the central bank.

The conclusion is that as long as we try to prolong the present political structure, we need to lend funds from international financial institutions to meet the expenditure target as the domestic revenue is not sufficient to meet the expenditure. Due to the lack of honesty and lack of commitment for nation building among the political leaders, brokers, middlemen and commission agents have dominated the governance.

Their syndicate has become so strong that nobody dares to destroy the syndicate. The Federal Parliament is dominated by such brokers and laws are introduced for the benefit of certain groups, rather than benefiting the nation. The political parties and their leaders have become the dealer or agents of those brokers. In such a pathetic situation, the country cannot function. An overhaul is needed in the present political structure to save the nation, otherwise, it may be impossible to save a sovereign country, Nepal.

Anomalies in all sectors cannot be an “offensive jump”. Therefore, all the sectors, groups and communities must review the political performance of the past three decades and efforts should be made to end the prolonged perversions. “Better late than never,” let’s think and act on time.

# Text courtesy: The People’s Review Weekly dated February 1, 2023: Ed. Upadhyaya.