Nepal: Cultivating Courageous Citizenship

Is Nepalese civilization at the verge of collapse? If the recent trend continues, then Nepal will be the new Somalia. Within the last decade only, we have had 10 different heads of state. The political leaders of our politically unstable nation have been unable to address the needs of our society. Our state is crumbling but that doesn’t mean our society has to be weak too. We are an inherently optimistic species; we can profoundly assert that we have the ability to shape our own destiny.

Historically, we have not had the challenge of defining our own political destiny. Now, when we finally have the opportunity to develop our own nation, we expect government to fix all the problems. Old habits are hard to break; our political leaders have proved that they are ineffective in addressing our concerns. They are more adept at playing the blame game. However, the people want statesmen to fix our problems, not ascribe to blame without offering a solution.

Also, let’s realize that government is not god.  Political leaders cannot do everything for us. Citizens make the government in a democratic society and hence we should hold ourselves accountable at times when the government is not able to deliver. Citizens create society and the society cultivates the leaders. We lack promising leaders - I suspect mainly because the Nepalese society focuses more on tribal needs. There is lack of nationalism in the nation. Political parties seem more interested in creating factions than in uniting the nation. We as citizens of Nepal need to understand the reality and start acting rationally to build our nation.

It will be a genteel understatement to say that government is not important. It is important. However we cannot have functional, accountable, transparent and responsible government without informed, dependable hardworking citizenry. We must cultivate the sense of citizenship. One way to act would be to create a sense of private citizenship, empower oneself in order to contribute to our own lives and nation rather than waiting for the government to do so.

As 2nd century, Roman Philosopher-emperor, Aurelius in his Meditations points out, one must become "rational soul". By this he means that we should have affection for our neighbors, truthfulness and humility. Marcus opines that human beings are made to help others. Nothing is good except what leads to fairness, and self-control, and courage and free will. Nothing is bad except what achieves the opposite. As Nepalese we should work for ourselves and for our nation, rather than merely protesting against each other as political parties of Nepal do.

We need to realize that democracy is our destiny. Today, it is urgent for us to determine the path of our country. Nepalese should use urgency as an opportunity.  Nepalese government remains weak because of unskilled leaders. However, our society can still become stronger, stable and achieve relative success. We can start by learning from our neighbors. India has a relatively weak government but the society is stronger.

There is a maxim in India— when government sleeps, economy doubles. Even the Bihar, India’s poorest, most lawless, and underdeveloped state recently achieved the fastest rate of growth during 2008-2009. If the Bihar government is to be believed, the state's growth rate - 11.4% - is higher than India's industrially developed states. One of the factors for Bihar’s progress is attributed to a swelling disorganized private sector. If Bihar can develop then why cannot Private Citizens of Nepal take intelligent risks despite the problems and take Nepal out of the abyss?

Human capital can be the most striking and important characteristics of any country, Nepal being no exception. Let’s look at the example of what happens when private citizens are stronger. Indian citizens responded to the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami. In the past, one would expect the government to respond, but in this case, within two weeks Indians had privately donated $80 million to the relief effort. Nepalese private citizens can become stronger too. Private and nonprofit groups should get involved in heath care and education which are conventionally the responsibilities of the state. In India more than 25 percent of schools and 80 percent of the health system are controlled by the private sector. Why could not these cases occur in Nepal and ultimately lead to a stable Nepalese democracy? Democracy can be noisy but eventually it allows individuals to empower themselves economically and politically. Despite the mountain of rhetoric about helping the people, our government has done little for us. They have made too few investments in human beings - in our health and education, and the money budgeted has rarely been well spent. As in the 1980s, Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi pointed out that only one of every ten rupees that was supposed to be allocated on the poor, actually made it to the person in need. I doubt that the case is any different in Nepal. Without further delay, it is imperative for us engage in our own development. Ultimately, our stronger society will produce successful statesmen, eventually engendering a successful and more stable state.

More responsibility goes to the future of nation – the Youth. It would be prudent for youth like me to become more involved in pragmatic practices to turn the Nepalese dream into reality.   As youth, we are challenged but if we want to grow we must own the challenge. As historian Arnold J. Toynbee once wrote, “Growth takes place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response that, in turn, evokes a further and different challenge”. It’s the youth who will inherit the nation and hence we should react resolutely in order to address the nation’s challenge. The desire to have a peaceful and prosperous nation is not sufficient in itself. It also requires pursuance of well coordinated, comprehensive course of action with perseverance.

I am acutely aware that I sound idealistic when I ask citizens to build their own nation. However, the history of humanity teaches us that passion persuades. Hence, if you are passionate about our nation and can persuade your fellow friends and family members to start working hard and contribute to our own nation, follow traffic rules, not engage in corruption and lead an environmentally friendly lifestyle— then there is no doubt that overtime you will see the nation evolve. Bhairval Aryal, the famous essayist of modern age wrote after the royal takeover of 1960, “the papers and radio news are Brahma’s (Hindu’s supreme god) words for the citizens”. I hope that you realize your own importance as a member of the society and empower yourself to contribute to your own life and our great nation. If we are accountable we will have the power to hold our leaders accountable. Hence, as a fellow Nepali, I urge you to spread the word of citizenship and save our civilization.

The author is the Buena Vista University's student and majors in political science and media studies.

Posted on : 2010-02-04 08:15:21

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