Nepal’s Downward Spiral: Education, Economy, and Democracy in Crisis

Nelson Mandela once remarked: Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by students. Patients die at the hands of such doctors, and buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Accountants and economists lose your money because they do not know what they are doing. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges. The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation. The above saying totally applies to the present context of Nepal. Needless to say, our education has already been destroyed. I wish to add further that, in Nepal, foreigners also used our political leaders to destroy our economy. In the name of a liberal economy by developing a narrative that the government should not do business, the de-industrialization process was started. From an agricultural country and an emerging industrialist nation, Nepal today has become totally a consumer country. When youths become jobless, they are going abroad seeking jobs. Since the dawn of the multiparty system in 1990, Nepal started its downward journey. Many of the profit-earning government undertakings were ruined after the political parties and leaders started to exploit such undertakings to make money through corruption, venue for recruiting party workers and intervening in the management works. Many government-undertaking industries consuming thousands of local workers were closed down creating an unemployment problem among the population. The country’s situation has become further worse since the adoption of the 2015 Constitution. All bad characteristics of democracy have dominated the Constitution. In the name of socialism, we are experiencing banana democracy, kleptocracy, anarchism, autocracy, corruption, malpractice, bad governance, lawlessness, etc.. Recently, major political parties held party assemblies and discussed the challenges and future of the alliance government but they didn’t talk about the dairy farmers’ problem that they are not able to get payment worth billions of rupees from the government-owned Dairy Development Corporation. Now, the farmers are at the stage of quitting their profession. If imports of dairy products from India, the dairy farmers can get rid of this problem, but those in the government are seen as reluctant to make such a decision. The loan shark victims are organizing demonstrations in the Kathmandu streets. The problem of the loan shark victims is not new. Earlier also those victims came to Kathmandu and organized demonstrations. The government also formed a commission to address the problem. The commission has already submitted its report to the government but no decision has been made for addressing the victims’ problem. There are thousands of cooperatives in operation across the country. Out of them, a few cooperatives have cheated their members. The commission constituted for addressing the cooperatives’ problem has already submitted its report to the Prime Minister. If the report is properly implemented, the problems within the cooperatives will be ended immediately but the PM is not interested in implementing the report. There are around three dozen airports but just half of them are in operation. Some of the airports were constructed under political pressure which is not economically cost effective. People in remote areas are unable to get air service due to the lack of a fleet. There is Nepal Airlines, which, in the past, operated flights to remote areas, unfortunately, it does not have enough fleets to cover all remote destinations. Every time, when Nepal Airlines makes an effort to procure new aircraft, a laude voice about a commission deal will be made. Certainly, the commission deal can be avoided by transparently making a deal. The House of Representatives can develop laws and regulations ending corruption practices. The Nepal Army is interested in resuming the Hetauda Textile Industry but the government is delaying giving permission to the Army for its operation. Many times, many ministers worked out for resuming those already closed industries but they have become helpless. The Royal Drugs Ltd was producing verities of medicins in the country, now, it is producing very limited items of medicins. The Singhadurwar Baidhyakhana was producing above 250 items of Aryuvedic medicine, now, it is virtually closed. If given autonomy by ending political intervention and giving protection to the local industries, Nepal can produce many things which will substitute imports. Big achievements can be made in the greater interests of the nation by taking small decisions from the government. But the entire attitude of the leaders in the government is to serve their foreign bosses and trouble the native Nepali population. Aren’t these failed nation syndrome?