By Pushpa Raj Pradhan
The prolonged lockdown in the country has stranded all economic activities as all people are staying at home instead of work. All sections are seeking relief package from the government, whereas, the finance minister informed that the government has no fund to provide relief packages. If needed to provide relief, tax should be increased, he has replied.
It has become clear the domestic economic pillars, which had contributed for the economic growth of the nation have fallen sick from COVID-19 pandemic. As the government made clear that it is unable to provide relief packages for such institutions, already sick economic organs will become further serious instead of recovering their health.
The government is losing its source of earning foreign currency due to decline in foreign employment and a slowdown of the tourism market at the zero level. There is rare chance of recovery the foreign labour market and tourism business within one or two years. Along with destruction of the foreign labour market, the government is facing multiple crisis as hundreds of thousands youths are waiting to return home as earliest as possible. Along with resumption of the international flights and lifting of the sealed Nepal-India borders, hundreds of thousands youths are returning home. Let’s imagine, if added one or two million people returning home, how the nation will feed them! When they return home, they ask the government for employment. If they don’t have two time meals, they may launch an agitation against the government and the political system.
The government didn’t carry out proper homework on the post COVID-19 impact in the economic field. Since the government started to encourage youths to go for jobs abroad, we have been continuously voicing that for a short period, foreign employment could be a better option to receive foreign currency, however, it should not be granted as the permanent source of earning foreign currency. In spite of our advice, the labour minister, foreign minister and even the prime minister and the president were found lobbying with their counterparts of the friendly countries to consume Nepali labour force. May be, the idea was to send all youths abroad by minimizing the possible threat of revolt against bad governance, corruption, mal-practices, nepotism, favouritism, sycophancy in which all the political leaders are involved.
However, due to the corona virus pandemic, the situation has been changed. On the one hand, the government is fighting against the pandemic, on the other hand, it has to face other impacts created by the pandemic. Moreover, economic impact is more serious, which may lead the nation towards a failed economy if it fails to tackle it properly!
This weekly, time and again, had drawn the attention of the government and its economic organs that it should not rely on import based revenue and try to make optimum use of the remittance revenue in infrastructural sector. However, the government always gave priority to the import based revenue, from which, domestic industries were closed and import market flourished. Instead of protecting domestic industrialists, the government was found encouraging importers. Instead of using remittance revenue in development projects, the government encouraged the remittance receivers to purchase land in urban areas to construct buildings there and to purchase motorbike and television screens, among others. Such a trend created the situation that our agriculture land remained fallow and Nepal turned into an importer country of agriculture products, even green vegetables.
The government was happy to meet the matching fund for the country’s budget by imposing from 250 to 300 percent of import tax on vehicles and expensive taxation on petro-products. Such a trend encouraged Nepal becoming a dumped market of foreign products having virtually no item to export. Running the government undertaking industries were shut down due to the political intervention, labour market was destroyed due to closure of the industries, more seriously, Nepal became economically dependent country year by year.
Political employment vs labour employment
Not to go further, the Janakpur Cigarette Factory was providing employment for thousands of local labourers and giving a boost to the economy of tobacco farmers in the entire Eastern and Mid-regions. Along with the dawn of multiparty democracy, political leaders started to loot the factory and finally, the factory was closed. Today, by abducting jobs of thousands of labourers and farmers, the factory premises has been used as the headquarters of the No 2 Province. By disposing the factory, the venue has been developed as the center for providing employment for those political leaders who have no job at all.
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