On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
Nepal is facing the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Every day, 50 plus people are dying from the pandemic. The number of Covid infected people is on the rise at an alarming level. There is no bed, no ICU facility in hospitals, there is an acute shortage of oxygen and people are dying due to the lack of oxygen. The government mechanism for health service has already been collapsed. Remdesivir like medicine is scarce in the market.
In fact, not only the health sector but all the sectors have been collapsed. Health Minister Hyrdesh Tripathi blamed the local agent for being responsible for disrupting the supply of the Covishield vaccine from India. Reports state that when the political leadership wanted much to share on the commission, the supply of vaccine was disrupted. China and Russia too are eager to supply vaccine against the Covid-19 virus. Different international organizations have already approved the loan for Nepal for the import of the vaccine earliest as possible. The commission agents and the concerned political leaderships are eying on the commission. We have been continuously reporting that the country and the entire system is under the grip of around half a dozen mafias. They are exploiting the nation very crudely.
Political leaders are shamelessly engaged in the politics of power. Those in the power are trying all their best to stay in power, meanwhile, the opposition parties are trying to forge a joint front to topple down the government and enjoy power at any cost. One faction in the ruling party is initiating different strategies to fail the government of its own party. We had never witnessed such a dirty political game in a democracy. If we go through the constitution, food, health, education, among many others, are described as the fundamental rights of the citizens. In practice, we see a very gloomy picture. Home Minister Rambahadur Thapa had flown to Hetauda to file his candidature to the post of the member of the national assembly by helicopter, the same day, another report appeared in newspapers that Civid-19 infected patient was carried away to the hospital on a tractor. Perhaps, we may illustrate these two scenarios as the Nepali model of socialism! Perhaps, in a democratic country, incline on the price of daily consumable goods such as cooking oil by double overnight is impossible. In Nepal, everything is possible. On the one hand, the real farmers are unable to get the price of their products, dairy farmers are unable to reach milk they have produced in the market, on the other hand, consumers are compelled to pay a high price to such products. Clearly, there is a strong curtailing mechanism developed by the brokers and middlemen with the protection of the political parties and local administrators. We had never seen such a pathetic state even during the “autocratic” panchayat era. Compared to the present anomalies, the panchayat era can be illustrated as the golden era. Just an example, in 1989, we had experienced a 13-month-long economic blockade by India. In such a long blockade aimed at bringing Nepal under the Indian security umbrella, the country didn’t bow down in front of India, rather, the government managed a smooth supply of essential items, including petroleum products, medicines, among others. Nepal had airlifted such items from Bangladesh and Singapore. We never felt a scarcity of essential items. Of course, the panchayat system was much more based on the principle of a welfare nation rather than the present “loktantra”, which is in fact a loottantra. Moreover, the kings of Nepal were much more concerned about the citizens’ betterment compared to the leaders in the present republicanism.
Considering Nepal’s geopolitical location and the reality of a buffer state, Nepal had adopted a mixed economy, under which, different government undertakings were in operation successfully. Nepal’s compulsion was that always Nepal needed to have a buffer-stock of essential items. Accordingly, this scribe didn’t see the sole domination of the private sector in any of the sectors, including education and health. Due to the strong presence of the government in the market, the private sector was unable to curtail consumer items. Those government and community-run education and health sectors were highly standard until the introduction of the multiparty democracy.
Look at the hegemony of the private sector hospitals during the pandemic hit period! Also, don’t forget, exploitation of the private sector educational institutions. Education and health have become so expensive that it is out of the reach of the poor people in the country ruled by the communists.
We can easily break the chain of the mafias in the health and education sector. If the government supports the local community in establishing around six standard hospitals and also six standard schools in the Valley, all the private sector investors will come down to the size. Accordingly, if the local government will support the local community in establishing schools and hospitals, the private sector domination will disappear from the entire nation. Unfortunately, the leaders in the government or opposition cannot take such a bold step as they are the agents of the education and health mafias. Such mafias were discouraged during the panchayat rule.
Regrettably, all the government sectors and organs have been seriously spoiled. Among the next generation leaders also, we cannot find any face to hope. All of them are from the same category. In other words, talking about the leaders — prime minister K.P. Sharma Oli, opposition leader or the prime minister in waiting, Sher Bahadur Deuba or Madhav Nepal or Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda and others, they are the authorized agents of the mafias and foreign elements. We don’t have any hope for them. Also, look at the emerging youth leaders, either they are sponsored by India or the West. There is a scarcity of patriotic leader who could think about the country’s prosperity. Or, say, such patriotic leaders are not allowed to come to the forefront by the foreign elements. The question is, can Nepal rise again?
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