By Shanker Man Singh
Exactly one year ago, Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the Prime Minister of Nepal. In these 365 days, there is not a single example of doubting the actions of the Prime Minister, his intentions, his policies, and his politics, but in the meantime, the gold scandal, Ncell, Lalita residence land allegations in Baluwatar, sending the person as Bhutanese refugees, expansion of prohibited areas due to financial issues, payment demonstrations, economic problems, etc. surfaced in the media and social sites.
He was appointed for the third time on 25 December 2022 by forming a coalition of six parties and three independent MPs: 1. He won a vote of confidence in the House on 10 January 2023 with 268 votes in favor 2 against. He again received a vote of confidence on 20 March 2023 with 172 votes in favor and 89 against.
The performance of Dahal’s government in 2079/80 B.S. has been evaluated in various aspects, such as: Economic development: Prachanda promised to address the economy of Nepal, which was badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and political instability.
He initiated and continued many stimulus packages and relief measures for the affected sectors like tourism, agriculture, and small and medium industries. He has also initiated several infrastructure projects, such as, roads, bridges, hydroelectric plants, and airports, which have increased connectivity and created employment.
Foreign Relations: Prachanda maintains cordial relations with Nepal’s neighbours India and China, as well as other regional and international partners. He has tried to balance Nepal’s strategic interests and sovereignty by enhancing cooperation in trade, investment, security, and cultural exchange.
He has also participated in multilateral forums like SAARC, BIMSTEC, and the United Nations to uplift Nepal. From time to time, Dahal says, “I have nothing else to do as corruption scandals are increasing day by day in the country. I want to attack the corrupt and the land mafia”. He also said that he went to the United Arab Emirates and said that climate change has seriously affected Nepali people. He also talked about it as the president of a least-developed country. Some work was done but no concrete work was recorded. He had to bear the unbearable pain of the sad and untimely demise of his wife and separation.
The law on Truth and Reconciliation could not be made, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the United Nations will help to end the peace process according to international standards, under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, participated in Rukum for an extended meeting of West Bafikot Rural Municipality 6 and 7, congratulated the ACC Premier Cup winning Nepali players, launched the distribution of Non-Resident Nepali (NRN) citizenship which seems to have economic and cultural freedom and is not political.
Legislation against shark-loans, was commission formed and action taken accordingly.
Political stability in Nepal:
Since the end of the century-old monarchy in Nepal in 2008, the country has seen many governments. The main reason for frequent changes in the country’s leadership is political factionalism. Apart from India and China, America (USA) has played an important role in Nepal’s internal politics and foreign affairs.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Nepal Compact and the State Partnership Program (SPP) have brought Kathmandu much closer to Washington. As a result of the policies and steps taken by the government, the bank rates and interest rates have decreased, the stability and investment environment in the financial sector, the significant increase in foreign currency reserves, and the positive effect on the remittance flow have gradually reduced the risk in the economy, the government side said.
Bangladesh has agreed to take electricity equivalent to 40 megawatts from Nepal in the initial phase. Workers who want to go for foreign employment can apply for a labour permit online and are brought under the scope of social security.
The government seems to have neglected the law-making process for one year. In this one year, the Parliament could make only one law. Opponents of the MCC have accused it of being part of a “grand plan” by the US to get Nepal on its side to oppose China’s Belt and Road Initiative. During Prachanda’s visit to China, he said the “Belt and Road” project will be implemented.
In the past, when a Dahal-led government was formed, its fate was judged to depend on how cleverly and smartly it managed its coalition partners. It was said that the most difficult person to manage would be the leader of the opposition party, but that was not the case.
The political relationship of the two comrades has many ups and downs. They have the same political desire to lead Nepal. On policy matters, since Prachanda is a tried and tested political leader, observers thought that there would be minor changes in his prime ministership, but there was little chance of seeing any major changes.
Now it is necessary to pay attention to the country’s economy. Rising inflation and unemployment have demanded the government to take effective measures. In foreign policy, Dahal cannot be tagged as a “pro-China” or pro-India leader, but he has not and will not offend India, China or the US on any issue.
Under his leadership, Nepal should definitely try to maintain a balance in foreign affairs to protect its interests and he did this in one year.
Unfortunately, in the past environmental issues had never been high on the Nepal government’s priority list. However, the growing economic impact of climate change and environmental degradation needs to be given some serious attention.
Climate change is also affecting people’s livelihoods and forcing some of them to migrate from their homes, adding to the “burden” of areas within Nepal as well as across the border. What steps will the government under Dahal’s leadership take to protect Nepal’s environment?
This government certainly has a lot to do to address Nepal’s challenges. He said that Nepal has not been able to progress slowly. If one were to do a postmortem of the causes of this delay one would arrive at the following root causes:
Economic slowdown or non-viability of the economy:
Any nation that fails to sustain healthy economic growth is likely to gradually fall to a lower level through successive economic exploitation. Inadequate investment in infrastructure – roads, bridges, ports, hospitals, schools, power plants, water supply, irrigation, drainage, etc. -– causes the nation as a whole to decline, the standard of living of the average citizen begins to suffer, and people begin to lose faith in their country.
Inadequate infrastructure also leads to reluctance to invest in activities related to economic production—factories, manufacturing plants, service companies, etc.—because the supporting infrastructure (overhead roads, bridges, etc.) is lacking.
In a country with inadequate infrastructure (bad roads, a bit of irregular electricity) like Nepal, the cost of doing business is higher in countries where goods can reach the international market quickly or in countries with abundant energy for production.
This leads to a situation where the economic output/output of a country with poor infrastructure is always low. A country’s economic prosperity is determined by its economic output (the value of the goods and services it produces) and the amount of trade it engages with the world (measured by its GDP). If a nation has nothing to produce and consequently nothing to trade, it imports and never exports, leaving the country perpetually poor. Rich countries always produce goods and services in abundance, consume and trade in surplus.
Demographic situation
If the production of goods and services is always low, enough jobs will not be created within the country to employ the entire productive labor force. There will not be enough jobs in the economy to keep productive labor employed. This will create a situation where all the productive population will seek employment opportunities outside the country.
The amount of remittance earned from foreign employment seems to be beneficial in the short term. But no nation in history has leapt from a developed nation by having all its youth work permanently abroad.
Demographic flight has made Nepal like a “train/bus stop” – everyone is heading towards some destination, but no one wants to live permanently in this train/bus stop called Nepal.
Nepal’s demographic problem can be one of the reasons for the slowness of the country. This follows from the economic stagnation of the country, which is the root cause of all the problems.
Problem of cultural survival:
According to the opinion of some people, the current generation (55-75 years old) leading the country should have been the best generation in the history of Nepal – with experience and struggle. Nepal sees hope in the young generation who are well educated, have a good sense of moral right and wrong and better yet, are well-traveled, nationalist etc.
When will they assume the role of leadership, and there is a great possibility that this generation will really bring their skills, education, knowledge acquired abroad back to Nepal.
The young generation of the Nepali diaspora has been working in all parts of the world for about 20-30 years. This generation has all kinds of valuable skills that the nation needs—builders, doctors, engineers, managers, entrepreneurs, service providers, etc. If this huge pool of skilled manpower can be returned to Nepal, Nepal can be revived and prosperous.
Just to recapitulate, the Prime Minister of Nepal called the secretaries of all ministries and agencies on 19 December 2079 last year after 9 days of appointment and gave 27 instructions in 30 directives. However, even after 11 months, the secretaries did not work according to the instructions, expressing dissatisfaction with the program, saying, “When I was giving instructions to the secretaries for the first time, I tried to present them concretely.” Looking at the results and outcomes, it was not encouraging, it was disappointing’, the Prime Minister said, ‘It could not go forward as it was said.’ At the same time, after the appointment of the Prime Minister for the third time in the country, full support was expected from the civil administration and government machinery in the program held on 19 December.
Since the bureaucracy is a permanent government, it was expected that the secretaries would fully use their experience, qualifications and abilities and efficiently fulfill their responsibilities. However, after a year, the PM’s trust in the employees has been confirmed by the expression.
PM Dahal complained that in 11 months, he did not get ‘performance’ and support from the staff as expected. “Nepal’s administration system is capable, efficient, professional and competitive, but the results are not satisfactory”, remarked the PM, “Where is the harmony?”
The PM said that the political leadership is trying to go through a revolutionary process, but the bureaucracy coming from the selection process is only looking for regularity, he said.
Especially, the problem of Nepal’s civil administration is that it takes a long time to withdraw from the decision. In the middle of this one year, it seems that even the employees did not make decisions that were considered important by the government.
Nepal not developing
Looking at Nepal’s policies, strategies, guidelines, and laws, there is full satisfaction, but these policies are not implemented. Despite the budget, the government has not been able to bring new projects in various sectors. Therefore, there is a shortage of manpower in the government. NGOs and INGOs are taking up and implementing projects which are terminated when the project is over.
Nepal needs long-term projects in collaboration with Nepal government and universities. Citizens of Nepal expect the government to do all the work. It is time to change Nepal’s approach.
Development is not just about shopping complexes, metro cities, skyscrapers, big roads, and expensive restaurants. Lack of development of compassion, sympathy, and kindness in people is a major problem. There is a lot of competition among people trying to earn millions but sadly, hardly anyone seems to be competing to make Nepal as financially secure as other countries.
There are many places for entertainment purposes. There are very few places for orphans and homeless people. It is important to accommodate that pressure to succeed from an early age.
Most of the children are immersed in mental pressure and gradually fall into bad habits. So we cannot expect a fast developing Nepal if all the youth are growing up like this.
Every woman should be given equal opportunities for the prosperity of the country. Women in Nepal still need to sharpen their skills to work equally as their male counterparts.
Schools have become commercial markets. The government should revise the policy of such private schools and try to provide better education in government schools. Nepal’s main resources, namely our agricultural land, and water resources are underutilized.
Some leaders are good but they are not getting opportunities. Now we can see what happens when Balen in Kathmandu and Hark in Dharan choose good leadership. However, to accelerate the development of the province. Nepal can take many steps to speed up its development process.
Investing in education:
Increasing access to education and training can help build the skilled workforce needed for economic development. Promoting entrepreneurship: Encouraging the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can help create jobs and spur economic growth. Improving infrastructure: The development of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and power plants can help improve connectivity and increase access to markets. Encouraging foreign investment: Attracting foreign investment can bring new capital and technology into the country, which can support economic growth. Eradication of corruption: Eradication of corruption can improve the business environment and increase the efficiency of public spending, which helps to accelerate development. Lokendra Bhatt writes in “Rato Pati Online, “Maoist Center Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been leading the country for the third time. The one-year tenure of Dahal, who ascended to power on December 10 last year, is being reviewed.” He further writes, “Among the changes in the power alliance, the work done by PM Dahal’s government in one year is being accounted for. Initially, the government led by Dahal was formed with the support of CPN (UML), Rashtriya Swatantra Party, Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajwadi Party, Janmat Party etc along with the Maoist Center.
Before the presidential election, the Prime Minister returned to the collaboration with the Nepali Congress. Voices are being raised within the respective parties that the work of the minister of the Dahal government is not such as to inspire trust.
In one year, the work progress of most of the ministers is disappointing. The poor state of the economy, rising prices, unemployment, lack of daily consumables, and lack of agricultural materials are the problems of the citizens.
There are comments from the ruling party that the Dahal government has failed to create development and deliver in a way that the citizens feel. The responsible leaders of the Nepali Congress, the main partner in power, are looking for an alternative to the government. “However, the government side claims that the government has created a message of hope in good governance and service delivery. The government claims that consumers are getting easy services from various government agencies.”
Overall, although the first year of Dahal’s third term was not as encouraging as expected due to various coalition reasons, the second year will be a little more focused and a general suggestion can be made that emphasis should be placed on implementation rather than rhetoric.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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