On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar came to Kathmandu, accomplished his mission, and returned. It is serious to note that the present coalition government, led by Pushpakamal Dahal and supported by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba decided to grant permission to the Indian Embassy to spend 200 million rupees on community development projects without informing the Nepal government. Nowhere in the world are foreign countries allowed to spend funds in a sovereign country. However, in Nepal, such a practice exists. For the first time, India-confident leader the late Surya Bahadur Thapa gave such permission to the Indian Embassy to spend 30 million rupees directly. Later, when Baburam Bhattarai, another Indian confidant leader became the prime minister, the amount was increased to 50 million rupees. Prime Minister Dahal, who claims to be an “India comfortable leader” and his government as “India comfortable”, without any hesitation, permitted the Indian Embassy to spend up to 200 million rupees. Explaining a parliamentary committee, Dahal said that this is not a big issue as other countries are also spending funds directly. If other countries are doing so, why the government didn’t take action against them for violating the nation’s law? Again, PM Dahal is clarifying that the Indian Embassy cannot spend money without the Nepal government’s approval. Questions arise, when the Indian Embassy is spending 50 million rupees on different projects, is the government informed and has it approved the projects? We doubt the monitoring mechanism of the present India-puppet government. The other doubt is that why India is concerned about spending on development projects in Nepal directly when the poverty level in India is so high. Surely, this is a malicious intention of India to buy Nepali political leaders to serve the hidden Indian interests. We all are aware that Indians have developed different blueprints in their Nepal policy. They are Bhutanization, Sikkimization, Kashmirization, Fijinization, etc.
The Indians never want to see Nepal as a prosperous nation having a self-reliant economy. Making Nepal economically weak and buying political leaders and Nepali nationals by distributing funds from the “dog’s food fund”.
In the past, we saw Nepali national-level politicians running behind the section officers at the Indian Embassy for the allocation of funds in their electoral constituencies and scholarships from their kids, relatives and close people. In fact, all the top-ranking leaders have enjoyed scholarships for their kids from the Indian Embassy. If our leaders bow down in front of the junior diplomats in the Indian Embassy, what should we expect from them? Now, that the amount has been increased to 200 million rupees, perhaps, we can see a race of political leaders to get the Indian Embassy funding.
Nepal’s two newly built international airports are virtually non-operation due to the Indian non-cooperation. Nepal has the right to raise this issue in the international platforms as a landlocked country. Singapore is a tiny country and all the aircraft use the Malaysian sky while landing and taking off from the International Airport in Singapore. Even drinking water is being supplied by Malaysia. This is an example of excellent neighbourly cooperation. India has not allowed the operation of the already installed equipment for the Instrumental Landing System (ILS) saying that it covers the Indian territory. The Indian authorities have not allowed entry air routes via Dhangadhi and Bhairahawa. The untold reason is that both airports were constructed through Chinese involvement.
India has decided to procure 10 thousand MW of electricity in 10 years. However, India has denied importing electricity produced from China-invested projects. Moreover, Indians have objections to importing electricity from the projects constructed by Chinese companies. These are examples of the Indian hegemony towards small nations in the reason.
There is a hue and cry about the Maldives in the Indian media these days. The Indian government is deadly against the newly elected President Mohamed Muizzu as he opposed the Indian hegemony and extended hands of friendship towards China. Now, the Indian government has declared an economic war against the Maldives. India has asked its citizens not to visit the Maldives with the plan of destroying the Maldives’ tourism industry.
The Nepal Electricity Authority has not made public how much net profit it earned from the exports of electricity to India. There is no homework for exporting 10 thousand MW of electricity to India. When we produce ten thousand MW of electricity and India cancels the deal, what Nepal should do in that case? Therefore, instead of thinking about exporting electricity to India, Nepal should develop an electricity consumption market within the country by establishing industries which consume a maximum quantity of electricity, such as silver factories or fertilizer factories, among others. The most essential thing is to develop a self-reliant economy by discarding any possible intervention from India in future. As we have experienced economic blockades time and again, we should remain alert from the Indian hegemony.
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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