Kathmandu, February 8 It appears the National Planning Commission (NPC), the apex body that frames the country’s development plans and policies, is itself unaware about development achievements made by Nepal. In the National Report on Sustainable Development Goals, a copy of which has been obtained by The Himalayan Times, the NPC has stated that Nepal is ‘very close to meeting the Human Assets criterion’ to graduate from the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs). This is a faulty statement because the United Nations (UN) has said Nepal met Human Assets and Economic Vulnerability criteria in 2015, putting the country on the path to graduating to the league of developing nations on technical grounds. A report prepared by the UN Committee for Development Policy in May 2015 says five LDCs, including Nepal, met graduation criteria for first time. The report specifically says Nepal has met criteria on Human Assets and Economic Vulnerability, making the country eligible for LDC graduation by 2021. It is not known why the NPC is trying to hide the country’s achievement. But the inaccurate statement contained in the report, which will be reviewed by the international community, will expose the government’s careless attitude and put a question mark on NPC’s credibility. NPC officials did not want to comment on the matter. To be able to graduate to the league of developing nations, an LDC, like Nepal, must meet two of three criteria fixed by the UN. First criterion fixed by the UN in 2015 was per capita gross national income of $1,242 or more. Second was the level of human capital present in a country, which is measured through Human Assets Index. The index includes indicators on gross secondary enrolment ratio, undernourishment, under-five mortality and literacy rates. In 2015, an LDC which scored 66 or more on this front was considered eligible for graduation. The third criterion for LDC graduation in 2015 was the country’s vulnerability to external economic and environmental shocks, which is measured through the Economic Vulnerability Index. This index includes eight indicators, and in 2015 an LDC with score of 32 or less was considered eligible for graduation. Of the three criteria, an LDC that meets only one criterion on per capita gross national income is considered eligible for graduation. But to graduate under this condition, the country’s per capita gross national income needs to be double the UN threshold. The other way to graduate is by meeting two of the three criteria. In 2015, Nepal’s per capita gross national income, as per the UN records, stood at $659, which was way below the UN threshold for graduation. However, Nepal had achieved a score of 26.8 in Economic Vulnerability Index, which was 5.2 points more than the UN threshold. Also, Nepal had scored 68.7 in Human Assets Index, which was 2.7 points more than the UN threshold. So, these achievements had made Nepal eligible to graduate to the league of developing nations on technical grounds. This means the UN does not consider income as the only determining factor for LDC graduation, which many fail to understand here. However, there is a caveat to this. An LDC, like Nepal, looking forward to graduating from LDC status must sustain achievements of 2015 till 2018, when the UN will conduct another review. If it is able to do so, the UN Economic and Social Council will forward the proposal on graduation to the UN General Assembly. The country will formally graduate after three years of formal decision taken by the General Assembly. This means Nepal has chances of graduating from the group of LDCs by 2021 — a year ahead of the 2022 deadline set by the government for the country’s elevation to the status of developing nations. Many, however, say graduation on technical grounds, or without raising the income level, will not be ‘meaningful’ because income is one of the tools to gauge the prosperity of country’s citizens. But this sentiment should not provide leeway to the NPC to distort a fact established by the UN. Others, meanwhile, fear devastating earthquakes of April and May and blockade on Nepal-India border points may have eroded gains made by Nepal. So, the country should not rush. But Swarnim Wagle, former NPC member who had closely watched Nepal’s graduation process, says the ‘achievements made by the country were cumulative and accrued over years, so sporadic events are not likely to erode those gains’. “Although 2015 was not a good year for Nepal, chances of the country suffering a devastating setback are very low. Only a big disaster can reverse those gains,” said Wagle. And even if the some of the gains were lost, Nepal still has time to make improvements, as the UN will conduct another triennial review of LDCs in 2018.