Face-to-Face
Dr. Sohan Prasad Sha is currently a vice chair of the Madhes Province Policy and Planning Commission (PPPC) in the Government of Madhes Province, Nepal. He is also the youngest Vice-Chair of PPPC in Nepal so far. Previously, he was a member of the PPPC for a brief period. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Dr. Sha has made significant contributions through his published articles, covering an array of topics such as contemporary political developments in the Tarai/Madhes region and studies in science and technology. One of his recent noteworthy publications is "Barefoot Research in Madhesh Province, 2023."
Bal Krishna Sah of The Himalayan Times caught up with him recently and discussed problems impeding Madhes progress and solutions. Excerpts:
What are the issues that Madhes is facing?
Madhes currently faces three issues. First is education. Education has deteriorated disproportionately when compared to other provinces in Nepal. Literacy data: for example, in the 1991 census, only ten districts in Nepal had the lowest literacy rates, and one district from Madhes province, Rautahat, had the lowest illiteracy rate. In the 2001 census, four of Madhes province's eight districts were among the least literate in Nepal. 2011 census, six districts in Madhes were among the least literate in Nepal, out of eight.
According to the most recent census, seven districts in Nepal have the lowest literacy rates. Unfortunately, six of them are in Madhes. This provides ample evidence how literacy has declined in the Madhes Province. So education is one of the most pressing issues in Madhes. And our young generation's education is deteriorating as compared to the previous decades. So we need to reverse that.
The second issue is unemployment. As you see, the majority of the migrant workers who are employed in Arab countries are disproportionately higher compared to other countries. With this, there is another problem: because of illiteracy, skilled workers are not going to the migrant workers' market. As a result, on the labour value chain, our migrant workers are not earning as much as they should have earned as skilled human resources.
Unemployment is throughout Madhes. Unemployment is a bigger problem in Madhes province because it occupies 6.5 per cent of the area but has the highest concentration of population (21 per cent). We are facing labour crises due to foreign employment because young people are in the gulf. We don't find labour to work in agriculture farms. This has increased the unemployed labour because industrialisation is not taking place.
So unemployment is the second major problem. And this connects to all other problems that you can think of in this province.
The third major problem is that of deterioration in higher education. We think that the Madhes have a lot of technical manpower in engineering and medicine, but this is not the case. Other groups are catching up very fast in the higher education system. We have four campuses, constituent campuses in Birgunj, Janakpur, Mahottari and Saptari.
Higher education is deteriorating and dysfunctional. The Madhes province's shortage of skilled human resources can be attributed to the failure of its higher education system. These are the three primary issues we are addressing. And, without sophisticated human resources, the entire development process becomes problematic. Because you need people to advise the human capital, but the formation of human capital in Madhes province is declining.
How do you plan to address them in three years?
We have allocated a significant budget. For example, on the first issue of education, we allocated a significant budget to the Saksharta program (a literacy program). This government is committed to resolving the Madhes literacy issue. So we are planning accelerated learning programs to improve our literacy data significantly by the next census.
We have a significant budget for employment in various sectors, including migrant and skilled workers, the Swarojgar curriculum, and small and medium-sized enterprise support programs for women. We hope that by doing so, we will be able to alleviate some of our current unemployment issues.
However, when it comes to the third issue, the deterioration of higher education, Madhes cannot intervene in Tribhuvan University-affiliated colleges. Because that is not within our jurisdiction. However, Madhes province has established several higher education institutions, including Madhes Biswavidyalaya.
We have two universities: Madhes Institute of Health Sciences and Madhes Agricultural University. So these are the three programs, and we have to maintain balance on the basis of location from east to west, putting higher education institutions in their proper place.
In the case of higher education, we are attempting to carve out our own space. Meanwhile, we are doing our best to address the human capital issue through our own initiatives.
Furthermore, we have made a significant achievement by obtaining an MBBS seat in Madhes. There are 50 seats in MIHS. We already offer MD courses. We recently added 50 more seats. So, for the first time, a government-initiated institution will have a medical seat and medical education in our system. We believe that we will also make significant contributions to medical education. And it is a historic achievement to have a medical course of our own.
How do you think climate change and drought are impacting Madhes?
Climate change is most likely having the greatest impact on the Madhes Province. People have barely noticed, but this is a fact because we have a high population density and are experiencing significant water crisis. Because of Chure depletion, the province's groundwater recharge system is almost completely depleted.
Chure Bhawar depletion is worsening. And the Madhes have a lower concentration of forests than the rest of the provinces. All of this is also in a state of depression as a result of the high population pressure and development projects.
The government has launched a replanting and afforestation program involving 10 million trees. This will improve in some ways, but not significantly, unless and until chure depletion is stopped. Almost every day, the Chure experiences pressure.
As a result, we are in the midst of a crisis. So there is now a debate about the need for a Chure Bhawar Bill, which will significantly protect us from the depletion of natural resources that is occurring. Groundwater recharge is also a major concern. We have some funding for the groundwater recharge system as well as feasibility studies on how to re-energise the groundwater system, and there is also a massive awareness campaign on the Chure, as Chure is the Madhes' lifeline, and without it, the Madhes face existential threats.
Thus, Chure is the top priority for saving and protecting, and the government takes this very seriously. Last year, we experienced a significant reduction in rainfall. This has affected our agriculture. Birgunj experienced a water crisis, as has Janakpur, and all other major cities' hand pumps are not working. Our groundwater level is dropping drastically and is depressing.
How have you envisioned the solution related to education?
We are attempting to intervene in the launch of a campaign to enrol every child in school. Literacy is a major issue in Madhes, as the majority of out-of-school students are children who have never attended school. So, in order to improve the literacy programme, we are launching a large enrolment campaign at the school.
To that end, we are working to make the school more appealing to children, particularly marginalised people, through model school proposals and other initiatives aimed at reforming the school so that children will be drawn to it. We also intend to improve the classroom setups despite budget constraints.
Furthermore, for sports, we are developing a mega project as the Ram Janki multi-purpose stadium to host Olympic-style games. We have one stadium dedicated to cricket, football, and swimming, among other sports. We also have funds to support sports materials for schools, the community, and youth organisations.
We have a budget for this season's Madhes Premier League. For this type of collaboration, we are launching two programs. We are starting the Mukhya Mantrisanga Niji Kshetra. That is the only program for which we want to provide legal status in order to facilitate collaboration between the government and the private sector. We are also proposing a bill for public-private partnerships. A bill to allow private investors to enter markets where the government's budget is limited. Things will not move forward unless there is collaboration with the private sector. Our budget systems are extremely constrained. So, for sports and many other things, we are looking for collaborations to solve problems and provide solutions. The question is about solutions, right? To provide solutions, we are developing such programmes.
How can Madhes improve its employment opportunities and agricultural sector?
We have invested heavily in skill development and the promotion of self-employment programmes. This time, one positive development is that we have allocated a sufficient budget for women in agriculture. The Mahila Swayam Sebak Karyakram. Mahila Swayam Sevak Karyakram has a sizable budget as well. Because, if you look at agriculture, our youth are in the Gulf countries. So we want women to take up agriculture, and we want to prepare them for it. So we are investing a significant amount of money in women's agricultural scaling programmes.
So this is how we believe that employment and the agricultural sector can improve. This time, another agricultural program is being implemented, as we have nearly 100,000 hectares of barren land. We have a significant program with a budget of about Rs 40 million. Furthermore, we have developed a variety of portable cold storage, which is a small cold storage unit that can be moved from one location to another as needed for agricultural purposes.
It's an innovative idea that we are working on. We approved Madhes Pradesh's second five-year plan document under my leadership. We have one campaign in the agriculture section called "feed the nation campaign" from the Madhes province.
