Jagadish Sharma

With a million people trained and inducted as a productive force, it would not take long to transform this country.

The restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990 has transformed the Nepali political landscape. Along with the concomitant technological strides that have taken place in mass communication, the political experiment has generated phenomenal consciousness among the general populace. Even those who have been at the periphery have not remained unaffected as a result of the Maoist movement. Exercises in democracy may not have brought about much change in the socio-economic spheres of the country but has expanded the horizon of political consciousness in radical ways. An increased level of public consciousness combined with the popular aspirations being largely unmet provides tough challenges for any society in the form of violence, rebellion and a rise crime rates. It has therefore become most imperative to bring about the commensurate change in the socio-economic sphere as well. While as many as a million educated young people can in the foreseeable future be employed in information technology (IT) provided that we can make use of required vision and effort, an imaginative programme must immediately be devised to amalgamate the vast majority of the uneducated youth in our democratic process by providing them with ample opportunities for the development of their potentials and fulfilment of their aspirations.

In view of the fact that human resource is what we are abundant in, it is proposed that a group of one hundred people be recruited from village development committees and municipal wards for the purpose of being trained in military and entrepreneurial skills for a period of approximately three months. As we have no more than approximately 4,000 village development committees and 1,000 wards in urban municipalities, 5,000 training centres would suffice. A total of 500,000 young people can thus be inducted and trained for productive use every three months. There already exists a significant overseas market for recruitment of trained security personnel from Nepal. The demand for trained Nepali security personnel is presently so great that it can hardly be met with the present supply. A great many of the trainees would hence have no difficulty in finding employment overseas. The need for imparting military training cannot be made more apparent. The entire world is familiar with our heritage as Gurkha soldiers are famous for valour, faithfulness and integrity. It is hence only wise and imperative that we should immediately focus our efforts on selling the best brand at our disposal.

To those who do not opt for employment abroad and would instead want to stay in the country, technical and other entrepreneurial skills acquired in the training would come in handy. Entrepreneurship designed to create opportunities where none existed would constitute the crux of training. Such a focus would enable the trainees to start their own business and/or enterprise. Arrangements for providing required loans within the possible range would have to be made for the benefit of such people. Such a plan would not only provide massive employment for the uneducated youth, but also would greatly improve the law and order situation in the country. With a million young people trained and inducted as a productive force every six months, it would not take very long to economically and socially transform this country. The budgetary and other details of the plan remain to be worked out by experts.

Considering the fact that the major expenditure to be incurred at the initial stage is restricted to board and lodging for training, it is very much fiscally doable and operationally feasible. Besides, a significant portion of such training in terms of infrastructure and logistics can be outsourced to thoughtfully short-listed private security companies as well. Enterprising as they are, they will be more than happy to grab the opportunity. As far as the loan part is concerned, it comes at a later stage after the training is completed. And, recoverable as it is, it can be recycled any number of times. It may also be pointed out at this juncture that the public is presently known to have an amount of no less than a few hundred billion rupees as savings, which have been lying idle for want of productive investment. The pace with which the public is known to grab treasury bonds no sooner than they are issued is a living testimony and must be utilised for productive and gainful ends. In order to ensure that this capital does not find its way out of the country as it has lately been evident, it has become all the more necessary to come up with imaginative investment plans like the present one to take the public as well into confidence. Needless to add, if the plan turns out to be too massive to be operationalised, it can always be implemented in phases. Attempts to forge a national consensus on initiating a plan of this magnitude will, of course, have to be simultaneously made by political means designed with ingenuity.

Dr Sharma is a political analyst