Two new reports have come out on development in Nepal. The first relates to the Millennium Development Goals Progress Report, launched jointly by the government and UNDP on Wednesday. It bases its conclusions on the findings made in five districts — Morang, Chitwan, Bhaktapur, Banke and Kanchanpur — representing Nepal along its length from east to west. It has found that the far- and mid-western regions are the most deprived of economic development. For instance, it says that Kanchanpur in the far west has four times as high percentage of people living below the national poverty line as Bhaktapur does — 36% as against 9%. On the same occasion, a second report, jointly prepared by UNDP and UNICEF, was also unveiled — Voices of the People on Development. A collection of case studies, the report sees poverty as the overriding hurdle to the attainment of the MDGs. It concludes that the reality is quite different despite all efforts at inclusive and equitable development.

Numerous study projects have been undertaken on balanced regional development and in recent years also on various aspects of the UN-prescribed MDGs. However, actual progress has always been a far cry from liberal goal-setting. On the occasion, National Planning Commission vice chairman Jadadish Chandra Pokharel said that the purpose of these reports was to “localise” MDGs at district level and “internalise” the thrust of MDGs among the stakeholders. These will help, according to him, in the formulation of district periodic plans and also guide the drafting of the interim national development

plan, thus making it easier to achieve the MDGs. The MDGs relate to eight important sectors like poverty, education and health, with deadline 2015, which is less than nine years away. The MDGs, for instance, aim to halve poverty, which seems to be a tall order. It looks our planners and policymakers still seem to sell a dream.

As for regional balance in development, the first report did not come out with a basic truth that had not long been known — the further west you go, the more underdeveloped Nepal you see. It is common knowledge that there is much disparity between a far-western district like Kanchanpur and the Kathmandu Valley. And MDGs had a fundamental flaw in its very conception. That for the sake of simplicity, the UN laid down common goals for every developing country, without paying attention to their peculiar conditions, their varying capacities and resources, their different levels of political stability, rule of law, corruption index, etc. The UN, like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, comes up with a catchy development slogan every so often. In the past, too, Nepal adopted such goals as Education for All and Health for All, but little came of them. While reports have started coming that most countries are not in a position to realise the MDGs, our planners and policymakers should have the courage to tell the truth. But, at least, the slogan has given political leaders and planners an internationally recognised dream to sell to the people.