The problems of the economy are the product of a lack of principles, thoughtlessness, moral decay and anti-national tendencies of the political parties. Mafia groups, who represent the businessmen, bankers and lawmakers, have a strong grip on the country's politics, economy and financial system. Anti-national elements have auctioned off public land
KATHMANDU, JANUARY 3
The long period from 2007 to 2079 was enough time to lay the foundation for the structural change, development and social justice of the Nepali nation.
The disparity, chasm between the rich and poor, inequality in access to resources and mass poverty are still cross-cutting issues. Poverty is said to have now dropped to 17.4 per cent after 47 years, from around 48 per cent in 2030. But the irony is that a tiny portion of the population holds an immensely larger wealth with the larger group pushed into the trap of deprivation and exclusion.
Yesterday's feudal lords, political leaders and bureaucrats, who gulp salaries and allowances by taxing the commoners, have been established as the richest. Such a system is being propagated by the political parties that are said to carry socialist ideas. In such a situation, the claim that poverty has been steadily decreasing does not hold much water. The role of 'pseudo economists', trained and nurtured by the World Bank to create confusion among the people by using fake data, is dominating.
Neoliberalism, implemented by the Nepali Congress (NC) since 1992 and continued by the Communist Party of Nepal, worked to dismiss the state-owned public economic and financial sector developed before 1990. From 1988 to 1994, the rate of industrialisation, which was increasing by 16 per cent, decreased to -6 per cent in 2004.
In 2020, luxury goods worth Rs 886 billion were imported into Nepal. The trade deficit in 2021 was about Rs 7 trillion. The cost of food and agricultural imports in 2020 was Rs 325 billion. These statistics establish the following truths:
The economy of Nepal has been built upon corrupt and comprador capitalism (a) Limited individuals and families have created a network of commissariats by taking the deposits of the common people as loans – of around Rs 30 trillion – and invested in unproductive sectors; (b) corruption has ensnared the entire financial system of the country; (c) Nepali society has transformed into a consumerist society; (d) there is extreme commercialisation of education and the health sector. Public educational institutions have reached a state of disintegration, and 80 per cent of students entering the nation's higher education come from the rich and 20 per cent from the middle class. Therefore, education itself is preparing the basis for class inequality.
It is clear that all these problems of the economy are the product of a lack of principles, thoughtlessness, moral decay and anti-national tendencies of the political parties. Mafia groups, who represent the businessmen, bankers and lawmakers, have a strong grip on the country's politics, economy and financial system. Anti-national activities from plotting farm land, registering public land and forests as personal property to auctioning off lands of public institutions of the state have taken place.
In the last seven decades, basically two political trends are seen. During the three decades of the Panchayat political autocracy, some progress was made for the prosperity of the Nepali people. The peasants were given partial ownership of the land they tilled. But the politics that prevailed during that period was not free from feudal chieftaincy. The Panchayat system, which did not want to be inclusive, did not give freedom to the Nepali people. The 2046 political change established liberal democracy, but it has failed to bring about the desired radical transformation in democracy and social structure. The mainstream and Madhes-centric parties are only following the principles of 'Machiavelli'. They have been using business, brokering, corruption and unfair practices in politics to maintain their dominance.
After democracy was introduced in 2046, a few crony capitalists and the political leadership that served them hijacked the nation's economy, seized the economic and financial resources, and embarked to legitimise crony capitalism. The so-called democratic parties dismissed the state's social security and welfare obligations to its citizens in the name of privatisation.
Out of the seven decades, the first three decades were focussed on preserving the privileges of feudal institutions. The politics of the last four decades has been focussed on the protection of selfish interests. These last four decades have established the following beliefs in Nepali politics: "In politics, ideological recognition based on class relativity and contradictions is a secondary issue." An election does not require the justification of any moral conduct to come to power.
The major parties, namely the NC, UML and the Maoist Centre (MC), have established the belief that no power in politics has 'permanent enemies and permanent friends'. The UML and MC have deviated from Marxist thinking.
In liberal democracies, the belief that an alternative to a political organisation is the 'individualist' is projected. But trends seen in the Nepali political arena present politics as a 'thoughtless' awakening without awareness. These tendencies are of a grossly anti-social political character.
Therefore, there is a need of educated youths who are politically aware to bring concrete change. Only a progressive mind can tackle the political turmoil, economic crisis, sufferings and formulate policies for development.
We need a system that maintains a balance between the natural resources and means of the state. We will be inclined towards socialism only if the government system works for people's security rather than their own interest.
Bhattarai is with Kathmandu School of Law
