Dear Karki jee,
Thank you for circulating the very interesting and timely op-ed
write-up by the Nagarik editor, Prateek Pradhan, entitled "Samaj ma
Chet Pharkiyeko Bela" that, among others, rebuked PM Sushil Koirala
for the fickleness of his leadership as he capitulated to the
blackmail by 168 avaricious UML CA members with Rajendra Pandey as
their ringleader. While Dr. Govind KC's fifth "fast unto death"
protest once again unleashed the wrath of the nation, forcing PM
Koirala to another round of capitulation, Mr. Pradhan himself has
chosen to see it as a marker of the "return of the nation's urge for
vigilance', a rather too optimistic a characterization in view of the
fact that it is only likely to leave the overall corruptibility and
the blatant lack of accountability of the Koirala government largely
intact. Furthermore, Mr. Pradhan mentions that the NC and the UML
"have always fought for people's right", a compliment totally
uncalled for in view of the fact that he laments in the same breath
that people have never been able to experience "social justice" as and
when they have been in power. Mr. Pradhan has also gone on to bank on
the NC's upcoming national convention to throw up more honest leaders.
But he acknowledges that it is a hope against hope, because by his own
judgment, the NC politicians, by the time they qualify to rise up to
becoming convention delegates, would have already "consigned to
flames" any capacity they might have had for "ethics, honesty and good
character". As indicated by Mr. Pradhan at various points in his
write-up, a successful politician in Nepal is necessarily a corrupt
man (or woman). It is so for two reasons. Given the stubborn
persistence of feudalistic order in Nepal, almost all politicians come
from among the ranks of feudal elites whose hallmark is extraction of
resources from the community without accountability to go with it.
Corruption is just one means of such extraction. Secondly, since most
voters are poor and lack access to proper education, money plays the
central role in elections. Therefore, unless there is a fundamental
reformulation of Nepal's polity, these political parties, which
incidentally number in hundreds to underscore the widespread
prevalence of feudalistic order in the country, cannot but be the
instruments of sustained decay and destruction of the nation.
In the present day world, outside of the city state of Singapore,
China has the record of being the fastest developing nation in the
world. But in two areas, Nepal has excelled even China. After Nepal
nationalized its forests in 1957, it was subjected to sustained
denudation, bringing the country to the brink of desertification by
mid-Eighties. In 1988, Nepal legislated forest user groups--that now
number 18,000 in the country-- empowering the forest users themselves
to manage their own forests. The result was dramatic; by the end of
the century, Nepal's forest wealth had staged a successful comeback.
In other words, it took thirty years for Nepal to wreck its forests
and only ten to rebuild it. Similarly, the same year, Nepal introduced
mothers' groups and female community health volunteers in the
communities--that now number 52,000 each in the country--that
empowered the mothers themselves to access necessary health services
from, the government health posts and bring them to the doorstep of
all the mothers and their children in the communities all over the
country. Because of these institutions, today, Nepal ranks at the top
of the table in international ranking in meeting the MDGs in child
survival and maternal mortality rate reduction. The secret of their
success lay in the fact that when the users themselves--not their
so-called "representatives" in the VDCs-- are empowered to manage
their own services, even the feudalistic order is not a deterrent.
Participation of the users themselves assures transparency of
management that , in turn, ensures accountability of leaders. In
short, the user managed institutions assure good governance
conditions, the hallmark of a genuine democracy. Given the
internationally applauded successes in these two sectors, it has
always been abundantly clear that all the development sectors could
benefit from such an approach and that would be the surest way for
Nepal to graduate out of poverty. But these feudal crooks who
masquerade as "politicians" and "people's representatives" have never
done anything to empower the people themselves to manage their own
affairs. Therefore, what Nepal needs is to end the endless run of
these corrupt politicians and reformulate its polity in a manner that
would inalienably empower the people themselves at the grassroots. I
hope this makes sense to Mr. Pradhan.
Warm regards
Bihari Krishna Shrestha
Thank you for circulating the very interesting and timely op-ed
write-up by the Nagarik editor, Prateek Pradhan, entitled "Samaj ma
Chet Pharkiyeko Bela" that, among others, rebuked PM Sushil Koirala
for the fickleness of his leadership as he capitulated to the
blackmail by 168 avaricious UML CA members with Rajendra Pandey as
their ringleader. While Dr. Govind KC's fifth "fast unto death"
protest once again unleashed the wrath of the nation, forcing PM
Koirala to another round of capitulation, Mr. Pradhan himself has
chosen to see it as a marker of the "return of the nation's urge for
vigilance', a rather too optimistic a characterization in view of the
fact that it is only likely to leave the overall corruptibility and
the blatant lack of accountability of the Koirala government largely
intact. Furthermore, Mr. Pradhan mentions that the NC and the UML
"have always fought for people's right", a compliment totally
uncalled for in view of the fact that he laments in the same breath
that people have never been able to experience "social justice" as and
when they have been in power. Mr. Pradhan has also gone on to bank on
the NC's upcoming national convention to throw up more honest leaders.
But he acknowledges that it is a hope against hope, because by his own
judgment, the NC politicians, by the time they qualify to rise up to
becoming convention delegates, would have already "consigned to
flames" any capacity they might have had for "ethics, honesty and good
character". As indicated by Mr. Pradhan at various points in his
write-up, a successful politician in Nepal is necessarily a corrupt
man (or woman). It is so for two reasons. Given the stubborn
persistence of feudalistic order in Nepal, almost all politicians come
from among the ranks of feudal elites whose hallmark is extraction of
resources from the community without accountability to go with it.
Corruption is just one means of such extraction. Secondly, since most
voters are poor and lack access to proper education, money plays the
central role in elections. Therefore, unless there is a fundamental
reformulation of Nepal's polity, these political parties, which
incidentally number in hundreds to underscore the widespread
prevalence of feudalistic order in the country, cannot but be the
instruments of sustained decay and destruction of the nation.
In the present day world, outside of the city state of Singapore,
China has the record of being the fastest developing nation in the
world. But in two areas, Nepal has excelled even China. After Nepal
nationalized its forests in 1957, it was subjected to sustained
denudation, bringing the country to the brink of desertification by
mid-Eighties. In 1988, Nepal legislated forest user groups--that now
number 18,000 in the country-- empowering the forest users themselves
to manage their own forests. The result was dramatic; by the end of
the century, Nepal's forest wealth had staged a successful comeback.
In other words, it took thirty years for Nepal to wreck its forests
and only ten to rebuild it. Similarly, the same year, Nepal introduced
mothers' groups and female community health volunteers in the
communities--that now number 52,000 each in the country--that
empowered the mothers themselves to access necessary health services
from, the government health posts and bring them to the doorstep of
all the mothers and their children in the communities all over the
country. Because of these institutions, today, Nepal ranks at the top
of the table in international ranking in meeting the MDGs in child
survival and maternal mortality rate reduction. The secret of their
success lay in the fact that when the users themselves--not their
so-called "representatives" in the VDCs-- are empowered to manage
their own services, even the feudalistic order is not a deterrent.
Participation of the users themselves assures transparency of
management that , in turn, ensures accountability of leaders. In
short, the user managed institutions assure good governance
conditions, the hallmark of a genuine democracy. Given the
internationally applauded successes in these two sectors, it has
always been abundantly clear that all the development sectors could
benefit from such an approach and that would be the surest way for
Nepal to graduate out of poverty. But these feudal crooks who
masquerade as "politicians" and "people's representatives" have never
done anything to empower the people themselves to manage their own
affairs. Therefore, what Nepal needs is to end the endless run of
these corrupt politicians and reformulate its polity in a manner that
would inalienably empower the people themselves at the grassroots. I
hope this makes sense to Mr. Pradhan.
Warm regards
Bihari Krishna Shrestha