Implement VRA effectively

Successive governments have failed to implement the Vital Registration Act effectively. The main reasons for this failure are no other than lack of awareness, slackness in official procedures and tendency

to undermine the country's administrative system. It is also a fact that even those who work at the Vital Registration office have hardly registered their own marriage, the birth of their children or the death of their parents. When this is the state of affairs at the registration office it certainly will not be fair to blame the common people for not registering.

The Vital Registration Act (VRA) was passed in 1976 with the objective of keeping records of birth, death, migration, marriage and divorce in the country. Initially, this Act was introduced in ten districts only, but less than 25 percent of the total population in these districts had registered birth, death and other family events. This is probably because the realisation has not dawned among people that it is absolutely necessary to have data on birth, marriage, death, divorce and migration for successful development planning. Such data not only helps planners understand the trend of demographic change, but also provides statistical information about literacy rate, regional economic imbalances and change in personal and family lives. This apart, the vital registration document has to be produced at the time of admission of children to schools, health check up, police security, disaster relief, while obtaining passport, for funerals, so on and so forth.

The government allocates more than 9.3 million rupees every year for the registration office. However, Kathmandu, where over 1.5 million people live, recorded only three thousand births and less than two thousand deaths or marriages at the registration office in the last fiscal year. For this extremely poor registration, local government officials blame local illiterates who are not even aware of the system. The truth however is that the government has neither launched any awareness programme nor have local authorities implemented the VRA effectively. Under such circumstances, it is

quite difficult to imagine how the government makes development plans every year with such poor VRA records. Does it mean that the government introduces development plans without basing them on vital registration records? Or does it depend on the census which is recorded once every ten years? That too is unreliable. These are a few questions that remain unanswered.

Misdirection of development funds, corruption and negligence of legal procedures are factors that have weakened the country economically. Had successive governments used the recorded vital data for socio-economic development, things would have definitely been much better. It

has therefore become absolutely imperative for the government to implement VRA effectively. This must also include educating people about not just the importance of vital registration but also informing

them that registering such vital information will not only benefit the country but also themselves in the long run.

Bizarre story of vegetable ghee exports

By Sushil R Mathema

The export potential of Nepal's trade regime has always been considered vulnerable as the export sector is engulfed with the perennial problem of limited export diversification both in terms of products and markets. During the process of economic liberalization, Nepal went through substantial depreciation of its currency as it adopted a liberal import regime such as reducing tariff on import of raw materials meant for export-oriented industries. But Nepal has hardly experienced sustainable exports of long-term nature. It was only after the bilateral agreement reached at the secretary level between Nepal and India on March 1998 that Nepal found a new market among the one billion populace of India in its quest to diversify the export. The turning point in export diversification was supported by increasing Indian joint venture industries in Nepal (about 170) . With renewal of the 1950 Nepal-India Trade and Transit treaty in 1996, India provided unrestricted access to Nepal-manufactured goods to its market and eliminated previous conditions of labour and material content.

As a consequence, Nepal's export to third countries remained limited to a few prominent products such as woollen carpets and readymade garments with a new product-Pashmina shawls. As such, a number of manufactured products such as biscuits, noodles, toothpaste, polyester yarn, ayurvedic medicines, soap and vegetable ghee are lined up for the big export market, that is, India. Of late, vegetable ghee, which had no official record of its exports to India during 1996/97, registered an enduring figure equivalent to 1580 million rupees in 1997/98. Since then, export of vegetable ghee grew by two fold to 3146.4 million rupees in 1998/99. It was after this that domestic vanaspati ghee industries in India felt a threat, particularly in West Bengal and Bihar with increasing imports from Nepal. Since mid-July, 1999, Vanaspati Manufacturer's Association of India alleged that vegetable ghee imported from Nepal is sub-standard and should be subjected to the requirement of chemical tests for conforming to the standards prescribed under PFA (Prevention of Food Adulteration) Act. This, in fact was the starting point for imposition of non-tariff barriers in order to discourage the export of ghee to India. Also, the capacity utilization of Indian vanaspati industry was already declining to a level of 35 percent, and the import of cheap vegetable ghee from Nepal (as Nepalese producers were getting edible oil free of any levy against the requirement to pay custom duty of 15 percent on import of edible oils in India) was pushing hard the domestic industries in India.

Under pressure from the association of domestic industries, non-tariff barriers on vegetable ghee export of Nepal was more or less successfully imposed with the alleged detection of animal fat and tallow in the crude palm oil imported by Nepalese manufacturers for vegetable ghee production. While the claim by the Nepalese side that imported edible ghee meets international standard is still retained on one side, this has, however, affected export of vegetable ghee to India. This led to a sudden decline in the export volume of vegetable ghee which, was the largest exportable item since the last three years. It went down by 17.4 percent to an estimated 2600.4 million rupees in 1999/00. Besides the non-tariff barrier of strict requirement of chemical tests to ensure quality product as desired by the Indian side, other factors were also deemed responsible for such decline in the export of vegetable ghee. One of them could be increase in export tax on vegetable ghee from 0.5 percent to 3.0 percent last year which is considered a reflective measure to curb the excess exports to India which was seen as a self-defeating policy shift of the Nepalese side. Nonetheless, it is in line with rumours that the action was a signal of the pressure from India. Moreover, Indian vanaspati industries have recently attempted to remove excise duty on by-products of vanaspati and refined oil to offset imports from Nepal.

Recently, India has decided to put imported vanaspati and other hydrogenated products under the category of Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1998 and Vegetable Oil Products (Regulation) Order known as VOP which is being amended to bring in quality import of vanaspati ghee. It is not a good signal for Nepalese manufacturers that they have to learn to adopt a more cautious approach for maintaining the quality of vegetable ghee to meet requirements of international standard. A strong challenge on quality control measures has been raised for the protection of this booming export industry so that it has long-term sustainability .

Since the harmonization of trade policies in SAARC region has been urged at the regional forum and implementation of SAFTA is to be accelerated for mutual inter-trade benefits, the non-harmonic attitudes such as non-tariff barriers from the neighbouring India has not been compatible with the spirit of SAARC . This is also reflected in the provision of SAD (Special Additional Duty) on Nepalese exportable items to India including vegetable ghee. Regarding vegetable ghee, it is worthwhile to quote the Indian budget 2000/01 that 'Vegetable oils of edible grade, falling under Chapter 15 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, imported for the manufacture of oil commonly known as "Vanaspati" provided the importer, follows the procedures set out in the Customs Rules, 1996 is subjected to the nil rate of SAD. This clearly spells out that SAD is not applicable to raw materials for producing vegetable ghee but it is applicable on the final product. Besides, the breakdown in transport of certified vegetable ghee in the border areas time and again has also been a discouraging factor in the export potential of vegetable ghee to India.

The recent visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister G P Koirala and, his effort in making India agree to remove SAD on Nepalese exportable products will certainly help create better environment to promote export trade to India in the coming years. But the actual outcome will depend upon the sincerity in the implementation. In fact, the mutual understanding and harmonization to sustain the spirit of the 1996 Trade and Transit Treaty will benefit both countries if Nepal's exports to India are enhanced towards improving the trade balance and also, India will have the opportunity to establish its potential manufacturing and service industries under joint venture in Nepal.

In Nepal the manufacturing cost is plagued by small economies of scale thereby inhibiting the scope of profitability at large. While there exists a booming export market potential in the neighbouring big economy, Nepal has to learn to develop a specific strategy to promote exports to India. That is, Nepal needs to develop overall strategic measures including the efficient managerial ability to promote export products by identifying new exportable products and creating a conducive environment to switch over to alternate product, if it so desires, keeping in view the market demand in neighbouring India.

The move of modern life 

By Keshab Raj Acharya 

My friend received a letter yesterday from his mother. Instead of giving him pleasure it gave him pain. Thoughts were so nobly and effectively expressed that he sobbed out her letter. The letter read: "My dear son, I've not written to you for more than two months. I've been so distressed now that the circumstance here have often kept me awake at nights. You know how you completed university two years ago. I've heard that you are now holding a good job. I think you must know about..."

He felt humiliation as he read it. He couldn't make any reply at this moment since the whole content of it hurt him very shockingly.

As he was going through the letter from the beginning, his face was wet with tears. When he folded it he looked pallid and distorted and a bitter smile played about his lips. Neither his eyes nor his thoughts were in harmony with his milieu. He had never realized such a sordid situation in his career. He wished he had been a doctor or an engineer. He wished he could have been a minister

or at least a gazetted officer at this moment. But alas! his fortune threw him away to be a teacher, or better to say 'master'.

Next day he went to the temple and on his knees, with rolling tears on his lovely cheeks, prayed to God to bestow, strength on him to endure the bitter pain. He had a dream that one day he would succeed to wipe out the gush of tears of his mother with his wealth. He had always performed his duties very honestly since he followed every rule of the Almighty. He had hoped to be a respectable 'man' in society as his devotion to morality and virtuosity had been great. But it all turned out to be unfruitful. He couldn't hope now to find perfect happiness - it's just a will- o' - the - wisp.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm hinting at something here which must reveal you my own disposition, too. You must know as I think that in many cases now, what matters is wealth, I mean the cash. The more you are favoured by wealth, the sooner modern society offers you respect. The individual now can't be studied apart from wealth in society. Well, making money is not such an easy business. Your education matters nothing in its absence. Instead of health, morality, sincerity, magnanimity and virtuosity, importance has been shifted for wealth which has rather become the cruising speed of this carnival millennium. It is your wealth rather than your education, intelligence and morality that brings respect.

Wealth, no doubt, is needed for life itself and is its very foundation in this world. It has been meant for enjoyment now. Why should man follow ethical injunctions and care for other members of society since the ultimate aim of life has become the accumulation of wealth and enjoyment. If the highest ideal can be attained through wealth, why don't you indoctrinate your children in the methods of accumulating wealth and why impose on them the other kinds of moral and ethical activities? We can't take a person to the field which she/he feels disinterested in. Maybe you are also doing something wrong now by reading this as it is the time to collect wealth by any possible means. Don't kill time. So, let me quit and if you wish to forget all your moral duties, make your journey through multiple avenues for the same hypostasis. Hurry up!

All this and what next ? 

By Basanta Lohani

Samuel Johnson, an eighteenth century essayist known more as Dictionary Johnson, could have never imagined that what he said about politics as the last refuge of scoundrels would so aptly fit in Nepal. He might have used this definition in idiosyncratic parlance but its reality in terms of our practicing politicians' greed and callousness is indisputable. We do not need to make any special effort to see it. If we just look around, we will see it in the chaos and disorder in the country, in the shattered dreams and empty eyes of the people and, likewise, in so many ugly faces of practicing politicians. It is unusual for one to be the cause and effect but Koirala, the fourth time prime minister of this democratic country is amazingly both the cause and effect of this process. Let us just see what Koirala has to say this time.

Koirala has indeed hit the bull's eye this time when he spoke the truth that parliament is invaded by smugglers. Koirala allowed the cat out of the bag when he had to hit back at Khum Bahadur Khadga for having spearheaded the rebellion against his leadership. He thus continued: "our parliamentary practice is dismal due to invasion by the smugglers." Can a prime minister speak such things is a matter that will require a separate discussion. Instead of making such utterances, normally it becomes the responsibility of the prime minister to act upon it when he is aware of smugglers infiltrating parliament. Similar sentiment flowed inside parliament when Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, as the outgoing prime minister, disclosed on March 16, in his tearful goodbye speech, how airport smugglers snatched his ten month old premiership. Koirala has now corroborated what Bhattarai said five months ago.

The political game continues where the airport smugglers are firing the shots. He has concluded that these people come to parliament by spending fabulous amounts of money only to earn more money by ill means. To this end, they need to become minister or even prime minister. What Koirala has said is self explanatory, requiring no further elucidation. In Nepal, the name of the game of politics has thus become pervasively a money making business in the name of people, democracy and good governance. Along this line, almost all politicians, be it Khum Bahadur, Bijaya Gachhedar, Bharat Mohan, Rabindra Nath or Bamdev, are extremely worried about corruption and are showing lot of concern for the future of democracy in Nepal. The ugliness or beauty, either way one is interested to look at, is that, within their apprehension, corruption is hidden for every one to see.

So the airport smugglers have the strength to topple and form the government dictating their political and financial terms. The political process, as it is today, is consigned to posterity for it to surface as and when it becomes necessary for gaining legitimacy from the sovereign people of this country. Rest of the time, political banditry has become the rule of the game. For almost four years, the country has had to pass through instability unleashed by airport smugglers. This ailment, then, was attributed to a hung parliament and, Nepali Congress made people believe that single party government is the only cure.

People, thus, voted Nepali Congress to power fifteen months ago with comfortable majority in parliament but this ailment, instead of being cured, has taken many bizarre dimensions. Bhattarai became the victim of the airport smugglers after ten months, so he said. This time Koirala is in the ring still flexing his muscles to abort their moves. He fired, on August 8, Khum Bahadur Khadga, his one time trusted lieutenant from his job as water resources minister. Khadga had masterminded a move against his own boss. His action resembled Kamal Thapa's behaviour when Koirala was away on his ritualistic visit to New Delhi from July 31 to August 6. The grand finale is yet to be staged to decide modalities of cease-fire between the warring factions of the ruling party

This intra party coalition government, unlike the previous inter party governments, has manifested built-in pathology plaguing the nation and taking a heavy toll on democracy. It is believed that Khum Bahadur hit the conspiratory road for getting home portfolio or even for negotiating the deputy prime minister's slot for himself. Koirala did not yield. So far, he has yielded to two out of five demands of party opponents --a) to reshuffle his cabinet and b) central committee for giving them equitable berths. As the odds have it, an old Koirala is fighting with his own boys now deployed by Bhattarai who avoids one-to-one confrontation with Koirala but enjoys patronizing and plotting manoeuvres even in his approaching senile dementia more as a past master's playful activity.

Khum Bahadur perhaps deserves credit for benefiting his friends at his own cost this time. But he knows what personal business means in terms of settling the loss. It is widely believed that he has a dozen members of parliament inside his pocket for reasons best known to them. In the intra party congress coalition, where sharing benefit is the cardinal principle, the parliamentary arithmetic is as decisive as it was when Bhattarai had to resign or at the time when the country bore the filth of a hung parliament. Koirala's survival instinct had already prevailed when he said, " we will hammer out amicable solution soon." Let them hammer out to benefit each other by scratching each other's backs, but governance is at peril, so is democracy because of increasing greed and incompetence.

Other parties are envying NC's monopoly in harvesting the benefits. All of them know where and how money comes from while in state management. It is a lucrative business of people's welfare. The main opposition echoes the same sentiment that ten years of parliamentary exercise has not given the desired benefit, thus, requiring review under the formula of a national government. Rastriya Prajatantra Party is even more aggressive along this line espousing the need for constitutional amendment. Bamdev Gautam has even gone further with his proposal of a constitutional monarch's interference in parliamentary democracy in terms of requiring king's approval for becoming the country's prime minister.

If the last ten years are considered as transition, by all counts, it has been very disappointing and difficult. Those who fought for, as it seems, fought not for democracy but for transfer of power. This is how we can explain the lack of vision and values in them to sustain social change necessary for a strong and independent Nepal. The transformation in terms of being rich in a poor country has been remarkable for those who could link themselves in one way or the other with the democratic movement. Thus, the country has turned into a looter's paradise. The smugglers in parliament that the prime minister described do not have even that much of transparency as shown by Veerappan, the sandalwood smuggler of India.

This is how the country is becoming very weak internally for the external forces to dictate their terms and meddle freely in our affairs. Like in early 1950s, it is the external force that is taking our decisions in a new design, making this country vulnerable both economically and politically. The blessing-seeking psyche has shifted from people to elsewhere for those to be in political leadership and in authority. Political parties come only after the country. The irresponsible leadership in Nepali Congress no more has the right to make this country weak because of their monkey business. Endlessly talking about democracy and its struggle can no more be the refuge for their scoundrel-like activities. At the same time, the country can not look back. So for the purification campaign within each party, non party affiliated pressure groups need to be started to check those who are looting this country and making it dependent on outside forces in the name of democracy, development and good governance.