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Kathmandu Saturday September 01, 2001 Bhadra 16, 2058.
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On
Deuba’s ceiling
The recent statement by Prime Minister Sher
Bahadur Deuba regarding the ceiling of land comes at an interesting point of the
initiation of deliberations with the Maoists. Apart from the legal validity of the
statement, it reflects the sorry state of our economic development as our only viable
option seems to be division of land which merely is a policy of the government to hide its
absolute failure in generating employment opportunities in the industrial sector.
In an era of free market economy and
globalization, it is essential to promote land consolidation and not fragmentation, as
fragmentation will only lead to further subsistence farming. The agriculture needs to be
treated as an industry. An introduction of progressive taxation will prevent absentee
landlordism and increase productivity. Farmers have the right to hold any amount of land
and to generate wealth from it and the ceiling issue is merely a signal to the farmers
that they do not have the right to be rich - that prerogative is reserved only for the
industrialists.
Regarding land ceiling, the government needs
to concentrate on urban land ceiling where the unaccountable wealth of the corrupt urban
based minority elite is invested. The ceiling has to be based on the value of the land and
not merely on the quantity of land for hundreds of bighas of prime agricultural land which
is hardly worth a few ropanis in Kathmandu valley. If the government follows the policy of
"land to the tiller - it also has to promote factory to the worker".
Stop politicizing the issue of land instead
concentrate on the issue of corruption, freezing of unaccountable wealth and prevention of
flight capital will ensure enough wealth in country to initiate economic development
without having to discuss land division. However, the attempt by the government to pass a
lame corruption bill is an indicator of where the interest of the government lies.
Incidentally, the people are not interested in the amount of wealth that an individual has
but the source of that wealth.
Free Thinkers Society
Kathmandu |
