 |
Kathmandu Thursday February 28, 2002 Falgun 16, 2058.
|
Rescuing
Nepal from economic mess
By DR KRISHNA R REGMI
Nepal, known in the world as the land of the
Buddha, the apostle of world peace, and once proposed as a zone of peace in Asia and the
Pacific is now confronting continued disturbances and violence with lots of casualties and
a stream of bloodshed possibly leading to a never ending civil war if the gravity of the
problem is not understood, its genesis not well analysed and the problem itself not
tackled seriously and well in time. The outbreak of this man-made disaster is partly due
to poverty, social injustice and social imbalance, partly due to rising corruption and the
attitude of the politicians to people’s problems and partly due to lack of vision and
use of indiscriminate force by earlier governments. Even after 12 years of parliamentary
democracy, the people of the country are disappointed with the indifferent attitude of
their leaders to their problems and have started feeling suspicion and distrust about the
mechanism driving the system and the country’s development. The mechanism that is
operating as a driving force to the system needs to be overhauled and made more efficient
and effective through timely review and amendments.
Deterioration in morals: The parliamentarians,
who win elections by fraudulent means using coercion and money, will not be responsible to
the people-the electorate. Rather they follow corrupt practices to recoup the amount spent
on election and improve their strength to win future elections and occupy higher ranks and
positions. As a result, the country’s revenues and resources have been looted by
these political bandits who have thus become millionaires overnight. What can the country
and people expect from such self-centered politicians who differ in their words and deeds,
promises and action like wolves in lambs’ clothing? Hence a drastic deterioration in
moral horizons has been noticed in most of the party leaders and politicians. These
so-called politicians are after money by any means, fair or foul to resort to wine and
women and a luxurious life that was once beyond their reach. A high sense of morals and
readiness to make sacrifices are needed for politicians to really be Mr Clean and Mr
Ideal.
Democracy or Fraudo-cracy: The norms, values and
guiding principles that are ideals for a parliamentary type democracy are not sincerely
followed and cherished by the leaders and parties in practice though they frequently talk
about them and make a lot of fuss. As soon as one climbs the ladder of power or political
position, one starts distributing licenses, quotas, tenders, contracts, favour etc to near
and dears ones, puppets and followers. Thus winning of elections through fraudulent
practices and coercive means and thereafter earning huge amounts of wealth through
corruption and malpractices have converted Democracy into a Fraudo-Democracy. There is
still a lack of dedicated leaders like Nehru, Gandhi, Martin Luthar King or even Vajpayee
or the martyrs who could sacrifice their wealth and life for the sake of the country. The
moral horizon, has deteriorated more among the rightists, the Nepali Congress (NC) and RPP
leaders compared to the leftists. Even the supreme leaders or executives in the apex body
of the party /government/corporate body are not exempt from this syndrome of corruption
and foul practice.
Root cause of Maoist problem: The surgery
analysis of the Maoist problem indicates that the root cause of this problem is the
vicious cycle of poverty, unemployment, social exploitation and social injustice. The
irresponsible acts, selfish motives and corrupt behaviour of most political leaders and
the indifferent attitude of their parties to the country’s core issues like poverty
and hunger have further aggravated the problem and widened the gap between rich and poor.
The Girija government’s futile efforts to control the Maoist problem initially with
the use of the police and arms were a grave mistake. It shows lack of vision and
far-sightedness during the last seven years, under the NC-led governments. Thoughtless
home ministers like GR Joshi and ruthless IGPs like AK Kharel added fuel to the fire and
led the country to a possibly never ending civil war of revenge and attrition. Thus,
state-run police terrorism, committed in the beginning to crush the Maoist insurgency and
that resulted in heavy casualties including some innocent people, aggravated the
Maoist-led terrorism in the name of the so-called People’s War with the slogan of
liberating people from all kinds of social exploitation, injustice, inequality and
discrimination. This movement won wide popularity among the poor and the suppressed, and
the neglected tribal sections of society. It was an attraction to the unemployed youths
and teenagers and suppressed people across the length and breadth of the country, and
particularly in the poverty-stricken and feudal districts of western Nepal.
Depriving of fundamental rights: The government
as well as the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) should be more careful and alert not to kill
innocent people and harass them in the name of controlling terrorists and their supporters
(some under compulsion, fear and threat) during the emergency. RNA and the Armed Police
Force are mandated to disarm the Maoists and create a congenial atmosphere to bring them
into the political mainstream. Further continuation of the emergency should not deprive
the people and left-wing political workers of their fundamental rights and freedom and
divert the bulk of national resources and development budget to security purposes. It
should be a matter of SHAME for the government or parties in power to be reminded by
donors of the prevailing corruption in the country. As demanded by the opposition leaders,
the extraordinary powers the government can exercise during emergency with much less
difficulty should be utilized to solve the country’s major problems including the
Maoist one, and directed towards social
and economic reform and transformation followed by necessary amendments to the
Constitution.
Though Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is
willing to do so provided there is National Consensus, all parties should make sincere and
genuine joint efforts to achieve these goals during the 21st session of Parliament and
make it a historic one. Other important bills of national importance pending in parliament
should also be revived and passed. NC parliamentarians should support the Deuba government
with a full mandate for solving the country’s major problems rather than playing a
filthy game of power politics and displaying pseudo-support, with a knife ready to stab in
the back.
(To be concluded)
Other Stories
|
