Remodeling Economy

PRIME MINISTER and President of the ruling Nepali Congress Girija Prasad Koirala clearly and openly spoke of the need for accelerating the pace of country’s economic and social development by remodeling Nepal’s economy and formulating economic policies taking into account the national needs as well as new trends in the international economy. Prime Minister Koirala, inaugurating a workshop on " Economic achievement and challenges of the past and strategy for the Future" in Kathmandu the other day, said that economic policies and programmes should be designed in a way that represent the true aspirations of the poor segment of society. Ever since its inception, the Nepali Congress has been advocating democratic socialism. As such, the observation of Premier Koirala, who is the head of the ruling party as well as the government, for remodeling Nepal’s economy to represent the demands and needs of the poorest segment of the society should be viewed in this light. It is true that unless and until the poorest segment of society is not brought to the mainstream of national development, the long-term and sustainable economic development of the country is not possible. Thus, the government has come up with its commitment in terms of policies as well as programmes for alleviating poverty and uplifting the overall condition of those living below the poverty line and who constitute almost half of the total population of the country. In order to make the poverty alleviation programme a success and bringing the poor people into the mainstream of development, more focus and emphasis have to be laid on the development of agriculture, tourism and water resources—all of which are the backbone of Nepal’s economy and country’s long-term development. As said by Premier Koirala, all political parties, whose concerns are also to attack the massive poverty in the country, need to give priority to the development of these sectors and extend cooperation to achieve the government’s lofty goal of poverty alleviation.

At a time when the budget session of Parliament has already been summoned and the government is busy working for the preparation of the budget for the next fiscal year, the observations of Prime Minister Koirala as well as Finance Minister Mahesh Acharya, who also spoke at the same function, regarding nation’s economic policies, definitely carry special significance. Since all this speaks of the firm intention of the government’s policy to liberate the people and the country from the clutches of poverty and underdevelopment, it behooves upon all to forward cooperation from their respective side.

Power From Peltrics

THE oft-repeated irony with Nepal is that for most Nepalese electricity exists only in the realm of dreams despite the fact that hydropower potentials of the country is one of the highest in the world. The electricity grid that the country has, leaves out eighty-five per cent of the Nepalese. Water, from which energy can be harnessed, may be gurgling down the slopes just round the corner, but villagers have continue to live with what little light kerosene-fed lamps provide. In waiting to be connected to the electricity grid, a village can wait forever, given how slow the pace is in hydropower development. That something substantial can be done to make a jump into the bright world of hydro-electricity has been proven by villages in a village Development Committee of Parbat district, one of the hilly western districts. Thanks to the efforts of local people, the local bodies and a rural energy development programme, Bhoksing Village Development Committee is all lit now. The VDC has turned into a model energy-producing VDC. It was not a fluke development that Bhoksing got on the road to tap the nearby Chharchhare stream with two peltric sets in August of 1998. The VDC sent a team to Baglung’s Chhisti VDC where they had successfully been running a micro-hydel with peltric sets. Duly learning from it and with some support from the energy programme, the Bhoksing people went for the peltrics. Voluntary labour was not in short supply. In short, the prospects of bringing electricity to their homes had excited the people to a degree where they were more than happy to support the programme in kind. Their enthusiasm was matched by the assisting organisations. Besides the grants from the rural energy development programme, DDC and VDC, Agriculture Development Bank had also helped.

The story of Bhoksing is one of how local people with some support from outside organisations are eager to undertake projects that improve their lives. That kind of zeal must be latent in villagers in hundreds of VDCs in Nepal. The challenge for the rural energy programmes is to draw on their interest through some timely and judicious support, Bhoksing is already thinking of saw mills and flour mills and oil mills to better the village economy, that would have been unthinkable without the availability of electricity. Some development, much-talked-about yet rare, clearly has arrived in Bhoksing. Thanks to a couple of peltric sets and community participation in trying them out.