Strengthening Democracy

PRIME Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, while addressing the Asia Society in New York the other day, observed that democracy entails the spirit of freedom, rule of law, independence, self-reliance and, above all, the will to achieve and keep them. He further said that the nutrients of that spirit are still weak in Nepal, where the challenges are compounded by poverty and illiteracy. Nepal is presently ten years into multiparty democracy. Within this 10-year period, the Nepalese people and the political parties have garnered valuable democratic experiences. More heartening to note is that all the Nepalese are determined to gainfully utilise them to further strengthen the ideals and practices of democracy in the country. Yet, along with the re-ushering in of democracy, the expectations of the people have greatly heightened. One ready reason is that for thirty long years they were not only being forfeit of their fundamental rights but also held back from opportunities to enhance their socio-economic status. As such, now that there is a government of the people, by the people and for the people in Nepal, it is but natural for them to place higher expectations in democracy—which, as all know, is a time-tested system endowed with the proven ability to fulfill the expectations of the largest number of people.

However, for any people’s government of a cash-crunched, resource-strapped and landlocked nation like Nepal, to translate their heightened hopes into concrete fruits is a Herculean proposition and task. For, such a government is invariably forced to juggle with the meager resources at hand to meet the yearly growing expectations and hopes of the people. In addition to all this, the over three decades of economic mismanagement has bequeathed the government with a moribund economy. In such an unenviable situation, the government needs to rely on the goodwill and largesse of the nation’s development partners to assist and expedite its development endeavours. It’s not that the government is not in the know about the immediate and long-term problems and challenges it needs to overcome to improve the people socio-economic status, thereby sustaining the people’s faith in the new dispensation. The plethora of economic policies, programmes to kick-start the economy and the slew of legislations to attract foreign investments and protect the investors’ investments are there to prove this. What it needs now is for its development partners to provide the nutrients so necessary to strengthen the people’s democratic spirit by way of added investments in the nation’s varied economic sectors. Premier Koirala’s observations should be viewed in this light.

IT Policy

A THREE-DAY international conference on information technology or Summit-2000, participated by about 200 experts from 11 countries, including Nepal, kicked off in Kathmandu the other day. Minister for Science and Technology Surendra Prasad Chaudhari, while inaugurating the conference, observed that His Majesty’s Government is serious in developing IT and making optimum use of it for the development of the country. For this, the government, according to Minister Chaudhari, is soon going to announce a new policy relating to IT. Presently, with the rapid advancements in the field of IT, the world is heading fast to becoming a Global Village. However, while some developed nations are already deriving maximum benefits from the newer advancements in the sphere of IT, the majority of the developing countries, including Nepal, have yet to gain even minimum benefits from this field. One ready reason for this can be attributed to the lack of necessary infrastructure. Without the required infrastructure in place, it is impossible to even think of transferring IT know-how to Nepal, leave alone integrating this newest knowledge-based technology to give a fillip to the nation’s development endeavours. Other reasons could be the glaring shortage of skilled manpower to integrate IT in the Nepalese context as well as the telling absence of an appropriate national policy for the promotion of IT in the country. Despite the lack of such requisites to foster IT in Nepal, it is heartening to note that this newest technology has already entered the country. Yet, it is in its infant stage. As such, if this infant IT is ever to grow into a full-fledged industry in the country, it goes without saying that necessary requisites should be in place. And the earlier, the better for the nation. Till date, the government does not have a specific policy for the expansion and development of IT. Without such a policy, not only interested IT companies but even investors would be reluctant to come to Nepal with their know-how and money. And in their absence, it would not be possible to develop a highly trained core cadre of IT-savvy manpower. The need, therefore, is to bring about a policy governing IT with the objective of developing this sector. At a time when the government is busy in drafting its IT policy, it is to be hoped that the international conference would provide positive inputs to the government and those involved in drafting IT policy and strategy for Nepal.