Collective Responsibility

NEPAL was already behind most other countries of the world as far as development was concerned. One of the reasons for this was that Nepal was closed to the outside world for a long period when it had to bear the burden of autocratic and dictatorial rule. However, with modern approaches and planning, the country had started to move forward in recent decades. But sadly, just when good things were starting to happen, specially after the establishment of multi-party democracy, it was an irony for this impoverished country that anti-democratic elements also started to raise their heads misutilising the freedom that the democratic constitution guaranteed. These elements, who have now been branded as terrorists by the government, have in recent days, started to target development infrastructures in different parts of the country, even as they go about killing and looting people. While the government has had to incur losses amounting to millions of rupees, the general people too are suffering because they have been cut off from basic facilities like electricity and water. Furthermore, the destructive activities of the terrorist have also created confusion and fear among the people. At such a juncture, it is encouraging that all the major political forces are joining hands to counter such terrorist activities and recreate confidence among the general masses.

Condemning the "irresponsible acts of violence aimed at destroying development infrastructure and pushing the country backwards", top leaders of the major political parties in the country at a meeting the other day, rightly agreed to start a nationwide campaign to mobilise the public against the destructive activities of the Maoist terrorists. There is no doubt, the security forces alone cannot control all terrorist activities. The active cooperation of political parties, their cadres and the people is equally needed to defeat the rash and irresponsible behaviour of the terrorists. Taking advantage of the fear psychosis of the people, the terrorists have resorted to intimidating the whole nation and extorting the people. If all the political forces and the people unite, such thuggish acts can be defeated. It is a major development that saying enough is enough, all the political parties, including the ruling Nepali Congress and the main opposition party, the CPN (UML), have now agreed to work together to defend the present democratic set-up and fight terrorism. The majority of the people will surely side with them and they should be successful in bringing back peace and prosperity to the country once more.

Mobilise Revenue

REVENUE collection is an integral part of the government administration; the success or failure of which largely determines the country’s development. The inability to bring about an effective and transparent mechanism of revenue collection has a negative impact on the overall development scenario. The government over the past years has gone an extra mile to encourage taxpayers with the modest objective of strengthening its revenue base. The Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS) was one such effort that received an overwhelming response from the taxpayers. The scheme’s success came especially in that the government was able to bring the prospective taxpayers within its tax net. Now that a large number of taxpayers have been registered with the tax office, the revenue flow is bound to increase in the coming years. With the taxpayers under the VDIS depositing the initial tax money, the government recently appealed to them to pay the remaining amount by the end of Chaitra (mid-April). While it is the foremost responsibility of individual citizens to deposit the tax money in time, the government too has no less responsibility to ensure a transparent mechanism to facilitate the taxpayers. Taxpayers often sigh away from the authorities for fear of being nagged unnecessarily. Hence, the government must take steps to win the confidence of the taxpayers and assure them that they will not have to go through any form of hassle while approaching the tax offices. In a bid to encourage taxpayers, the government recently unveiled the names of top ten taxpayers who took up their responsibilities earnestly. The first ever effort of the government has been widely appreciated by people from all walks of life. These top taxpayers were bestowed with due honour at a function organised recently. The fact that the government was impartial while honouring the taxpayers encompassing the banking as well as the service sectors has attached greater importance to the honour bestowed. This in turn will encourage additional number of taxpayers from varied sectors to support the government’s initiative to consolidate its revenue base. Besides, honouring the taxpayers, the government must make earnest efforts to curb corruption, which is allegedly growing over the years. Unless the taxpayers are assured that their money is being properly utilised for the good of the nation, not much can be expected in the front of revenue collection. When the needed reciprocity between the government and the taxpayers prevails, it will not be long before many responsible citizens come forward to back the development endeavours in progress.