Democracy And Prosperity
They Can Be Linked

DEMOCRACY has triumphed over non-democratic polity. The world is all for democracy and democratic rights of the people. Freedom and democracy have charged ahead and no country in the world has remained detached or untouched from the callings of democracy and freedoms. The US Freedom House Survey 2001 finds that seventy five per cent of the world’s countries are free or partly free. Among the countries that are no free most of them are in the Middle East and some of them are in Africa. According to the Freedom House Survey more than sixty per cent of the African countries are free or partly free.

Democracy may be defined in various ways. Even the states lacking legitimate democratic institutions and not permitting people to express their voices and choices claim to be free or democratic. Some states reject the liberal or western notions of democracy contending that these can not fit in the local realities and practices. They claim to have evolved their own unique and special mechanism and institutions reflecting indigenous values and traditions. Liberal democratic notions are alien to the societal norms and ethos and they are therefore said to be unfit in local contexts and situations. However, there are certain core values and norms associated with democracy and freedom that should be regarded as universal. They form the flesh and blood of democracy. They should not be separated from the notion of democracy as substracting or diluting them from sum total would take away inner core of democracy. Taking leaf from the endless debate on democracy Robert A Dahl in his book ‘On Democracy’ writes "Democracy has been discussed off and on for about twenty five hundred years, enough time to provide a tidy set of ideas about democracy on which everyone or nearly every one could agree. For better or worse, that is not the case. Democracy has meant different things to different people at different times and places."

However today, the context is much more favourable for democracy. There evolved some convergence of ideas and opinions regarding the elements of democracy. Even those who spent most of their life time struggling for peoples democracy have come to realise that democracy is impossible without liberal ideas and political pluralism. Robert A Dahl has developed five standard criteria for democracy . The criteria are effective participation, voting equality, enlightened understanding, control of agenda and inclusiveness Effective participation is very crucial for democracy. It is assumed that members in society are equally qualified to participate in decisions provide that they have adequate opportunities to learn about the matters by inquiry, discussion and deliberation. Democracy , according to Robert A. Dahl produces some interesting and desirable consequences as avoiding tyranny, general freedom, self determination, human development, political equality, peace seeking and prosperity.

However, regarding consequences of democracy as claimed by Robert A Dahl it is often difficult to correlate. As an ideal political framework, democracy can lead to prosperity building and equitable distribution of social dividends. However, in empirical terms it has not become a reality in several contexts. We can take the context of Nepal. Following the restoration of multiparty democracy in Nepal in 1990, we have got liberal political values incorporated in the national body polity. We have an independent press, free and competent, competitive multiparty elections and such other qualities of democracy. This is the aspect of political socialisation and development in which we have achieved some progress. People are politically more conscious and aware of their rights for participation and development. Their role in social awareness building has increased significantly and they have been able to exert more influence upon decision making process. However, this political development does not have its corresponding impact on the economic development and prosperity of the people. It is largely felt that people are not getting economic dividends of democracy so that poverty is alleviated and unemployment is meaningfully curtailed. However, this has not happened to the desired extent.

But one should understand that multiparty democracy cannot work miracle. It has the potential to provide an appropriate framework for happiness and development. Democracies have economic advantage over most non democratic systems though they may not be able to produce quick and tangible impact. Democratic countries foster the education of their people, and an educated workforce is helpful to innovation and economic growth. Rule of law is usually sustained more strongly in democratic countries. Property rights are more secure and stable. Modern democracies, therefore, provide more hospital environment for development and economic growth. We in Nepal have much more opportunities created for development and individual self initiatives. However, an absence of strong economic base coupled with lack of critical literate mass has handicapped out growth and development. Democracy gives us room for finding out shortcomings and mitigating them. It can be expected that we can prosper in the time to come.

The Scope Of Biogas In Nepal

AS all countries are suffering from energy crisis, scientists are looking for new and easily viable alternative energy sources. In context of Nepal, there are only a limited sources of energy. Fire-wood, coal etc are extensively used non-renewable energy and hydropower, solar energy, wind energy, geo-thermal energy and biogas are the examples of some renewable energy. Nepal has a great potential of 83,000 MW of hydroelectricity, second to Brazil in the world, but some 300 MW has till now been exploited. Installation of mini and micro-hydro power plants too is not feasible in many areas due to unavailability of perennial water sources, lack of appropriate space etc. in this field. Wind and solar energy exploitation involves sophisticated technology. Hence, in order to solve the energy problem of Nepal’s remote and rural areas, a fast, easily implemented, cost efficient, small scale, completely decentralised renewable source of alternative energy, which is technically feasible and economically viable, has to be promoted. Biogas is well realized to be such alternative in Nepalese context.

Firewood remains to be a predominant fuel for cooking in rural areas of Nepal for many years. This total dependence of firewood as the source of energy has resulted in the deterioration of quality and quantity of forests and manifested various problems like deforestation, flood, soil degradation, erosion & landslides, expenditure of money, time and labour, deterioration of health of housewives etc. In some areas, mainly in the Terai, the burning of animal dung cakes results into loss of a good manurial matter for agriculture lands. Therefore, there is an immense possibility for promotion of biogas technology as it provides fuel for cooking & lighting as well as good manure for agriculture lands.

As Nepal is an agricultural country, using Biogas as a source of energy provide very good manure and fertilizers as a by-products. The major sources of raw materials for biogas production is animal dung and human faeces. Especially, in villages, most of the villagers tend cattles to get meat, milk and services. The dung and human faeces do not have other use. So there are good possibilities of producing Gober gas(Biogas). However, some people do not like to use human faeces for biogas production as it is considered unethical to have the products of faeces in the kitchen because the kitchn is considered as a Holy place according to our tradition. Still, use of dung for biogas production is easily accepted everywhere. These facts indicate that biogas is a promising source of renewable energy in Nepal and it needs to be promoted and extended effectively.

Biogas is a methane rich mixture of gases produced by anaerobic digestion of animal dung in a closed dome or drum type container. It burns with clear blue flame similar to that of LPG gas. This can be used for cooking, lighting as a fuel to run engine and to generate electricity. The anaerobic digestion of dung is carried out by mixed microbial population. The complex polymers are degraded by some microbes into simpler forms which, in turn, are utilized by methanogenic bacteria to produce methane.

Advantages of the biogas production are Fuel for cooking & lighting, improvement of living conditions a high quality natural fertilizer as a by-product, saving of time & money as well as reduction in labour intensive work, reduction in deforestation, imporvement in house wives’ health, increased amount of manure can be obtained by composting plant residue & agricultural waste with slurry from digester.

The history of biogas in Nepal is not very old. The first biogas plant in Nepal is reported to be installed in 1955 by Father B.R. Sauboll, a Belgian teacher, at St. Xavier’s school in Godavari with the development of a micro-model digester. From this, some of the farmers are encouraged to install household biogaas plants and few more biogas plants were constructed after 1967. A demonstration plant was constructed by Cottage and small industry Development Department of HMG at Bhrikuti Mandap in Kathmandu in 1968 with the help of Indian Co-operation Mission. Similarly, another plant was installed in the premises of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry Division at Khumaltar in Lalitpur for demonstration purpose. The energy Research and development group established under the Tribhuvan University in the wake of world energy crises also contributed positively on biogas technology development.

The government of Nepal took real interest in this technology as a possible alternative to traditional biomass fuel in the rural areas in 1975, only after twenty years of first installation. In 1977, Gober Gas(Biogas) and Agrucultural Equipment Development Company Private Limited, popularly known as GGC, was established for research, development and dissemination of biogas technology throughout the country. GGC initially aimed at constructing 46,800 plants of average capacity 15 m3. Initially, the government did not show interest to support the activities of GGC, however, during the 7th five-year-plan period, biogas was given priority on alternate energy sector. In 1992, the Biogas support programme (BSP) was established to develop & promote the use of biogas in Nepal. BSP launched the programmes in different phases. The first two phases, BSP I&II, were supported by HMG Nepal, the Netherlands Development Co-operation in Nepal (SNV/N) and the Netherlands Development Agency (NEDA). With the start of third phase of programme, BSP III (1997-2002), the German Government(through KRW) enforced the programme’s support with financial assistance to the subsidy & credit component. Implementation of BSP III is done jointly with three banks (Agriculture Development Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank & Nepal Bank Limited) and 50 recognized private biogas companies (BSP,2000).

In 1996, Alternate Energy Promotion Centre(AEPC) was established under the control of Alternate Energy Promotion Development Board (AEPDB), under the Ministry of Sceince and Technology (MOST). The overall objective of AEPC is to popularize and promote the use fo renewable energy technology to raise living standards of rural people, to protect environment and to develop commercially viable alternative energy industries in the country. The scope of AEPC includes mini & micro hydro-power, biomass including biogas, solar & wind energy, improved cooking stove & other alternative energy sources. Concerning biogas, AEPC has been involved in the research, development & promotion of biogas technology as well as quality control of biogas(AEPC,2000).

The government has fixed a target for the installation of 100,000 biogas plants during the 9th five-year plan period(1997-2002) with assistance from SNV-Nepal and co-financing from KFW (Kreditamstall fur Weideranfban) under the BSP phase III. For the promotion & development of biogas technology, HMG/N is providing all the necessary support.