Industrialisation
For Economic Development

By Uttam Maharjan

INDUSTRIAL development is a measure of a country's economic development. The higher the rate of industrialisation, the higher the level of economic development. The chasm between the haves and the have-nots represented by developed and underdeveloped countries respectively is one of the fallouts of industrialisation.

Irony

Developed countries have adequate resources, skilled manpower, sophisticated technology and high expertise. Their volume of exports is high. So, they are economically developed. On the other hand, underdeveloped countries are poor in resource mobilisation, capital and technology. Rich as they may be in resources, they lack capital and expertise to tap them. A fitting example would be our own country. It is the second richest country in hydropower: not but what, less than one per cent of the total potential of 83,000 MW has been harnessed so far. It is an irony that about 85 per cent of the people are deprived of electricity facilities. Also, the electricity tariffs are one of the highest in the world.

Products from agriculture, animal husbandry, natural resource management and the like are raw materials for industries. Nepal is a predominantly agricultural country with 81 per cent of the population involved in agricultural and allied activities. But lack of sustainable development of the agricultural sector due to problems associated with the inadequate availability of improved seeds, better fertilisers and other inputs, irrigation facilities and the like is a major setback.

In fact, agriculture is a sector that generates inputs for other sectors. In other words, the development of agriculture leads to the development of other sectors. When agriculture itself is on the blink, now can other sectors benefit from it? It is indeed a serious question that must be addressed by policy-makers. The story of animal husbandry is no more different. Likewise, the absence of adequate capital and appropriate technology has made it difficult to harness natural resources that are scattered throughout the length and breadth of the country.

In Nepal, large-scale industries are few and far between. Medium-scale and small-scale industries occupy the lion's share. Carpets, garments, pashmina products, handicrafts and the like are the country's major exportables. But in recent years, these products have shown a downturn in export. European and American countries are the main markets for these products. But the worldwide recession following the 9/11 event has had impact on the export of these products.

Besides, the quality of products and concessions given by importing countries count a lot in export trade. In recent years, pashmina products have somewhat declined in quality and hence their export has dwindled. The export of carpets, like other products, has also declined. India exports low-quality carpets that look like Nepalese carpets in texture at a cheaper price. As people generally prefer low priced goods to high-priced ones, they have gone for Indian products. Nepal has been demanding duty-free and quota-free access of garments to the USA. It may be noted that the USA has given GSP incentives to some African and Caribbean countries but Nepal has been hard pressed to compete with them. Nepalese garments have low competitive edge due to high costs involved. So, lobbying is a exigently required to get concessions in the export of garments and other exportables.
Business entrepreneurs complain that the government's export policy is not salutary for the development of the export sector. A lot of things need to be modified in or incorporated into the export policy. Need for adopting a one-door arrangement to steer clear of administrative hassles, bringing into operation the Birgunj dry port, establishing an export promotion zone, simplifying Nepal-India trade and so on are glaring problems facing the export sector.

Industrial development is the key to Export promotion and import substitution. In a cash-strapped country like ours, import substitution is essential for saving precious funds that may be channelised for development activities. In a nutshell, industrial development props up the economy of a country by building development infrastructures.

The year 2003 is being observed as the Export Promotion Year (EPY) with four salient objectives: to short-circuit procedures for export promotion, to stress the publicity of Nepalese products in the international market, to honour excellent importers and exporters of Nepalese products and to organise trade fairs on a large scale both at home and abroad. In fact, the slogan of the EPY-2003, viz economic growth through exports, is very partinent at a time when economic growth is expected to leave a lot to be desired in view of the prevailing economic indicators. However, the recently announced ceasefire between the government and the Maoists is expected to infuse new blood into the ailing economy.

Logic

Industrialisation has, however, bad effects on the environment. Factories that spew forth noxious effluents are spoiling the fragile environment. Chemical and cement factories and brick kilns, for example, are spoiling the environment. It does not stand to reason, however, that such factories are closed down. By making environmental impact assessment, such factories can be set up in sparely populated or unpopulated areas. Also, the existing factories can be relocated to safety. After all, the goods produced by such factories are necessary goods and there does not exist any logic to deprive people of such products.

Gateway To Inter-Korean Exchanges

By Arun Ranjit

AS Koreans hope their arduous efforts for peace and unification will bear fruit in the near future, the dawning of tomorrow holds special meaning for the 70 million people in the world who live in a divided country. The outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 and the cease-fire in 1953 perpetuated the division of the Korean Peninsula, pitting one side against the other in a state of tension.

The DMZ

Koreans' firm resolve to achieve peace and unification can be confirmed anew when looked at the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) where the power of nature has completely erased the scars of the war five decades ago.

The DMZ separating South and North Korea to prevent inter-Korean acts of hostility runs along a line 248 kilometres long and four kilometres wide (2 kilometers on each side) that zigzags across the
middle of the Korean Peninsula. The DMZ and the surrounding area within 5 to 10 kilometers south of the DMZ's southern boundary remains a heavily-guarded no man's land and its inaccessibility
has allowed war-ravaged forest to natural states.On US President George W. Bush's visit to DMZ, the soldiers standing there have no guns in their holsters but their stares are as icy as the snow falling on the ground they patrol along the world's last Cold War frontier.

They are soldiers from North Korea's army, patrol the northern side of the DMZ. They are also top attractions of the most surrealist tourist trips in the world. On the southern side of the DMZ are the South Korean and US forces from the United Nations Command (UNC) to protect South from North's invasion. At their closest point, soldiers - and tourists - are just inches apart and separated by nothing but an imaginary border.In 50 years since the DMZ has been in place, North Korea and the UNC have staged such a massive arms buildup it is now the most heavily militarised place in the world.But recently, as the North Korea's threats to restart a nuclear programme, and with foreigners virtually banned from entering the country, the DMZ is a unique lure."People come here to see a North Korean soldier staring at them. It's an adrenaline rush," US Captain Brian Davies tells this reporter inside the DMZ. "People just like to say: Hey! That's a North Korean soldier and he is looking at me," he added. This reporter, along with other invitees of the South Korean government's Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) programme held in Seoul early this month, was taken to DMZ as a part of familiarisation tour.Before the visitors were allowed to get too close to the soldiers, they were warned by the US troops patrolling the south side of the imaginary line.

"The Korean Peninsula is still technically at war," US Lieutenant Colonel Matt Margotta said and added, "North Korea has 1.1. Million soldiers: 70 per cent of them are within 100 miles of the DMZ".
"No sudden moves," warns another US serviceman, "And no sudden hand movements which could sparkle a violent response from a patrolling North Korean soldier. "And don't even think about crossing the line into North Korea," he added. But as the US military advisers explain, UNC, South and North Korean sides ensure only their biggest and best soldiers are present in the DMZ who stand rigid and barely blink. "They are always watching us and we are always watching them," said one of the US soldiers.Contacts between the two Koreas take place mostly in the truce village of P'anmunjom located in the middle of the DMZ where the meetings take place among representatives of the UNC and both Koreas to discuss issues on the Korean peninsula. It also serves as a channel of inter-Korean exchanges where a stranded train stands on the severed and rusted tracks of the Seoul-Shinuiju Railway. Recently, the road linking North and South Korea has built and open for a group tour by overland to Mt. Geumgang in North Korea.

Many South Korean whose home is in the North visit Imjin-gak, a three-story building near the DMZ, and the Freedom House, an octagonal pavilion which offers a bird's eye view of Panmunjom in every direction, to ease the pain of separation from their families and to wish for Unification. Many foreign tourists also travel to other scenes of national division to look around the underground tunnels dug by the North and visit the Unification Observatory.

Increasingly, so too are civilians who are doing their own Cold War reconnaissance. The UNC says 150,000 people a year now travel the 40 kilometers from Seoul for a heavily-guarded tour of the DMZ as a part of a joint bid with South Korea to educate people about the dangers of the North.
The UNC offers free tours to young South Koreans to give them a sense of the threat the nation has faced since the end of the war.

"This is a very visible symbol that this armistice is still alive", Colonel Margotta says.

Walk through the UNC military armistice room is allowed; spilt down the middle with one half belonging to each side - the line an inviolate "Do Not Cross" even for meetings of high-ranking military officials.

When the room is vacant, tourists are allowed to wander over and technically stand in North Korean territory, while a soldier peers in from the window.

It is bizarre experience that only tourists from the South may experience. UNC officials say fewer than 9,000 North Koreans civilians show up near the DMZ each year.

There are many stories told on the tour that imparts to civilians the depressing reality that the Cold War is as strong as ever on the DMZ.

Determination

Let the world wait and see the responsibility taken by Roh Moo-hyun - the new President of South Korea, who is determined to open a new chapter in the history of Korea by working hard to open a new era of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula to work for unifying 70 million people into one nation.

Odds And Evens

By Ambar Mainali

WE all are living through odds and evens. Sometimes they govern us directly and at other times they do it without being noticed. The number game began from time immemorial and has an important bearing on how people behave and how they are made to behave on certain circumstances.
People living in the prehistoric times faced a lot of difficulties remembering what to do and when. They often ended up fighting with each other after failing to recall their debts and the exact amount that was supposed to be paid. This was all because they lacked a system of appropriating certain values to their gains and losses.

Thanks to the Romans for their intelligence. They certainly made life easier for the generations to follow by developing numbers. After the count began and became popular all problems were not too big a problem.

People started interpreting the cause and effect of certain numbers. It took many years before they were convinced that certain numbers brought luck after luck while other numbers really wrecked havoc with a peaceful life.

Seven, which is an odd number, has won the acclaim of being a lucky number in most parts of the world. There must be genuine reasons for taking it to be a lucky number. All those who come across number seven at one or the other point in life have shared a fairly satisfactory reminiscence of how life treated them.

Unlike the grace of an angel often felt by those dealing with number seven, those bumping into number 13, which is also an odd number have gone through hell of a turmoil that has disturbed their personalities to a great extent.

It would not be a bad idea here to share a real happening between a Mongolian friend and another sturdy man from Yemen in his late forties sharing a common room with the number thirteen at the Indian Institute of Mass Communi-cation in New Delhi some years back.

The two honourable gentlemen from entirely different cultural backgrounds were quarrel-some. They had a whole list of complaints against each other and were always shouting at the top of their voices volleying charges that were beyond anybody's imagination.

The harsh feelings on both the sides grew to all possible heights prompting other colleagues and the house matron to put them apart in different rooms. As the sturdy man was busy shifting his belongings, a wise colleague detected the reason for the failure of the two gentlemen to share the same room. The detection was the hint given at the room's number. And the unlucky number of the room was thirteen.

This is how the effect of numbers keeps on nagging you or shining on you all throughout. After the US-invasion on Iraq, the number game has once again become a part of the Nepalese life. The government has come up with a smart idea of controlling the trickling down of petrol quicker than desired.

The vehicles with odd numbers will be allowed to ply on odd days and those with even numbers on even days. What a brilliant idea? The idea is certainly a brilliant one if you judge it in terms of the deteriorating health of the city dwellers who are often seen riding their two or four wheelers. Their bellies have started bulging like anything and they look older than their actual age.

For them taking a swift walk to their work place is certainly a favourable thing to do. And this is surely because of the new rules for the operation of vehicles. But there are others arguing that the odd and even game has violated their rights like freedom to move freely and make use of their belongings freely.

As some of them have knocked the doors of the court, let's wait and see where the number game ends.