COMMENT

Press freedom

Last week, the World Press Freedom Day was observed here in Nepal, like in many other countries of the world. Journalists in Nepal joyously marked the occasion, specially remembering that they did not enjoy press freedom just a little over a decade ago. It is true that one of the greatest achievements for the nation after the re-ushering in of democracy, has been the freedom the media people have been able to exercise in disseminating news and views. There was a time during the autocratic Panchayat days, when journalists could be arrested for the simplest of reasons and a newspaper could be closed on flimsy allegations of the authorities. To be a journalist at that time, was a great challenge, specially if the person happened to be bold enough to criticise the government or its officials. But fortunately, those days are now a thing of the past. Still, it is unfortunate that the freedom of the press, has not meant the healthy development of this sector in a true sense. Yes, there has been a huge growth in the number of newspapers and also those who work in this sector, but one can’t say the same in terms of the quality of the papers and also on the professionalism and objectivity of the journalists themselves.

But what is it that has not allowed the media sector to grow in the manner desired by professionals? First of all, like in the bad old days, institutional development has not taken place. Yes, a few newspapers here and there have established themselves and generated a healthy income, but the majority of the newspapers are still being run on an individual basis. Under such circumstances, an individual makes some gains, but the paper suffers in quality and other professional aspects. Some people have rightly questioned as to why there should not be a rigid regulation on who can be a journalist and who can’t? They argue that if tourist guides need a license to operate and even a tempo operator has to have necessary permit to run his vehicle, then shouldn’t some sort of an approval be needed from the concerned authorities for a person to become a journalist? The argument does sound plausible, specially when one looks and sees most unprofessional work being done in the name of this important profession. It can be hoped such unprofessional conduct will stop with time and the Nepalese journalism sector will also mature and get better to fulfil the responsibilities it has towards the nation and the people.

Education a must for empowerment

Education is the foundation for a country’s development. More than fifty per cent of Nepali population comprises of women but a majority of them remain uneducated and devoid of any opportunity for education. Without wide spread education, empowerment remains a mere theory confined within the seminar halls. Without educating the girls and women in all the remote areas of our country, gender equality is a distant dream or even an unattainable one.

PM Koirala inaugurating the national consultative meeting concerning Beijing + 5 organised by Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare stressed on the importance of women’s education and economic development as the primary steps towards making them self reliant.

Even after five years after the Beijing Summit, not much has changed in the social, economic and political status of the women of our country. A handful of literate and educated and working women in the forefront is no indicator of the real status of the women in our country.

When a woman is educated, it makes a big difference to the whole family - a whole generation gets educated. We must realise this fact and take the issue of educating girls and women seriously. Many barriers stand in the way and we must collectively find ways to overcome those and enlighten the women who otherwise would spend the rest of their lives in the shadows of ignorance and superstition. Worse, they would reinforce the negative attitude, wrong values and beliefs on to their children; thereby pushing yet another generation towards darkness.

With education will come empowerment and with empowerment, equal rights will follow. The men also have to be educated on the importance of educating their girls and women. Positive attitude among men regarding women’s education and their encouragement would contribute a lot to the process. Only through mutual cooperation can changes be brought into society smoothly and peacefully. Mere mouthing of words will just be yet another volley of air into air amounting to nothing if it does not create action.

Corruption and Economy Development

By Shanker Man  Singh

Corruption is an universal malady that occurs in many forms. Since developed countries are not immune to it, poverty and economic backwardness are not the only causes. Inequality in social- economic practices, ambiguity in bureaucratic rules and regulations, paucity  of resources, inefficiency  of disclosure mechanisms and no punishment , and unnecessary restrictions on upward mobility are some of the key factors that promote corruption.

So far Nepal does not stand in the Transparency International rating. According to a press release  by the Transparency International, the Berlin based agency ranked India and Pakistan among the most corrupt countries. Transparency International is one among several ratings agencies which rank countries in terms of a single index to reflect the levels of corruption. In the 1999 Corruption Index, India is ranked 73rd while Pakistan is 88th . Depending on one’s  experience and judgement, one can simply guess where does Nepal stands.

Aspects of corruption and good governance have been gaining increasing importance in international deliberations on development issues. It is corruption in the economic sphere which receives a lot of attention in such a deliberation process.

According to an analysis by Gunner Myrdal, shortsightedness and nepotism very often result in corruption. The present day analysis of economic corruption in the international arena stresses on corruption in public offices.

Corruption in public office results when a bureaucrat misuses his public office for consideration. Such an opportunity exists when any government exercises control over resources for which there is private demand.

Corruption affects growth and development. It retards investment because of uncertainties created due to lack of transparency. For an investor, a bribe is an implicit tax that will erode the profitability of his venture or project.

          The project may , therefore, not be financed in the first place. In such cases, both the parties lose because the investment will not invest and there will be no offer of bribe. The country, therefore, is the ultimate loser of such projects.

In some other cases, the promoter gains, the corrupt officials gain, but the country suffers because of poor quality of the asset created.

The another type of promoter who will be averse to taking any investment decisions of his scepticism borne out of uncertainties and the risks associated with any corrupt system.

The last category will be those who, would be unwilling to invest in any country with low moral standards. Corruption , therefore has a cost to the economy in terms of loss of potential output and employment, and therefore, growth.

It is an axiomatic truth that a corrupt man would never fight corruption. As such, it would be simply foolish to expect the present government would do anything to root corruption.   Even some of the ministers in his cabinet has lost all hopes that his government can mitigate corruption. His appeal for help from the multinationals  to fight corruption in his country has not exposed the  inherent weakness of the government but also smeared the image of the country.

The Commission for the Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has proved to be too small and to powerless to clean up the Aegean stable. The magnitude of corruption and malpractice are simply too big to be dealt by a body that has only a few staff members and meagre resources. And to top these, it lacks the backing of a strong legislation to pursue its cases. When the Supreme Court gave some bite to the CIAA in 1996, it was thought the fight against corruption would move a step forward.

The Supreme Court then, in a judgement, had nullified the government’s decision to seek the approval of the Prime Minister before charges could be made against any minister, MP or other high ranking government officials. That meant the commission could take to court anyone from the top to the bottom rung in the government. However, four  years later, the Commission has yet to make a kill. It has proved to be a gun without much ammunition.

All cases of corruption are still dealt with under the Anti- Corruption Act of 2017, which is almost four decade old. The Act badly needs a major overhaul. Until the act is amended and new regulations formulated there is no way CIAA can nail the corrupt. The Commission says there  should be separate regulations for the body if it is to deal with cases of corruption in an effective way.

The court always demands substantive evidence that CIAA is unable to provide under the present circumstances. Until there is a law which accepts circumstantial evidence as strongly as substantive ones, there is very little chance of bringing the corrupt to book.

The Commission still works under  tips and complaints from the public. The Commission must wait for the complaints to gear into action.   The Commission cannot barge into the government office and investigate on its own.

From the development perspective, corruption can be considered as a two way street so far as the donor and recipient countries’ interface is concerned. Very often the scandals of grant have been disclosed. Yet, it is not possible without collusion between giant private corporations and public agencies, foreign contractors, or consultants. Sometimes, such activity is associated with foreign aid. Foreign companies, practically argue, that bribery is nothing but one of the costs of doing business in a country. What can be done about these circumstances poses a challenge not only to the aid recipient government but also to donors.

Towards this end, the recommendations for both recipient as well as donors are- simplify the rules, reduce unnecessary regulations, rely more on market forces, insist upon meeting the procurement and contracting standards; ensure laws that make it mandatory to meet auditing requirements, study audit reports, and pay attention to the manner in which the disbursements are handled. The World Bank has become particular about these points. Despite the above safeguards, the problems are still daunting. Therefore, donors have specific responsibility to ensure that commercial considerations do not undermine good economic management in developing countries. Encouraging governments to come up with sound public investment programs and priority is important. The donor’s contributions can be meaningful if recipient countries are prepared to listen. In many cases, the recipients   blame donors when assistance programs fail to achieve the intended results. This is not fair. It is the recipient country’s responsibility to make sound strategies for aid programs based on a comprehensive study before hand. This calls for thorough home work that analyses and anticipates detailed end results.

Eradicating all levels of corruption in the Nepalese bureaucracy should become a basic concern for   political leaders as well as bureaucrats. Corruption can be reduced by practising greater transparency. For this, the role of the people is equally pivotal. More importantly, the people’s support for eliminating corruption can be attained only when the political leaders lead with integrity, responsibility , and sacrifice.

Defeating corruption

Regarding, “Here a bribe . . .” and “The Politics of Corruption” articles in your Comment section of April 26-May 02 issue -  It’s time that we take the scourge of bribery seriously and seek some innovative means to defeat it.  What follows is my modest proposal:

Let’s confess: bribery in its multifarious and nefarious form is here to stay.  Parents bribe their children all the time.  “Please, please, if you finish your dinner, I will give you [fill in the blank].”  The other day, my wife coaxed me into mowing the lawn by offering to take me to a movie.  She didn’t have to offer this bribe.  After all, I’m the one responsible to keep the lawn fit and trimmed.  To her offer, I said “No,” as I counter-offered, “how about dinner and movie.”  “Fat chance,” she said.  Quickly, I accepted her original offer, acknowledging that it’s much better to do my job with an inducement than without.

While I was mowing, my mind conjured up complex bribery scenarios: What if I had the responsibility to mow two lawns, one bribed with “a movie” and the other with “a movie and dinner.”  For analytical purpose, I call it an “Uneven Bakshish System (UBS).”  No doubt, I would prefer to work first on the lawn yielding the movie and dinner benefit.  What if I was responsible to mow three lawns, each induced with the allure of a “movie.”  I’ll call this an “Even Bakshish System (EBS).”  All things being equal, I’ve no choice but to mow them all, one at a time, with no preference, no priority, but only one pressing goal, i.e., to get the jobs done.  Under EBS, bribery facilitates the fulfillment of one’s responsibility. 

As you can see, UBS creates havoc, but EBS creates incentive.  I know Nepal is suffering from UBS syndrome.  It’s time Nepal established an effective EBS to lick the nationwide bribery problem. 

For starters, let’s see how EBS can be applied for making hassle-free the process of paying monthly electrical bills.  Let’s assume that under the EBS the Bakshish tariff (BT) for paying monthly electric bill is Rs. 300.  Each customer attaches Rs. 300 (three crisp 100-rupee bills) to the electric bill.  The benefit of this system becomes immediately apparent: first, it levels the playing field, for everyone knows the BT for a particular transaction.  Second, it creates a powerful pecuniary incentive for the electric bill processors, for the faster they process the bill the greater the Bakshish amount they pocket.  Isn’t it better to have steady Bakshish than an intermittent one?  I could go on and on with many other implacable examples of the benefit of EBS, but I’m worried about your precious space.  But anyway, you got the whiff.

I admit, like any new innovation, EBS needs lots of tinkering with before implementing it nationwide.  I believe, the most difficult part would be the establishment of an equitable BT index.  Just think of it: what would be the mayoral BT index for cleaning up the city, or what would be the ministerial BT index for a successful trade negotiation with India, or what would be the clerical BT for passport renewal, or what would be the ...

Uday K. Lama
Springfield, VA
703.644.0139
Via Internet