The Road Ahead

Nepal has made some progress in education, health, transportation, power and other sectors. As the  world enters the third millennium, what visions do our leaders have  for the country in the new millennium? Will they step up their efforts towards development or just fritter away the time and resources?

By KESHAB POUDEL

A person born in 1951 AD could expect to live just 17 years more as the country's life expectancy rate was less than 60. The last five decades have seen dramatic transformation in some sectors of medical care, literacy rates and  road expansion in Nepal.

Despite the present situation, a large section of population is yet to taste the fruits of development. A possible violent conflict between the haves and have-nots has not been ruled out by some experts.

Of course, not everything is rosy at this cross-roads of the history. The number of people living under the line of absolute poverty is huge and rising but the mounting level of frustration that has crept into some societies in the world has not made much impact in our society.

Of course, the frustration has started making inroads in our society as well of late. Tension among different strata of population is rising as a couple of books that have been published show bleak development scenario of the country.

New graduates: Greater responsibilities

The issue whether Nepal did gain something during the last five decades or it just wasted its resources is a matter of debate. Apart from the negative shades, no one can, however, deny the fact that there has also been some positive changes during the period. Anyway, whatever the achievements in five decades can in no way be a cause for happiness.

Politically, Nepal seems to be the only country in this region to have tried five different constitutions and two different political systems in the last five decades alone.

From authoritarian monarchy to the constitutional, Nepal has survived different phases of instability by maintaining its unique identity.

In the initial years, Nepal had no dearth of political leaders but development had to be initiated from zero level. Tables have turned now. As the country currently has modest infrastructure and manpower, it is groping for leadership with a strong determination, character and vision to lead the country to prosperity in the third millennium.

Change is apparent in the streets of Kathmandu where young men and women are seen walking to their jobs. As nearly one half of the country's population are below 25 years of age, Nepal need not worry about the manpower to gear up the national development efforts.

But as soon as one looks away from the streets and focuses the gaze at the political spectrum, the picture gets drab. With the two bickering septuagenarian leaders  like Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Girija Prasad Koirala at the helm of ruling Nepali Congress party, Nepal can count on very little possibility of steady economic progress in coming days. At present the challenge before Nepal is to utilize existing infrastructure to bridge the gap between rich and poor.

The past experiences have shown that Nepal could have availed of big opportunities to change herself but has been betrayed by the lackluster leadership, time and again.

New highways: Nation's arteries

Modernists never tire speaking about immense possibilities of developing the country. By exploiting its existing resources viz hydropower and tourism for starters, Nepal has a great possibility to become one of the successful economies in the South Asian region.

Still, the country is grappling with problems related to day to day life of its people. Although Nepali Congress enjoys majority in the parliament, the country is still mired by the sense of political instability fueled by the reported differences inside the ruling party. At a time when news reports say prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai has agreed to step down within a few months -- reportedly to pave way for a new leadership -- the much-sought stability is still elusive.

As the country enters into the new millennium with an unstable government and volatile regional tensions, Nepal has very difficult days ahead.

From rising unemployment to widening level of poverty, the country is passing through a complex phase of development.

The hopeful sign is that the country has well prepared infrastructure and newly set up political, judicial and administrative institutions that can deliver the goods to the people provided she gets a dedicated and committed leadership.

"How can I predict about future when I cannot even say what will happen tomorrow. It is impossible to predict the future of Nepal. It is like a monsoon," said Dr. Raghab Dhoj Panta, former vice chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC). "When the government employees are forced to retire at the age of 58, our prime minister runs the country at the ripe age of 76. I don't think the existing pace will bring substantial prosperity in the future."

While the progress of Nepal has been slow in the last five decades, it has entered into the new millennium with certain infrastructure at its disposal. In her quest for development, Nepal has experienced unprecedented political instability in its fifty year old modernization process

After the revolution of 1951, Nepal spent one full decade developing basic infrastructure and institutions. During the Panchayat regime (1960-90), Nepal was able to establish some modern institutions in political, judicial and administrative sectors.

The country today has more than 4000 village development committees (VDCs) and 36,000 ward committees at the grass-roots level.

"We have been able to bring changes in different spheres of society. The time has now come to exploit existing infrastructures to benefit the people," said Dr. Shanker Prasad Sharma, member of the NPC. "Definitely, the new decade will bring in more positive results to guide the future of the country."

With liberal political system and well-built infrastructure, the progress can now be achieved at a  much faster speed.

At a time when the country has infrastructures to accelerate the economic growth, Nepal needs long term future planning.

Nepal does not need to follow other countries, - some of its own districts can be role models. Developments in Ilam, Chitwan and Jhapa can be replicated in other districts as well.

Operation theatre : Health infrastructure

Average Nepalese today are comparatively better poised than their predecessors fifty years ago. Despite rising poverty and unemployment, development efforts in the past five decades have brought many changes to the lives of people.

When Nepal first opened her gates to the outside world in 1951, the basic infrastructures were virtually non-existent. From power to road and from health sector to education and grass root level democratic institutions, there were nothing at all.

"Of course, Nepal's developmental efforts have some positive as well as negative aspects," said Dr. Badri Prasad Shrestha, former vice chairman of National Planning Commission. "We have failed to bring changes for all the communities."

Even after so many years since the restoration of democracy, economic growth has been dismally disheartening. A large number of population is thus forced to live below the subsistence level.

During the 50s, Nepal just had a few sets of wireless and few hundred telephone lines, 1 MW hydro power project, less than a hundred kilometer of motorable roads, few schools and health centers. Today the scene has changed.

At present, a total of 30,748 schools are in operation throughout the kingdom of which the number of primary schools alone is 22,545. A total of 121,599 teachers are employed of which 87,281 are primary school teachers.

According to the statistical pocket book 1998 published by the Central Bureau of Statistics, a total of 4.46 million students are studying at school level out of which 3.39 million are primary level students. In private sector, a total of 2049 schools are operating including 1257 at primary level. During the period 191,817 students were at the primary level. In the higher secondary level, there are more than 250 schools.

In the areas of higher education, four universities including one in the private sector are in operation. More than 150,000 students are studying at the Tribhuwan University.  

In the health sector, 874 doctors and, 3845 nurses, 5153 auxiliary health workers and 495 Kaviraj (Ayurvedic doctors) are working in 74 hospitals, 715 health posts, 599 sub-health posts, 200 Ayurvedic dispensaries and 100 primary health centers. There are more than 11,000 kilometers of road network which includes 3533 kms of black topped and 2662 kms of gravel roads. In 1951, the total length of roads was merely 391 km.

In the telecommunication sector, there are about 130,394 lines of telephone, 79 pubic call offices, and 15 wireless stations including 10,000 lines of mobile phone in three cities including Kathmandu, Pokhara and Biratnagar.

Although the pace of development is comparatively slower in Nepal, one can see some rays of hopes for the future of the country.

Expansion of basic infrastructure like roads, irrigation, health and power is gradually changing the life of ordinary people.

Agricultural development in Nepal has been sluggish. Its contribution to the GDP has steadily declined over the years and in 1996\97 it was down to 41 percent. The last five years have seen a decline in real GDP growth rate, from 4.6 percent in 1981-90 to 2.2 percent in 1991-96.

There were only few kilometers long high tension and electricity. Now the total power production is about 300 MW. Sixty-nine out of 75 districts have electricity connection. However, the per capita power consumption of about 52 kwh in Nepal is among the lowest in the world.

Thanks to the expansion of infrastructures, the material prosperity has risen more in the last fifty years. Some say the change has nothing to do with political leadership or planning. It simply happened its way, they say. 

In the beginning of the 1990s, democracy was restored by overthrowing the nondemocratic Panchayat system. Introduction of liberalization and market economy, advent of internet and cable television have brought many social, political and economic changes.

Sandwiched between two great Asian countries, Nepal has numerous potentials to improve its economy and other sectors. Two big neighbors provide the easiest and biggest market for Nepalese goods. The present geological disadvantage may turn into a major advantage in the future if the country adopts proper marketing system.

Though Nepal has made little headway in reducing poverty, it has done better in promoting human development. Literacy has risen over the years to above 45 percent and infant mortality rate has dropped from  118 in 1987 to 74.5 in 1997 per one thousand live birth. More people now have access to health services today than they did a decade ago.

Slightly more than 50 percent of population has access to safe drinking water. Almost 49 percent of children are underweight.

Economic development began only in the 1950s in Nepal, since then the government has provided greatly increased access to primary education and a countrywide network of health posts.

Although these are some of the notable achievements in the field of social development, there are other serious failures like growing  disparities in the distribution of wealth.

According to the studies, one of the most striking forms of disparity in poverty is between men and women. Nepal has one of the highest differences between the proportion of boys and girls enrolled in primary schools.

With the change in economy, many people came out of rural areas to towns. The contradictions are also greater than before. Liberalization of the economy has created unprecedented opportunities. Latest model cars and other items of comfort have entered into the country and at the same time number of poor people has mushroomed with water and power shortages reaching to crisis proportion in the capital.

Despite such developments, Nepal remains one of the world's poorest countries. Over 85 percent of Nepalese still live in rural areas and nearly half of the population still live  below the poverty line.

"Until 1950s, Nepal had virtually no modern social services, infrastructure, cash economy or significant economic linkages to the rest of the world. Since then, Nepal has made major strides, opening up the country putting in place many of the basic elements of a modern government and market economy, at least in the Kathmandu valley. And in the rest of the country, significant progress has been made in providing basic infrastructure and social service," points out The World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy for Nepal unveiled last year.

In 1951, there were only  few kilometers of road. According to the book "Four Decades of Development" -- the history of U.S Assistance to Nepal published by USAID, 98 percent of Nepal's eight million population were illiterate during the 50s. There were only 300 college graduates in all of Nepal and most of them had graduated from Indian schools and less than one percent of school-aged children were enrolled in schools with fewer than twenty trained teachers in the whole country and 321 primary schools. The government was highly centralized and there were handful of college graduates in the country.

School going children : Future hopes

In 1951, Nepal was in the modern sense the least developed countries in the world, operating almost entirely on human and animal power. Except fir a few Rana families, wheels were unknown in mountainous Nepal. The first ox-cart arrived in Pokhara in 1953 by air. Transport in the hills and mountains were largely based "on foot". The country's internal transportation infrastructure was limited to 376 kilometers of rough tracks in the Kathmandu valley and the terai. Ironically, the rough terrain of the hills made villages 50 kilometers from Kathmandu more isolated and difficult to reach than the Indian border.

Transportation was essential in knitting diverse regions together into a single nation. In the early 1950s, many locations in Nepal were virtually inaccessible from Kathmandu. One had to go via Indian soil to travel to different parts of Nepal.

Infant mortality rate was 255 per 1000 in 1951. One third to one-half of children died before reaching adulthood and this high figure contributed to Nepal's exceptionally low life expectancy rate - 28 years. In 1951, there were only few dozen private doctors who ran 600 beds. Few district headquarters had hospitals and there were no nurses or paramedical workers.

In 1951 vast majority of the population lived in rural areas and there were few urban centers. Today, the country's 10 percent of the population live in urban areas.

Although on the surface everything seems to be alright, one cannot rule out the possibility of new type of waves in the coming century. The under currents that are not visible to the eyes but can be easily feet are too strong to be brushed away. The dawn of the new millennium demands patriotic Nepalese with visions come up to lead the country. The country cannot afford to stagnate. Other countries in the region are moving ahead. We are on the right track. The past one decade of democratic development may have had many disadvantages but it has proved that there is no better alternative for the country's development other than democracy.

Nepal has certainly come a long way since it embarked on a journey to development in the fifties. With considerable progress made over the last five decades, the country should march forward with clear vision and well-planned programs. Documents like `Vision 2010' need to be put in place and implemented with due sincerity and commitment. Only then the dream of new Nepal where all Nepalese can live happily according to their accomplishments can be realized.

Life In Kathmandu In 1950

The first members of the USOM mission found life in Kathmandu challenging in unexpected ways. In Nepal Diary (1987), University of Oregon contractor Hugh Wood recalls the details of daily life in the 1950s.

Simply reaching Kathmandu was a major accomplishment in itself. The Wood family tried for over a week to fly from Patna to Kathmandu during the 1954 monsoon, the alternative being a four-day journey by bus, truck, train and on foot. For eight successive days they packed up and went to the airport; on four of these days they flew within a vertical mile above Kathmandu, but were unable to land in the sea of clouds. The newly opened Kathmandu airport had no radio services at the time, and the pilot could communicate only with Patna, which had no idea of the depth of the cloud cover in the Kathmandu Valley.

At the time of the Wood's arrival, USOM offices and residential quarters were located at Kalimati Durbar, a sprawling, white-stucco former Rana palace a few kilometers southwest of downtown Kathmandu. Completed in 1941, the palace was built by Prime Minister Juddha Shumshere Rana for his son, General Rabi Sumshere Rana. USOM moved into the compound upon the first team's arrival in 1952. Residential quarters were originally in the building which is now the Hotel Management and Tourism Training Center.

As new families arrived, more apartments were carved out of the palace's huge rooms and fitted out with housewares shipped from India or the US. Wood wrote that "human servants replaced electric servants": household staff were abundant, but electrical appliances non-existent or nearly useless, given the erratic electricity supply.

Kerosene was used for cooking, heating and lighting- expensive, but supplied by USOM. Kathmandu's electricity supply was so meager that bulbs were dim until late at night, when the demand had tapered off. Water for bathing had to be heated on the stove. Dr. Wood fashioned a water heater out of an Indian Army Surplus soup kettle set over a kerosene heater; a neighbor one-upped him by contriving a solar water heater on the south wall of his apartment.

Procuring food and supplies was a difficult matter demanding much time. Supplies in the Kathmandu bazaar were quite limited, and practically everything had to be imported from abroad. In a letter to a newcomer, Helen Wood listed over 300 household items to bring. "It is an all-say job keeping house... we cook and bake and keep house much like our grandmothers and great-grandmothers did," she wrote. Many food items were shipped from India or the US, as the locally available fare was limited to eggs, chicken, goat meat and rice. The only fresh produce was potatoes and turnips, and occassionally a bunch of bananas brought in from India. Later, as families moved out of the  USOM compound into their own quarters, they planted vegetable gardens, which provided welcome additions to their diets.

Families ordered their supplies in cases from abroad, stocking several months' worth in their apartments. Shipping supplies in through India entailed its own difficulties, which worsened over time. One USOM family received its goods shipment 22 months after their arrival, and only two months before their departure. They were spared the trouble of shipping it back as nearly everything had been ruined over the course of two monsoons.

Wood and other residents of the period recall the significance of "mail call"-- difficult to understand today until one realizes it was the only means of communication with the outside world. International telephone service was not established until 1960, and cable service was slow and unreliable. Mail was vital for both personal and professional communications, and the day the mail flight landed, after days or weeks of cloudy weather, was always a happy occasion.

In contrast to these shortages, social life was abundant, increasing as USOM's staff grew larger. A constant flow of guests created a non-stop round of receptions and parties. Though tourists were not admitted to Nepal at the time, visas could easily be obtained for friends of residents. Wood noted this tended to substantially increase the number of one's friends. He estimated he and his wife attended 8 to 10 parties, teas, luncheons and dinners per week: informal bridge games among compound neighbors; formal receptions for guests; formal affairs hosted by the British or Indian Embassies, and-- most of all-- Nepalese functions held at Singha Durbar. The great meeting halls with their crystal chandeliers, marble floors, huge mirrors and gilded fixtures, provided a splendid setting. "I used my tuxedo more in the Nepal years than in all of the other years of my life," Wood noted.

Beneath the glamour lay some practical problems. The unheated building were freezing in the winter, and women wore long woolen underwear beneath their evening dress, with wool socks over their nylon stockings. Local etiquette demanded that one arrive properly late, but before the guest of honor, and stay until the guest of honor departed. On one occasion, a formal buffet hosted by the Roses and scheduled for 9 p.m., the Nepali guest of honor did not arrive until 11p.m. The guests dined at 11:30, but the main guest, waiting for a friend, declined. He waited several hours in vain, ate a cold meal alone, around 2 a.m., and finally departed at 4 a.m. "The rest of us (both Americans and Nepalis) vacated the reception hall in five minutes flat!" Wood recalled.

Exciting aspects of life peculiar to Nepal included regular earthquake tremors and frequent meetings with mountaineering expeditions and explorers. As there were only three hotels in Kathmandu, the early years found mountaineers seeking food and lodging at embassies or USOM. Weekends meant exploring the Valley, hiking, picnicking, or "lazying around." The Woods would start out early Saturday morning with water and food, drive their Jeep to the end of a road, then onto the trail or across fallow fields. "We always carried shovels and occasionally a little widening would clear the way for another mile," Wood remembers.

By 1956, hotelier Boris Lissanovitch had established an international Club at the Royal Hotel, and USOM had opened its own American Club, used mainly by support personnel. Tennis courts had been installed in several of the compounds, and some Americans borrowed horses from the military for weekend riding excursions. The number of parties and official and unofficial guests continued to increase.

Through 1957, American families with children either taught them at home or sent them to a missionary-run boarding school in Mussoori, 300 miles away in India. Wood and Paul Rose were involved in early efforts to develop a local school for American children (the origins of Lincoln School). Both resigned from the board over the issue of admitting Nepali students: they were only two members to support this.

Outside the Valley, transportation was practically non-existent. Pokhara had a "landing pasture" which spared technicians the week-long walk from Kathmandu. Incoming planes simply buzzed people and livestock off the field as they came in for a landing. USOM established development center headquarters in many of the larger outlying villages to facilitate field trips. As more airstrips were built in rural areas, field trips became easier. Walking remained the major means of transport, as it does to this day.

Field trips for education workers included 20 to 50 porters carrying supplies, books and cash to remote districts. Money was sent from Kathmandu at regular intervals to pay salaries and funds. Since paper money was not yet accepted in rural regions, coins were carried in 60-pound chests-- up to ten at a time, totaling to RS.20,000 ($2,800). In over 50 trips, the money was never lost or stolen, though once a rope bridge collapsed, smashing one money chest. Two porters remained at the river for several days until every last rupee had been collected. On another occasion, with salaries for Western Nepal long overdue and monsoon approaching, a Nepali staff member from Kathmandu volunteered to deliver the funds. Dressed as a porter to remove suspicion about the value of his load, he carried the money in a wicker doko and completed the trip without incident.

This piece of article taken from four decades of development, The History of US Assistance to Nepal, published by USAID in 1993.