National 7 (Spotlight Weekly)

Man With A Mission

The death of Toni Hagen is great loss to Nepal and the Nepalese people

By A CORRESPONDENT

Scholars and intellectuals do not need a country, as they are the citizens of the whole world. Although he was born in Switzerland, Toni Hagen, who died last week at the age of 86, made great contributions to Nepal in its process of modernization. He was among the earliest foreign scholars who introduced this small Himalayan kingdom to the world.

Because of scholars like Professor Tucci and Hagen, the mountains and people of Nepal have many admirers who have spent their life time in making contribution to Nepal's quest for modernization. When Hagen came to Nepal, the country was totally isolated and there was no sense of modern development. The country did not have any survey regarding its geographical and topographical situation.

Having arrived in 1950 as an expert under the United Nations Technical Administration to carry out a survey of mineral resources of Nepal, Hagen traveled across Nepal extensively. As the transport facilities were virtually non-existent, all the field work had to be carried out on foot. Hagen wrote many books introducing Nepal's natural beauty to the world community.

Being a citizen of a small and mountainous country of Europe, Hagen saw many similarities with Nepal in terms of geography. So, he proposed the development with unit model like that of Switzerland. Nepal's first five-year plan mostly focused on building rural infrastructure. Building suspension bridge and promoting the cheese in the high Himalayas are some of the noble ideas Hagen proposed.

When Nepal was just opened up to the world for development, there were only a few people who know about the kingdom. Lying in the northern part of the Himalayas, Nepal was backward and primitive country. Despite the hardships and constraints, Hagen arrived in Nepal for the survey but Nepal's mountains and people lured him so much that he remained a admirer and trustworthy friend of Nepal till his death.

In the early days, the government held the view that all the places consisted of gold, precious stones and other minerals. As Hagen was appointed to carry out a survey of Nepal's mineral resources, it was very difficulty to do so. In the course of eight years between 1950-1958, Hagen covered the whole territory of Nepal.

There is no major valley that was not visited by the expert. According to his first published book, his team covered distance of about 14,000 kilometers on foot and the total altitude differences negotiated by climbing amounted to more than 950 kilometers. Hagen spent 1,860 days in the field assisted by only 12 Sherpas and porters and living on the diet of the local people.

His observations, which lay special stress on economic geology, are summarized in a paper entitled "Geological Report on Nepal". The general geological and geographical material was published in full detail under a joint project of the government of Nepal, the Indian aid program and Swiss contribution.

Since Hagen was the first outsider to have visited the whole of Nepal, various observations have also been made on the general nature of the country, the ethnology and life of the people and the economy and the potentialities for development.

Hagen, a prominent supporter of Nepal's development, is well known for his immense contributions to the country and his continued interest in its future. In his study, Hagen not only wrote on many diverse aspects but also revealed the social, cultural and economic values. Although Nepal has lost one of its greatest admirers and supporters, his contributions and suggestions will always be with Nepalese.