National 3 (Spotlight Weekly)

Pain for Poor

Three days Nepal Bandh badly hurts the marginal population

By A CORRESSPONDENT

Sanu Kanchha Subedi, 45, a resident of Nuwakot district, remained idle for three days. Subedi, a wage laborer, was forced to stay back in his rented room for three days doing nothing and in the period losing Rs.450.00 (US$ 6).

Frustrated by the continual call of general strikes by country’s political forces, poorer section of people like Subedi have already lost their faith in the political parties who claim to champion the cause of poor.

“No political parties are working for the cause of poor and marginal people like us. Major political parties including Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, ruling RPP and other smaller parties had also called general strikes in the past putting us in difficulties,” said Subedi.

Subedi is not alone in this suffering. More than half a million population working in the informal sector has to face situation similar to that of Subedi. The employees in formal sector have certain advantages since they receive regular salaries – strikes or no strikes.

From farmers to laborers, everyone is a loser with cumulative income loss running into millions of rupees. Because of threats and coercion, people are compelled to follow the order of political parties.

Nepalese tourism sector, which was on the process of recovery, received a major setback in recent three day general strike. Known as a Shangri-La, tourism is the lifeline of economy of this Himalayan Kingdom of South Asia. In broader economic terms, the country loses about 700 million rupees a day in terms of Gross domestic Product.

According to Economic Survey of Nepal 2001, published by the Ministry of Finance, Nepal’s total Gross Domestic Product was equivalent to 392.53 billion rupees. Nepal generates more than 1 billion rupees a day in total.

General strikes have virtually no implications in the agriculture sector. Since non-agriculture sector contributes Rs 248.11 billion (around 60 percent of GDP), the country will have to bear between Rs.700 million to 800 million loss per single Bandh day (around US$ 11 million a day).

Since tourism season begins from the month of September, the three day general strike has sent a wrong signal in the international tourism market. “Although only a few groups have canceled their visit to Nepal, the general strike has sent a wrong message to the international tourism market about the uncertainty of Nepal,” said an entrepreneur.

Tourism industry contributes about 4 percent of Gross Domestic Product and 15 percent of foreign exchange earning. According to the Economic Survey, Nepal generated foreign currency equivalent to Rs.7.79 billion in the fiscal year 2001/2002. During the period 250,000 foreign tourists visited Nepal. This figure is half compared to that of 2000/2001. According to the World Bank’s Country Assistance Strategy Report 2003, tourism arrivals declined by 38 percent in FY 02.

The country has already witnessed eight days of strikes in the last nine months. Along with three days general strike by Maoist, other mainstream political parties like Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and other smaller parties called three general strikes closing the business activities for days in April causing immense trouble.

According to the Human Development Report (HDR) 2003, published by the United Nations Development Program, Nepal ranks in the 143rd position in the HDR among 175 countries of the world. Nepal’s Human Poverty Index Value ranks 70th among 94 developing countries for which the index has been calculated.

Along with hampering the tourism, the general strikes also badly hurt the economy of this impoverished mountainous kingdom – one of the least developed countries with 42 percent population living below the poverty line.

“The country will lose equivalent to Rs.1 billion a day since the general strike will cripple all kinds of economic activities in the country including the industrial sector,” said Chandi Raj Dhakal, first vice president of Federation Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and one of the largest garment exporters.

“We are yet to study the total implications of Bandh but they hit badly at the life of marginal and poor population who are engaged in non-formal economic sectors,” said Dr. Shanker Sharma, vice-chairman of National Planning Commission.

With the restoration of democracy 13 years ago, frequent general strikes like Nepal Bandh were called by different political parties. According to official records, the country has already witnessed 75 days of general strikes during this period.