Doha & Kathmandu

Much hue and cry is in Kathmandu apropos Nepal securing the membership of the World Trade body-the World Trade Organization or otherwise the WTO. Some self-proclaimed experts at the National Planning Commission who have been summarily picked up by the ruling party talk very high of the WTO and that Nepal’s membership at the WTO is full of gains only. However, the fact is that Nepal, as a country has done no proper and adequate homework prior to getting its membership. The lone expert of WTO affairs, one man seated at the helm of affairs of the NPC, only six months back told an intellectual gathering that they were yet talking to the Developed West to grant considerable concessions to the least developed countries like Nepal. The man at the NPC while delivering lecture at the same conference through his half-knowledge regarding the nitty-gritty’s of the WTO confused more the intellectuals giving the latter an impression that he and his colleagues knew far less far less about the WTO affair than the attending participants. To put it more candidly, Nepal possesses no expert as such on WTO scheme who could explain to the national population the economic benefits that will accrue to this nation after its joining the WTO. Albeit, countless of seminars and lecture programs have been already concluded in the past and perhaps will continue in the future as well. The net result so far is cipher.

It is in this light the present ongoing Doha conference of the WTO has to be taken. A completely confused and less prepared salaried staffers of the concerned ministry and the NPC are taking part in the Doha conference as Observer. What they will understand and how they will present themselves at the conference is any body’s guess.

By and large, most of the developing countries wish that the developed West which is in effect controls the functioning of the World Trade Body to understand the problems of the least developed countries and make necessary amendments so that the smaller nations like Nepal benefit from their membership at the WTO.

Sooner or later, Nepal will enter into this trading system. However, what has got to be done prior to securing the membership is to form a sort of group or band of the smaller countries and influence the policy makers of the entire system in a collective manner so that the Developed West is forced to listen to the just and genuine demands of the group.

We fully subscribe to the view of scholar Amit Dasgupta, who maintains that developing countries need to be treated as equal partners and the WTO needed to function in a neutral and transparent manner so that the poorer countries feel that they too were a part of the system and that they have much to gain by participating in it fully.

It remains yet to be seen as to how Nepal as an observer to the Doha conference presented itself.

"WE the people" are forced to listen stale lectures!

The men manning the system and the personalities whom have immensely benefited from the present order albeit at the cost of the teeming millions discussed the positive and the negative aspects of the constitution now in force. The lay men as usual had to listen to those comments even if they feel now pretty tired of listening to those eloquent and high sounding gaffe which neither attracts them any more nor they wish to meddle into the affairs of the ruling elites. The common laity has reasons to feel ad nauseating over the manner the "democratic leaders" of this country project themselves as the sole protector of not only the system but of the constitution as well. However, the fact is that it is this set of few corrupt and fanatic minded politicians who have more often than not exceeded the stipulated limits of the constitution as and when it suited them most. The first set sees the present constitution one of the best in the world for he or she considers the continuation of the present constitution to be of immense benefit to him or her personally speaking. The second set needs some "suitable amendments" for this band considers that timely changes in the existing constitution will benefit them more and hence the clamor. However, there is yet another set which outrightly demands the scrapping the existing constitution for its own political reasons. Surprising though it may appear, all these three separate groups possess one thing in common and forward that the "common men" would benefit from their separate stances. In the process the lay men including some independent intellectuals get confused.

If the observance of the 1990 constitution by the political leaders for all along these past twelve democratic years were any clue then it could be unhesitatingly predicted at this juncture that the present day leaders of Nepal will continue to squeeze the constitution as before and that too all in the name of the "we the people". The crux of the matter is that "we the people" do not figure in the national scheme of things for the entire system is more or less running without "we the people’s" active participation which in essence were a must in a democracy. It is the different set(s) of the "leaders of we the people" who organize, make lectures and listen to the fiery speeches made either in favor or against the constitution. "We the people" are neither invited to attend to such lectures nor allowed to pass on comments positive or negative. Such practices definitely have led "we the people" to suspect the very motive and the intentions of those who during the days of 1990 championed the cause for the restoration of the present order. Were it a change meant to replace one set of the corrupts of the erstwhile regime by the other"?

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