A critique on the Tenth Plan Approach Paper-II

Keshab Raj Khadka, Patan Multiple Campus

c) Agriculture Perspective Plan (APP) Review Report 2002: The report states that the APP, the 20 years long agriculture sector program adopted in 1995, is lagging behind in its performance. Though some progress has been made, the need result so far the APP has brought is not significantly different form that of the progress made prior to the APP. The report expresses deep concern and dissatisfaction over the 0.7% growth in the second p[art of 1990’s as against the APP objectives of 2% contribution in GDP growth. The report remarks, " Agriculture in Nepal is characterized by low productivity and low commercialization. In Nepal, poverty is wide spread and is concentrated mostly in rural areas. As agriculture is the main source of income in rural areas, the link between poverty and low productivity of agriculture is very close ". The fight against poverty largely depends, beyond any doubt, on the success of the APP. "The withdrawal of subsidies (in the fertilizer and irrigation sectors) is often indicated as culprit for the low performance of agriculture in general and the successful implementation of the APP. It suggests clearly to increasing investment in agriculture sector. On the contrary, the Tenth plan has decreased its share to 12.8% as compared to similar figure of 16.2% in the Ninth Plan.

d) The NDF Meet, 2002: Nepal Development Forum (NDF) was held in Nepal for the first time. The forum was attended by representatives from 23 donor countries and the international organizations. Collectively they backed Nepal’s poverty reduction plan, that is, this Tenth Plan. They were skeptical on the effective use of development assistance even though they pledged to help meet the resources funding gap estimated at US$ 500 million per annum. Only they cared for broad based and pro-poor economic growth.

Madame Meiko Nishimizu, co-chairperson of the forum said, "the best support that development partners can give to change leaders of Nepal is a disciplined response, which provides financial support when meaningful and lasting reforms are implemented. Their job is to help the government turn crisis into an opportunity". And what else than the Tenth plan, the best repository of government’s all socio-economic policies and programs, can be the turnkey of this opportunity? But one is dismayed when he learns that the Plan boasts on being able to cut down the foreign aid component to 54.4% of development expenditures (infra table ii). When others (the donors) call us to make "a golden opportunity", it is not a time, simply and purely, to debate on addition or reduction of foreign aid component. Yes- it is time to debate on what measure and action plans would help solve our problems for good. It doesn’t matter whether the percentage share remains in 54.4 or goes up to 79.7 as in the second plan (2019-022).

Lessons from experiences

Implementing the Tenth Plan in the form, as it is projected in the Concept Paper presents a pale picture. It sounds like file promotion if development plan without stock taking of lessons from experiences. What does the planing experiences reveal in Nepalese context? For this purpose, a financial review of all the Plans may be relevant. The following table represents the review of the Plans.

Table 2 shows that continued increase of public sector expenditure by more than double the amount of previous plan upto 8th plan had positive impact on the mobilization of nooks and corners of Nepalese economy. Uptill then the average growth of expenditure was 145.9% of the previous plan. It played vital role to expand and own new vistas in the national economic life. Since then 8th plan the shrinkage of public hand short to reach the niches that are yet to be moulded into modernity as shown by the condition of the west Nepal. It suggests that until and unless the niches and corners are touched upon to tune into mainstream economic functioning, public expenditure should increase by the average of the past.

Currently, Nepalese economy is at its great watershed. The agriculture sector is increasingly commercialized. As the cash crops are substituting cereal crops, subsistence agriculture is turned into profit making endeavors. Community ownership pattern of renewal resources management has produced desired results that can be further used to poverty alleviation programs. Landless rural poor may form a users’ group in the fashion of forest users’ group to use the fallow land and get profitable return from suitable cash crops or any order nature-friendly activities. Now agro-product or processed goods face export problems be it ginger or cardamom or chow-chow. They are to be re-addressed through utilizing the agro-products as raw materials, such as cardamom, to the produce condensed oil and then manufacture the commodities to be exported to the third country. Emergency has tested the viability of agro-industries such as poultry, dairy, honeybee etc., which are not only surviving these hard times but also progressing fast. There are rich prospects for Nepal to be a net export economy. If the cardamom in its raw form faces the export problem, public sector must come forward to manufacturing venture that can later be transferred to private sector. Instead of imposing milk holidays, manufacturing of milk products should be promoted. There are innumerable options and opportunities, which deserve proper address. Profit is the mainstay of private operations but profitability is the result of non-profit making educational and research studies or, a fortiori, crashes programs for the disbursement of first fruits of development in western hills and mountains as already said. Promotion if private sector does not mean the banishment of the public as it is misunderstood in the Nepalese context at policy makers’ level.

Conclusion

The Tenth Plan has well begun to address the problems that Nepal is facing in socio-economic fronts. But it hasn’t revealed its worthiness to face the astounding challenges of recent past, i.e., the cry of people for their grater share in public fund. To cope with modern challenges it has to be bold enough to break the traditional scaffold of planning. If there is vast disparities with own ownership of productive assets, the Tenth Plan should frame programs to lesson it to a considerable level if there is inequality in general distribution patten it must bring equity-bars in operation to facilitate more equitable distributive progression. As resource allocation becomes more equitable, poverty declines, development with social justice begins. The Tenth Plan having its good governance as its base must promote participatory development approach to facilitate citizen ownership of development project. Transparency and equity go side by side to do away with hitherto done injustices. It would not be out of place to conclude wit Martin Luther King’s dictum, often quoted by Madame Nishimizu, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"- a lesson the uncalled bloodshed is teaching us nowadays willy nilly. Let us not forget the old rule of a civil society "poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere and prosperity anywhere must be shared everywhere.

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