By Bhupendra Khanal
Efforts to form the first ever Maoist-led government in Nepal are going on. The new government will have many challenges going forward and they will have to work actively and aggressively. It is challenging but not impossible.
Here are my suggestions for the new Nepal Government.
1. Integration to Global Economy Free Trade Agreement with China, Japan and US to make the economy multi-lateral. This can be in-line with FTA with India. This should be accompanied with aggressive infrastructure building to get maximum benefit from these bilateral treaties and SAFTA.
2. Suitable Investment Climate Industrial Protection Act and Liberal Labor Regime to increase investor confidence. Indian Business houses in particular needs to be protected which are the most affected ones, as in todays world Indian Corporates are among the best governed and most aggressive ones. Entry of Companies like IBM, Accenture, GM, GE, Toyota, Infosys, Reliance, Bharti, ICICI etc can completely change the way companies function in Nepal. They will bring quality technology and huge volume of business, thus creating huge employment and great technological know-how.
3. Independent Planning and Execution of National Projects National Planning Commission with more representation from Nepali Private sector and less dependent from donor agency like ADB, WB or IMF. ADB, WB and IMF are the masters of putting useless conditions for their help and thus take economy towards more bad, so that their relevance in the world remains. Their conditions should not be taken unless utmost necessary and their overall involvement in the economy should be reduced as far as possible.
4. Government Investment Channelization to increase Professionalism Establishment of a Professional Investment Company to hold all Government Investments in all companies in the lines of Tamasek, Singapore. This needs to be run by Professional Managers on Competitive Excellence Basis.
5. Aggressive Infrastructure Development by adopting all mediums Open Infrastructure Development Policy to bring in Huge Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This should be mainly targeted towards building Hydro-Power, Telecoms, and Transport Facilities.
6. A Nuclear, Power Sufficient Nepal Nuclear Energy Development Board to work with India and China for development of Nuclear Energy in civil use. RONAST needs to be made more professional and pulled to support Nuclear Case. Nepal is reach in Hydro-resources but it should not just stick to its use because production and maintenance of Hydro-power is not efficient and effective. Argentina and Hungary has already seen very bad economic and environmental effect with over focus on Hydropower and Nepal needs to learn form them. Nuclear Energy is safe and has cost effective maintenance. This makes it favorable for long term interest of the economy.
7. where there is Resources there needs to be Military Effective Military Development more on the lines of Singapore, less Army but most sophisticated and modern equipment.
It can also be making of SAMA (South Asian Military Alliance) or joining Shanghai Co-operation or NATO. This will make sovereign voice strong.
8. Complement India and Not Consume India Cancellation of 1950 Ind0-Nepal Treaty and replacing it with a new one. This should take care of changed political and economic scenario between the two culturally similar nations. It can be in lines of US-Canada Relation. Nepal should work on building more natural relations with India on the lines of Australia or UK having with US. This will mean having more meaningful and business friendly relations, and not based on favoritism and puppetism.
Nepal is India’s natural ally and vice-versa. They are so much culturally linked that in there is unlikely that the bond will weaken or break. This needs to be actively voiced. The good and progressive relation will mean great for private sector from both the countries. Indian business houses can invest heavily in Hydro-Power and other areas, while Nepali Business will have one of the World’s largest market for their products. This will increase people to people contact and in good note, which I feel is better than India Government financing projects in Nepal and providing aid (which actually flows to few corrupt takers).
9. Upgradation of Rural and Agricultural Economy Agricultural Revolution is the next thing in line, and this is the right time to start. With Petroleum prices rising and subsequently food prices rising with the production of bio-fuel, the market for food products is huge. Nepal has good and fertile land, and can produce much more than it is doing today. It just needs effective people awareness. Government can play a facilitator by creating Tax Breaks for companies involved in food production, distribution and processing industries. This should however be accompanied with good policy for bringing in international players to maintain quality of service.
10. Strict and Good GovernanceHard stance on Anti-Government forces accompanied with effective Government facilities. Single window can be created to pay all bills like electricity bill, water bill, taxes etc. This can be outsourced to a professional company and operated 24 hrs in major areas with complete IT Automated Facilities.
It is very important to have strong anti-terrorism and anti-corruption act to include capital punishment. There should be no second thought in clear anti-socials from the country and the economy.
UWB received this article in email.
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Comments
63 responses to “New Nepal, New Thoughts”
Commendable, but I fear these views are not based in reality. Nuclear vs. Hydro, the choice for Nepal is direct FII/FDI in the Hydro power sector. Yes, there are environmental costs but we cannot allow our biggest asset to be discarded. All people loving Nepalis want better governance and effective management of resources to bring but priority one must be the establishment of law and order. Democracy allows one freedom to believe, think and act but if Singapore is the model to follow, their model of democracy is also imperative. In all the political wrangling the issue of constitution writing seems to have been forgotten. The declaration of a Republic in Nepal will not just allow the creation of a “New Nepal”, a new Nepal has to be created with “blood and iron” and perseverance, in short, hard work.
i do not expect anything good from maoist but even they can do some of the good stuffs like …………………punishing corrupts………………………when i say punishing, i did not mean locking up in the toilet…………… putting in the jail for 25yrs legally…………………………. it could be possible that they tag their enemy corrupt and put in the jail just like gynandra did since they have been copying many acts of gynandra and company…………………………………………………………. the only way there could be development during maoist is if some countries like russia, india, china, cuba (just kidding) invest heavely in nepal …………….. heavely means 5-10 billion $ not some 100thousand ……………………………………………. those who voted maoist wanted maoist to develop nepal……….if they could not they could be killed just like they had been killing since maoist are the one who taught to kill for no reason……………………………………………………….. maoist have been talking about developing hydro……….. they/their supporter are the one who have been stopping development in hydro………..i dont know how are they going to develop hydro with the same mentality…………………. it could be possible that maoist are going to kill those ex-supporters who come in the way of hydro development.
This are not a bad suggestions. Government should consider on the suggestion similar to this types. More and more Nepalese should suggest to new government what they feel and think is the best way to build new Nepal. There should be a body in government to collect all suggestions, consolidate and implement.
I personally think that new government of Nepal should think on few important issues. The givernment is brand new and should learn “how to walk before how to run”. In another word the government should think to put up inductries:
1. For daily necessities like food and apperals.
2. Have liberal financials rules to attract investors.
3. Set up vocational training centres to train manpower.
4. Cut down importation of apperals from foreign countries to save foreign currency.
5. Focus on dual purpose projects for Hydroelectricity production and irrigation for hilly areas.
6. Government should work on the direction of making Nepal self reliance in daily necessities.
7. Encourage new generations to gain qualification and work for the country.
There are many areas to talk about but these are few examples. I hope new government will do something to build new Nepal. If not then it will be exactly same as new democracy in 1990.
What a naive 10 points recommandattion ! Don’t you know that since the world economy has been liberalized the gap between rich and poor has increased drastically ? Do you really think that by liberalizing economy, investissor will come and that Nepal will be able to control their investement in order to profit Nepal and its people ? No, they will come and take what they can, exploit what they can and leave nothing behind for Nepal and its people ! This is the sadness of reality…
Don’t you know that Nepal is located in the Himalayas, a sismic region, and that there are too many risks if there is even one nuclear reactor ? Where did learn that nuclear was safe ? Hadn’t you never heard about Tchernobyl ?
Nepal need to be self reliant economically !
Jay Naya Nepal !
Where is education?
Why on earth we never think about it!!!!
When was the last university stabilished in Nepal?
Dont we need new universities and new research centers.
C’mon nothing prosperous is possible without good education.
You can always live on your dream but you cannot fulfill them.
Think about Japan.They developed not only they were labourous.They developed because they have strong educational system.If you are intilligent , you would find hundreds of way to prosper otherwise you need to rely on other( like beggers).
Since Maoist are forming brand new government i hope they put the needs of people first unlike other political parties. Food ,Shelter and education should be no the top of there agenda. As crisis of food grows getting rid of poverty should be first priority.
National unity should be their another key issue which they should target upon. As we read daily news of ethnic crisis it should be their priority to deal with this rapidly and efficiently.
Yes the should take step slowly and carefully not like what Nepali congress and uml have done previously.
Otherwise it would be disaster many people have now faith on Maoist led government so i hope they wont crash the faith of people of Nepal
emm.. that’s some tips for a new nepal, but these tips are just focussed on economy as other aspects have completely been ignored, still a good way of making nepal a new one…
I agree with Just a friend. While lots of other countries have jumped aboard the liberalisation bandwagon, cant Nepal be an example for the world and follow a different path.
What Nepal needs now is protection from foreign competion, so it can build a strong domestic industrial base. Otherwise, dependancy with so called more economically “developed” countries will only increase.
Bhupendra Khanal
If you want to include other readers or if you want to cover big percentage of people/participation then, could you please, explain the Acronyms you have used such as FTA, SAFTA, ADB, IMF and NATO.
As I am Business management student and one of my credit was “International Business”, I have no problem understanding Jargon but it’s not fair for other people who might have a better idea?
capital punishment is not good.
India how can India be an allie after what India did, plans to do and considering who they are China as well.
China is a hman rights abuser so is India. India is another USA that is true and USA has abused human rights inlatinamerica worldwide, making us dollar lovers.
so.
ok dollar can be exchanged for rupie. The one good thing nepal has is the farmers brain, they see they are used. Coming from feudalism into the pureland of post capitalism. Nepal is like Tibet. Tibet is China Nepal is voting for a dead chinese guru called mao.
NGO’s do no projects in Darfur or Nepal maybe IBM loves Nepal. So do we.
Even though this is my stupidity, i got to say something to this guy.
Ha ha ha ha ha(now this is how mr. ravan in ramayan used to laugh.)
are bhupindre bhaiya, choti muh aur badi bat.
Now let me explain to mr. bhupendra why my above mentioned laughter is just.
1. There is very few, non existent us corporations in nepal, namely dhl , fedex and usps. Now ask yourself why this giant of globalisation has no business in nepal. And furthermore trade organisations like WTO, IMF or even safta sir are obligations and not graceful donations that we nepalese so whole heartedly accept.And one more thing if you are aware of the current world, investment are going to war and not development. War on all fronts , war in food, war in energy, war in disease. all sorts of war, and of course war in terrorism. So i think these reasons are enough to put a full stop in your plan of massive global investment.
2, Now let me talk about you nuclear plan. Sir , i am sorry to say that you live in wonderland, do you think nepal that has a newly built bridge collapse after six month support a nuclear power plant. If you read history at all go and research chernoble.
3.Militirisation of nepal is something that i have talked in this blog before but i never get any discussions. I would like to say that your assumption that lesser military is a efficient military is flawed. Nepal will only remain nepal if we have no military or every citizen in the contry has the cumpulsion to join the military. May be you can understand what i am trying to say.
4. You talk about india that is the giant that lets us brave and proud nepalis gather fruits from its garden as if she is a newly wed bride. Even though she says no to you she still loves you. Wake up sir you are not an ally you are a buffer zone.
5.Well, the only good point i guess you mention is a good agricultural revival, lets not call it a revolution and give the word comic undertone. Yes, nepal should atleast be sufficient no matter what to feed it’s own population.
6.And it all boils down to good governance, but let us all teach our children what good governance is.
Remember , big men go to war, small men start a fight, i am a stupid man i just keep quiet.
I commend you for taking the time and effort to express your views; however I strongly disagree on all fronts. Each country is blessed with its own internal resources and stength. Capitalizing that resources and strength is the key to success.
Bhupendra Ji, these suggestions are well thought of and if taken serious steps taking in mind these suggestion, then Nepal can also make a face lift within few years as well. But, lets see if any of the people in the top orders like leaders and policy makers read this blog.
@ sankalpa: I liked ur last line.
Sankalpa:
You say you are stupid and therefore procliam to remain quiet. But what about your idiotic, senseless rant above? If you claim to be quiet then shut up!
The ideas presented by Khanal are noteworthy. Yes some of them are unrealistic and overly optimistic but these are things we should try to acheive. We should aspire to implement these goals/strategies. It’s good to have a framework and a general direction. Sankalpa is the prototypical Nepali – just whining, complaining and leg pulling while offering no solutions of his own.
jyoti-scotland, or wherever you are from even i am an MBA, but i think if ppl are interested then they will look it up in the net . well i would suggest that Nepal concentrate where its strongest in, i.e tourism, lots and lots of people come to Nepal because of its culture and breathtaking natural beauty, so concentrate on it first, dont lose the market, the world knows Nepal for it, so capitalize on it. i know the number is bolstered by the backpackers but Nepal has to think whether it wants them or the quality tourists with money to spend.The other things like natural resourses i.e hydroelectricity comes next and India has a huge demand for power, but i guess it will come into the picture only if there is a strong government to negotiate with a powerful and power hungry neighbour. so dont let let there be a power vacuum and choose a party or whatever it is to form a govt. and get on with the task of taking on the problems facing the country. good luck
pretty well thought out, Bhupendra…it’s the effort that counts…at least it’s sth concrete that gives us a sense of direction…unfortunately I don’t see most of it developing anytime soon. You seem to be suggesting a tone of aggression ‘w our government…sensible aggressiveness, however, is sth i doubt if Nepalese govt. has…well who is to generalize here but wat do u all think?
Bidur, agreed! I was also hoping for the Education section. We’ve been going the wrong way with the education system/methodology other than a strong maths/science. That whole thing needs revamped.
Again for those of us abroad, do you honestly intend to go back home? If you ask, most of my friends (and I) conveniently point to the unexpected nature of daily lives, work, school, etc for not planning to go home anytime soon. But it seems like some of those are waiting on us!
Steven,
There are some highly educated ppl who still confused with these terms. I think, every say should be counted!
Well, totally disagree with your proposal on capitalizing “tourist business” with few simple reasons of mine. We need to analyze pros and cons of these proposals. Every ideas should be scrutinized on the basis of beneficiaries of Nepal.
Tourism is a seasonal business and we should take tourism as a “Tip” so that we don’t have to relay on seasonal tourists. Therefore our economy must not be heavily dependent on tourism business. Take it easy and treat it as – Tip
Yes nepal is one of the picturesque countries but what if China opens its door to Foreigners? Do tourist still come to Nepal? Do not forget that because of tight policy of China we are benefiting of tourism. In 2006, when china opened its door to foreigners, thousands of tourists went to Tibet.
With these reasons, I strongly condemned that Tourism is not a sustainable business for nepal.
Bhupendra Khanal
Your article are more like text book, which can be easily found in books. It seems – you’ve replaced name ‘nepal’
Anyway, come to the point. Still, I ain’t convinced with your ideas? On what basis did you think that your 10 points (which i don’t wish to repeat here again) are gonna needed for development of Nepal? Since when, our ppl, had a brain of generating Nuclear power? Even US and Europe have not have biofuel, how come nepal will produce a biofuel? Since when Nepal become USA? so that we have to fear Terrorism? outsourcing professional companies, a complete IT automated facilities? …..are you out of your mind?
Integration to a Global Economy? Ooops! ….Man are you talking about Nepal or USA? Do you want Nepal be like another Bangladesh? Do you want another “Banana war”?
Joining in Global Economy is good for big countries like China, USA and EU.
Nepal should be like Costa Rica, a self-sufficient country. Even UN talks about Costa Rica and its international policy now, after “banana war’
We don’t need to look at anywhere. most importantly, we need to know ourselves and our Basic needs such as; access to education (basic – free), access to jobs, access to hospitals (free check-ups) 24 hours. access to food (rice, dal, vege, oil and gas) access to transportation (trains should be running in Kathmandu and out side of kathmandu which makes life faster and easier) etc etc.
These are the basic things that governments should be thinking of a new nepal. then there will be plenty of time to think about our material things once we have food on our mouth and once our stomach are filled. then we can talk about outsourcing facilities, developing Nuclear power, joining global market etc.etc.
What??? Nuclear Power Sufficient Nepal, but no Land Reform 🙂 :):) Oh my goodness!! I can not stop :):):)
Whole-sale “Phantasma” after smoking the Mexican weed !! Hey bro Kanal, let me have your telephone number………I will give you a butterfly kiss.
???? ????? ????? ???????, ????? ???? ?? !
:))))))))
What??? Nuclear Power Sufficient Nepal, but no Land Reform :):) Oh my goodness!! I can not stop :):):)
Whole-sale “Phantasma” after smoking the Mexican weed !! Hey bro Kanal, let me have your telephone number………I will give you a butterfly kiss.
Lato Desh Ma Gando Tanderi Bhanya Yahi Ho 😦
:))))))))
Joti,
“….access to education (basic – free), access to jobs, access to hospitals (free check-ups) 24 hours…..These are the basic things that governments should be thinking of a new nepal.”
now u talking…and making sense.
yas, this whole article, although well thought out (and in the right direction), looks awfully out of time, place and situation. Unless the writer is telling us where WE SHOULD BE in 30 years from now, this is like “bandar ko hat ma nariwal”…It should be noted that yes, this is where the country should head towards after the basic needs are met and maintained but I don’t see that happening ANYTIME soon with the way things are going.
But, I’m also a proponent of tourism. Tourism is never a matter of choice. For any nation, it’s abt yr ability to market what your country is all about. Who cares if China opens their door? Its about being able to compete with unique packages to offer..dont u think? Also not necessarily tourism but increasing awareness through cross culture studies, participating in study abroad programs can help increase awareness and exposure about the country as well. How many times haven’t u heard a foreigner go, “Nepal? where is that?”…Little things like that go a long way to put us in the map.
The country where even govt. cannot form for 4 months in historic election of CA, talking about nuclear plant is like day dream. First we need to teach the leaders how to form the govt. and how to make involved all ethnic groups and castes in politics and beuraucracy. Bro..looking at the present politics, we are still lacking 200 years back…most of the leaders their only intention are to sent their children and corrupted money abroad…so imagine about the development of this country with these crook leaders is like waiting the share the meat with hyenna…bro..first talk about how to get easily petrol,,,we have to stay once in a week for whole day to get the petrol…who have counted the waste of time in this country….
If Nepal Government cannot provide for security of Government offices and hospitals, how can it guard nuclear installations?
all is very true
sankalpa, that’s great idea…..
Maoist leaders already announced that they will fight for capitalism but they will bring that first…..what a puzzle dicision !!!?
I think, we don’t need military bcoz it goes budget alot to non development field. We can’t fight agianst India nor China. So why should we need military force???
First leadear should form the government which we havent seen in past four month.I wonder with such inefficient leaders when are we going to see development of new Nepal.Forget about nuclear power and military devlopment here we dont have a government even after 4 month of election.
god help us and our country
If country cannot form the govt. and being happy to be ruled by RAW how can we expect nuclear plant ???
Girija and Development, Impossible……
Prachanda and Peace, impossible….
Madhav kumar and president, impossible…
Jhale and UML growth, impossible….
Bihari and Nepali flag, impossible…
Why don’t you people understand that we are out of track just because of Hawaldar Girija Prashad Koirala…country is heading toward bihari rule…don’t you understand till now…our development depends on the interest of India’s interest….it is useless to make high hope with these slave leaders….
pandit ji , i have offered various solution. i want to ask you about terai, isn’t conflict between madhesi and pahade just like hindu musulman conflict ?
Mr. girija will sign the papers giving the soveriginity of the nepal and it’s people to india before he bites the dust.
The author’s work though commendable is basically highfalutin. I am not an expert in developmental sociology or any branch there of, but here is how i see things that we should do:
1. Strong Judiciary establishing rule of law
2. Strong Security and Law enforcement
3. EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION: I can not stress it MORE!!!!
4. Complete separation of Education and Politics
5. JOB JOB JOB
6. Strong infrastructure vis-a-vis roads, electricity, powerlines, information infrastructure (giving JOBS to JOBLESS)
I think of so many things, yet they are conflicting (a reason why I am not expert in this field).
I suppose we have so high expectation after the CA election! Here we are, being governed by defunct administration, still fighting for power post. History repeats itself.
Yes we saw after CA election…the same history repeated again…
I’ve some singaporean frens and they wish to come to Nepal and want to invest there but they concern first about SECURITY. so it very difficult to descisions….So i guest , one of the biggest company Tamasek of Singapore interest to invest nepal…but we don’t have reliable Government till now..!
1). Nepal runs a huge deficit with India and any FTA with China will add to the burden near term burden. The currency is already overvalued and the pressure to devalue would be huge with FTA.
2) Nepal doesn’t have the educational or the market base for large multination to come. It takes decades to develop a well trained work force. Nepal does offer cheap labor, which has helped the country with remittances.
3) Nepal’s private sector doesn’t have the capital resources to take on large scale projects such as hydro power and road development. Nepal’s private sector can handle smaller projects in the agricultural , tourism and textile fields.
Nepal is one of the least developed countries. This makes me laugh at the idea of Nepal having an sovereign wealth fund to manage its EXCESS reserves. When was the last time you looked at the budget. Let’s think of balancing the budget and then what’s left over to help poor. Helping the Madhesies would be a novel idea. Sovereign wealth fund for Nepal…WOW.
5) I believe Nepal is already trying this with hydro and roads.
6) The sovereign wealth fund ideas was funny but now you want nuclear energy. Nepal can run a huge surplus with hydro. Which government is going to share their civilian nuclear technology with an unstable government like Nepal?
I just can’t read this any more. You seem like someone in a US university with wild teen ideas for a very poor country.
Since that Girja became prime minister, our country has become worst. All the foreign aids some how vanished. suddenly, his relatives joined in politics and became “minister for finance”, suddenly, RNAC collapsed, Suddenly daughter joined in politics and became “acting prime minister’ AND we poor ppl kept watching, our innumerable young/ hot blood left abroad for little money to earn and send home. Good for foreign country, bad for nepal. when they get old, many of them return home and Nepal has to feed them.
This problem won’t be solved until we live in our country and make our country self – sufficient / self reliant. Situation is so bad in nepal (easy money are misused unnecessarily on things like; mobile, motorbike, cars etc) and that means, Nepali ppl who are in abroad, have no chance coming home?
Nobody is thinking on – Land reform (we can make our soil more fertile ie just like in China people take advantage of having two crops in a one season), investing money on developing hydro power (which is sufficient for whole nepal), improving Nepal’s GDP. …. etc. etc
People seem only worried about – tourism (unreliable seasonal business) and foreign multinational companies (even india only has call centre and some branches but once business is down they can be moved in different country easily – so for India that’s a short term solution that suggest developing/creating own business)
If we make ourselves sufficient in aspect then a multinational will come to our door.
Rubbish
prabin
I don’t think this blog is suitable for you, i mean with your level of intelligence. others seem to make an effort to put at least something but you seem so rubbish can’t even put other words.
Do you want me to say things like: we nepali are so rich, enough food, people are so rich that they hardly travel by feet, so rich that every one has mobile phone, car, motorbike and so on..)
people like you always have a brain on your back which needs to be kicked and will hopefully come out. and you will understand reality of real life.
Absolutely Rubbish
PM Girija’s daughter became a ‘mister of without port-folio’. Binabibhagiya mantri
Rubbish again
Mr. Bhupendra
Your thoughts are marvellous but these can be achieved only when the basic needs of the Nepalease people is fulfilled.
Forget FTA with US,Japan and other countries, forget Treaty with India of 1950. First ask the great politicians in Nepal to form the Government, Ask the government to provide security to the common man, Ask the politicians to trust the fellow party rather then pulling their legs,ask the government to keep all the party in sync. Ask people of Nepal to be responsible rather than enjoying the blame games.
If we have a stable government for 10 years, if we have proper security in Nepal i think we can think of all those points you mentioned then. Its too early now. To do this we need to have new line of politicians in Nepal, a younger generation, a younger we
We have seen more than 10 years of democracy, what did we achieve till now, nothing…………………
Youngster wants to go abroad, Parents doesnt want their children to come back to Nepal. What can we expect in this situation. You have money, you do not have place to spend, you have a car, you do not have fuel, you want to travel, you have no security,
So Mr. Bhupendra lets discuss your points once these issues are solved
Thank you
My thumbs up goes to Deepesh. and thumbs down goes for Bhupendra Khanal.
you know, we don’t need two thousands of words of new plan for Nepal, do we?
I think, Nepal is too small to adopt such a crazy idea from American educated Bupendra Khanal.
whether you have a degree or MBA, doesn’t put on Top of the world, does it? certainly not, there are so many aspects and areas that you need to improve with your education.
For me mere Degree or MBA or PhD won’t qualify you just like that. After all “Talent” is the word i am looking for here, which is a gift you take from your birth. and you know, you just have to polish it!
For Nepal, we only needs of three sentences word of plan.
such as Basic needs which are: food, shelter, and clothes. Once, we get that then we can stand up and move on to next demand.
ugly
f…up and shut up
Someone is indeed abusing the system!
@UWB: If you need help in system abuse and spam, contact me, you should have my email address!
Thanks to all of you. I very well appreciate the comments, whether it is supportive or critical.
You guys can find more of my thoughts in my blog Vision Developed Nepal found at:
http://www.visionnepaldevelopednepal@blogspot.com
I will answer to the majority of comments. Please give me sometime, will be back with a new post.
Bhupendra
Correction:
http://visiondevelopednepal.blogspot.com/
Thanks
lot of thing are being said about new Nepal but what are the things we have done.political stability is one thing but we should not neglect our economy.we are between two major economy presently in the world but we aren’t able to take any benefitfrom them.it is basically due to lack of concreat effort by our politician and economist that we are not able to come with any ideas that will help our country to progress by leaps and bound.we have tremendous oppurtunity in our country regarding tourism,hydropower and consumer product.it is the time genunine effort should be made to develope our economy otherwise we will be always backward .
Some ideas for Nepal’s Development:
1. Vibrant Vision how Nepal can be after 50 years from now (what will be social order, political system, governance system, lifestyle of citizens etc.)
2. What natural and human resources Nepal have? (Disclosure of hidden resources is necessary, statistics about many resources such as minerals are kept secret by few opportunist people)
3. What are our niche areas in Industry and commerce where we have competitive advantage?
(My suggestions of such areas are: Tourism, Hydro Resources- including Water for drinking, Hydropower generation, Irrigation, Horticulture, Herbs and herbal productions, Tea and Coffee, Animal husbandry, Health Institutions, Old age homes, Educational institutions, mining, to name a few)
4. Find out our products for Export where we can compete internationally. Prioritize some items that we can handle, then promote these industries wholehearedly, with all the facilities backup.
5. Tourism is one of the biggest niche area of Nepal. Actually tourism is the largest industry of the world. Nepal’s Tourism is not seasonal, because our topographical variation, thus we have many types on climate in a given month. Regions such as Mustang and Dolpo are rain shadow areas- where tourism is possible even in rainy season, and Nepal is one of the attractive gateway to Tibet. To build International tourism we have to promote domestic tourism, it is the rule of the game. Invest in having bigger fleet of National flag carrier with air connection internationally with major world outbound tourist cities. Have a national budget for marketing Nepal as Tourism Destination.
6. Use foreign aid in infrastructure building: Eastwest Hilly highway, East west Mountain Highway, North South Highway crisscrossing the East West highways. Buiid Railways along the East West Highways (use Hydropower for this). Build ropeways for goods transportation in remote areas. Bring Chinese railway to Nepal and join with Indian railway.
7. Negotiate with India to access Bombay port. Also use Tibet access to connect with Afganistan, Kazakistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Russia, Mongolia, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam etc. Forget Nepal’s Land locked status and build a Land Linked status.
8. Build more cities, which can be regional hubs for development and industrializations, these cities can be capitals of Federal states.
9. Most importantly Build Special Economic Zones (with investment friendly labor laws, one stop import and export processing, and all the facilities and incentives for the FDI). FDI is the secret behind the economic development of India and China.
10. Restructure bureaucracy and heavily punish corruption.
11. Design Education system according to the vision, future needs, and based on demand and supply. What purpose to educate a citizen if the knowledge is not applied in Nepal, but rather stolen by some other developed country.
Correction on the Point 9 of above:
FDI and Special Economic Zones are the secrets behind the economic development of India and China.
We need Nationalism, more visions, practical suggestions and hard work as suggested above to change the face of Nepal, for Development, National integrity and sovereignty.
Major sharp, your thoughts are phenomenal. I am totally with you. But not so sure about India because India has its won problem on its shoulder but keeping a good relationship is a good thing to do (…not selling our dignity though!). I think we nepalese are very different people even though we share a same religion with India. I often found Nepalese people residing in western world are quite adoptable, fit for change and ready for change whereas indian still living in the same shadow like in India.
Joti, you have raised a very good point too ( again, phenomenal thoughts!). but sometime i guess, you don’t have enough time for to extend a bit in your comments, apart from that, I really appreciate your thoughts about racism in Britain, Barak Obama, Olympics etc etc ( I also read the article in Kantipur, written by Dinesh Wagle “Aghi Aghi Obama” and noticed your name there)
And you know Joti, you are a outspoken person, with out a doubt! you are a woman (as you’ve mentioned) still incredibly brave. Am i see you as a “21st century woman”?
Major Sharp, very appreciable approaches….i know there are many such ideas bottled up in each individual Nepali..…but getting down to the earth and the facing the better reality of Nepalese politics…..Who will come forward and materialize these, discuss it seriously and forward it to the proper channel or any other alternatives…
Today, every individual has certain views about Naya Nepal and seriously every one has brilliant idea to come up with but what’s happening in reality….. we all are building castle in the air… We Nepali janta have shown the world that when it comes to unite no one can be better and having said that we need to address our flaws too because of these flaws we are not being able to achieve what we had dreamt of.. We start with a big bang and come up with great results but we don’t keep our energy stored for further follow-ups and reviews…. We handover our hard work and sacrifices in the hands of the politicians who always prove themselves handicapped…..
Lets bring back those energy and step forward for Naya Nepal….