Sujeev Shakya

Articles & Publications

17 Dec 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

Unshackling sports and athletics

December 17, 2019 No Comments

Nepal succeeded in hosting the South Asian Games, but it could have achieved much more with dedication and planning.

The South Asian Games have ended, and Nepal has shown a lot of promise this time. But to truly improve, we have to make continuous efforts to ensure sports is used as a tool for youth empowerment. Yet, it seems that Nepal only attempts to make short term gains before reverting to old practices. We are doomed to repeat history, it seems. As I was contemplating this issue, I stumbled upon my own column from September 2013, titled Leveraging Sports, in which I talk about taking a commercial view on sports, the building of infrastructure and questioning the utility of sports associations. It provides an interesting comparison point to see whether sports and athletics in Nepal have gone through any substantial changes.

Nepal is a country where problems are aplenty; so much so that conversations everywhere, from the lowly tea shops to glittering cocktail receptions, all focus on these problems that everyone feels. So, it was an utter joy to see people forget all problems, ethnic divides and political divisions and come together to follow Nepal’s athletics journey. The South Asian Games provided a platform for all Nepalis to feel proud of belonging to this country. Yet, it would be remiss not to mention the problems that are so glaring.

When watching the opening and closing ceremony on television, I was reminded of my student days in India—of watching the Asian Games in 1982, when India had finally managed to introduce television broadcast in colour. The quality of the entire broadcast was poor. This was in stark contrast to the visuals being uploaded on social media from inside the stadium. When looking at the production and broadcast quality of reality shows, such as Nepal Idol and Voice of Nepal, it is clear that the country can produce content that rivals any in the world. Then why were the broadcast rights given to the channels that couldn’t be bothered to up their game?

Another major issue cropped up with the equipment available for athletes. While there has been a lot of news covering the increased investment in infrastructure, equipment and participants this time, it is also obvious that many things were overlooked. It was heart-wrenching to see Nepali shooters having to borrow pistols and bullets from competitors because Nepal itself did not provide the right equipment on time. The necessary equipment should have been procured at least several months beforehand, giving athletes enough time to familiarise themselves with the new apparatus.

Nepalis can pull off anything in a short period of time, but shabbiness has been our hallmark. The introduction of online ticketing services meant that we saw families enjoying the games live without any encumbrance. But, at the same time, also present were the people who do not pay for such events but wiggle tickets out of political associations. They were the ones making lots of noise of not being able to get to the stadium. But these were the same people who also arrived late to the venue, to begin with. Large venues necessitate seating times before the event begins, and politically connected people need to understand that these are not like the functions they like to hold up with delays.

It was also interesting to see that the diversity presented by the athletes’ cultural and ethnic make-up wasn’t reflected in the sports associations. There is a stark contrast between the people who actually play and the people in control. The people who play rarely make it to these sports bodies and some of the rent-seeking officials do not even understand the rules of the game.

I recently had a conversation with Biplav Gautam, a Nepali based in Singapore who is Sports Partnerships Director at Sportradar. For someone who has been engaged in the world of sports across multiple countries, I asked him what it all meant for Nepal’s future. He says that the usual way of promising financial rewards to medal winners is not the best way forward. Rather, support for sportspersons should come before the events, not afterwards. The current scenario is like agreeing to send your kids to school once they ace subject exams. What is necessary is an investment in athletes so that they may achieve strong results.

Given his observations in many countries around the world, he argues that, often, host nations are euphoric after the completion of multi-sports extravaganzas, only for the momentum to be quickly lost. This is regularly seen post Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games or Commonwealth Games, where countries boldly announce sports development initiatives and their aspirations to host World Championships or the Olympics, but then return to business as usual. Therefore, for Nepal, the key challenge will be to keep the momentum going.

Here are the three things to do, borrowing from my previous columns on the subject. First, there has to be a structure that aids commerce and investment—like the cricket leagues that have gained in popularity. Professional bodies that can procure investments and garner corporate sponsorships have to replace sports associations. We should not forget that we are a $34 billion economy and just the commercial banks put together are worth more than $15 billion.

Second, we need to have a global outlook and link sports with tourism. Rwanda signed a four year $32 million contract with Arsenal, for instance. Some experts say that this will tremendously help market the country all over the world. We also need our sportspersons to get into international teams and acquire international sponsorship and attention. Look at what one Sandeep Lamichhane can do.

Third, we need to plan; a difficult thing for Nepalis, as culturally we are not wired to do so. We need to engage international firms that can bring the necessary revenues and visibility as soon as any sports meets are planned. No one will be interested if you ask them four months before the opening ceremony. Nepotism must also be done away with.

Finally, I stick to my decade-old push for making the Mahendranagar airport an international class sports complex before the politician-business nexus will plot it and distribute it. Built to push the royal sport of hunting, it has the potential of becoming a multipurpose centre with academies, professionally managed stadiums and a sports tourism attraction.

03 Dec 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

The government’s year-old social security scheme is a mess

December 3, 2019 No Comments

Arbitrary actions, confusing policies and opaque management will throttle investments and economic growth.

Last year, the KP Oli-led government undertook a multi-million rupee media blitz throughout the country to launch its contribution-based social security scheme. The scheme and its accompanying Social Security Fund were launched with the slogan ‘Naya Yug Ko Suruwat’, which translates to ‘the beginning of a new era’. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) lauded the move on its website, considering the scheme ‘one of the milestones of the ILO’s on-going interventions in Nepal’. A year has passed and on November 30, the deadline for organisations to register with Social Security Fund ended. Till the cut-off date, 10,477 enterprises and 115,606 individuals had registered, a dismal number compared to the number of enterprises and people working in Nepal. Investors, foreign and domestic alike, are waiting to see how the scheme moves forward, given the weak reception. Consultants have been bombarded with questions; there is uncertainty on policy directives moving. Real estate prices are taking a hit and the stock market will not recover any time soon due to the confusing policies. As it is, the Indian economic slowdown has been impacting business and tourism in Nepal already.

Nepal has a history of making a mockery of every good intent. The opacity of the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund showed how the management, systems and processes of government funds lack transparency. When the Bonus Act led to banks paying out large bonuses, the government mandated that the excess amount must be deposited to a National Level Welfare Fund whose scope of activity is unknown. Therefore, the government does not have the credibility to be able to win the confidence of employers and employees that it will not siphon off money from the Social Security Fund.

Twentieth-century mindset

The basic idea of the social security scheme is that an employee will put in 11 percent of their gross salary into this fund, and their employer will contribute an additional 20 percent. This savings is locked-in until the person turns 60, after which they will be eligible for pensions. The government has already made it impossible for organisations to legally hire interns and fellows. They have also done away with probation periods, which means that an employee is eligible for all benefits from day one and there are no linkages between wages and productivity. In an age where people are known to hold partake in multiple income-generating activities simultaneously, the shift from a focus on careers and jobs to income is clear.

Any social security scheme should be able to explain how healthcare expenses will be defrayed through such a large contribution to a fund and how the pension scheme will work. In Japan, there is a strong push for doing away with the concept of retirement. In Nepal, there is no clear understanding of what the government is trying to do. The employees and employers have for years been contributing to the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) and Citizen Investment Trust (CIT)—both are government bodies mandated by acts of Parliament. Now, it is unclear what will happen to these funds. There are rumours swirling about how the government is planning to dissolve the EPF and the CIT and transfer the accounts to the new Social Security Fund. Many people, therefore, are attempting to withdraw their money from the two old funds owing to the uncertainty that jeopardises their savings.

In Nepal, the employer-employee discourse has been monopolised by the cartels and political unions, who negotiate with the government on acts, laws, regulations and policies. Those who speak against them are either silenced through smear campaigns in media or verbal/physical threats. The contribution-based social security scheme was a result of the negotiation reached between employee unions (that this government has to keep happy) and the employer council of cartels, facilitated by experts from concerned international organisations. I remember how, during my days working at Soaltee Hotel, heavyweight pseudo-militant union leaders from different parties would come to negotiate on behalf of the employees, who were working diligently. The irony here is that some members of the business houses making up these cartels have been boasting openly about how they hire Indian workers in their factories to circumvent labour laws and social security schemes aimed at Nepali workers.

Nepal may regress

Business ventures are fluid, they will always find a way to work as long as the product or service has enough demand. But recently, through better access to finance and easier way to pay taxes, businesses had started to move away from the informal sector to formal ones. The recent confusion threatens this progress; businesses will be tempted to embrace the informal sector again. This is detrimental to Nepal’s growth. In Unleashing Nepal, I advocated for Nepal being a capitalist welfare state, where free enterprises will be responsible for welfare payments along with the state. The private sector has to see it as something that they are encouraged to do for it to work.

Nepal’s growth prospects are dependent on attracting investments—both domestic and foreign. The government needs to reach out beyond their political base, of cartels that fund them and the unions that give them muscle and electoral power, to examine how to make social security a reality for Nepalis in a manner that is credible, gradual and acceptable.

19 Nov 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

Nepal hasn’t been able to adapt to a changing world

November 19, 2019 No Comments

Think tanks can play a significant role in helping countries like Nepal deal with the changes.

Last week, more than a hundred think tanks came together in Bangkok to discuss how they can help manage the transition amidst trade wars and the shrinking of space for open dialogues and discourses. The Asia Pacific Think Tank Summit was organised by the United Nations ESCAP and the University of Pennsylvania. While the world has progressed and is discussing pertinent issues, back home in Nepal, we continue to be preoccupied with mundane issues like the health of the prime minister, parties and lawyers busy protecting criminals and, of course, politicians making sure they do not lose control of universities. No one, whether in government or heading institutions, has a vision as to how the country or their respective organisation will look like in 2030. It seems that the only way of thinking prevalent at the individual level is the drive for personal gain—more wealth, more parcels of land, and probably more gold. Given that, it is always enlightening to hear discourses on the future.

Managing a China-led future

For a world accustomed to the West’s domination of thought, innovation and economic matters, one of the most uncomfortable issues is the emergence of China. A study carried out by the McKinsey Institute points out how, over the decade from 2007 to 2017, China almost tripled its production of labour-intensive goods from $3.1 trillion to $8.8 trillion. At the same time, its share of exports has dramatically decreased, from 15.5 percent to 8.3 percent, which means that the country is consuming more. It is very difficult to come to terms with the fact that there are two different yet important economic systems in the world now. The people who envisioned the Washington Consensus never imagined China’s rise. We need to engage with China—a country that is making its own rules—in the way it operates rather than wishing or pushing it to change. China’s size and scale need to be recognised. Think tanks need to learn from both these systems, rather than judge and take sides.

The assumption that there is a line dividing government and business is not valid anymore. The way China is moving ahead has changed the way other countries think. Vietnam, for instance, is more than happy to ape China over the West. By 2040, Asia will claim a 50 percent share of the global GDP and a 40 percent share of consumption, with more than half of the world’s population residing in this region.

The West, especially the United States, is retaliating in different ways; rule-based trade is coming to an end. National security issues are being used as an excuse to change rules and uncertainty on trade is impacting investments. This is also visible in the way the Japan-South Korea trade dispute is taking a toll on tourism and investments in the two countries. With populism on the rise and the world adjusting to a new global order, think tanks, too, need to recalibrate their way of operating.

Keeping up with change

Discourse is changing rapidly. Publications and research have been coming at a much faster pace. There are more challenges and opportunities emerging each day. Communication technology has shrunk the world on the one hand, and has polarised it on the other. Social media has provided users with an overwhelming amount of content—sometimes similar and sometimes contradictory. It is much harder to keep track of what is factual. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence is helping create new breakthroughs in healthcare but at the same time is making people vulnerable to cybercrime.

However, at the think tank summit, there was a consensus regarding the biggest challenge: How will countries create policies, and legal and operational frameworks, to manage a society that is ageing. A presentation from Japan argued on how the concept of retirement age should be scrapped. This means the concept of social security will no longer be relevant and people can be paid based on productivity. If this happens, the concept of work, income, and saving—all will change. Japan’s argument could be valid for Nepal, where 50 percent of the population is below 25 years of age; many in the 21st century are unlikely to opt for a 30-year career in a single sector.

For Nepal, where politics and the bureaucracy hardly attract the most analytical and educated, it is challenging to hope for a deeper dialogue. Our challenge is to manage a society where communication technology has penetrated at a faster pace than information technology. There are hundreds of online news portals but barely a handful of research agencies that collect data, mine them and convert it into useful information. We have banks boasting of apps for quick transactions but using obsolete software for information management.

Nepal has an opportunity to engage in these discourses more closely, as many other countries face similar situations. Nepal Economic Forum has offered to host the summit in 2021 and by then we hope to sensitise people on the need to reimagine the roles think tanks play.

16 Nov 2019
Kantipur Permalink

सिखहरूबाट सिकौँ

November 16, 2019

अमृतसर, पन्जाब र सिखहरूको कुरा गर्दा नेपाल र नेपालीहरू स्वत: जोडिन पुग्छन् । गुरु नानक करिब ५ सय वर्षअघि काठमाडौं आएका थिए । तत्कालीन मल्ल राजाहरूले उनलाई यहाँ स्वागतमात्र गरेनन्, गुरुद्वारा बनाउन जग्गा पनि दिए । त्यसपछि उन्नाइसौं शताब्दीमा उनीहरू लाहोर गएर राजा रंजितसिंहको सेनामा भर्ना हुनथाले । ‘लाहुरे’ शब्दको उपज त्यहींबाट भयो ।

महाराजा रंजितसिंहकी बहिनी नेपाल आएपछि उनीसँगै धेरै सिख नेपालमा आई बसोबास गरे । गोर्खाली र सिखहरू सैनिक कलामा निपुण भएका कारण धेरै युद्ध साथसाथै लडे । भारतमा अहिले पनि सिख र गोर्खा रेजिमेन्टलाई उत्कृष्ट मानिन्छ । धर्म, भाषा र संस्कृतिमा धेरै फरक देखिए पनि आपसी सम्बन्धमा निकट रहँदै आएका छन् । हालसालै भारतीय राजदूत मन्जिवसिंह पुरीको अगुवाइमा यही सम्बन्ध विषयमा पुस्तक पनि निकालेका छन् ।

स्वर्णमन्दिर, अमृतसर

दिल्लीदेखि अमृतसरसम्मको दूरी मात्र ४५० किलोमिटर छ भने पाकिस्तानको लाहोर मात्र ५० किलोमिटर । अमृतसर सिख धर्मावलम्बीहरूका लागि पवित्रस्थल हो । हरिमन्दिर साहेब जसलाई प्रचलित रूपमा ‘गोल्डेन टेम्पल’ भनिन्छ, यही सहरको मूल गन्तव्यको रूपमा अवस्थित छ । सन् १५७७ तिर बनेको यो मन्दिर पोखरीको बीचमा अवस्थित छ । मन्दिर परिसरमा स्वर्णमन्दिर बाहेक अन्य घरहरू पनि छन्, तर तीमध्ये अकाल तख्त सबभन्दा महत्त्वपूर्ण छ । यी सिखहरूका ५ तख्त मध्येको एक हो । सिख धर्ममा कुनै मूर्ति पूजा हुँदैन । गुरु ग्रन्थ साहेबलाई मन्दिर परिसरभित्र ल्याउने र लाने निशदीन पूजाचर्या हुने गर्छ र भक्तहरू यिनै ग्रन्थको दर्शन गर्ने गर्छन् । मन्दिर परिसरमा चार द्वार छन् र प्रतिदिन हजारौं र कहिलेकाहीं लाखौं भक्तहरू आउने गर्छन् ।

सफाइ र व्यवस्थापन सिकौँ

हिन्दु मन्दिहरू जाँदा भारतमा होस् या नेपालमा फोहोर, बढी पैसा तिरेर लाइन मिच्न सक्ने कुराको सम्झना आउने गर्छ । उच्च ओहदामा बस्नुको मूलकारण एउटा पहिलेदेखि चलिआएको विशिष्ट पाहुना हुन पाउनु पनि हो । नेपालमा पनि यस्ता धेरै देखिने गर्छन् । सेना वा पुलिसका उच्च पदाधिकारीहरूले विशेष सुविधा पाउने धेरै मन्दिरका नियमहरू छन् । भारतको पुरी होस्, गया होस् वा तिरुपति, राजनीतिक हर्ताकर्तासँग गयो भने लाइनमा नबसी सिधै दर्शन गर्न पाइन्छ । धेरै ठाउँमा पुलाल (पुजारी/दलाल) हरूलाई पैसा दिएर लाइन मिच्न सक्छ भने कति ठाउँमा धनको भरमा दर्शनको ‘भीआईपी लाइन’ पनि छ । तर शिख धर्मावलम्बीहरू त्यसो गर्दैनन् । जानेहरू सबैलाई समान व्यवहार गरिन्छ ।मन्दिर परिसरमा कुनै हुलमुल, ठेलमठेल हुँदैन । हामी नवमीको दिन स्वर्णमन्दिर जाँदा करिब दुई लाख मानिसले दर्शन गरेको बताइयो । सफा मन्दिरमा सायद भगवानलाई पनि आउँ–आउँ लाग्छ । हामीले सफाभन्दा चोखो हुनेमा जोड दियौं । फोहोरको डंगुरमा पनि चोखो पानी छर्के चोखो हुन्छ भनी मान्छौं हामी । 

स्वयंसेवकहरूले चल्ने 

स्वयंसेवकहरूको राम्रो व्यवस्था भएकाले तिनैबाट व्यवस्थित ढंगले स्वर्णमन्दिर चल्दोरहेछ । मन्दिर परिसर पस्नुअघि हिन्दु मन्दिरहरूमा झैं जुत्ता राख्ने र पूजा सामग्री बेच्ने माफियाहरू छैनन् ।चिवर ग्रहण गरेर बौद्ध श्रामणेर हुँदा पनि हाम्रो पहिलो ध्यान कोठा बाहिरको जुता मिलाउनेतिर हुने गर्छ । 

मन्दिरमा आउने प्रत्येकले चाहेमा ‘लंगर’ खान सक्छन् । दिनमा लाखौंलाई नि:शुल्क खुवाउनसक्ने गजबको आर्थिक व्यवस्थापकीय दक्षता हो । यो भान्छा कसरी चल्छ ? कसरी स्वयंसेवकहरू लाम लगाएर जुठा थालहरू लिएर धुने गर्छन् भन्ने कुरो नेसनल जियोग्राफिकको मेघा किचेन कार्यक्रममा हेर्न सकिन्छ । हामीले पनि त्यहाँनेवा: भोज खाँदाजस्तै पलेटी कसी स्वाद लिएर खायौं । सिखहरूको खुवाउने दक्षताले गर्दा आपद्–विपद्‌मा उनीहरू ठाउँ–ठाउँमा गएर ‘लंगर’ लगाउने गर्छन् । नेपालमा पनि २०७२ बैसाखकोभूकम्पपछि धेरै ठाउँमा ‘लंगर’को व्यवस्था गरिएको थियो । अहिले पनि कुपन्डोलको गुरुद्वारामा प्रत्येक शनिबार ‘लंगर’को व्यवस्था हुने गर्छ ।

मन्दिर परिसर व्यवस्थापन

यो मन्दिर परिसरमा ‘अपरेसन ब्लुस्टार’ अन्तर्गत सेना परिचालन पनि भएको थियो । तत्कालीन भारतीय प्रधानमन्त्रीइन्दिरा गान्धीको समयमा त्योअपरेसन गरिएको थियो ।

अहिले मन्दिर परिसर वरिपरिका धेरै पसल र घरहरू भत्काएर गाडीलाई प्रतिबन्द गरिएको छ । युरोपका पुराना सहरहरूमा झैंपोष्ट/‘बोलार्ड’हरू राखेका छन् । चाहेको बखत आपत्कालीन प्रयोगमा आउने वाहनहरू आउन सक्छन् । युरोपमा झैं ‘वाकिङ सिटी’/‘हिंँड्ने सहर’ को रूपमा विकसित हुँदैछ । नेपालको पाटनको पुरानो भूभागमा झैं एकनासका झ्याल–ढोकाहरू लगाउने गरेको छ भने आँखा विझाउने, घिनलाग्दा होर्डिङ बोर्डहरू हटाएका छन् । अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय ब्रान्डहरूलाई पनि मिलाएर मात्र बोर्ड लगाउन दिइएको छ ।

मन्दिर परिसरमा मदिरापान र धूमपान निषेध गरिएको छ । नेपालका मन्दिर भएका क्षेत्रमा जाँदा बियर, भोड्का र ह्विस्कीका बोर्डहरूले ढाकेको देखिन्छ । स्वर्णमन्दिर वरिपरि साकाहारी भोजनमात्र उपलब्ध हुन्छ । हुन त नेपालमा बलि दिने ठाउँमा मासु बेच्न रोक्न त सकिन्न, तर अन्य मन्दिर परिसर वरिपरि पनि खुला रूपमा मासुरमाछा बेच्ने र सेकुवाको बोर्डले लोभ्याउने काम कति ठिक हो ? लुम्बिनी परिसर वरिपरिको होर्डिङ, पसल, ठूलो आवाजमा बज्ने गाना र सेल्फी आतंक सबै कसरी नियन्त्रण गर्न सकिन्छ भन्ने कुरा स्वर्णमन्दिरको व्यवस्थापनबाट सिक्न सकिन्छ ।

नेपालको धार्मिक पर्यटन विशेषगरी चिनियाँपर्यटकहरूको आगमनले निकै बढ्नेछ । यद्यपि हामीले बौद्ध स्तुपा वरिपरि र लुम्बिनी क्षेत्रलाई शान्त र माछा, मासु, मदिरारहित राख्न सक्नुपर्छ । यो कुरा स्वर्णमन्दिरको व्यवस्थापनबाट सिक्न सकिन्छ ।

05 Nov 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

Aiming for a better future, by prioritising the young

November 5, 2019 No Comments

Nepal has no idea how to prepare its children for the future. But it needs to learn before it is too late.

With the arrival of UNICEF executive director Henrietta H Fore in Nepal, people in government and others who have lived out of donor largesse are scrambling to talk about children. With a renewed global focus on Nepal, as many international visitors have been visiting, the country is trying to figure out what to say. Unfortunately, with this crowd, the authorities concerned cannot rely on a transient patchwork as they did for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit. The discussions have to be substantial. It has been three decades since the government committed to children’s rights but has little to show for it. It was perhaps because of this that the government representatives, speaking at one of the functions I attended, we’re unable to clearly espouse the official view, or the official future plan of action, on the subject. Nepal has no idea as to how it will implement UNICEF’s new Generation Unlimited initiative, which is ‘a global partnership working to prepare young people to become productive and engaged citizens’. The initiative apparently connects ‘secondary-age education and training to employment and entrepreneurship, empowering every young person to thrive in the world of work’. It is important to examine children-related issues from a few perspectives.

Is education preparing children for the future?

A government report that has detailed statistics till 2017 says there are 7.4 million children in school in grades 1 to 12 with a slightly higher percentage of boys compared to girls. They are in 35,601 schools all over the country. Formal education has never been a priority in Nepal; it only gained some recognition from the Rana regime a hundred years ago. The Shah kings further messed up matters by creating a concoction of systems that crippled education. And, since the 1990s, it has been more about the politics of teachers, unions and private school cartels. There is an unattributed saying that goes: The collapse of education spells the collapse of a country. Perhaps Nepalis have followed this too well.

With technology being adopted rapidly, and machine learning and artificial intelligence entering our lives at an even faster pace, the response has to be even faster. The top 10 jobs of today are ones most had not even heard of just 10 years back. In the US, a recent study revealed how more than 15 percent of the people hired by the top 10 tech firms did not go to college. The discourse has moved to income generation rather than job creation as people want income, not jobs, and definitely do not want to be in the same job for thirty years like our social security programmes assume. The big question, therefore, will be how we will recalibrate our education system to get our children to adjust to the new world.

New technology brings new problems

The former executive director of UNICEF—and only Nepali to have reached the highest coveted position in the United Nation—Kul Chandra Gautam recently shared that the big challenge at present has been induced by technology. Social media and the internet have created massive problems by generating new forms of child abuse—be it in the forms of sexual or financial exploitation. He also talked about the new types of addiction towards gadgets that are becoming a major social challenge.

I remember seeing children less than three years of age, at a children’s ward in a hospital, who had to wear neck support as their parents and grandparents were letting them overindulge in using mobile digital screens. Children’s addiction to electronic devices and their anti-social behaviour is much talked about. But little is done to stop such behaviour. People also seem to be happier to complain about this trend, rather than protecting their own children. There is also no way to restrict people of all ages from using new media platforms, be it Tik Tok or content on WhatsApp.

What can be done?

But where should the responsibility lie? In a country where it is common to see parents bringing children to A-rated movies or forcing their kid’s classmates to drink at birthday parties, the issue of proper parenting needs to be discussed. Let us not forget that many parents who pay for their children’s college education abroad spend money not for a good degree, but for a visa. This mindset has to change.

Schools also have a significant role to play. Schools and colleges are found to advertise themselves as a transit point on the way to obtaining citizenship and employment abroad. This has to change in a really big way. We have to prepare for the children to leave Nepal, but to surely come back after amassing knowledge and skills.

Finally, instead of pointing fingers, we have to think about the steps that can be taken individually to improve the situation. Today, the Nepal Economic Forum is hosting an event to kickstart the discourse. We need to secure the future of half of Nepal’s population. Let’s join hands. 

22 Oct 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

Before Visit Nepal, the country needs to improve airport management

October 22, 2019 No Comments

It was a nightmare day for airport authorities and passengers the day Xi Jinping left Nepal.

On Sunday, October 13, when Chinese President Xi Jinping left Kathmandu, the country’s only international airport turned chaotic. Tribhuvan International Airport had aeroplanes and people stuck in air traffic and on the ground. Quite naturally, the people were left frustrated. Having arrived that day from New Delhi, I knew I would be facing a long ordeal before I got home. I tried to keep myself busy and occupied throughout, and tried not to think about the circumstance. But when I reached the immigration counter at the airport, 10 hours from the time I left my hotel in Delhi, I snapped. There was a riot at the counters. The frustrated immigration officer at the Nepali citizen counter was clueless and hence, more interested in shirking his responsibilities. I got hold of the officer in charge and, as every immigration officer that evening told me, he was equally lost as to how to manage the affairs.

It was very clear that 11 flights would land in one and a half hours, which meant that around 2,500 passengers would hit the immigration counters at the same time. The immigration officer kept fighting with the passengers. Instead of attempting to alleviate the situation, he was openly pondering as to why people chose to travel on that day. I tried to calm him and remind him that the situation could be worse if the crowd lost its cool. I then decided to volunteer to control the crowd. For the next hour, I was at the immigration counter ensuring that queues were respected, and the old, sick and people with children received preference. The immigration officer was thankful and grateful, and so were many tourists. But what was alarming was that two tourists decided to offer me tips—one Rs1,000 and the other $10. Apparently, they were under the impression that, in Nepal, you need to pay to get things expedited. The situation in the baggage claim wasn’t much better. People’s luggage had been scattered all over the room, with no one there to answer queries. I was too exhausted to volunteer anymore—I spent the next twenty minutes to find my bag across the piles of bags. It had been over twelve hours since I started on the journey to take this one hour-plus long flight.

Questions galore

Many questions kept nagging me that night and kept me awake. First, and most important of all, why does anyone still choose to live in Nepal when there are so many alternatives across the world? It is very difficult to continuously convince oneself as to what are comparative advantages in terms of quality of life, personal or professional. Is it that Nepalis don’t care for civic sense? Why is it that while Nepal’s GDP has grown three-fold in the past 15 years and people have better education, their civic sense has plummeted? Why is it that people who follow rules of queuing in every other airport around the world at immigration and security counters just go berserk when they come to Nepal? Why is it that people get so selfish that they would do anything to jump the queue, from threatening staff to bribing them?

I was surprised to see that, in one instance, when I allowed a passenger in a wheelchair to skip the queue at immigration with a family member, the family produced 12 passports, and were not ashamed to do so. I was also surprised that the authorities could not plan ahead for such a day, knowing full well in advance how it would end up. What would have happened if a disaster, like an earthquake or fire, struck on such a chaotic day? It also seemed like many among the queue were non-resident Nepalis, who have no problems in abiding by their adopted countries’ rules, but who in this scenario were acting pathetically and adding to the chaos.

What needs to be done

An airport is often the point where people create their first impression of a country or region. In Kigali, Rwanda, the Rwandese are very proud of how nice and well managed their airport is. On Saturday, October 19, when I landed at Guwahati airport in Assam, India, I was surprised to see a clean orderly airport that resembled Southeast Asian airports rather than Southasian ones. A good airport is not only about decent infrastructure and hardware, but it is also about the systems, processes and people. Simply employing a proper queue management system can solve half the problems; cleaner toilets can say a lot about a country’s hygiene and sanitation. Shops and restaurants with substandard quality of products and services do not make people happy. More importantly, the authorities need to ensure that the changes are implemented consistently.

Instead of next year being a Visit Nepal Year, perhaps it would be better for the focus to change to make it an airport management year, where consistency in service provision is promoted over the year. There may not be any money made on lucrative contracts for publicity and advertisements. Neither will there be junkets to see how other airports in the world would keep their toilets clean. But there would be a sense of national pride and purpose. And perhaps the tourists coming in would automatically be inclined to promote Nepal to others.

https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2019/10/22/before-visit-nepal-the-country-needs-to-improve-airport-management

28 Sep 2019
The Hindu No Comments Permalink

As Xi comes a-calling, a footprint without traction

September 28, 2019 No Comments

Nepal will gain little from China’s outreach unless there is a recalibration in its long-term vision of development.

Earlier this week, on September 24, in a two-day event attended by the top brass of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) which included the Prime Minister, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by the NCP with the Communist Party of China. Signed on the sidelines of the programme, “Communist Party of China’s Opinion about Xi Jinping Thought and Ideological Discussion between Nepal Communist Party and Communist Party of China”, it was in preparation for the visit of the Chinese President, Xi Jinping in October, his first since assuming the presidency in 2013. The last time a Chinese President visited Nepal was 23 years ago, in 1996.

Looking north

In August 2014, when the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Nepal, Kathmandu shut to welcome him. It was called a historic visit by an Indian Prime Minister after more than a decade-and-a-half. It felt as if the India-Nepal relationship would undergo changes as a number of sops were announced. Less than a year later, when a big earthquake struck Nepal, India was quick to respond with help and relief materials. This made everyone feel that the changes in ties were for real. But months later, India which was dissatisfied with the Nepal Constitution imposed a blockade that changed the perception about Mr. Modi and India forever. It was an act that alienated a whole generation of Nepali youth, and Nepali leaders played the nationalism card to reach out to China. Chinese interest grew after the earthquake and the blockade. With the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), exchanges and interactions between the two countries grew. Nepal signed agreements with China to ensure it was not “India locked”, in turn opening transit and trade opportunities through its northern border.

Inertia in reaching out

Nepal, in its nearly 70-year journey after the Rana autocracy ended in 1950, has yet to leverage its bilateral or multilateral ties. From the days of the Shah kings who ruled directly till 2006 to the current form of a federal democratic republic, Nepal’s engagements with the outside world have been more of theatrics, speeches and little action. After the 2015 earthquake, China, India and other countries pledged approximately $4-billion for reconstruction; India pledged more funds, but Nepal has been tepid in utilising these funds. Scouring for grants remains key while there has not been much traction on agreed projects being implemented. It has never been about seeking investments and get into a partnership model such as what Bangladesh has been able to do successfully with both China and India.

With a strong patriarchal and feudal culture embedded in Hinduism, rituals dominate Nepali life. With people from the Bahun (Brahmin) community dominating the bulk of leadership in politics and bureaucracy, there is much emphasis on rituals rather than an understanding of the deeper issues. Therefore, there is little expectation about the upcoming visit apart from keeping nationalism alive from an electoral point of view: in general about creating doubts about India to making anti-India statements.

Nepali politics

The biggest feature of the Nepali communist ignored by parachute analysts is that communism to Nepal came through Calcutta and not straight from China. Therefore, what we see in Nepal is the West Bengal version of communism rather than a Chinese one. First, the communist movement like the one in West Bengal has been about multiple factions that keep splitting and coming together rather than it being about one single and unified party. At one point in time, people had lost count of how many communist parties in Nepal were overground and underground.

Second, the communist movement in both India and Nepal has been about rent-seeking on positions and selling rhetoric and hypocrisy. It has been about talking about Red Book during the day and on other diametric subjects later. This is in stalk contrast to the Chinese societal model of hard work and encouraging entrepreneurial pursuits.

Third, Nepali communists, especially the former insurgents, still talk about Mao and the Maoist ideology. In China, Mao is a word best avoided and is jarring for the current key leadership. Finally, in China, over the years, when a majority group within the party decides on an issue, people with opposing views accept the decision and do not challenge them in the future. You can debate on an issue but after a decision is made, you abide by it. Nepali communism has been about continuous infighting and creating fiefdoms rather than accepting an individual’s leadership.

The recent rise of the Nepali communist has been due to the empathy of and support from the Communist parties of India that were part of the United Progressive Alliance. The Maoists, while underground, received tacit support. With the communist parties in India in disarray now, the Nepali communist leaders are looking for options. With the co-chair of the NCP, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in line to succeed Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, other leaders such as Madhav Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal who became Prime Ministers earlier with Indian support are trying to look for options in China.

While Chinese engagement in Nepal has increased post the BRI phase and with revamping of outreach policies, those backing the few projects with Chinese investments have not been happy with the government as they now face the same problems that other investors are experiencing. Foreign direct investments to Nepal are low and the way the government has functioned does not really encourage large Chinese investors to look at Nepal seriously enough. The increase in Chinese businesses in Nepal has remained mostly low level examples being operations in hotels and restaurants. Till there is a complete recalibration in Nepal’s long-term vision of development, a willingness to implement investor-friendly policies and enable concrete steps towards efficiency, President Xi’s visit will once again be one made by a “friendly neighbour or cousin”, who brings some gifts, exchanges pleasantries and then moves on.

24 Sep 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

We need a culture of dialogues in Nepal

September 24, 2019 No Comments

A remnant of the feudal past, people are always willing to dole out speeches but never willing to listen.

Last week, a national consultative meeting was held for the planned Sagarmatha Sambaad. The Sambaad is a multi-stakeholder forum that the Nepal government has initiated and plans to host in April next year. It was heartening to see the foreign minister and the minister for forests and environment sit there and listen through the session. Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali explained very well how dialogues differ from workshops, conferences and seminars. This prompted me to really look at the issue of why Nepalis do not have a culture of dialogues. It is due to a lack of this culture that arrangements, from business deals to political settlements to family issues, do not come to a logical conclusion.

The culture of speeches

I was tweeting a lot when I was attending that event—frustrated listening to people blabber and speak endlessly. It seems that people compete on the length of their speeches rather than their content. It is very easy to spot the usual suspects: People who will speak in a condescending way expressing their superiority in the subject. Perhaps, our speech-making habit comes from the way there is no room for critical thinking or the culture of challenging assertions. Much like the religious leaders, they seem to be influenced by, Nepalis like to push through one-way communications. Sermons are more revered than interactions. If one can quote verses in Sanskrit, then one is revered even more. It is due to this that self-declared intellectuals embark on the journey of teaching others. Since our culture shuns the practice of putting viewpoints across, the individuals fed up with this are ostracised. Like in politics—where the able become the silent majority—the mediocre rule in all aspects of Nepali society.

Keeping the youth and women out

The irony of Nepal is that 70 percent of the population is under 35 years of age, but male senior citizens (65-and-above), constituting perhaps 2 percent, dominate all discourses. In a culture where age and seniority are revered, this is the biggest impediment towards bringing about change in the way we think or do things. The youth and women are generally ignored across all sectors. Lisa Honan, Head of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for Nepal, shared at an event how she was the only female speaker out of the 90 speakers in the recently concluded Infrastructure Summit.

Usually, at such events, panels of nine or 10 people ramble on; the rest of us are left wondering what these speeches by men in the panels lead to. As it is, these sessions are supposed to be dialogues. Even global firms like KPMG, which was the knowledge partner in this event, had to succumb to the Nepali culture of alpha male domination. When I chatted with the organisers, they shared their helplessness on how, in Nepal, things can really go out of control. The Nepali culture also extends to wherever Nepalis are. I had tweeted about a diaspora event in Europe, where the panel consisted of 13 men of Nepali origin—all over 40 years of age. There was not a single woman panellist. Perhaps this trend reflects the way we treat women and the young at work, in our homes, and in society at large. Until we begin to include these marginalised groups, there will be no dialogues—there will only be boring people making boring speeches covered by boring media outlets.

Tokenism and photo-ops

It is important to analyse where this trend of one-way communication began. People need to understand that they were designed under a feudal system, where monarchs and those close to palace graced what they deemed to be important occasions. When television stations were established, a protocol developed where state-owned broadcasters would only cover events that ministers attended. Therefore, the culture of competing to invite ministers began. The private media houses continued this trend. In the 1990s, the competing development partners popularised this as they had more direct access to the ministers than general Nepalis, and ministers never said no to an invitation from foreign agencies.

Things have not changed much since. We still observe ministers gracing programmes of all kinds; the youth keep asking what this is all about. With agencies and institutions having social media pages, the tokenism has now shifted to social media. Nepal used to be known as having one of the highest numbers of reports published per capita. We now have moved on to having the highest number of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). Social media platforms are flooded with pictures of signing events. This craze for instant fame has affected the younger generation a lot. Entrepreneur-mentors such as Ashutosh Tiwari and Suman Joshi have been venting their frustration on how young people get caught up in fame. These young entrepreneurs subsequently ignore the businesses they had planned to build.

With Nepal Economic Forum conducting over fifteen dialogue-based events in the past six months, the key lessons have been that those who are seriously interested come to chat and listen. They are not there for photo-ops. When people ask us why some government officials or other key individuals do not come, we share our experience of people who demand preferential seating (preferably plush sofas) or the opportunity to make speeches and how such people do not attend. There are plenty of lessons on what works and what does not. The learning will continue. 

https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2019/09/24/we-need-a-culture-of-dialogues-in-nepal

10 Sep 2019
Kathmandu Post No Comments Permalink

Bangladesh is transforming, and Nepal needs to learn from it

September 10, 2019 No Comments

Perhaps we can see more movement of people between the two countries, followed by investments.

Last week, a news report made the rounds in India and the world about Bangladesh topping the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the past 10 years. The Indian media, online and offline, did express surprise about this development and did not know how to react to projections by the Standard Chartered Bank that Bangladesh’s per capita in 2030 would be higher than that of India. The Bangladeshi growth story is something that is being discussed, and there are lessons to be learnt from it.

Bangladesh’s GDP has crossed the $300 billion mark (10 times that of Nepal) putting it among the top 40 economies of the world. By 2030, it is estimated that it will make it to the top 25 economies of the world. A lot of these numbers have come about with increases in exports and a stable exchange rate. Bangladeshi exports will cross $50 billion this year, and its trade with India is increasing. Readymade garments, which make up a big portion of the exports to India, are expected to cross $1 billion this year. These export-oriented manufacturing industries have created jobs that are important to fuel growth.

The other big thing that one can notice is that the Bangladesh taka has remained strong. The taka and the Nepali rupee used to be on par around 2012, with the exchange rate of both being around 1.6 to the Indian rupee. Now, the taka has remained strong at 82 to the US dollar and around 1.2 to the Indian rupee while the Nepali rupee has depreciated. I have continued to question economists who talk about exchange rate devaluation being a necessary tool for boosting exports and continue to talk about how the Nepali rupee is overvalued. However, Bangladesh has increased its exports, especially to India, despite its currency rising in value. What I have understood, and what Bangladesh’s rise has proven, is that a stable exchange rate that is strong reduces import bills and increases real income. That helps the economy.

Balancing geopolitics

The current government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been in power for 10 years, and analysts in Dhaka told me she functions more like a Southeast Asian leader than a South Asian one, with an emphasis on pushing projects, especially infrastructure development, and accepting the challenges that it brings around governance and dissident voices. The infrastructure projects are visible, and the common person on the street is happy about the jobs and earnings that they bring.

This government has been able to keep the China and India balance in a way that Nepal has never been able to understand. While more Indian companies are investing, and imports to India are rising, the Chinese presence is becoming more visible, especially on construction projects. With the Rohingya crisis, Bangladesh has been reaching out to China to manage Myanmar. The current government has the backing of India, and bilateral relationships are at their best with more agreements in transit. My driver in Dhaka told me he would be visiting Darjeeling soon with his family because now it is effortless to get visas to India. Similarly, projects in the Indian state of Tripura are being built by transporting goods across Bangladesh from Kolkata. The way bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India are moving, the entire Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) platform needs to be revisited to create a futuristic multi-modal platform.

At Dhaka airport, when we landed, 200 Chinese visitors were crowding at the Visa on Arrival counter as we waited an hour for queue-agnostic folks to clear up. I was chatting with the officials, and they did share that this had become a common sight and more Chinese restaurants and hotels catering to them were opening up. The readymade garment industry relies on China for raw materials and machinery. The geopolitics narrative has transformed where key policymakers, business people and especially young people think Bangladesh is at the centre of the growth triangle of China, India and Southeast Asia.

Social re-engineering

One of the biggest transformations one notices on the streets of Dhaka, apart from the new buildings, restaurants, coffee shops and shopping centres, is the fact that there are more women on the streets than ever before. They are working, and they are leading the societal transformation. Because of ride-hailing apps like Pathao, a woman sitting on the pillion seat of a stranger’s motorcycle has become acceptable, and people do not comment on how girls are dressing up or what they are eating and drinking. Many new hubs have emerged, and I enjoyed being at Jatra, a melting pot of art, culture and culinary delights. My young driver in Dhaka was very confident that Islamic fundamentalism had been silenced by the women working in the garment industry and others who have now found their identity as workers, and have the money to buy sarees with their own money. They will not allow any religious fundamentalism to come in the way of progress. He talked about tolerance towards other religions, and how Saraswati Puja and Durga Puja were celebrated in his village with much vigour and masti, because people would get bogged down meeting relatives during the Eid festivals. Many people I interacted with echoed similar feelings.

For Nepal—that is lost in its myopia of repeating the history of rudderless authoritarianism, stifling liberal values and practices, and closing down investments and markets for the outside world with increases in privileges and perks for people in power—there is a lot to learn from Bangladesh. There are similarities in our journey, and there are interests in both countries. Perhaps we can see more movement of people between the two countries, followed by investments. 

https://kathmandupost.com/columns/2019/09/10/bangladesh-is-transforming-and-nepal-needs-to-learn-from-it

04 Sep 2019
Kantipur Permalink

हत्तेरी, फेरि सत्तरी ?

September 4, 2019

अहिले विश्वमा भइरहेको उथलपुथलले धेरै जनालाई सन् सत्तरीको दशकको स्मरण दिलाउने गर्छ । तसर्थ त्यो समयलाई आजको समयसँग दाँजिहेर्नु सान्दर्भिक हुनसक्छ । भनिन्छ, इतिहास बिर्सेर नै इतिहास दोहोरिन्छ । यसर्थ इतिहाससँग सिक्न, बुझ्न र भविष्यको मार्ग तोक्न एकदम जरुरी हुन्छ ।

अहिलेको विश्व, त्यस बेलाको विश्व

एक्काइसौं शताब्दीकै अभूतपूर्व घटनाक्रमले घेरिएको यो काललाई बुझ्ने कोसिस जारी छ । अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपतिमा ट्रम्पको आगमनपछिको उथलपुथलबाट संसारको सबभन्दा शक्तिशाली मुलुक दुई भागमा बाँडिएको छ । अर्को वर्षको चुनावमा उनैले जित्ने सम्भावनाले उनका विरोधीलाई के गरौं, कसो गरौं भन्ने पारिदिएको छ ।

चीनसँग व्यापार युद्ध गरेर ट्रम्पले आफ्नो भोटबैंकलाई रिझाउँदै छन्, तर यसले विश्वको अर्थतन्त्रलाई नै धक्का दिएको छ । बीसौं शताब्दीको उत्तरार्धको सबभन्दा शक्तिशाली मुलुक बेलायतलाई युरोपेली युनियन छाड्ने निर्णय (ब्रेक्जिट) निल्नु न ओकल्नु भएको छ । राम्रै चलिरहेको आफ्नो अर्थतन्त्रमा संकट बेलायत आफैले निम्त्याएको हो । युरोपको प्रमुख देश जर्मनीको हालत पनि खासै राम्रो छैन । दक्षिणपन्थीहरूले उसको चैन खोसेका छन् । 

जर्मनीका विश्लेषकहरूले आफ्नो देशको वर्तमान अवस्था सय वर्षअघिको, विश्वयुद्धपूर्वको, समयसँग मिल्दोजुल्दो देखिएको भन्न थालेका छन् । फ्रान्समा गत वर्षको जनप्रदर्शनपछि समाजमा देखिएको विभाजन लगभग यथावतै छ । दक्षिणपन्थीहरूले मध्यमार्गीहरूलाई इन्तु न चिन्तु बनाएका छन् ।

एसियाको अवस्था पनि फरक छैन । हङकङमा तीन महिनादेखि जारी प्रदर्शनले के रूप लिन्छ, कसैले भन्न सकेको छैन । चीनको आर्थिक प्रभुत्व यस्तो छ, अन्य मुलुकले हङकङमा लोकतन्त्रका निम्ति तीन दशकअघि झैँ वकालत गर्नेछैनन् । जस्तो— चीनका लागि भारतीय राजदूतले हङकङ गएर त्यहाँका प्रमुखलाई भारतको चीन सरकारप्रतिको प्रतिबद्धता व्यक्त गरेका छन् । 

यस्तो कुरो एक दशकअघि कल्पनासम्म गर्न सकिन्नथ्यो । अर्कातिर, जापान–दक्षिण कोरिया झगडा अनपेक्षित रूपले चर्किंदै छ । थाइल्यान्ड पाँच वर्षयताको सबभन्दा चर्को आर्थिक मन्दीसँग जुधिरहेको छ । कम्बोडिया र म्यान्मारको सामर्थ्य आफूप्रति वर्षिरहेका प्रश्नहरूलाई छल्नमै खर्च भइरहेको छ ।

सत्तरीको विश्व पनि यस्तै थियो, समस्याग्रस्त । अमेरिका तत्कालीन राष्ट्रपति निक्सनविरुद्ध महाभियोग प्रस्तावमा अलमलिएको थियो । भियतनाम युद्धले निम्त्याएको हलचलमा यो अर्को विवाद थपिएको थियो । १९७३ को तेल संकटले अर्थतन्त्रमा ठूलो धक्का दिएको थियो । बेलायती मुद्रा पाउन्डले संसारमा प्रभाव गुमाएको थियो र अमेरिकी डलरको उदय भएको थियो । 

अरब–इजरायल द्वन्द्वले संसारमा धेरै संकट थोपरेको थियो । पूर्वी युरोपमा सोभियत वर्चस्वले विश्वयुद्धपछिको सबभन्दा ठूलो आर्थिक संकट निम्त्याएको थियो । चीनमा माओको सांस्कृतिक क्रान्तिले सनसनी मच्चाएको थियो । दक्षिण कोरिया र जापान अनगिन्ती समस्याले घेरिएका थिए ।

सत्तरीको दशकलाई अर्थशास्त्रीहरू १९३० को विश्व मन्दी (ग्रेट रिसेसन) पछिको सबभन्दा ठूलो मन्दीको दशकका रूपमा चिनाउने गर्छन् ।

भारत र नेपालको सेरोफेरो 

सत्तरीको दशकको भारत र अहिलेको भारतको धेरै तुलना भैरहेको छ । १९७१ मा भारतले पाकिस्तानसँग युद्ध गर्‍यो, बंगलादेशलाई स्वतन्त्र बनाउन । तत्कालीन प्रधानमन्त्री इन्दिरा गान्धीलाई अहिलेका नरेन्द्र मोदीसँग दाँज्ने पनि गरिन्छ । युद्धको आडमा गान्धीले त्यस बखत चुनाव जितिन् भने, यस वर्ष मोदीले पनि राष्ट्रवादको एजेन्डामा बहुमत ल्याए भनिन्छ । 

गान्धीले भर्खर सुरु भएको टेलिभिजनका माध्यमबाट प्रचारबाजीमा लागेझैं मोदी पनि प्रविधिको भरपूर प्रयोगमार्फत कुनाकाप्चामा पुगिरहेका छन् । गान्धीलाई कोही विरोधमा बोलेको मन पर्दैनथ्यो र उनले इमर्जेन्सीका माध्यमले तिनलाई काबुमा लिएकी थिइन् भने, मोदीले इमर्जेन्सी नलगाए पनि त्यही शैलीलाई अनुसरण गरिरहेका छन् ।

सत्तरीको दशकमा भारतको छिमेकीसँगको सम्बन्धमा समस्या थियो । पाकिस्तानबाट छुट्याउन सफल बंगलादेश पछि भारतविरोधी भयो । भुटानसँग मात्र सम्बन्ध अहिले जस्तो राम्रै थियो । जनतामा भारतविरोधी भावना भए पनि राजा र सरकारबीच राम्रो सम्बन्ध थियो । चौथो, भुटानी राजाको राज्याभिषेकमा भारतीय राष्ट्रपति नै गएका थिए ।

नेपालमा राजा वीरेन्द्रले ‘शान्ति क्षेत्र’ को सन्दर्भ निकालेपछि भारतलाई समस्या हुन थाल्यो । सिक्किमका छोग्याललाई वीरेन्द्रको राज्याभिषेकमा निम्त्याइयो भनेर इन्दिरा गान्धी क्रुद्ध भइन् । तसर्थ उनले नेपालमा भने उपराष्ट्रपतिलाई मात्र पठाइन् । भारतले राजा र पञ्चायतविरुद्ध क्रियाकलापमा सघाइरह्यो, नेपाली कांग्रेसले गरेको विमान अपहरणमा सहयोग दियो ।

सत्तरीको सबभन्दा ठूलो घटना थियो, सिक्किमलाई भारतमा गाभिनु । लेखकहरू एन्ड्र्यु डफ र सुनन्द के दत्त रायले यसलाई ‘अधीनमा लिएको’ भनी अर्थ्याएका छन् भने, भारतले ‘गाभेको’ भन्दै आएको छ । भारतीय खुफिया एजेन्सी रअका तत्कालीन अफिसर जीबीएस सिद्धुले यसै वर्ष प्रकाशित आफ्नो किताबमा रअले सिक्किम अपरेसन कसरी गर्‍यो भनी खुलाएका छन् । 

त्यस बखतका परराष्ट्रमन्त्रीका ज्वाइँ उनले इन्दिरा गान्धीको आदेश अनुसार प्लान बनाएर विलय गरेको दाबी गरेका छन् । यो घटनाले नेपालमा संविधान लेख्ने बेला, नाकाबन्दी र र हालैका समयमा यस्ता प्रोजेक्ट चलाएको त छैन भनी संशय गर्ने ठाउँ दिएको छ । 

भारतको अहिलेको आर्थिक संकट

सत्तरीको भारत आर्थिक संकटले घेरेको थियो र त्यसको असर नेपालमा पनि परेको थियो । भारतमा ‘गरिबी हटाओ’ नारा र ‘लाइसेन्स राज’ ले प्रभुत्व पायो । सरकारले बैंकदेखि सबै कुरा आफै चलाउन थाल्यो । अर्थतन्त्रको संकट ढाकछोप गर्न राजनीतिक कदम चाल्यो । आर्थिक रूपमा समस्या र भेदभाव बढेर नक्सलवादी पनि जन्मिए र त्यसपछि पश्चिम बंगालजस्तो राज्यमा कम्युनिस्टहरूले गफ बेचेरै करिब तीन दशक उडाए । अहिलेको भारतलाई पनि यही रूपमा तुलना गर्ने गरिन्छ । 

भारतको नोटबन्दीपछिको संकट टार्न गाह्रो हुँदै गयो । बेरोजगार चरममा पुगेका छ । धेरै कम्पनी संकटसँग जुधिरहेका छन् । यो समस्याबाट ध्यान हटाउन मोदीले कश्मीरमा पछिल्लो कदम उठाए र देशलाई राष्ट्रवादको एजेन्डामा धकेले भन्ने गर्छन् आलोचकहरू ।

भारतले हाच्छिउँ गरे नेपाललाई रुघा लाग्छ भनेर हामीले राम्रोसँग बुझेका छौं ।

यसर्थ हामीले भारत र विश्वका घटनाक्रमलाई राम्ररी नियाल्न जरुरी छ, पढ्न र बुझ्न आवश्यक छ । नेपालको भविष्य संसारसँग जोडिएको छ । नेतृत्वमा बसेकाहरूले अनलाइनमा आफ्नो फोटो या भाषण हेरेर दंग परिरहनुभन्दा यसबारे चिन्तन–मनन गर्न एकदम जरुरी छ ।