Where is the fun? November 18, 2009
Posted by admin in : Living , add a commentBack in Nepal I never use to see the weather forecasts. Firstly, they weren’t accurate always. And secondly, I didn’t felt the need for that. So when I got caught in a sudden rain, it used to be a surprise and fun too (not that I always appreciate returning drenched from my office)
But here in US, the weather forecast are amazingly accurate and I already have this habit of seeing these forecasts for the anticipation of the first snowfall (Yes, I am yet to see a snowfall). So all this makes the everyday weather kind of boring. You already have an idea on what the rest of the week is going to be like. Where is the fun?
A review of the Nepali economy under the Maoist-led administration June 3, 2009
Posted by admin in : Insight, Uncategorized , add a commentIn the last day of his role as prime minister, the Maoist premier Prachanda claimed that his administration gave “utmost importance to economic transformation” and made “major contribution to economic revolution”. Unlike his boss, former Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai was a bit modest in laying claims about economic progress achieved under his leadership. In assessing the economic policies and progress under the Maoist administration, it is unclear how the dismal performance, especially in encouraging private sector and utilizing development expenditures, amounts to or leads to “economic revolution”.
The most successful and significant achievement of the previous administration was to ensure governance and accountability in revenue collection, which increased by 40 percent in the first ten months of the current fiscal year, for which credit goes to Dr. Bhattarai’s policies on taxation. Given the institutional intransience for good governance at customs and government agencies, many people, including myself, were skeptical about revenue targets of Dr. Bhattarai, who, with good leadership and ‘carrot and stick’ approach, was able to beat all pessimistic expectations. Under his leadership, the Inland Revenue Department was more vigilant than ever in curbing leakages, streamlined and cleaned up the mess in the department, and offered extra incentives to customs personnel for better performance.
The other commendable policies initiated by Dr. Bhattarai were loan waiver of heavily indebted farmers and the Youth Self-Employment Program (YSEP). These programs were well-intentioned but the execution was not all that clear. Overall, the huge demand for loans by youths and partial relief received by some of the poorest farmers was worth the policy experimentation.
Not all the program and policies of the previous administration were productive. The drive for more revenue generation and implementation of VDIS led to savings flight as nervous investors and savers searched for safer vaults abroad. While this policy was unpopular in the business community, the government, instead of trying to find a common path, wasted more than three months going head-on-head against the businessmen, whom it saw as “feudalist and bourgeois classes”. At a time when there was a desperate need for normalization of tension between the private sector and the government, this incident led to souring of relationship and fostered distrust between the two.
Fond of making bombastic, populist and unrealistic claims and a tendency to look backwards in the age of globalization, the Maoists government miserably failed in convincing the private sector, foreign investors, and development agencies that their Marxist/socialist model was worth trying. Filled with pompous slogans, socialist ideas and the aim to develop “national capitalism”, Dr. Bhattarai’s budget was not well received by the private sector. They, along with the development agencies, repeatedly asked him to be clear about government’s position on the role of private sector and in general the economic system. Trying to treat private sector and cooperatives in equal footing by bringing Investment Board and Cooperative Board under the Economic Council was probably the most dubious plan. Instead of streamlining of disaggregated economic activities, it led to more chaos and confusion in the industrial sector. Also, the plan to revive moribund, sick industries with the aim of increasing employment and channeling their production for government’s use was a blunder. The drumbeat of double-digit growth rate without assessing ground realities and workable economic policies perplexed people.
The most devastating and counterproductive policies were to let YCL make a mockery of contract enforcement, destabilize the already feeble industrial sector, and turn a deaf ear to dire call for industrial security. By implicitly supporting the activities of its militant cadres, the Maoist administration showed double standards in dealing with the private sector. Some of the Maoist ministers even endorsed and defended the extralegal occupation of industrial districts by YCL cadres, forced donation campaign, and threat to life and property of businessmen, whom they see as ‘feudalists’. The government engaged in multiple rounds of discussion with businessmen but did not budge on the call for disciplining YCL cadres and taming disruptive activities of trade unions. This led to closure of several garment firms, jute mills, and multinational companies, among others. The Maoists administration backtracked only after it was threatened of noncooperation by the opposition parties; it was not because it was responding to the concerns of the private sector.
Later on, the Maoist government was busy cleaning its own mess. Too focused on controlling and finding a way out for its disruptive cadres, it was helpless in supplying the most needed essential services in rural areas. For instance, it was powerless when more than one-third of the population was under the threat of starvation at the height of the global rise in price of food and commodities, and when major forests were on fire. Moreover, the government also did not do enough to manage safe return of IDPs.
With regards to macroeconomic management, the administration’s performance was very disappointing. The price level initially rose above 14 percent due to rise in food, fuel and commodity prices in the global market. However, as prices of these items declined globally, they were too sticky in the Nepali market, leading to inflation rate of above 10 percent. The government was unable to manage shortage of goods, which was created artificially by holding back inventories. The export sector continued to lose its grip in international market and trade deficit is rising. The supply of fuel was severely affected due to frequent closure of the main highway linking the Valley and Terai. The government had to bail out cash-strapped, debt-ridden NOC two times. Still, the nation lacks a plan to close big hole in NOC’s balance sheet. On top of that, there is no immediate plan to bridge the wedge (of 500 MW) between demand for and supply of electricity in the economy. Worse, domestic and foreign investors are not yet convinced of secure investment, rule of law, and respect for property rights in the infrastructure and hydropower sectors.
The Maoists also failed to mobilize development expenditure, leading to very few development programs being implemented—a point even Dr. Bhattarai has conceded. So far, only 27 percent of total capital expenditure has been spent. Meanwhile, achieving the targeted economic growth rate is now a fairy tale!
The economy is far from being transformed. There were some successes in revenue collection and welfare programs. However, there were even more problems– industrial relations deteriorated, allocated development money remained unspent, investors and donors remained skeptical of Maoists policies, price level spiraled upwards, and there was a severe shortage of energy, which further crippled the industrial sector, among others.
Chandan Sapkota
Heaven on Earth: Nepal March 26, 2009
Posted by admin in : Living , 4commentsI got this as an forwarded mail but the content is worth a read. You don’t need that much of a mention to feel the love for your country. Just keep being positive.
An American decided to write a book about famous churches around the World. So he bought a plane ticket and took a trip to China.
On his first day he was inside a church taking photographs when he Noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read “$10,000 per call”. The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what The telephone was used for.
The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 you could talk to God. The American thanked the priest and went along his way.
Next stop was in Japan . There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the Same golden telephone with the same sign under it.He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in China and He asked a nearby nun what its purpose was.She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for $10,000 He Could talk to God.
“O.K., thank you,” said the American.
He then traveled to Pakistan , Srilanka , Russia , Germany and France .In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same “$10,000 Per call” sign under it.
The American, upon leaving Vermont decided to travel to up to Nepal to See if Nepalese had the same phone.
He arrived in Nepal , and again, in the first church he entered, there Was the same golden telephone, but this s time the sign under it read “One Rupee per call.”
The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. “Father, I’ve traveled all over World and I’ve seen this same golden Telephone in many churches. I’m told that it is a direct line to Heaven, But in rest of the world price was $10,000 per call.
Why is it so cheap here?”
The priest smiled and answered, “You’re in Nepal now, Son - it’s a Local Call “.
This is the only heaven on the Earth. 
16 Hour Loadshed: A Survivor’s Diary January 31, 2009
Posted by admin in : Living , add a commentI would be really pleased if i have a 50% chance of seeing a bright buld on switching on. But with 8/24 the probability of getting light at any hour and 4 of those precious hours i would be sleeping, I am left with 4/24 chance of getting the power.
Ok here’s a normal day. When I wake up either there will be electricity for an hour (if I managed to wake up at 7 am) or one hour after I woke up.
So first things first. If I have an hour of power in the morning, the first thing I would do is to get to the kitchen and use my rice cooker for the meal (this will save some of my efforts). I would tap in all my appliance and gadgets. I will charge my notebook, my handy, my ipod and the emergency lights. It looks good to see all my gadgets feeding at the same time. Meanwhile my house owner would use the crucial power hour to pump the water up the tank so that we would have the running water (still a luxury here in kathmandu) for the next 24 hours.
Afternoons are ok. With the power generator in the office, life has been lot better. But afternoon sessions are also marked with frequent power cut off. And I feel that the generator is running for every minute of the day. Its consistent noise and smoke never seems to disappear. At the end of the day i always have a mild headache due to the constant smoke from the power generator.
Lunch time. We, the employees of the two companies sharing the power generator, usually go out for lunch at the same time so that we could give the generator a much needed rest. The evening schedule is, either i have the electricity from 4pm to 8pm, or upto 12 pm from 8 pm.
If it’s the former, I should make home before 7:30 pm so that i could use the 30 minutes of power for my rice cooker. [Phew]. If its the latter, i won’t mind staying at the office as late as 8 pm so that i can savor the power.
The toughest part is pumping the water from the supply pipe to our tank that happens once in every two days. From the combination of the power schedule and the water schedule, we only have a day with electricity to pump the water to our tank. That leaves us with manually pumping the water at 3 am in the morning. Can life gets any tougher?
Usually when I have a complete darkness at 8 pm i am left with very few options. I work in my pc for about an hour, use my energy back up light for next hour. Then no power.
Candles? Yes. How long? Until I start having burning eyes.
Moral: Live with the rules, and your life doesn’t get that worse.
What The F**k?? [Part I] January 25, 2009
Posted by admin in : Rant , 2commentsIncident one:
We have regular load shed. Last month it was seven hours a day (Yes you heard it right, seven hours). It has already been tough time tapping the electric power in home and office.
Recently there was a light of hope to reduce this severity. A new 70 MW hydro power project finally start to operate and it was expected to reduce the load shed time. Hope.
But a couple of days after the announcement and the inauguration made, the load shed increased to ten hours a day.
Sub incident one: Now it’s 16 hours a day. Crazy.
Incident two:
Dr. Rijal has been my mother’s doctor since her operation some 10 years ago. I don’t know whether he was such a popular figure then, but today I am sure that all the Gyno patients (all over the country) only want to consult him. Popular. However, it’s not his popularity I am complaining about. It’s about the management of the doctor appointments. The hospital is really taking for granted the patients for its most popular doctor.
Some four months ago they have the system of registering patient’s name in person or by phone. Needless to say it would take about 2 months to get the appointment. It would take time but it was easy calling from some 500 kms away from the capital and fixing an appointment. However, there has been a slight change in the way the patient appointment is made today.
You have to be there (at hospital at Chabhil) at about five am in the morning and you better be twenty five early birds. What a shame! The pity is that they only start confirming your appointments at about 7:30. I wasted about two and half hours of my precious morning time being in the queue like a fool and listening non-sense hospital talks.
Incident Three:
We (my company) have an account at Himalayan Bank. It’s ok. But we have some issues that are of concern. Distance, average wait time, account flexibility etc are some of the things I find not as I expected. Any way it’s almost been 2 years we have been with them.
Last week we got an offer to be one of the esteem clients of Laxmi Bank (just another bank). As it was lot closer to our office and as they promised (they actually did) various additional services and customer care and satisfaction, we decided to give it a try.
Well I went to their office. The interior was ‘Wow’. But that’s what I was not looking for. I was looking for how much they value their client. Just after half an hour talk with one of their supervisors I figured out that Customer care was one of the things they have in the bottom of their preferences.
Thank you. See you in next life.
Well it’s hard not to expect.
Where Happiness Comes in Small Packages January 22, 2009
Posted by admin in : Living , add a comment
The great thing about being a citizen of Nepal is that you can feel really great on some trivial things; it’s close to that at least. Today was a special day. Couple of days ago the petroleum price was hiked almost 25% and suddenly the petroleum supply was normal. Suddenly the never ending queue for refueling vanished and I almost forgot I used to be there for about one and half hour every time I had to refuel. It’s almost a dream come true i.e., being able to get the gas without waiting much, without being in a war to push yourself (including your bike) up in the queue [Sigh]. The worst nightmare is to be informed about the unavailability of fuel after being in the queue for more than an hour.
But I am going to forget all that today; I got the fuel. No matter how many dreams you own it’s always when any of them gets through. This is something like a dream come reality. It’s a crazy thought but we live this way. I told you before, here happiness comes in small packages. It happens only in Nepal.
Cheers!
