UNDERSTANDING THE NEPALI COMMUNISTS

Nepal has taken an aggressive position against India over a border dispute. A key reason for the shrill response is the nature of the Nepal Communist Party, which holds the reins of power in Kathmandu. This week, we recommend Aditya Adhikari’s

While the book’s focus is on the years of the civil war in Nepal (1996-2006), it is instructive in the current context because it studies the discourse that permeates Nepal’s Left movements. Through a reconstruction of the evolution of the communist parties, review of party documents, interviews with activists, and a dive into Nepali literature, it gleans what motivates the Nepali Left.

Besides domestic issues, a constant theme in the Nepali communist movement has been opposition to “Indian expansionism”. Exaggerated fears about Delhi are drilled into the minds of activists. This is what Nepal’s leadership is now opportunistically stoking. Adhikari’s book explains why the Nepali communists think the way they do.

Book:the Bullet and the Ballot Box: The Story of Nepal’s Maoist Revolution Author: Aditya Adhikari Year: 2014

As people return to life and work post the lockdown, some predictions point to a mad rush to do even more than before. Travel more, buy more, meet more people, eat out more — do more of more. The government too is expected to do more to restore economic growth and livelihoods. Much more is anticipated from the State. Some see it as an opportunity to overtake China.

To achieve this, many states might roll back labour laws that took decades of human rights movements to build, and push aside hard-won environmental protection.

If we succumb, will we return to the old normal, or an even older 19th century normal? Will the “more” being planned heal the economy or plunge us faster into the next disaster? Is there another imagination to achieve the common goals of opportunity and prosperity for all?

This crisis has demonstrated that prosperous, healthy and well-governed communities can tackle public health emergencies well. But how do we define prosperity and move towards such a society?

For centuries, prosperity has been easy to define in material terms. At a personal level, by how much one earns; how much one has. At a societal level, through Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a computation of all assets and interactions within an economy. GDP cannot discount products and services that are bad for society, such as the output of polluting industries, or of sweatshops. Several attempts to retool GDP have made little headway.

However, during the pandemic, most people, including the elite, experienced different forms of frugality, simplicity, and dignity associated with personal labour. After decades, urbanites also encountered purity — of air and water, and diversity — of flora and fauna. Simple things acquired fresh value for many. The time may be ripe to retool GDP. We now hold a brighter vision of how things can be, and can converse creatively with our future from an altered present.

One pathway is to shift from a mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance. For there is abundance everywhere, if only we look for it. If this profusion of resources goes from being just abundant to being effective, perhaps we could lean away from economic choices that appear inevitable, but that destroy natural capital and human well-being.

Let’s list some things that are abundant in India.

At a societal level, India has the world’s largest working population. At 13 million, it also has the most number of teachers. It has health care professionals, from super-specialty doctors to accredited social health activists (Asha).

At a physical level, India is blessed with a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. We have a predictable monsoon, and a vast network of rivers and water bodies. We have one of the longest coastlines. We have enormous access to solar energy.

We also have among the world’s most sophisticated digital infrastructure, and an increasing penetration of Internet services and smartphones.

At a spiritual level, we have a plethora of practices and leadership across religions. And we enjoy the affluence of volunteer energy, as evidenced recently. This is not just an inventory of our assets, but the robust foundation for what we want to achieve.

During the pandemic, food bloggers came up with a simple and potent idea. They asked what was left in people’s refrigerators, and helped them cook up wonderful new recipes with existing ingredients. They repurposed what existed, and allowed people to experience plenty from paucity.

This is a perfect analogy for what the nation could put into practice, and, is already experimenting with.

Using digital infrastructure, like Diksha, millions of teachers are creating and sharing better content and classroom practices, both physical and virtual. Parental creativity, and peer groups, both plentiful resources, are also being engaged to help children learn

IF RESOURCES GO FROM BEING JUST ABUNDANT TO BEING EFFECTIVE, WE CAN LEAN AWAY FROM ECONOMIC CHOICES THAT APPEAR INEVITABLE, BUT THAT DESTROY NATURAL CAPITAL AND HUMAN WELL-BEING