Dahal Government Falters again & again &...
The present powerholders are trying their level best – not to ameliorate the serious problems facing the country – but to give their impression that all is well.
They have been supported by a spate of foreign visitors; the latest being that of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. However, the naked fact is that the country is beset by many ills which the present government or the opposition is not willing or able to solve. The most important are bread and butter issues – or in the Nepali lingo: dal
matters.
bhat
Finance & Economics
People are finding it very difficult to make matters meet. The high rate of inflation at 8.4 percent is breaking the back of most people – but just not the rich and higher middle class. This means that the inequality between the various classes is on the rampage.
Our finance minister has failed on a very broad front. Hopefully, in a new political disposition, a better, wiser and more experienced ministers of finance and economic affairs will keep a tighter rein on household matters.
It is no consolation that Nepal on the whole as moved up on the worldwide “hunger index” [less hunger that is] in South Asia just after Sri Lanka, and far ahead of the other countries, including India and Pakistan!
External Affairs
Given its past history and its strategic geo-political location, Nepal should be punching far above its weight.
However, that would require educated, experienced, motivated experts at the helm of affairs. Such people are very few and far between here.
Dahal and his foreign minister [what’s his name anyway?] lack the competence to pursue a pro-active foreign policy. They only have the ability to just about react to foreign initiatives. Dahal thinks that he has achieved a lot – just because the UNSG smiles at him!
Nepal Suffers ‘Brawn’ Drain
Nepal is bleeding from the exodus of its brightest and strongest and our stupid and incompetent government is just too lazy to do anything about it. In fact, they don’t recognize emigration as a problem at all.
On top of the ‘brain drain’ – the emigration of our better educated, we now have the even worse ‘brawn drain’ – the sturdy and strapping young men and women from the hills and plains leaving the country in droves for greener pastures. In whole villages only the old and infirm have been left behind to fend for themselves. And some hamlets have even become ‘ghost villages’. What are our powerhungry politicians thinking about or doing regarding this acute problem?
Russia’s Ukraine War & Nepal
On top of the self-induced domestic misery, in the meantime hundreds of young men have left the country to join the Ukrainian or Russian armies – not because of lofty principles, but exclusively because of the pecuniary motive. This may be in line with Nepal’s hoary mercenary tradition, but it is now outdated.
The government should have done everything to prevent enlisting – but they are too busy with other more important matters. As with other issues, they have committed grave sins of omission and commission.
The presence of Nepalese in the Ukraine warzone has already caused great heartbreak back home. So much so that it has even garnered international attention (for all the wrong reasons) and was the subject of a front page article in The New York Times (“Nepalis pin hopes on distant war”, Oct. 21-22) .
The blood of every Nepali killed in that distant war will be on the hands of the nincompoops presently ruling over us.
Hamas-Israel War
The pathetic Dahal government has also failed miserably on another front.
Last Friday, the UN General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities