Gender Equality Results Case Studies: Nepal

The Asian Development Bank has published a report on gender equality in Nepal with the case studies from here.
ADB says in its website, "this publication is part of the commitment of the South Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to gender equality results in its operations, selected among ADB sectors: urban development, rural infrastructure (including irrigation and other water infrastructure), and agriculture and natural resource management." The report has case studies provide an overview of gender issues in selected sectors, and gender design features and implementation arrangements that contributed to achieving gender-related targets in four ADB projects in Nepal. This report also comprises the recommendations for future actions for gender equality in Nepal. The PDF version of report is available here: http://www.adb.org/documents/reports/gender/case-studies-nep/gender-case-study-nep.pdf

It's Trade not a Game!

Nepal is facing the high trade deficit since last year. Basically, there are two reasons if we just look at the table for this terrible situation. Who dares to see under the table for the fundamental reasons causing the trade deficit?

The high level of import and the decrease of export in increasing rate are the apparent reasons for trade deficit. But why we are not being able to increase export? (Here, I won't be talking about the regulation on import because I don't believe in that. I believe that we should let the import since only then our domestic industries come to know how to compete with international companies' productions.) I will be talking about the ways of increasing export. The country's export level depends on its supply side capacity, manufacturing capacity of country's industrial sector and cost of transport. To increase the export level, first we have to think how our system is working in terms of production, supply and transport. Diagnosis is the first step to prescribe the medicine for any disease.     

Economist say that the country's economy is about to fall down but why can't they tell us what will prevent it to happen. They won't be telling us because the situation is not in anyone's hands rather than politicians. They know that politicians are not going to understand until it falls down. The power game is miraculous and it doesn't ask for hard work. That is why politicians don't understand how fundamentally the economy is different than politics. I do agree that politics and economy are interlinked and shrunk with each other. Still, politicians don't know how economy functions and economists never understand why politicians don't care what's happening in country's economy. Playing game and arranging each bricks to build the house are quite different thing in this planet! Stupid do the later one and smart one does the first one. Confused? No worries. I will explain.

The impacts of political disorders in economy are seen sometimes instantly and sometimes it takes the years. The decade long domestic conflict hit hard the economy after three years of its end. Nepal's economy was stagnating or having the quite slow pace during the insurgency period. But growth rate was started to stagnate and eventually the high trade deficit and decreased the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) growth rate after the end of so-called people's movement in Nepal. The economy should be let free and respected to flourish as like a person's growth and to keep alive the self-esteem. Nepali economy has never got this beauty of freeness and respect (tender touch while changing the orders of economy) in the history. If you dig deep inside the structure and contemplate on the problems it passing through is lack of free- fairness and bully of state on it.

I humbly want to put forward one example here to show the political bully on market. The heart of economy (manufacturing sector) is facing the labor problem. But we never try to solve it as a labor problem but a political issue. It becomes a political issue not only because of the politicians but the feeling of insecurity (for some) and wish for the political backup (for some) industrialists. The 'third world psychology' might be a good phrase to describe the situation of industrialists in Nepal. What they lack is skill and what they have is political backup to run the industry. How terrible!

If you separate the economic problems from politics then it is clear. But I know that sometimes it's hard and sometimes you don't want it to do. But, the truth is that until and unless we don't free the economy from state regulation, we are heading nowhere. The reasons we are told time and again, here and there for this trade deficit and gloomy economy are not the real one. We have to dig deep to diagnosis the disease.