This article was first published in The Kathmandu Post, Aug 19, 2015
Right after the massive earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, like all Nepalis
within and outside the country, I was flooded with questions about the safety
of my family by my friends and acquaintances. One question, which could be
labeled insensitive and naive, was if large earthquakes were frequent in Nepal.
I explained that such a huge quake beyond seven magnitude had occurred after 81
years. The other question was: so, why was there no preparation at all if the
Nepali people knew that they could face such a massive natural disaster? This
time, I did not have a reply.
Here and there
Despite knowing that Nepal
is prone to earthquakes, we never paid attention to preparing for the next big
one, ie, we effectively did nothing for 81 years. Compare this with China—Nepal-China
diplomatic relations recently completed 60 years—which has made big strides in
all areas. Speaking at the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue-2014 in
Beijing, one of the participants, a Chinese professor, said, “We (Chinese
people) do not know where the future lies but what we know is, what China
achieved in the last 30 years is unprecedented.” China literally started from
scratch and currently its economy is larger than the US’. It is one of the
world powers.
Sixty years down the line,
Nepal is still among the least developed countries in the world as there has
been no significant change in the livelihoods of its people. Most Nepalis still
rely on traditional agriculture, and remittance has become the lifeline of the
economy in recent years. More than 50 percent the Nepali population still live
under the poverty line according to multidimensional poverty index. So, who is
responsible for this situation? Most might accuse the corrupt and irresponsible
political leaders for the mess but the reason for our backwardness is not just
limited to them. Rather, it is because of the prominent features of our society
such as irresponsibility, inefficiency and corruption at all levels of the
state.
Going slow
In last 60 years, Nepal went
through tremendous political changes—it overthrew the 104-year long Rana
regime, established an elected government through the people’s movement, faced
30 years of Panchayat system and a decade long civil war which eventually
overthrew a 240-year-old monarchy. These political upheavals, however, did not
help Nepal prosper because the gains of these movements were not
institutionalised.
Now, even after three months
of the quake, there has been little progress with regards to the reconstruction
process. The aid money that the bilateral and multilateral development partners
have pledged for Nepal’s reconstruction can be spent only if the government can
design and develop projects. What we need is an institution that can come up
with ideas for projects and eventually implement them. Unfortunately, the
much-touted Reconstruction Authority is yet to come into operation. While the
government has recently appointed the current vice-chairperson of the National
Planning Commission as the Chief Executive Officer of the Reconstruction Authority,
things are moving ahead at snail’s pace. This has not only frustrated the
Nepali people but also those who want to help Nepal.
Against
this backdrop, the Asian Development Bank recently warned Nepal that the
country could lose international aid if it fails to improve its portfolio
performance in the coming days. This is enough proof that Nepal’s development
process has been constantly disrupted due to low standards of procurement
practices, inefficient bureaucracy and political wrangling. The recovery
process after the quake has been notoriously slow as government agencies
continue to be entangled in issues that have nothing to do with improving the
quality of life of the people. They have not even been able to properly dispose
debris in the Capital, let alone rural places, where the state is almost
absent.
The
only thing that has gained momentum after the earthquake is the
constitution-writing process. All major political parties have been convinced
that any more delay in the promulgation of the new constitution will not be in
favour of any of them. However, this process has drawn huge criticism and even
political leaders of the major parties have voiced their opposition against the
proposed draft.
Not so hopeful
Meanwhile, the international
community has promised to help Nepal rebuild itself but it will all depend on
how much Nepal can do in terms of developing and implementing projects. So far,
most of the development projects in Nepal have been a byproduct of political
games. Hopefully, it will not happen in the coming days.
So, perhaps, it would not be
wrong to conclude that Nepali society has persistently failed to learn from
history. The country remained unprepared for a quake even though everyone knew
it was coming. And Nepal’s leadership is yet to realise that the country
is lagging behind many other nations that have managed to rebuild themselves
despite facing devastating wars and natural calamities.
Poudel is a Kathmandu-based consultant and researcher at ThinkIN
China
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