June 27, 2007

Development Nepal

Development and Stability

Editorial

Testing development against the new arrangements

 

It has been almost a year since we last communicated with you.  Thanks to your readership and contributions, Development Nepal continues to grow.  During this period we received over 6000 unique visitors to our site, and we are now listed by several e-publications such as Kantipuronline.com, nepalhorizons.com, sagarmathatv.com and nepalresearch.org and nepalmonitor.com. 

 

After a decade of prolonged insecurity and uncertainty, “Development” in Nepal finally got some breathing space in the past one year.  A lot of reconstruction and peace building aid has flowed in during this period, and continues to pump in the Nepali economy.  Development is being tested against the new political arrangements in Nepal.  For example, right now the nation watches the Melamchi drama.  Whether Melamchi survives, or if it should is a contested issue, but to us it clearly signals that the business and attire of “Development” in Nepal has to be different than what it was until yesterday.   Melamchi, and for that matter any other development “enterprise” must adjust to the newer political and socio-economic arrangements in Nepal, and vice versa. Our communities—urban and rural—have undergone sea changes in the past one decade.  Violence has become a subculture, communities are more fragmented than ever, and our young girls and boys are desperate to escape the Nepal they face.  Can development aid de-culture violence? Can it bury the dividing lines between our communities, and can it enable the young Nepalis to bravely face the Nepal that we have given to them? 

 

Development aid can assist the processes, but cannot be a panacea for all our wrongs.  Mallika Shakya, a Young Professional at the World Bank echoed this to us when she spoke to Development Nepal on the opportunities and challenges for Nepal- The onus is on the Nepalis to make sure that the dialogue is owned and led by Nepalis.  If we are not too clear about what kind of house we want, they (donors) cannot give us a house we want. 

 

Another issue that Nepal sets to settle in this decade is restructuring the Nepal state.  In October last year, we started a web discussion on this concept.  We are thankful to Dr. Saurav Bhatta, Dr. Surendra Devkota, Dr. Mahendra Lawoti and Dr Vijaya Sharma for sending in their articles for this discussion, and to the contributors to the online discussion (Rishi Baral, Doleshwore Bhandari, Dr. Ghanshyam Bhatta, Uttam Sharma, Anirudra Silwal).  In the months that followed, as this rather abstract concept of state restructuring began to filter in to the minds of the common Nepali, Nepal witnessed a series of rapid political actions—violent and non-violent.  Frankly, like many of you, we do not know what exactly is going on.  In an attempt to understand how well the concept has reached you, we have designed a short web survey.  We hope you will take a couple of minutes to reasons to this survey.   With this we will conclude the web discussion.

 

 

As for us at Development Nepal, during the past year Sumit moved to Bangkok and is now involved with International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC) in promotion of renewable energy and energy conservations as well as researching for Greater Mekong Subregion, Environemnt Operation Center (Asian Development Bank Program) in attempt to develop computer model based decision support tool for biodiversity conservation.  Amod continues his PhD research at University of Berkley on the impact of indoor air pollution on the health of Nepali individuals just as I spent most of my time last year at Maryland on my PhD research on the impact of geographical isolation on development in Nepal.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Shyam KC