National daily newspapers dated July 25 and 26, 2017 have published some informative news related with Nepalese state of socio-economic affairs. Of them, the Kantipur daily dated July 25 has published news headed “Trade deficit of more than 1 billion from each 33 countries.” According to this news, Nepal had imported goods worth Rs. 984 billion, 67 million and 89 thousands and exported 74 billion, 712 million, and 675 thousands in the last fiscal year only. It resulted in the trade deficit of Rs. 909 billion, 355 million and 152 thousands. This trade deficit amounts to more than 12 times the total export from Nepal. Most of the trade of Nepal takes place with India. The same newspaper has written that Nepal had imported goods from India worth Rs. 641 billion, 172 million and 438 thousand while she had exported commodities amounting to Rs. 41 billion, 600 million and 379 thousand in last fiscal year. It shows that trade deficit with India was Rs. 599 billion, 572 million and 59 thousand. It is more than 14 times the Nepal’s export to India. The same news has written that the country with which Nepal suffers more deficits next to India is China. The only country with which Nepal made surplus of more than 1 billion in the last fiscal year was Turkey.
The Annapurna Post, another national daily, has published news on July 26 headed “Agricultural country reliant on crops.” The very news, placing revenue department as the source, has written about the amount paid for the food-grain imported to Nepal in the last fiscal year. Accordingly, Nepal had imported wheat amounting to Rs. 5 billion 210 million, corn 10 billion 370 million, rice 23 billion 880 million, millet 340 million, vegetables 11 billion 120 million, pulses 10 billion 370 million, live animals 2 billion 280 million, meat/fish 1 billion 170 million, milk/milk-related items 2 billion 440 million, fruits 8 billion 880 million and edible oil 22 billion 330 million. Thus, Nepal had paid Rs. 98 billion 850 million in the last fiscal year to import aforesaid 12 kinds of goods. However, the newspapers have not written anything about how much amount of money Nepal had paid to import other necessary goods in the same year.
Another national daily Nagarik, published on July 26, has written that Nepal spends Rs. 180 million to recharge mobile phones daily. In the same manner, Annapurna Post of the same date has published that Nepal had imported mobile sets worth Rs. 17 billion from China alone last year. The very newspaper has written that Nepal had spent Rs. 22 billion, 661 million 700 thousands in the last fiscal year to purchase mobile sets from different 62 countries.
Likewise, Hom Karki has written an article headed “Youths going abroad for dangerous jobs” in Kantipur daily dated July 26. In that article he says that altogether 512 thousand youths enter into the labour market every year in Nepal and 373,463 youths had taken new labour agreement from the government of Nepal for foreign employment in the last fiscal year. According to him, the total of 643, 695 youths comprising of 373,463 new and 270, 232 old had boarded foreign planes to find dangerous jobs abroad. Nevertheless, those who go to Australia, America, Europe and Japan in the name of study and for different jobs in India do not fall in this number.
In the same manner, the Karobar daily dated July 26 has published news in it. It was headed “Agricultural lands got barren devoid of labours.” Quoting Jung Bahadur Limbu, the newspaper has written, “Sons able to work flied overseas, daughters also left to their homes after marriage, labours are not available to work in the field, I could not cultivate it alone, the paddy field remained barren.” The local events that attach importance nowadays in Nepalese media are like those mentioned above.
These events have portrayed well the present day socio-economic reality of Nepal. There are no youths in the country, land is left barren and the national production is shrinking daily. The shops are full of foreign goods. The trade deficit is elevating, with no sign of declining at all. Every baby burdened by the loan of more than Rs. 24,000 takes birth as a Nepalese citizen in this part of the globe. This situation as a whole portrays the awful condition of our country at present. This is the way towards a failed state. Our country, in the days ahead, is heading towards becoming a common playground for the advance countries and the Nepalese people’s identity is becoming modern slave of the international bourgeoisie. It is a bitter reality.
What is the main reason behind the awful situation the national newspapers have portrayed above? Is it that Nepal lacks natural resources? Is it that Nepalese people are workshy? In view of natural resources, Nepal is one of the richest countries in the world. It needs no evidence to justify, everyone is aware of it. Works ranging from cleaning of pigsty in South Korea to that of lifting iron rods in 500C temperature in the Gulf deserts reveal how much diligent and laborious Nepalese people are. None of the above is the reason for the aforesaid awful situation to develop in Nepal. The reason is politics. No political revolution has taken place in Nepal yet and the oppressed people have not become masters of the state. This is the main reason behind the problem.
The state power of Nepal is made up of the comprador and bureaucratic bourgeoisie and feudal class. Imperialism and Indian expansionism protect this state and the reactionary classes to milk the natural resources and capture market. There is a strong alliance between parliamentarian political parties and imperialism. This is the characteristics of the imperialist era. The imperialist policies are brought in to the oppressed countries with the help of parliamentarian political parties. British Imperialism entered into Nepal through Sugauli Treaty in 1816. Since then, Nepal has lost her right to self-determination and so has been a semi-colonial country. Although Nepal has not become a direct colony under any imperialist country but she has been an oppressed country since this Treaty. Following this, Nepal turned to be a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country and at present she is in semi-feudal, semi-colonial and neo-colonial condition. As a result, Nepal’s politics and economy is under the management of imperialism and the reactionary class is acting as its facilitator. The national economy has not developed yet. Mainly two factors are responsible for this.
The first is neo-liberalism. The imperialist forces, in order to draw out their life by transferring the burden of economic crisis faced by the capitalist countries to the developing ones in the eighties, put forward a neoliberal policy named as liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. The rulers of the developing countries recklessly signed on it. This process that had begun from Panchayati era in Nepal got completed after the political change taken place in 1990. The industries which were established during Panchayati rule started being sold, one after another, in the name of privatisation. This process got momentum mainly after Nepali Congress attained power and it carries on even today. The remaining industries too have shut down because of their failure to compete with the production of multinational companies. By adopting neoliberalism, the Government of Nepal has thus handed over country’s entire economy and market to imperialism and thus the national interest has been sold out.
The second is Indian monopoly upon Nepalese market. India has been prevailing over Nepalese economy since Sugauli Treaty in general and 1950 treaty in particular. Indian expansionists, by showing the baton of transit treaty, impose in every five years a trade treaty which benefits them. They prepare trade and transit treaties to be done with Nepal in such a way that India can have full control upon Nepalese trade. They do it by making the Nepalese production forced to compete with Indian goods. But a strange, the Nepalese rulers, who are accustomed to attaining chair with the blessing of Indian ruling classes, blindly put their sign on such anti-national treaties. These treaties do two things: one, they discourage Nepalese goods to enter into Indian market and, two, open the way to import all sorts of Indian goods to Nepal with no hindrance at all. As a result, Nepalese goods cannot compete both in national and foreign market. All this leads to cast down Nepalese production and the labour market turns unemployed. These are the reasons why there is daily a long queue of youths in the airport for overseas employment, why there is barren land all across the country, why the import of the goods for daily consumption including grains is spirally increasing and why Nepal’s trade deficit is widening each year.
The parliamentarian parties in Nepal proudly announce that the political revolution has been over and the economic revolution has to solve the aforesaid impending problems. According to them, the economic revolution starts taking shape no later than the constitution is put on effect and the elections in all three levels are completed. As the proverb goes “morning shows the day”, the picture of “economic revolution” the elected officials have begun with indicates clearly the type of revolution they are going to make. “In order to serve the people” the first decision of purchasing mobile sets for the “elected officials” in Kathmandu Municipality and that of buying motorcycles in rural municipality of Surkhet and competition everywhere to raise social security allowance for the senior citizens by keeping all the burning problems faced by the country and people aside indicate towards the “economic revolution” they are going to make. These are the decisions taken by those representatives who have acquired power of Singh Durbar (Central Secretariat), to paraphrase Prachanda. In fact, the local elections have worked as a bridge to make the corruption in Singh Durbar reach to local bodies.
The parliamentarian parties that entertain in the reactionary state of Nepal are mainly four. They are: NC, CPN (UML), CPN (MC) and RPP. It is known to all that the RPP (old royalists) and NC which represent feudalism in Nepal and work for the interest of imperialism and Indian expansionism are reactionary parties. The CPN (UML) is the party that had joined this camp after 1990. The party that has lately joined the reactionary camp in Nepal is the CPN (MC). As the proverb goes “The new entrants are most active”, the CPN (MC) is at the forefront now to dutifully implement neo-liberal policies and Indian expansionist dictates in Nepal.
It is clear that the main factor responsible for the aforesaid awful condition of Nepal is the reactionary state power and four-party syndicate is prevailing in it. So, whichever party or alliance forms government under this political system in Nepal, it will do nothing other than sending youths to abroad by soliciting ‘free visa free tickets’ from the countries of advance economy, polluting people’s mind through Facebook culture by providing free Wi-Fi all across the country, making Nepal a free market for foreign goods and consequently turning Nepal a common playground colony of imperialist marauders. This reactionary state system and the government formed under it cannot do anything other than this. Of course, the destroyer cannot be a creator.
The reactionary parties talk of inviting foreign investors and establishing special economic zones for the economic revolution in Nepal. In fact, it is the way towards handing over Nepalese resources and labours in nominal price for the foreign investors and helping them earn enormous profit out of it. The country cannot be economically rich only by establishing industries but by establishing national industries and by developing national economy. But, so long as the multinational companies are allowed to invest in Nepal, with no restriction, the national bourgeoisie cannot survive in the incomparable competition with them. In order to create national economy the government must adopt national protectionist policy to protect the interest of national bourgeoisie. The comprador and bureaucratic bourgeoisie who oil imperialism and expansionism to attain power do not think for the benefit of nation. It is possible only under the leadership of the proletariat, who fights life and death struggle against imperialism.
Any government formed under the parliamentary system cannot solve the problems related with people’s livelihood, democracy and independence and thereby change the awful condition of Nepal the newspapers have portrayed before. Under the democratic dictatorship of the oppressed people, the new democratic revolution led by the proletariat opens the way forward to developing national economy and it starts solving the entire political and economic problems including the aforesaid ones. Merely crying does not solve the problem. To come forward to struggle for the accomplishment of new democratic revolution, guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, is the only way left for the oppressed people of Nepal to solve the basic problems related with national independence and democracy.
