Policy Document Focuses On Prosperity

The federal parliament is now poised to start deliberating on the government’s policy and programmes for the upcoming fiscal year 2024/25. This comes as the ruling and opposition political parties have freshly reached an understanding to form a parliamentary committee to look into the rampant frauds witnessed in the cooperative sector. The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) had been disrupting the House proceedings calling for the formation of such a panel to probe the alleged involvement of Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ravi Lamichhane in the misuse of money deposited by share members of some cooperatives. As police investigation and media reports hinted at Lamichhane’s apparent involvement in such activities, the NC had even resorted to demanding his resignation. The party had argued that there was a conflict of interest when Lamichhane continued to remain in power.  

Suspected embezzlement

But the governing CPN-UML and Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) had not been in favour of constituting any parliamentary committee to investigate Lamichhane’s suspected embezzlement of depositors’ money. Since the beginning, UML chair KP Sharma Oli had stood against constituting any parliamentary panel. Oli had not even lagged behind claiming that Lamichhane was clean. He had accused the NC of attempting to weaken the ruling alliance by raising the issue. However, the NC had remained so adamant on its stance that it kept obstructing the House proceedings. And the government prorogued the winter session of parliament to snub the NC even when several important bills were under consideration. It amended some laws to create an investment-friendly environment on the eve of the 3rd Nepal Investment Summit, which was held in Kathmandu in the last week of April. The Summit was organised to attract potential foreign as well as domestic investors. 

As there is a constitutional provision for the federal government to unveil its annual budget on Jeth 15 for the next fiscal year, there is no much time for the parliament to discuss the policy and programmes. President Ram Chandra Paudel presented the government’s policy document in a joint session of the federal parliament amidst protests by the opposition parties some days ago. The new budget will be based on the newly-introduced policy and programmes. The budget reflects the government’s perseverance. 

The government has again come up with the slogan of ‘Prosperous Nepal, Happy Nepali’ as it aims at ensuring political stability, good governance, socio-economic development and social justice. It has incorporated some new programmes, creating a glimmer of hope among people. It has focused on economic reforms and rehabilitation, increase in production and productivity and creation of employment opportunities. However, it has given continuity to many programmes unveiled in the past.   In view of the current political and economic scenarios, it is, however, not easy for the government to achieve goals set in its policy document. The nation has been going through a politically unstable situation with frequent changes in federal and provincial governments. The nation is certain to keep plunging into a vicious cycle of political uncertainty if the major players fail to express their commitment to achieving stability and economic development. They must be ready to sacrifice partisan and petty personal interests for the sake of political stability and socio-economic progress. 

The nation has also suffered a big setback when it comes to revenue collection. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, the government has been able to meet only 59 per cent of its revenue collection target. This clearly shows that the nation’s revenue mobilisation target is unlikely to be achieved. This definitely takes its toll on development projects as well as overall economy. The amount of foreign grants received by the country has also not gone up.     However, it is notable that the government, in its policy and programmes, has announced to introduce a Ten-Year Investment Plan in agriculture from the forthcoming fiscal year 2081/082 BS to make the nation self-sufficient in food grains and vegetables. It plans to launch this campaign with investments from the government, the private sector and cooperatives. It also aims to promote the use of modern technology in the agriculture sector. Despite having a lot of arable land and labour force, the country is bound to import food grains as well as vegetables. Thus, a huge amount of money is spent annually on the import of these essential items.

The previous governments had also prioritised the agriculture sector. Ten years back, the then government had unveiled a similar plan to boost the agriculture sector. But the decade-long agriculture plan failed to yield any desired outcomes. No plans can bring out expected results unless they are designed carefully and implemented effectively. So, announcing any plan is not adequate. What is more essential is a strong political will to materialise plans. In Nepal, much arable land has been going to waste because of a lack of incentives for farmers. A scarcity of agricultural inputs like fertilisers in farming times, and necessary irrigation facilities has led to a drastic fall in agro productions. An increasing exodus of Nepali workers is another major reason for such a condition of the agriculture sector. The government has also announced its plan to mark the period between 2024 and 2033 as an Information Technology Decade. With this plan, the government intends to bring about socio-economic transformation within the country.

Concessional loans

Meanwhile, the government has come forward with a programme to make available concessional loans to 1,000 start-up businesses. This may help increase production and generate more jobs. In addition, the government has laid its focus on infrastructure development, improvement of education and health services and increment in hydroelectricity generation. The government must unveil a more realistic budget to cope with the persisting economic slump and slow pace of development. It also must review the implementation of the past budgets before finalising the new budget. The ruling as well as opposition political parties now need to come together to tackle numerous vital political, economic and other issues.

(The author is a former deputy executive editor of this daily.)