Candidates Mustn't Forget Gen Z Agenda

Until last week, people were doubtful regarding the upcoming election of members of the House of Representatives scheduled for March 5. But what was seen on the 20th of January draws a different picture. On this day, political leaders with old and new faces eagerly filed their candidacies across the country. This scenario has obviously prepared the ground for the general election.  Among all places, the most talked about place has become Jhapa-5, where Kathmandu Metropolitan City's former mayor and Rashtriya Swatantra Party senior leader Balendra Shah or Balen and former prime minister and CPN - UML chair KP Sharma Oli filed their candidacies. Now, the public is curious to see who will win this electoral battle between them. Interestingly, both of them have projected themselves as candidates for Prime Minister.    

My concern here is not to support one or the other candidate. However, I will use my voting right to vote for a genuine contestant. What is more important is the responsibilities to be fulfilled by the new government, which seems to be formed sooner rather than later. The government should not forget why the Gen Z movement occurred on September 8 and 9. The general public's trust has been shattered due to the monopoly of the earlier governments, where mainly three major political parties - UML, Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre - were involved. So, that lost trust must be gained by the newly elected government by taking immediate actions for the pending issues.

Deep-rooted corruption 

The first and foremost thing to do is to find out the criminals who were involved in killing more than 70 innocent people during the Gen Z movement, and then to punish them according to the law. All Nepali people and particularly the martyr families, are waiting for justice. Another issue to be addressed is the eradication of corruption, which is deeply rooted in all levels of governance systems. For instance, bribery is a common practice in almost all government offices. Wherever you go, your work will not get done smoothly unless you bribe in some way. As a result, the general public is suffering greatly.

 I think we are being corrupted in a sense because of the state system. To accelerate the completion of our work, we prefer to pay extra money rather than wait unnecessarily for long, or we bribe a taxi driver and rush to our destination instead of confronting him for demanding a higher fare than needed. Many such incidents keep happening in our everyday lives. The third and most serious issue to be addressed is to stop brain drain and unemployment. These days, people are moving to foreign countries mainly for two reasons. They leave Nepal either to study further or to get employment. 

The ultimate goal of students is also to reside in a foreign land to secure a better life. We are pretty aware of the fact that brain drain and foreign employment have invited different kinds of problems in the country. Firstly, let's discuss the problems related to brain drain.  It is said that over 1,00,000 youths are departing Nepal annually in recent years for higher education. This significantly impacts the nation's human resources and economy. In addition, such students are at a high risk of depression, anxiety or even suicide due to family pressure, study and workload. Most of the students go abroad with a heavy loan, which their parents expect to be paid as soon as possible. 

The situation will not be favourable for newly arrived students in a foreign land. They need to juggle with many things, such as accommodation, study, work and familiarisation with a new lifestyle. They may not be able to cope with all this and start losing their sanity.  Wasting youth energy this way is not good for the nation.  Usually, people choose foreign employment to uplift their life standard or simply to fulfill their basic needs of lodging, fooding and clothing. According to recent reports, more than 7, 00,000 to 8, 00,000 Nepali people go abroad annually seeking employment. Among them, around 2, 00,000 are unskilled and the remaining are semi-skilled or skilled. Such workers include both men and women. 

Contribution 

Although they contribute massively to the country's economy through their remittances, their family life has been jeopardised in most of the cases. Mostly, children suffer a lot in such families. Both father and mother have a great role in shaping their children's future but sadly, either one or sometimes both of their parents are absent in their lives at the stage when they need them the most. Such a situation may lead to children's destructive behaviour, bad company, drug addiction or even crimes.   

So, what can be done to keep the people in Nepal itself so that they can support the process of nation-building? First of all, after completion of their degree, there must be a job guarantee for youths in the respective fields of their studies. Along with this, the salary must also be lucrative so that they will not be tempted to look for better job opportunities abroad. Secondly, there must be sufficient and dignified employment opportunities for those people who reluctantly go to other countries only to fulfill their family's needs. If the new government seriously works on the issues mentioned above, I hope the people who lost their lives during the Gen Z movement and their families will get justice to some extent. The lost lives cannot be revived but some comfort can be brought to those who are alive.

    (The author is the director of Vidya Shilpa Academy, Damak, Jhapa.)