When we asked the government to come up with a white paper on how it plans to deal with the ongoing economic blockade and handle post-quake recovery, we expected it to come up with a time-bound plan, outlining immediate measures to ease people's suffering. But the white paper Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel unveiled on Tuesday offers nothing of the sort. The paper is heavy on what the government hopes to achieve in the coming months and years but short on how it will achieve those targets. Paudel, outlining the salient features of the white paper, said the government, in light of the economic embargo, will work towards energy and food security. The government hopes to achieve energy security by exploring alternative sources of oil, encouraging electric vehicles and involving the private sector in petro business. But these are all old ideas. The white paper would have sounded more credible had it clearly stated how Nepal would, for instance, import fuel from China; through which routes and at what rates. The assurance on more electric vehicles is also hard to buy as successive governments have, under pressure of various transport lobbies, quietly shelved plans for big public electric vehicles.First Prime Minister KP Oli's address to the nation on November 15th and now the white paper prepared by his government, both promised so much and delivered so little. On both occasions, the focus of the government seemed to be on reducing public criticism of its ineffective and inefficient ways than on addressing real issues. Oli, in reality, has little to show for his 45 days in government. The talks with agitating Madheshi parties are going nowhere; the plans to import fuel from China are in limbo; government officials have openly admitted to black-marketing of petrol and diesel; and law and order situation in the Tarai continues to deteriorate. What is needed at this time of crisis is decisive action, not empty words. The government is not even doing the bare minimum to improve things. Otherwise, what's stopping it from taking action against government officials implicated in black-marketing? Why is the oil agreement with China taking so long? And why did it make poor people, their lives battered by galloping inflation, pay for firewood? What, exactly, will it do with the five million rupees it has raised by selling timber?
People didn't expect much from Oli government. But if there was one positive attribute about him it was his decisiveness. He was known as someone who got things done. Yet the halfhearted manner in which his government has approached talks with the agitating parties, its hesitation to punish black-marketers, its dithering over alternative supply of fuel and cooking gas and its confusing statements—they all suggest the government has no clue about what to do. That might sound like a harsh judgment on a government that has been in office for only 45 days. But, surely, assuming power at such a difficult time, Oli didn't expect a long honeymoon when he could happily let things drift.
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