Walking the Walk

We have recently witnessed newspapers and mainstream media eulogizing Lal Babu Pandit for his crusade against our civil servant 'foreigners'. While some people applauded him for reducing the financial burden on the state, some were grateful for the new civil service positions that his efforts might potentially create, and yet others were happy for ostensibly nationalistic reasons.

But the one thing that stood out, for me, was the fact that he finished a job he had started in the face of serious opposition and death threats. The operative word here is 'finished' because all too often we take initiatives only to abandon it halfway through because of difficulties or just the lack of courage to see it out against adverse circumstances.


We have a big problem in implementing anything significant here in Nepal. We will hold meetings, workshops, and conferences but get absolutely nothing done at the end of the day. Anyone who has studied for the Lok Sewa exams and attempted the impossible task of knowing 'everything about everything in Nepal' will not have failed to notice the multitude of reports we generate.

We have researched every topic to death and on any issue the private, public and non-government sectors have come out with more reports that you can shake a stick at. But it's when we delve deeper into substance and ground realities that we come to the realization that no reforms of any great significance has materialized.

It's all well and good to have a go at the government for all of this because after all they are responsible for the implementation aspect, but this rise of our 'report republic' has been fuelled by both private and non-government sectors. A finished job is often equated with a final 'report' of the activities undertaken and the obligatory recommendations that were, in many cases, very obvious to begin with. So much so that there exists a mini industry of report specialists that make a comfortable living through their involvement in this niche sector.

But it's not like we only plan and don't do any work at all. We have also been known to take the trouble of dabbling in the odd half-hearted implementation exercises. These token attempts often mean that our work ends up like the dhobi's dog in the Nepali proverb – neither here nor there.

The number of aborted government initiatives in various sectors points to a lack of sustained effort that is required beyond the initial fanfare and grand beginnings of our programs. This loss of enthusiasm is there for all of us to behold in the form of our half completed infrastructure projects around the city. Even endeavours that cry out for proper allocation of time and resources like the earthquake relief period or even the constitutional feedback process are dealt with in a perfunctory manner. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if our much awaited constitution turns out to be the half-baked effort that everyone predicts it will be. I, for one, wouldn't bet against it.

And then just to prove that we are a mass of contradictions, we have a tendency to occasionally do the exact opposite of the above. Sometimes we like to jump the gun and attempt to implement things before even sitting down on the drawing board and going through any form of consultations. While we may be accused of being democratic to a fault in the above cases, the ad hoc decisions that are often taken at this end of the spectrum would be enough to put the blushes on any self-respecting dictator.

The plastic bag ban is a case in point. Although everyone was well aware of this ban the consequences and enforcement aspects of it could have done with some more planning. Or take the case of the requirement for hand painted vehicle number plates a few years ago that had people scurrying to their local artists. The resources required to enforce it eventually led to its downfall much before the flawed rationale behind it could.

All of our approaches have a disheartening thread in common – the stated intent and achieved results are often poles apart. If Nepal does not develop or meet its lofty goals of LDC graduation and poverty alleviation to name a few, it won't be due to the lack of intent but due to our inability to rise above the rhetoric, translate our intent into action, and see our initiatives to fruition.

All of the conferences, trainings, reports, manifestos or development aid will be useless if we don't get our house in order and change the way we approach our own future. The great Winston Churchill very succinctly put it when he said, "It is no use saying we are doing our best. You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary". And in Nepal, we simply don't have any other option.

gunjan.u@gmail.com

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