What needs to be done is fairly simple. Which means Nepal has been paying a huge price for corruption, political incompetence, and the ethnic myopia of its current crop of leaders. One more revolution (this time electoral) has become necessary.
India was richer than China in 1990, measured by per capital income. China happened right before your eyes, and you know it. 20 years would be enough time to turn Nepal into a living, breathing China, economically speaking. All you have to do is clean up the politics, get rid of the entire political class. They had their chance, and they blew it. Get in some new blood.
Those who are saying this is not the time for politics, this is the time for relief work are either dishonest, or ignorant and misguided. This is precisely the time to clean up the politics. If you can bring about 100% online transparency, that would kick start the system.
The work is obvious.
India was richer than China in 1990, measured by per capital income. China happened right before your eyes, and you know it. 20 years would be enough time to turn Nepal into a living, breathing China, economically speaking. All you have to do is clean up the politics, get rid of the entire political class. They had their chance, and they blew it. Get in some new blood.
Those who are saying this is not the time for politics, this is the time for relief work are either dishonest, or ignorant and misguided. This is precisely the time to clean up the politics. If you can bring about 100% online transparency, that would kick start the system.
The work is obvious.
- Broadband is at the top of the list when it comes to infrastructure talk today. Get broadband to a village before you get a road there, and people could go to college right there, and they could engage in global ecommerce.
- Roads and bridges are important. The political elite in Kathmandu has been doing all it can to make sure the Hulaki Rajmarg in the Terai does not get built, they hate Madhesis so much. The truth is, if you build that highway, that makes the Terai vibrant, and less Nepalis will end up abroad. If you are against sex trafficking, build the Hulaki Rajmarga.
- Revolutionary education. This is the centerpiece. How fast can you take 100% of the population, young and old, through high school? How fast can you take 50% through college? You do that much, and you are a first world country. You have to use technology. You use the FM radio. Beam out lessons over the air. Adults too proud to attend school will tune in. Use MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses) for the college part.
- Health. Here I admire Mao and Fidel. You train health care workers and teachers on a massive scale. And deploy.
- A business friendly policy environment. Modi is not a corporate stooge. He realizes that the government's budget is small. For all that he wants to do, he has no option but to involve the private sector. A small, effective government does the trick. FDI is key. The single, best, easiest thing to do there is to do the dual citizenship thing that the NRNs want. Let the diaspora bring in global money. You could bring in FDI, or you could send cheap labor to Qatar. Take your pick.
- Once these basics are put in place, Hydro and Biotech and all the fancy stuff happen on their own.
But it all starts with clean politics. I say it is Kotparva time.
