Thursday, August 18, 2022

18: Jumla



Congress Is Shooting for the Moon, and Getting Close
Sri Lanka Collapsed First, but It Won’t Be the Last .... ultimate blame lies with the Western-dominated neoliberal system that keeps developing countries in a form of debt-fueled colonization. The system is in crisis, its shaky foundations exposed by the tumbling dominoes of the Ukraine war, resulting in food and fuel scarcity, the pandemic, and looming insolvency and hunger rippling across the world. ...... After 450 years of colonialism, 40 years of neoliberalism, and four years of total failure by our politicians, Sri Lanka and its people have been beggared. ........ Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa deepened our debt problems, but the economy has been structurally unsound across administrations. We simply import too much, export too little and cover the difference with debt. This unsustainable economy was always going to collapse. ....... I have a car, which has now turned into a giant paperweight. Sri Lanka literally ran out of gas, so my kids asked if they could play inside it. That’s all it is good for. Getting fuel required waiting for days in spirit-crushing queues. I gave up. I got around by bus or bicycle. Most of the economy stopped moving at all. Now fuel has been rationed, but irrationally. Rich people get enough fuel for gas-guzzling S.U.V.s while working taxis don’t get enough and owners of tractors struggle to get anything at all. ......... The rupee has lost almost half its value since March and many goods are out of stock. You learn to react at the first sign of trouble: When power cuts started a few months ago my wife and I bought an expensive rechargeable fan; days later, they were sold out. When fuel cuts became dire we immediately bought bicycles, and the next day their price went up. Staples like rice, vegetables, fish and chicken have soared in price. ......... Many Sri Lankans are going on one meal a day; some are starving. Every week brings to my door a new class of people reduced to begging to survive. ......... The first major protests kicked off in March after a full night of this, when it seemed that the entire country was sleep-deprived and furious. .......... Parliament merely replaced President Rajapaksa with one of his cronies, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has been prime minister a handful of times but lost his parliamentary seat in 2020. He has turned the military on demonstrators and arrested protesters and trade unionists. It’s all been “constitutional,” eroding faith in the whole liberal democratic system. ........... Sri Lanka — like so many other countries struggling for solvency — remains a colony with administration outsourced to the International Monetary Fund. We still export cheap labor and resources, and import expensive finished goods — the basic colonial model. The country is still divided and conquered by local elites, while real economic control is held abroad.

The I.M.F. has extended loans to Sri Lanka 16 times, always with stringent conditions. They just keep restructuring us for further exploitation by creditors.

............ And as much as the West blames Chinese predatory lending, only around 10 to 20 percent of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt is owed to China. The majority is owed to U.S. and European financial institutions, or Western allies like Japan. We died in a largely Western debt trap. ............. Around 60 percent of low-income nations and 30 percent of middle-income ones are in debt distress or at high risk of it. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tunisia, Ghana, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Sudan — the list of those in trouble is growing rapidly. An estimated 60 percent of the world’s workforce has lower real incomes than before the pandemic, and the rich countries offer little to no help. ......... As economies collapse, Western loans simply won’t get repaid and poor nations will crash out of the dollar system that props up Western lifestyles..........



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Tuesday, August 16, 2022

भ्रष्टाचार को मुद्दा माथि लेजर फोकस

सधैँ विपक्षी आवाज बनेर बस्ने मेरो धोको होइन। तर शान्ति प्रक्रिया भनेको देश लाई प्रचंड को एकदलीय सोंच मा लाने भनेको त थिएन। कहिले एमाले लाई काखी च्यापेर दुई तिहाई, त कहिले कांग्रेस लाई। चुनावी प्रतिस्प्रधा नै नहुने भनेको बस हरु ले सिंडिकेट बनाए जस्तो अवस्था हो। स्थानीय चुनाव लाई महिला पदमा नल्याउ अभियान बनाए। होइन भने दुई मध्ये एक पदमा महिला उठाउनुपर्ने भनेको छ संविधान ले। चुनावी गठबंधन को हकमा पनि त्यो लागु हुनुपर्ने हो। 

मुख्य कुरा मुद्दा हो। अबको प्रमुख मुद्दा भनेको सुशासन हो। गगन प्रधान मंत्री, वर्षमान उप प्रधान मंत्री, अमरेश सिंह विदेश मंत्री, झाँखरी मंत्री जस्तो उभार आए पनि हुने हुन्छ यदि मुद्दा समातेको छ भने। नारा मात्र होइन सुशासन को स्पष्ट रोडमैप नै भएको। होइन भने बुढ़ा नेता हरुको कुरुवा बस्ने भुतपुर्व युवा नेता हरु को के काम? 

गगन वर्षमान जस्ता ले भ्रष्टाचार को मुद्दा नसमाते अथवा समाउन नसके रवि लामिछाने र सीके राउत ले भ्रष्टाचार को मुद्दा माथि लेजर फोकस गर्न करै लाग्छ। स्रोत साधन ले क्रांति गर्ने भए न २०४६ मा हुन्थ्यो, न सन २००६ मा, न कुनै मधेसी क्रांति नै हुन्थ्यो। मुख्य कुरा त मुद्दा हो। 

मोटामोटी अहिले को सात प्रदेश को नक्शा नै कायम रहने जस्तो देखियो। तर प्रदेश सरकार ले लोकसेवा आयोग र प्रहरी पाउने मधेस प्रदेश सरकार को नेतृत्व मा भएको प्रयास सराहनीय हो।   

जॉर्जिया देश मा नेपाल जस्तै ख़राब अवस्था। कदम कदम मा नागरिक सँग घुस माग्ने काम भएको अवस्था नै थियो। सारा ट्राफिक प्रहरी लाई एकैपटक बर्खास्त गरेर नया डफफा खड़ा गर्नुपरेको। भ्रष्टाचार को मुद्दा मा चुनावी क्रान्ति गरेर देश भरिका न्यायधीश लाई एकै पटक पदमुक्त गरेर मेरिट का आधार मा नया डफफा तैयार गर्नुपर्ने हो कि? दलीय सिफारिस मा पदमा पुगेका हरु लाई हटाउनु पर्ने हो कि? 

सरकारी सेवा पुर्ण डिजिटल गरेर दुई तिहाई कर्मचारी लाई एक वर्ष तलबी विदामा राखेर पदमुक्त गर्नुपर्ने हो कि? गृह युद्ध सकियो सशस्त्र प्रहरी अब घर जाउ भन्नुपर्ने हो कि? सेना वापस ३०,००० को संख्यामा लाने हो कि? 

बहुदल, गणतंत्र र संघीयता का लागि क्रांति गरेको नेपाली जनता ले सुशासन का लागि चुनावी क्रांति गर्दैन भनेर भन्न सकिने अवस्था छैन। 




Investing in Flow .

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