Nepal Diary- Economic Reality of Nepal

In a country where economic growth rate is lower than population growth rate, you just have to accept the reality that economic prosperity is a distant dream for its countrymen as a whole. To add more troubles, total import is more than three times the total export. One should admit that it is quite remarkable that people of Nepal go about performing their daily activities oblivious of these grave problems. And some clever ones (like myself) who are well aware of futility of their efforts to try to change anything simply choose to leave the country. Other hopeful ones lose their patience too at some point depending on their tolerance and opt to leave. 

Any slim hopes of driving the economy forward melt into air as politics enters the domain. Politics is vital to formulating sound economic policies to boost economy of which China and India are prime examples. It was under leadership of competent leaders that China and India pulled themselves out of poverty to move forward towards economic development. With politicians of Nepal entangled in power sharing dirty politics, formulation of economic policies is nowhere in sight. And rest of the nation suffers as a result forcing the bright and aspiring individuals to leave the country out of frustration and desperation.

            Despite these political and economic hurdles, telecommunications and banking sector have managed to remain profitable. Any business that is profitable in Nepal demands respect and admiration. How can you run a business with interruptions in power supply daily for several hours? It would be unimaginable for any business in developed countries to face power cuts for even an hour let alone several hours daily. Truly, we Nepalese are tough creatures and have adapted well to even unfriendly situations.

            After returning to Nepal after two and a half years, I was frustrated with banking sector within two days. In the end, I decided to pull out all my money from Nepali bank account and keep it with myself. Don’t get excited or dare to stalk me. I don’t carry it with myself everywhere I go. Anyway, I was using Nepal Investment Bank and was quite appalled at their service. I deposited some money and wanted to withdraw a fraction of it from a different branch. Sadly, I didn’t have an ATM card with me or a cheque book. I understand that it is a matter of concern and security but their argument was that I can only withdraw it from the branch through which I opened my account. Only that particular bank has all the records. Are you kidding me? I thought banking sector was fully wired by now even in Nepal. 

While I was in the US, I lost my ATM card at one of the ATM machines and didn’t have a cheque book. Unfortunately, I was in a different city. If that bank had asked me to go back to the branch with which I had opened my account, there was no way I could have flown till there without any money. Instead, upon confirming my identity they instantly issued me the amount I had requested. That’s the kind of service you expect from a bank. If you cannot withdraw your own money from a bank when you need it provided the region is covered by that bank, then why deposit your money in the bank? It would be wise to keep it with yourself. Live in Nepal and you will come across these silly bureaucratic hurdles. I can only imagine what businesses operating in Nepal have to go through daily whilst dealing with governmental and private bodies. This is sadly the economic reality of Nepal, my friend.

Jai Nepal. Bhagwan le hami sabai ko raksha garun! (May God protect us all!)

Nepal Diary- On Streets of Kathmandu

Excitement increased as time to land on Kathmandu airport decreased. I had not been home since two and a half years. I kept guessing how much would have changed in Kathmandu and rest of the country since I left. I knew for sure that political landscape remained the same, if not worse and constitution drafting process which should have been completed long ago had been stalled permanently due to discord among major political parties. It is almost impossible to talk about Nepal without mentioning about its wrangled politics. Obviously, such a description would be incomplete. 

Finance minister was manhandled and his briefcase containing budget related documents were snatched inside the parliament by lawmakers belonging to CPN(Maoists) only a day after I landed. Finance minister wanted to announce the annual budget, already delayed by four months but Maoist lawmakers did not want it to happen. Yes, we have elected those people to write law for our nation while they cannot be lawful inside the parliament. What a shame! I know the more I talk about Nepali politics here, the less you will be interested in reading any more. It’s all the same. Nothing has changed and hope is distant. So, let’s talk about life in general in Kathmandu.

The biggest changes I have noticed since 2008 in Kathmandu are population explosion, uncontrolled surge in traffic, inflation and expansion of street markets. I will tell you that Kathmandu has changed a lot in these two and a half years, if someone has not noticed, and for the worse obviously. I don’t have any statistics about total registered population but I can tell you that there are more than 500,000 motorbikes alone running on narrow streets of Kathmandu. Add to this, thousands of microbuses, buses, private, governmental and non-governmental four-wheelers. The roads have not expanded but volume of transportation has exploded beyond control. Any big city without proper state planning succumbs to this problem. And I would be dishonest to claim that I see a solution to this problem. Where do you start? Increase taxes to make it more difficult to own a vehicle? That’s a good start you might think. Let’s see if that’s a good suggestion.

If you increase import duties, it will certainly push up the cost of any vehicle since everything is imported; Nepal does not manufacture any motor vehicle. That might deter people from buying one hence forcing them to rely on public transportation. As a matter of fact, the government increased all kinds of taxes ranging from import duties to road maintenance tax for every vehicle, both two and four wheelers on November 21, 2010. That would be acceptable given a reliable public transportation. Anyone who has used public transportation in Kathmandu will tell you how they are run. Buses and microbuses are crammed with people like an over-packed bulging suitcase. Unlike aviation, there is no weight limit so every inch of standing space is taken inside the vehicle. Using public transportation is a compulsion, not a choice and it is especially difficult for the females, the elderly and people with special needs. Office going people need a reliable mode of transportation inside which they can actually breathe. Talking about breathing, it is advisable to slow down your breathing rate while you are out there on Kathmandu streets. I can assure you that by doing so you will inhale less of stench emanating from rotting garbage and push your life expectancy by a couple years in the long term.

The roads in Kathmandu are being choked with both public and private vehicles and public vehicles are crammed with valley denizens. So what can be done? One obvious solution that should spring to your mind is: reduce population in Kathmandu. I am not talking about birth control here even though that could be incorporated as well. Population growth in Kathmandu is mainly due to influx of migrants from rest of Nepal. Following simple evolutionary principles, migration of any species takes place towards a region endowed with resources and favourable living conditions. Thousands of birds flock together during winter towards warmer regions where food supply is relatively in plenty. Rural population migrates towards urban region in search of job and other opportunities. People from all over the world want to go work in the United States of America as it is acclaimed as “the land of opportunities”. 

Cutting the above described tangential offshoot short, people from rest of Nepal have been migrating towards the capital Kathmandu because it is here that all resources are concentrated. So, to control this unidirectional flow of humans, decentralize. The solution is single-worded yet achieving this is no easy task. The decade long armed struggle launched by Maoists was a direct result of this centralization around Kathmandu valley. Would valley denizens be willing to give up some power to decentralize so that reverse migration can be encouraged? This would reduce pressure on resources of Kathmandu valley and they would be able to breathe some fresh air and drive on less crowded roads.

I will offer suggestions to tackle inflation related issues and growth of informal economy through street market in the following post. This post has already been inflated with my lengthy ramblings.

Jai Nepal! Bhagwan le hami sabai ko raksha garun! (May God protect us all!)

On Fareed Zakaria’s GPS

Media can use its power to manipulate peoples’ thoughts and perceptions about something/someone. I used to enjoy watching Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square (GPS) on CNN Network since he seemed to offer an outsider’s perspective on worldly affairs. He spoke with an accent and that gave me some comfort, a departure from rest of political pundits and analysts who all speak the same language and sing glories of the United States of America. But after listening closely to his shows, his biasness towards America is manifest. In all of his shows, he talks about how and what should be done for the US can maintain its economic and political superiority in the world.

If you look at his recent ten or more episodes of GPS, he is either talking about how to fix American economy or how the US can tackle China’s growing power and influence in the world. He talks about the need for innovation and how an innovation in the US can be universally good for rest of the world. Yet he is threatened by innovation in manufacturing in China and elsewhere. He invites guest speakers to analyse China’s growing economy and always forces the impression that a stronger China is feared and disliked not only by America but even Asia. Any guest speaker who dares to differ suffers fierce rebuttal from Fareed and his team of other guest speakers. Fareed criticizes China’s policy to keep its currency devalued but never talks about impact of huge subsidies to US farmers on farmers of developing countries. Among all, US farmers would be the last ones to need subsidies.

I was shellshocked at Fareed’s behaviour towards one of his guest speakers who was also a Zihadi. Many of guest speakers offer opinions different than Fareed’s, however none have suffered as much humiliation as this Zihadi guy from London. His utter lack of respect for his guest speaker was unprofessional. I have read one of Fareed’s books and he has written very candidly what he thinks of US foreign policy. Yet when he talks on CNN, his views take a U-turn and he is always singing glories of the US and criticizes anyone who does not subscribe to this. I don’t understand why a guy of his stature would have to do boot-licking to remain at CNN. He could easily speak his mind candidly and still get a more than decent job. Fareed’s GPS show has become very shallow and disappointing; he should rename his show from Global Public Square to American Public Square. (I hope he reads this. If not, somebody please direct his attention to this.)

All You Can Eat Pizza in Auckland

I am not a big fan of fast food. My grandparents were proud farmers who owned several acres of land and grew surplus crops every year. We almost grew whatever food we consumed except for animal food products of course. We also reared cows, buffaloes, goats and at some point pigeons too.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that I did not grow up going out to eat in restaurants. We rarely visited restaurants. They were for travelers who had no way to prepare their own food. Or for lazy people of course. Going out to eat in restaurants was not associated with wealth either. You see in western world, opulence is associated with going to fancy restaurants. Rich people back in my country Nepal all ate at their own homes, in a fancy setting maybe whose meal may be prepared by several maids.

However, despite not being a big fan of fast foods, I was craving pizzas for some reason. Don't know why. So I went to a pizza place today with my friends for lunch. There was a lunch deal, all you can eat for 9 bucks beginning from 12 noon to 2 pm. The New York style pizza was delicious. My taste buds were all rejoicing and my stomach wasn't complaining either until I started biting my fifth slice. Mind you, these slices were pretty large. It was in Auckland at a place called Sals pizza. And this deal is active only on Sundays. Any of you in Auckland if reading this should check it out. You will be impressed.

After finishing my fifth slice, I could not stuff anymore without fearing throwing up. But I still went for another help and got two additional slices. My friends and I all got two slices and walked out with it, happy that we didn't have to worry about the dinner in the evening.

As an engineer we always have to do analyze a system's behaviour or response in time or frequency domain. Well I analyzed rate of my pizza consumption in time domain. Here is what it looks like. We speeded through our first three then we slowed down.

 

A Poem on Exams

A rather surprising piece from me for you beloved readers. I wrote a poem on exams which is really childish and funny. I rarely write poems, the last one was maybe 7-8 years ago. So bear with me please. ;D

Random poem about exams

Of all the human inventions, exams I most despise

Coz responses they expect must be crisp and concise

Everyone seems to be lost in their minds

And bury themselves in any library corner they can find

It’s the time when our brains are least creative of all

Thoughts stray around movie theatres and shopping mall

The system forces every student to read, rote and learn

Leaving him alone behind piles of books to churn

One who can cram and recall the best gets high rewards

Rest of them become drivers, secretaries and air stewards

Exams are no measure of anyone’s imagination or intelligence

So why do we have exams? It makes no sense.