Federalism in Nepal must be governed by the Theory of Economic Development ! Im extremely delighted to read the latest discourses on federalism by noted scholars in the Nepalese context supplemented by brilliant ideas and powerful arguments with full of knowledge and wisdom. I would recapitulate my proposition for federalism in Nepal that it must be governed by the Theory of Economic Development - for example: developing physical infrastructure, increasing production and productivity of agriculture and non-agriculture sectors, generating income and employment opportunities at home and abroad in conformity with the spirit of liberalization and globalization, developing national market for strengthening bilateral and multilateral trade and investment and promoting exports to neighborhood, regional and global economies for creating a competitive economy ensuring growth with justice. This readily calls for an effective integration of mountain-hill economy with the economy of terai to spur economic growth and drive towards a quantum jump in the economic front resulting in a high, sustainable and inclusive growth with moderately low inflation rate. To attain this objective this is imperative to create economically viable provinces with north-south axis - a maximum five, which would function under the Provincial Council, an apex body of all local bodies with the prime objective to coordinate between the center and grass-roots in all spheres of the state-craft. The territory of each province must run in between bordering China in the North and India in South. This strategy would be instrumental in reducing regional imbalance and help develop economically backward regions in the country with induction of equalization scheme to deal with the problem of pervasive poverty and chronic unemployment. Although Nepalese economy suffers from a low level equilibrium trap with diminutive size of GDP (Rs. 1,928 billion), inordinately low GNI per capita (US$ 717) and small size of budget (Rs. 618 billion), Nepal has tremendous economic potential to galvanize seismic but positive effects and help graduate the status of economy from a low income to middle income countries within next ten years, if economic resources available in mountain-hills and terai are jointly mobilized for productive investments in priority sectors such as hydro-power, tourism, biodiversity, agriculture especially high value crops, SMEs and human resources. If provinces are created as economically viable unit, it will have multiplier effects and would impact positively on income, production, employment and export at local levels. The strong nexus between the economy of mountain-hill and terai is the backbone of Nepalese economy, which would be instrumental in strengthening national economy at par with other relatively developed countries in South Asia region. Here lies the significance of federalism in Nepal based on the theory of economic development. However, the political leaders must be able to exhibit solidarity with enlightened leadership to promulgate the constitution within given time-frame. Regards - Madan Dahal. Oct 29, 2014:Kathmandu. •
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 18:10:17 +0000