When the UNDP launched its annual Human Development Report this week, government officials and donors had contradicting theories to offer on Nepal's development. While members of the donor community pointed at Nepal's demotion in the global human development rankings from 142 last year to 143 this year, officialdom believed otherwise. It claimed that Nepal has actually improved: from 0.490 in the last decade to 0.499. Oh well, everyone will put their own spin to statistics.

"Nepal remains stubbornly 143rd in the world in terms of the HDI and large parts of the country remain extremely poor," said DfID's David Wood. "Nepal is currently one of the most difficult environments for development in the world. The prospect of a renewal of the Maoist insurgency is extremely worrying." National Planning Commission's Vice Chairman Shankar Sharma argued that the increase in Nepal's human development index value is encouraging. "That is a substantive improvement for a poor country like ours."