"Why Sikkim works" (#126) reinforces my suspicion that unless Nepal gets its act together by drawing on the Bhutanese and Sikkimese models and adapting them to its own, it will continue to flounder.

Firstly, we do not have "representational democracy". Indigenous groups, women and the Dalits are grossly underrepresented in the government. Since we have a constitutional monarchy, why aren't these same groups adequately represented in the decision-making organs of the palace and the army? If they are not there yet because they are not qualified, why aren't they qualified, and what is being done about it? One has only to look at the organisational charts (if there are any) of the Ministries, INGOs, NGOs, public schools, government hospitals, VDCs, DDCs, including the much-hyped community forestry user groups, community radios, and other currently headline-making institutions which purport to speak out on behalf of the marginalised, to notice the gaping holes.

Secondly, we fail to realise that Nepal has never been properly united, let alone assimilated. The border disputes notwithstanding, the divisive baise chaubinse mentality still prevails. This mentality continues to feed the "afno manchhe" syndrome and the north-south divide (hill people vs the madhises). The prevailing conditions in the Tamang villages on the Valley rim, where bhaye makai, nabhaye bhokai is a common refrain, could serve as a barometer of our government's commitment to its peoples.

Thirdly, Nepal's over-reliance on foreign aid is not justified in the long term. Moreover, Nepal doesn't need fly-by-night foreign consultants telling us what to do. What Nepal has got to do is to start listening to its own peoples and developing its own human resources, not relegating them to second-class citizen status in their own countries. A country doesn't have to be rich in natural resources to develop, it needs to invest in its human resources. And this has got to begin with world-class primary education for each and every Nepali child. Bhutan and Sikkim, who have better internalised this truth than Nepal, have left Nepal far behind.

Ujol Sherchan,
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