Even as the improvisational, witty-repartee-filled practice of dohori catches on in restaurants in the capital, the dohori between the stalwarts of the Nepali Congress proves that they remain very much of the people, capable of trading veiled and open insults in the best bucolic tradition. A number of readers have asked the Beed to see where the economy is going, in light of the interesting events unfolding.
Elections mean one thing above all else to the some of us: spending, spending, spending. Administering polls is an enormous drain on the coffers of the state anyway, and the fact that the elections will undoubtedly be staggered over a few days, together with the additional spending on security, means that the elections this year will probably be the most expensive ever for Nepal.
The parties will no doubt find it difficult to garner the funds they need to fight the elections-business has been bad and businessmen will be terribly reluctant to fund candidates. There are very few deals in sight for anyone. But the real fear lies in rural areas and insurgency-hit areas-it will be virtually impossible to raise any funds to contest polls there, and there is a real possibility that the political parties will take the extortion route that has proven so successful in the past. None of this will do anything to make people more committed to democratic party politics.
Everything gets complicated when there is no Finance Minister in a country which needs to lobby hard internationally to fund its gaping deficit. The speeches and loud promises to punish revenue evaders, the vows to put our fiscal house in order-all this succumbed to the demands made by party ideologies and whimsical diktats issued by crotchety politicians. Perhaps, when it becomes clear that we need more than one person to put the country's finances in order, not a single person is enthused enough to raise his or her hand for the job.
The Beed is told that the budget is ready for promulgation and that with no parliament in place, no debates are necessary. The corridors of power in Bagh Darbar will have a free hand, but should we even waste our energy being concerned. After all, as has been pointed out in this column more than once, budgets are increasingly becoming meaningless for Nepal, in part because revenue and expenditure figures are revised so often. Already subject to new, befuddling taxes, the business community now truly fears the unpredictability of the coming budget, and year.
Nepal has managed to draw international attention to its problems, and some countries are willing to help. Unfortunately, there are no plans in place through which we can help ourselves, or channel any aid we might get. If $100 million were to pour in right now, no one knows where, apart from funding the attendance of cadre at dohori parties, it would go. Every bilateral and multilateral agency in town has been going on about good governance, and seeing the lack of progress on that front, they are understandably chary of pouring in more money here. The window of opportunity to garner much-needed funds is short. As the global focus shifts to our almost-warring neighbours, it's getting harder to keep Nepal on anyone's radar.
Nepal's leaders are myopic politically, and they display the same unfortunate defect in vision when it comes to economics. We can look forward to more of the same-entertaining, but ultimately irrelevant rumours about grand designs, the threat to democracy, expansionist agendas and their opposite. The Beed is able to this time also, as always, point to a distinctly shiny edge to all of this. In the economic ranking of nations, things should soon stop going from bad to worse for Nepal-we only need to slip down four more positions.
So, instead of contemplating economic doomsday, your columnist will now, with your leave, devote some quality time to a large-screen television. And after the World Cup is over, perhaps we can talk about Nepali football. Thereby, too, hangs a grim tale.
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