It is the spirit of the season that we must begin our roundup of Year 00 by picking out things that went right. In Nepal if things go well it is usually an act of god, and if things go wrong then you can be sure someone messed something up. So it is with the economy: we will probably register a six percent growth this year not because of good planning, an efficient administration or an honest government, but because of nature. A healthy monsoon, well-spaced rains, no drought, and no major floods all contributed to growth. Our rain-fed economy is doing well despite government. Imagine what would happen if we didn't commit hara-kiri with hotels, if we resolved the Maoist problem through negotiations, if we spent our budgets properly without leakage, mismanagement and outright theft, if we were more efficient about aid utilisation.
This is the first year in recent memory that saw the end of power cuts. Blackouts in a country with the world's biggest per capita potential for hydropower generation had become a glaring anachronism. With Bhote Kosi, Puwa, Khimti and Modi coming online 114 megawatts will be added to the national grid. That is one place in which a well-thought out policy of 1993 to attract foreign investors worked remarkably well-although we tried very hard in 2000 to unravel the gains by harassing investors with new taxes.
Agricultural and other exports, especially to India, have zoomed. The employment-generating garment industry is doing well, and even our carpets are on the rebound. The other big Nepali export-manpower to the Gulf and India, and to armies around the world-is seeing something of a boom. Flights to and from Kathmandu are loaded with Nepalis pushed to seek work abroad because there is none to be found here. They work for a pittance, are exploited heartlessly, but what they bring back year after year adds up to more than the country's annual budget.
We tried our best to wreck the tourism industry this year with bandhs, hotel strikes, an insurgency and pollution. We dented it badly, but Nepal is such a unique product that no matter how much we try to dissuade visitors from coming, they still do. The domestic airline industry is flying high, adding new aircraft and making it easier than ever before to fly to main destinations. The media is flourishing, new Nepali dailies have hit the stands, others have found new investors and a new infusion of cash has raised their professional quality. The paper in which you are reading these lines is into its sixth successful month.
On the foreign policy front, the Prime Minister's visit to India brought precarious relations with our southern neighbour back on an even keel. Many were impatient with our softly-softly approach on Bhutan, but Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola's behind-the-scenes diplomacy seems to be yielding results. And no mater what anyone says, forest cover along Nepal's midhills is increasing; our conservation efforts were showcased at a global environmental gathering in Kathmandu in November. The government doubled the size of the Bardiya National Park, and is working on setting up jungle corridors in the tarai for wildlife migration.
...THE BAD...
Actually, we don't have to remind you about the things that went wrong in 2000. Just read the daily headlines. Still, to recap: fallout from the hijacking of IC814 damaged ties with India and nearly ruined tourism, there were six bandhs that didn't achieve much, there were no new foreign investors and some existing ones shut up shop and left, the textile industry is in deep crisis, farmers are suffering record low rice prices, the hotel crisis threatens to carry over into 2001, the Maoist insurgency claimed the lives of 600 Nepalis. Attempts to resolve the violence through talks failed miserably, and there are fears of a dangerous escalation.
...AND THE UGLY.
The Great National Political Boxing Championship continued. Members within the cabinet claw at each other, Congress factions are at each other's throats, the Congress and the main opposition barely tolerate one another, the UML, ML and RPP all suffer internal rifts, the police and army have daggers drawn, the government and palace are playing cat and mouse. And each and everyone of them is complaining that the country is going to the dogs. Of course it is, because no one is governing. The result is there for everyone to see: a law and order crisis, a paralysed administration, an epidemic of graft and corruption, a fear psychosis, uncertainty and a nationwide sense of dread. It's not about Hrithik at all.
