Nepalis are, by habit, suspicious of any ´do-good´ government initiative. For a reason. The flagship Panchayat ‘Back to Village National Campaign’ was notorious for its populist overtones (although expression of public grievances was forbidden at the time). Grumblings against the program at the grassroots was common: Why was the program, supposedly aimed at helping those at the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder, only contributing to reinforce the powers of traditional elites? Why did it smack of one-party paternalism a la China and North Korea? Where, people questioned, were all the culverts and bridges the program was meant to deliver? Things didn´t improve much after the ushering in of parliamentary democracy in 1990. Be it CPN-UML’s Afno Gaun Afai Banau, NC’s Garib Sanga Bishweswor or the Maoists’ Gaun Gaun Ma Sahakari, Ghar Ghar Ma Rojgari, all were remarkable more for what they failed to achieve than the precious little they actually did.
Thus when the Baburam Bhattarai government on Saturday unveiled its National Volunteer Campaign (NVC), 2012, supposedly aimed at increasing people´s voluntary involvement in social and economic development endeavors, rumor mills started churning again: That Bhattarai, beleaguered with lack of progress on the political front, was resorting yet another of his ´populist´ measures; that this was the latest in the Maoist roll call of ´social endeavors´ that have contributed more to lining the pockets of local Maoist cadres than improving the daily lives of commoners; that such efforts are best left to the private sector and those outside the corridors of power.
We believe there is no need to be suspicious just because it is the government which is taking an important social initiative. In a country like Nepal, where the private sector is underdeveloped and the concept of volunteering only just catching up, a decisive nudge from the government might well be worth the effort. But for the program to have any significant social impact, a few things have to be ensured. First, it is upon the government, and mainly the prime minister, to convince the skeptical public that the powers-that-be are indeed serious this time. Of the hundreds of programs that Baburam Bhattarai announced at the start of his tenure as PM nearly eight months ago, he has been able to come good on only a handful. This does not inspire confidence. As the country’s past experience makes clear, good intentions are one thing; their materialization completely the other. This brings us to the second of the two important measures.
It is important that step-by-step procedures and clear goalposts are established right off the bat. The prime minister has announced that he is ready to get his hands dirty cleaning up Bagmati. But what happens when the cameras stop clicking? What happens to the project if and when this government is replaced? Have other main political actors been taken into confidence? How does the government plan to maintain transparency? A hundred such questions spring to mind. It would certainly be much better for the prime minister to focus on a few, but well defined goals with clearly defined objectives than embark on a laundry list of measures that sound brilliant on paper but at the end of the day are seldom implemented. Will NVC 2012 prove an exception to the back-to-the-bin rule? We will have to wait and see.
Related story
While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be th...
