Local Program Till the World is United

Program Till the World is United

If I were the Prime Leader of Nepal^[1]

During my adolescence, it suddenly occurred to me one day, “If I were the God, what would I do?”. Deep were my meditations and exceptionally long my sleepless nights till it dawned upon my conscience and consciousness that the universe is a marvelous entity, beyond the description through words. For the Universe holds infinite phenomena intertwined and interacting in such a simple, beautiful way that each generation of explorers and researchers in various branches of knowledge finds something new, and none that really applies himself heart and soul to its studies has to return empty-handed from its treasures. I realized that I had no ability for tampering with the space, time, galaxies, stars, atoms, nuclear forces, electromagnetism, gravitation, chemical reactions, laws of nature, and an infinite number of celestial phenomena. They are the best as they are. My omniscience and omnipotence wouldn’t dare to risk the sensitivity and insensitivity of such a unity and struggle, balance and imbalance, growth and decay, birth and death…

However, in the field of society and thought, I would certainly order many things, locally and globally, if I were to be the God for even a minute only: “Let all people be healthy, vigorous, hardworking, sacrificing, valorous, rational and happy!”, “Let there be no more wars and world-wars!”, “Let Nepal be as prosperous a part of the world as any other!”… “Let all these happenings be permanent, with no new God be allowed to amend these occurring!” And all that would happen immediately.

Alas but I am only a simple, mortal man! No doubt some individuals claim to be the God Himself, or His representative, or, at least, in the possession of some divine powers. I am proud that I am in no way one among them; otherwise I have no pride in my humble existence.

Unknown are the mysteries of life. Ten years, two years or just a month ago, I wouldn’t fancy stepping into the shoes of any Leader in the world, be that Alexander the Great or Ashoka or any towering one. Today, however, my deep-delving conscience, honest quest for human welfare, and experience through the studies of history, sociology, philosophy and literature lead me to imagine myself being the Prime Leader of Nepal. The reasons, as the reader will see, are many.

I don’t wish to bestow anything undue to any Republic of Leaders, but the fact is that it was none but a Daring Leader who gave a freehand to Plato to attempt his utopia; in love, princes have given up their thrones; and Kings have done better experiments with socialism and social welfare programs than the Stalinists. This all, however, is the part of history gone to oblivion. From all sides, we are confronted with the modern history.

The past century had established a terrible tradition: Whenever the radical-revolutionaries, ardent nationalists, or even the Maoists became a threat to the old social-order, State Power stood often handed over to the parliamentary “Marxist-Leninists”. The later slaughtered the former in millions the world-over. The legal “United Marxist-Leninists”, “Social Democrats”, “Socialist Revolutionaries”, etc., whatever their label be, paved the path for the emergence of the Nazis and Fascists of various brands and multiple strengths that massacred them in turn. The wheel of social chaos and perversion went on attaining higher and still higher monstrosity and speed every time in the process. This vicious spiral is radiant in every part of the world, especially Germany. Nepal is the first place that has become the first exception to the general trend, so far. And why shouldn’t we be thrilled about it!

The embryo of a revolution has happened in Nepal. We are in a new Nepal, not the one of CE 2000. The last two years have shaken the whole country and all its classes from head to foot, inner recesses to the very hairs. Demoralization, desperation and helplessness of everyone were rampant when suddenly a new beginning, a new life was promised.

Will this promise prove empty, or shall it assert itself? The situation presently is awfully sensitive. The fate of twenty-three million people and billions of others outside, in different countries of the world, depends upon the sagacity, efficiency, capability and competence of the two parties: we being in the most crucial period in the world-history, where nobody can say what the world will be like in CE 2020, or how many of us shall still be surviving in CE 2013. Poverty, wars and AIDS in the third-world countries and lovelessness, mindlessness, irresponsibility, depravity, perversion and misery in the affluent countries are threatening to produce a disaster to the species that nobody can predict the depth or scope of. One thing, however, is very clear. The world can’t survive without a deep-delving change; the new Nepal can’t survive in its age-old ways.

The economic set-up, culture, mores, politics, education-system, health, communication…everything direly demands a change. And every change needs a principal guide, a pioneer, a leader, besides the councils of experts and guides in the various branches of human activity. This given, much can be accomplished as quickly as possible provided there is the social vision, efficiency, knowledge, honest and true desire for progress, peace and welfare for the current and the forthcoming generations.

Within a decade, two extremes are possible: Nepal can either be second only to Japan in Asia, or she shall be second only to Afghanistan.

Before we go ahead to dwell upon the positive prospect of the issue, let us summarize the range of the experience of the last twelve years:

“Democracy in Nepal and many underdeveloped countries has proved itself but an abyss of unrestrained depravity and callousness of every sort. It has only managed to intensify the social crisis and catastrophes without knowing how to solve any.”

With this understanding of the present situation, nationally and internationally—with the international alternative to Capitalism lacking completely at present, and the ship to socialism hijacked and crashed by the knaves, imbeciles, idiots, rotten scoundrels and the pimps of capitalism—let us return to the prospect of leading Nepal to her long deserved possible betterment under the circumstances, throwing away the wretchedness of the last millennia many.

The sole cause of the widespread socio-politico-eco-cultural wretchedness in the third-world-countries is the insufficient development of capitalism. There is no prospect of such development on the individual basis, for domestically and internationally, we have to compete with the world-manufacturers. Individual capitalism’s acquiring such potency is impossible, and, as such, State Capitalism has become the urgent necessity.

If I were the Prime Leader of Nepal, I would lead this nation towards this objective. How?

First and foremost, I would search for such sectors of human affairs and industry where we have the natural monopoly. We have several such sectors: unutilized, unasserted, untapped. Begin with mountaineering. We have enough of skilled manpower of international renown as well as the mountains to impart training and education to a hundred thousand or more adventure-lovers the world-over, annually. Mountaineers need no comfortable bungalows to live in. They will love to live in our hovels. I would like to establish a Mountaineering University with scores of Colleges spread all over the country. This shall be a State Monopoly. And it won’t cost much to begin the activity and operate it. It shall earn the State an annual profit of hundred to two hundred million dollars. I won’t keep even a Kopek of it for myself: the whole amount earned from it shall go to the sector of Social Welfare—Education and Health, both of which shall be absolutely free for everybody, as a fundamental human right.

To annihilate the social misery, the country has to be connected through a network of decent roads. There has to be a broad highway after every ten kilometers from North to South as well as East to the West. The main obstacle in this process is the purchase of land, which the State can’t afford. But “Every rational problem has at least one rational solution” is a scientific law. The people whose land is procured by the State for the construction of roads shall be the shareholders to the industry of roads. A road-tax, say 10% of the value of every vehicle shall be charged from the owners of vehicles, at the time of purchase itself; one or more rupees per liter of fuel shall also be charged. Of this collection, 30% shall go to the management and maintenance of roads, 35% for the constructions, and 35% to the shareholders as dividends.

Simultaneously on my agenda with the other things is the all-important agriculture—Nepal can become the food-basket and fruit-basket for many. An urgent revolution is needed here; otherwise the current phenomenon of desperation and suicide by the farmers will become more and more widespread alongside crimes and other horrors. The only solution, out of the catastrophic prospects otherwise, is the modernization of agriculture. Instead of engaging 85% of the population in this trifle of producing morsels, just 10% can produce abundance. Collective-farming has become a necessity. Hundreds even thousands of farms must be united together, with each individual owner becoming a shareholder. The shareholders need to appoint some people to manage the united-farms with the modern scientific methods, as in any developed country of the world. Similar fate shall ensue to all the agriculture-related industries: instead of a large army of people, young and old, spending their time in kissing and cuddling their buffalos—with school-going children as well as women suffering the most—just one percent of the population can produce rivers of milk and ghee at far lesser a price.

After this revolution in agriculture, through which I have employed very fruitfully a section of people, “I have generated about four million unemployed people”, to speak in the terms of learned economists; “I have spared four million people from wasting their lives in a misery-ridden occupation” to speak in my own terms. These people shall I employ at an average wage of Rs. 5000/= per month [Rs 5000 in CE 2000 equalled 250 Kgs of rice]. They shall create an unprecedented wealth, economic, cultural and social: road-construction, school-college construction, aforestation, furniture industry, fruit industry, animal husbandry, houses…

This development-program and engagement of four million workers shall cause the State-Exchequer an expense of three to five billion dollars annually, and thirty to fifty billion dollars for ten years. Don’t be frightened, my dear economists! This amount is nothing—we shall seek it as loans from various agencies in Germany, Japan, Australia, India, China, etc.—considering the economic potential it shall generate.

How can we repay this amount?

Nepal is blessed with a topography that can produce all wonders in agriculture and horticulture. Everything can grow here.

Two thousand five hundred square kilometers shall we allocate for the fruit industry, which shall be a State-Monopoly—landlords becoming the shareholders.

Take the example of walnuts, which we shall allocate 1000 square kilometers for, because of its long life, high yield, least care during cultivation, etc.: A walnut tree lives for hundreds of years and can yield as many as a thousand kilograms of the fruit, besides, it needs no fertilizers and chemicals—and grows up to seven hundred cubic feet of wood in any type of soil. In the current world itself—where just two billion people out of six billion can afford to take fruits—the consumption of walnuts can be raised to more than twelve billion kilograms per year; there currently is a supply of just a few million kilograms. Nepal shall have the monopoly over walnuts. Walnut-wood is very costly and durable; it is the best for furniture. We shall supply the world this fruit as well as the wood. A big walnut-tree requires an area of 16 square meters. In the allocated thousand square kilometers, we shall have sixty-two million five hundred thousand trees in the end and hundred thirty-five million trees in the beginning. Half of the trees we shall cut down by and by to sell the wood. We shall have an annual yield of six to sixty billion Kilograms of walnuts that shall fetch us six to sixty billion dollars annually. The wood and honey can fetch us another such amount.

Almonds, apples and walnuts flourish at an altitude of one to two and a half kilometers, but let us continue with the example of walnuts. A thousand square kilometers shall require a hundred thousands employees permanently, and five hundred thousand in the season that lasts two months. Associated with this fruit-industry is the animal-rearing. Imagine the number of cattle you can rear in an area of two thousand five hundred square kilometers, without any additional cost, for the people engaged in the fruit-industry shall also do the job.

….

As far the international situation is concerned, it is likely that Germany shall turn the power number one in the world within a decade or so. China and India have a tremendous importance of their own for us. Our children need to learn all these languages, if we have to have a powerful communication and interaction with them. Ten minutes’ prose and five minutes poetry per day for each of the languages: Hindi, Chinese, German, French and English—a total of one hour a day—will be broadcasted the lessons for, on Radio as well as TV. These lessons shall be mandatory for all the Schools and Colleges as part of the curriculum. Besides this, every Middle School and above shall have an instructor each for the Hindi, Chinese, German and French languages—with three periods a week for each language. Languages Learning shall thus consume one and a half hours per day, the time for which shall be compensated for by leaving out the subjects that hold no interest at the School Level: Population and Environment, and Civics, for example.

All children that are working as servants in various homes are hereby declared the Children of the Nation! The State shall enroll them as boarders in various Schools and bear all their expenses.

Special Colleges for specialization in various branches of knowledge shall also be opened in different parts of the country.

And being a man from a country where Buddha waged a war against the caste-system, I declare myself as the follower of the enlightened one. I renounce my caste hereby! And I also call upon people from all walks of life to renounce their respective castes. Henceforth, I shall be called “Jaatheen”, and so shall be the ones who join my creed. We shall celebrate Desain, Losar and Eid—all the three—in our own way.

And I would notify, hereby, every District Chief to select a dozen odd places in their respective districts for the Fruit Industry, and take immediate steps towards the cultivation of the Nurseries—which take four to five years to grow till the time of transplantation is reached—as we can’t afford to waste any time in the implementation of these projects, when we are currently well inside the Seed-Sowing Season. They would be further suggested to take due care that the fruit-loving wild animals get their due shares from our honorable affluence.  

^[1].   Published First in 2006 in Evergreen Readers and Writers, Issue 1. This is specimen program related to Nepal. Every third world country can have a program suitable to its geography, cultural and technological level.