- Basanta Bhujel
Needless to say, it is only after the control of malaria and the use of chemical fertilizers that ordinary Nepalis have become accustomed to eating on a full stomach. We Nepalis have not used malaria control and chemical fertilizers by our own strength and technology. This has been done with the help of the United States.
Malaria epidemic has started in Nepal since 1965. Due to malaria, which is transmitted by the bite of a species of mosquito that grows in hot places, the population of Nepal had decreased by about one million in a period of 10 years. If we look at the statistics of the first census of 1958 and the second census of 1968, the dire situation of Nepal becomes clear. Due to malaria, settlement was not possible in Terai, Inner Madhes and Besi areas. 90 percent of the population was concentrated in the hilly areas. Due to which, the production of monolithic hills was not enough to feed the people and the landslides had increased due to deforestation. Sometimes it was customary to go down the valley in the morning and reach the village without darkness in the evening. In the meantime, malaria-carrying mosquitoes would bite.
Nepal has been getting rid of this scandalous situation since 2015 BS. In the 2015 general election, when the country elected a BP Koirala-led government, Nepal reached out to the outside world for economic growth and development. Visionary politician BP Koirala forged friendship with the United States, the world’s superpower. BP Koirala had a great vision to establish the Israeli embassy in Nepal. At that time, Jewish scientists had a great influence in America. Nepal became the first country in Asia to not only recognize the new nation Israel but also to establish an embassy in Nepal. He put the first priority on increasing agricultural production, and the second on transportation, education and health. After this effort of the United States, the then King Mahendra reached BP Koirala in the hope of getting a big boost. He felt irritated. Similarly, neighboring India did not want to see Nepal become self-reliant. King Mahendra and India’s interests met. On January 1, 2017, the then King Mahendra dissolved the people’s elected parliament and government and became the chairman of the Council of Ministers. King Mahendra took the lead in eradicating malaria and building the East-West Highway as the United States continued the project, which began under a popularly elected government. If malaria had not been eradicated, there would have been no justification for building east-west highways.
Democracies in the United States do not provide much financial support to dictators. This is his policy. That is why during the Panchayat period, Nepal did not get the expected support from the United States. Probably because the United States does not believe in the tradition of ruling on the basis of descent, the United States has not provided much financial assistance to Nepal since the Panchayat period until the establishment of the republic. After the establishment of the republic in the country, the United States has shown readiness to provide significant financial assistance to Nepal under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program.
What is MCC?
MCC is a program to provide grants to countries that have adopted democratic governance but have not made economic progress. The then Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal had applied to the United States in 2068 BS to include the name of his country in the program. What can American experts do after this application to make Nepal self-reliant? He did two years of research in this regard. They drew two conclusions from the investigation. . The first conclusion was – “To produce enough hydropower in Nepal and export it to India and Bangladesh, the income of which will make Nepal self-reliant.” The second conclusion was, “Since Nepal is a mountainous country, we should build tunnels.” In the first of these two conclusions, the United States gave priority to hydropower. The Indian market itself ensured. He pledged to provide Rs 55 billion for the construction of the transmission line and to complete the project on the scheduled date and cost under his own supervision.
The United States was clear about the disease, which would start with the goal of completing Nepal’s development projects within five years but would not be completed even after 20 years and cost doubling. So he set two conditions for MCC support. The first condition is – to monitor the project to be built under MCC yourself, to postpone the construction with compensation if you are not satisfied with the speed. The second condition is that Nepal must get the MCC agreement approved by the parliament, and laws that conflict with the MCC agreement will be ineffective. By putting forward these two conditions, a section of the ruling CPN (Maoist) is pressuring the Oli government to withdraw the MCC agreement saying that it is treasonous. . There are two main reasons why development projects could not be completed in our country within the stipulated time and cost. One is corruption, the other is legal entanglement. The United States is not ignorant of these grievances. These are the main conditions he has set for MCC. The United States wants its aid to be free of corruption. The project should not be abandoned due to legal issues. For example, when constructing a long transmission line under MCC, there is a law regarding compensation. Laws related to national parks and wildlife and environmental laws have to be confused. Therefore, the United States has stipulated that the MCC agreement must be approved by Parliament and that laws that conflict with it must be deactivated.
The MCC program is not forever. It is for the duration of the project, but here are the various comments. These comments come mainly from two angles. One is the desire of the traditional powers of India, China and Nepal not to improve Nepal’s relations with the United States. The other is the growing arrogance of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. I will elaborate on these two reasons in the next issue. Respectively
(Bhujel is a retired British Army engineer)
