Nepal: Poverty and need for public-spirited journalism

Nepal: Poverty and need for public-spirited journalism

Mohan Nepali

Kathmandu: January 17, 2014

Should there be any statesmanship in national politics, Nepal has the potential to become one of the most prosperous nations through the resourceful mobilization of rich material and human resources. But the country is still under the control of handful persons under the disguise of democracy and human rights. The majority of Nepalis, if you ever visit Nepali villages and interact with the grassroots people, understand democracy as a complete joke since the political forces of different appearances and versions have time and again frustrated them through frequent betrayals.

Family dynasties ran Nepal for several centuries till the first half of the 21st
Currently, the cultural legacy of family-centered politicking can be traced in the visible policies and the behavioral patterns of their implementation mechanisms, which are extremely misled and given to corrupt thoughts and actions spread across the country at metastatic levels.

In this small country of about 30 million people, dependent on international donations and loans for their national budget plans, poverty has been a huge industry. Indeed, all-time elites and contemporary middle class scholars feed richly on poverty. Foreign employment recruiting agencies and educational consultancies are among the most lucrative businesses in the country. Nepali migrant workers, often reduced to enslaved laborers deprived of their reasonable remuneration and human dignity, suffer heavily especially in the gulf region while the recruiting agencies and their government brokers amass wealth and live luxurious lives at home.

Apparently, many have knowingly operated poverty-related institutions to grow
individually prosperous. They have appeared clever enough to advocate about the need for more donations to reduce poverty that they have characterized in the way that suits their vulpine desires. They have never addressed the grassroots agenda of poverty.

Nor have they analyzed causes and effects of poverty. Instead, they have advocated for more donations to do more paper work, which, though quite normal to them, has not shown poverty-stricken masses a path for self-empowerment to date.

Political access at home and abroad matters for obtaining poverty reduction fund from international donors. Those who operate poverty reduction fund at home are the dominant players, who, in reality, are instrumental in marginalizing masses. These players are well-versed in poverty terminologies. Since an extreme level of corruption and ill-governance is deep-rooted in the judiciary and the rule application department themselves, even critical analysts feel mentally threatened to comment on conventional bankrupt advocacy and stereotyped rhetoric. Fear is natural on the part of truthful speakers because heinous human rights violators, smugglers, black marketers and tax evaders enjoy impunity in Nepal.

While the most educated and the most empowered are busy reinforcing status quo,
the mentally depressed and demoralized poverty-stricken masses, engaged in the day-and-night hand-to-mouth battles, rarely enjoy free time to ponder over why they have become needy despite their nonstop work. They cannot even afford to guess that the few have always been thriving on the majority’s poverty, which has become a tremendously lucrative opportunity for the limited class.

Although it may be a matter of debate, it should be mentioned that elitist political power can pronounce fashionable catchwords about poverty but cannot think from the perspectives of the poor.

A thorough transformation of the mindset among political and information players is a must to transform a developing country like Nepal politically, economically and socially.

So far, this sort of psychological transformation sounds quite distant because it, on the one hand, requires painstaking and morally committed efforts to restructure the state, and on the other, the sacrifice of the existing privileges and restricted accesses under the status quoist power frame.

The process of political and socio-economic transformation begins with the process of transformation communication, which is possible at different levels of stakeholders, formal and informal.

Transformation communication does not become objective and public-spirited unless mass communicators deployed in their respective demographic areas study and internalize the grassroots themes (i.e., issues of 3,915 villages across the country). To do so, a revolution needs to happen on their part— abandonment or minimization of prejudices and discriminatory psychology.

Communication for participatory and cooperative development strategies chiefly entailing production economy is the need of the day to minimize poverty. Equally important is advocacy for education as a human right rather than a market commodity.

All-out privatization of education facilitated by the state as a broker makes people mere consumers instead of conscientious citizens. Education as a guarantee to all the citizens will determine access to higher opportunities for the majority of people.

To let this truth be commonly known and incorporated into policies, journalists should be public-spirited. Journalists in the 21st rapporteurs of entrepreneurs. They have to represent the majority of people in a truly democratic sense. Since private business contributes to democracy, individuals can enjoy entrepreneurial rights. But private business does not regulate the state. The state regulates private business. From this perspective, journalists are public watchdogs, not the other way round.

ends

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