--BY MADAN LAMSAL

Do you think only murder, violence, smuggling, black marketeering, impunity, chaos and confusion, unemployment and lying happens in the country? Then you are wrong. There are also governments working in the country - at the local, provincial and central levels!

Most importantly, there is a new constitution in the country. Similarly, there is the executive, the judiciary and the legislative. And there is the media - the fourth estate – and the civil society. The country has all its organs intact and all of them are working at their own pace, in their own place!

There are ministries and departments. Similarly, there are ministers and their PAs. They are surrounded by experts and advisors. And secretaries. The departments have chiefs and deputy chiefs. And there is a whole administration comprising thousands of civil servants.

Now there are provinces as per the new federal structure. They too run their administrations. Likewise, there are three levels of courts in the country. And there are policemen and soldiers – there are about two hundred thousand of them. Until recently, we would have a new government every nine months for nearly two decades. And what can we say now! We have a two-thirds majority government now!   

Now, many Nepalis have voter’s ID cards. They also have National ID cards. There is a separate ID card for the poor. This is how the country is becoming smart. Also, there are talks about building smart cities. For that, the people already have ‘smart’ driving licenses and smart number plates on their cars. There are smart looking Machine Readable Passports for those who want to go abroad. There is an e-passport as well.  

There are almost all kinds of ‘isms’ – Maoism, Leninism, Marxism, communism, socialism, capitalism and so on and so forth. Not only that, there are spiritual and religious gurus and organisations of all shapes and sizes. There are also the world’s highest mountains. There are thousands of rivers and streams. There are precious herbs. There is one of the world’s best climates here. There are jungles- where the trees are going to the axe. There is enough sand and stone here, which is helping our neighbor build its infrastructures.  

There are the rich who are willing and ready to be the consumers of the world’s best cars, carpets, watches, liquor and even foreign culture and mannerisms. There are schools and colleges which resemble the names of some of the world’s best educational institutions.  

To bring in foreign investment, there is the Investment Board. To make development plans, there is the national planning commission. To make the cities more systematic, there are city development projects, Ministry of Physical Planning and Infrastructure, metropolises, sub-metropolises and municipalities. There are private sector companies which are strong enough to get favorable rules and policies made for them.    

There are politicians and civil servants who can spend billions of rupees on their foreign trips. The number of those Nepalis who can afford to go abroad for either education or treatment or travel and fun is increasing every year. The country’s prime minister can afford to go for foreign trips as long as 13 days. The delegation of authority has been implemented fully. There is no need for the PM to work. But still the PM is always busy. The most important thing is there are aware citizens! The country has everything it needs. 

What more do you need?