BP Koirala, and Democratic Socialism: The Nepali Congress (NC) participated in the Asian Socialist Conference in 1953 in Yangon, and formally adopted the philosophy of democratic socialism in the mid-1950s under the charismatic leadership of BP Koirala. Its association with the Socialist International began in 1960 and continues to this day. Evolving concept Socialism is difficult to define, as opinions differ. The concept has undergone significant evolution and revision in content and form ever since the days of its forerunners, utopians and latter-day philosophers. Pragmatic and practical considerations necessitated revisions and refinements under evolving circumstances, when the philosophy was operationalised as a matter of state policy. However, there is agreement on some essential principles and values of democratic socialism. They are: democracy and periodic elections, equality and social justice, welfare programme, support for collective and cooperative ownership, absence of exploitation, reduction of economic disparity, state’s responsibility for basic needs and decentralisation of economic power. The application of these principles vary, depending on specific conditions and the state of a country’s development. Nepali Congress When the NC accepted a socialist philosophy in the 1950s, the principal task was to destroy the feudal order whose traditional strength was based on land ownership and attachment to the power structure. The priority was to break exploitative production relations institutionalised in various systems of land tenure such as birta, zamindari and exploitative tenant-cultivator relations, fight untouchability and social discrimination and adopt liberal and democratic values in politics and at the same time invest in education and health, and initiate economic modernisation through development planning in line with contemporary thinking. Conventional wisdom In the post-World War II days, the conventional wisdom of the newly independent nations was state-centric development paradigm, where the state was considered an answer to most problems. State intervention in economic affairs, nationalisation and centralised planning were the new buzz words in place of colonial exploitation. The public sector was expected to generate social profit for the benefit of the deprived and excluded. But the experience over time worldwide was not happy. State-owned enterprises meant to create surplus ended up being a net burden on the state. Poor economic performance led to increased poverty, and these countries were increasingly becoming basket cases compared to the prosperity of economies which followed more pragmatic market-friendly economic policies. Policy reversal The failure of state-centric policy led to a policy reversal, not only by parties who called themselves socialist in the developed and developing countries, but also in communist countries. China’s achievement following its liberalisation and open-door policy since 1978 was an eye-opener for the developing world. A new wave of reforms swept the Third World nations including India. Restrictions and ceilings on foreign and private capital, licensing and permit systems in industry, trade and foreign exchange, which had stifled growth, were removed. Macro stability was emphasised. This produced higher growth and expanded economic and employment opportunities. Revenue in the state coffers swelled that made it possible to invest more in the deprived sector. Nepal was not exception to this global trend, which was conditioned equally by domestic realities. BP’s thinking Some intellectuals think that the NC abandoned BP Koirala’s philosophy after the party came to power in 1991. BP was not an ivory tower idealist but a practical politician who understood the dynamics of the modern world and how state-centric economies were faring worldwide. This author had the privilege of long conversations with him during the last days of his life. I was amazed by his knowledge about the failure of Soviet collectives in comparison to the highly productive kitchen farms. He was aware of the magic of the incentive factor in economic life. One can understand his views by scanning various editions of the Tarun bulletin, speeches and interviews which he gave particularly in 1980 to Nepal Vidyarthi Sangh Palpa and Kaski. He believed that for poor and underdeveloped Nepal, the first step towards socialism was enhancement of production. He told the NVS publication of Kaski edited by Yagya Thapa that any attempt to attain the socialist goal without passing through the capitalist stage was pure sentimentalism, and that socialism is not poverty rhetoric nor is it distribution of poverty. He summed it up thus: No economic development without capitalist development, no distribution without production growth; development cannot be accelerated without passing through this difficult stage. Gandhi and Schumacher Towards the later part of his life, BP was increasingly gravitating towards Gandhian and Schumacherian thinking of village-based self-sufficient economy with emphasis on intermediate technology. He said that excessive pursuit of profit and greed based on the Henry Ford model of mass production, which the Soviets and other nations were also following, would destroy finite global resources beyond a sustainable level, therefore, an alternative development model was called for. This was the theme of his speech to a gathering at Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur in late 1980. But he never claimed that this was the final truth. He simply suggested that development planners and experts place this agenda for discussion. For him, improvement in the conditions of rural Nepal deserved paramount priority. The emphasis should be on meeting basic needs like drinking water, rural access, suspension bridges, small irrigation, animal husbandry, primary health care and education, which would raise living conditions of rural folks, rather than on big highways, modern hospitals, international airports and expensive infrastructure. The 1970s saw the publication of the controversial Club of Rome’s Limit to Growth Report and emergence of such thinking like the triage and lifeboat theories which raised serious doubts about the earth’s capacity to support the growing needs of mankind. Such thinking had entered into the development debate of that time. Post-1990 Nepal When the NC assumed power in 1991, it confronted the challenge of meeting rising popular expectations in the midst of an underdeveloped economy with an extremely poor revenue base, low growth, a vast countryside without basic socio-economic infrastructure and the burden of non-performing and loss making public enterprises. It decided on a policy regime to unleash the locked up creativity and entrepreneurial potential of the private and social sector while concentrating government investment in social services, infrastructure building and rural development. It removed growth stifling licensing and permit system which had protected monopolies in industry, trade and commerce, and opened the door wide for new energy and entrepreneurship. Privatisation and a disinvestment policy through open competitive bidding was pursued with respect to loss making and other ventures which could operate in a competitive market. As for public investment, the government committed itself to allocating 70 percent of the development expenditure to rural areas, expanding road access to all the districts in 15 years, providing free education up to the secondary level and reducing poverty. New policies and laws were announced to regulate and allow cooperatives and non-government organisations to expand their role in nation building. Legislation was also enacted to protect the environment, health and labour from exploitation by industry. Responding to the demand of traditionally neglected communities, it formed various commissions to look after the interests of Dalits, indigenous communities and women, and started radio and television programmes in various regional and ethnic languages. Anti-poverty programmes were launched through micro credit and other schemes. Cash incentive was introduced to encourage girl and Dalit education. Widows started getting a modest pension after reaching 60 years of age. A decentralisation policy was brought to empower local bodies. The land tax authority was transferred to VDCs and municipalities. This list is illustrative, not exhaustive. Transformation With regard to the transformation achieved, the facts speak for themselves. The growth rate in the first 10 years since 1991 was comparable to the South Asian average of 5 percent then. New investment in the manufacturing sector pushed this sector’s contribution from a mere 6 percent to more than 9 percent. The export trade boomed to push the export-import ratio to 60 percent from about 25 percent, which has plummeted at present to a mere 16 percent. The road network expanded in rural Nepal to reach 23,000 km presently from 7,000 km in 1990. The proportion of households below the poverty line has gone down to 25 percent presently from 49 percent then. Real wages have increased. Increased public investment from around 25 percent to 35 percent in the social sector brought about significant improvement in Nepal’s social life. The average longevity of a Nepali has gone up from 55 years to 67 years. Maternal, infant and child mortality rates have been drastically reduced. More than 80 percent of the households have access to safe drinking water as compared to 46 percent in 1990. The progress made in literacy, education, school enrolment and female education surpassed all records. In recognition of this progress, the UNDP Human Development 2010 designated Nepal as “one of the three fastest movers” globally in the field of education and health. The progress could have been much better, if the country had not faced political instability, a decade-long violent insurgency and other governance-related problems. New reality The world is moving in the direction of pragmatism and centrist economic model, away from classical capitalism and socialism, which vindicates the position of democratic socialists. The developing countries follow a market-led economic policy to accelerate growth which only can generate resources for public investment in pro-poor policies and programmes. Public revenue swelled from Rs 12 billion annually in 1991 to approximately Rs 300 billion at present following the economic expansion led by liberalisation in the early 1990s. This growth dividend represents the foundation and resource base to run the government and launch programmes towards the socialist objective. A market-led policy is not an unmixed blessing and it has its darker side too which requires a strong regulatory body and good governance to address, something lacking in Nepal. Seemingly antagonistic in terms, capitalism and socialism are interrelated in the sense that the socialist objective will not be achieved without capita list development. Marx considered the indispensability of capitalist development to reach the socialist goal. In today’s world, capitalism is transforming itself “with a humane face”. Sir Anthony Crosland, an influential English Labour Party leader and thinker said, following post-war developments, that the socialist objective could be achieved through a form of “benevolent capitalism” without fundamental economic transformation.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 11:02:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015