I chose to write about Nepal because I want to understand its history on a deeper level
and contextualize an upcoming visit to Nepal later this year. I will be traveling to Kathmandu
and Pokhara along with my wife, an American who lived in Nepal with her family between 1998
and 2004. I have heard my wife Cara and her friends refer to Nepal as an “undeveloping
nation,” meaning that Nepal’s economy and standard of living are getting worse, not better. I
have spent time in underdeveloped countries such as Mexico and Afghanistan, but Nepal holds a
unique fascination for me because of its unusual challenges. This paper briefly explores what I
learned as I researched Nepal’s history and economy
“Nepal is an unsuccessful country.” This was pragmatic Nepali industrialist Prabhakar
Sumshere JB Rana’s assessment of his own country when he was interviewed in 2002 (Rana). In the intervening decade, many would continue to agree with Rana’s blunt words as the infrastructure and economy of Nepal suffered, and its government faltered. Even today, stability for Nepal remains illusive. Nepal is among the poorest nations of the world, with a population of 27 million and a gross domestic product of $18.9 billion (World Bank). Decades of internal conflict along with the global financial crisis have crippled Nepal’s workforce, but all is not lost: from renewable energy projects to consistent reductions in poverty, fortunes may be changing for this complicated and proud nation.
Many of Nepal’s economic challenges can be traced back to its unstable government. Nepal has a long history of political unrest; from 1990 to 2000, Nepal’s government changed hands nine times (BBC). In 1990, Nepal’s King Birendra agreed to a new democratic con...
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... them; for every success story, another daunting obstacle faces the government and people of Nepal. Even as new roads are being built, countless other projects are halted by corruption or mismanagement. Hopeful entrepreneurs like Birendra Bahadur Basnet still face corruption and bureaucracy as they build a better future for Nepal. Educated Nepalis continue to leave the country, even as hard-working mothers like Laxmi save money for their children to attend college. Nepal’s wealthier neighbors, India and China, present a paradox of opportunity and exploitation; hope and poverty will continue to exist side-by-side in Nepal. Ultimately, however, Nepal is home to resourceful and resilient people like Laxmi and Basnet; we can only continue to hope that their strong work ethic and spirit of creativity will guide them and their fellow Nepalis to a more successful future.
Though the world economy as a whole has grown in recent years, a factor that is not taken into account is that the number “of the poor in the world has increased by 100 million” (Roy 3). In other words, the gap between rich and poor is widening. For India, this has startling implications. Though it is a nation that is developing in many ways, it also is a nation blessed with over one billion citizens, a population tally that continues to grow at a rapid rate. This population increase will greatly tax resources, which can create a setback in the development process. The tragedy, of course, is that the world is full of resources and wealth. In fact, Roy quotes a statistic showing that corporations, and not even just countries, represent 51 of the 100 largest economies in the world (Roy 3). For a country struggling to develop, such information is disheartening. However, there is also a more nefarious consequence of the growing disparity between rich and poor, and power and money being concentrated in the hands of multinational corporations: war is propagated in the name of resource acquisition, and corruption can reign as multinationals seek confederates in developing countries that will help companies drive through their plans, resulting in not only environmental destruction but also the subversion of democracy (Roy 3).
Though many unpleasant events arose on Connor’s journey, perhaps one of the most significant was working at the Little Princes orphanage. The orphanage was technologically advanced in comparison to the majority Nepali housing, however it still lacked resources and space. The orphanage was deficit in essential items like food, water and clothing. On the night of Connor’s arrival, he learns that “Dal Bhat is eaten by about 90 percent of the Nepalese people, twice a day” (Grennan 11). It soon became evident that the vast majority of Katmandu’s residents were unable to afford more than two meals daily. Additionally, the extreme level of poverty in Nepal only allowed for civilians to eat an incredibly primitive meal, Dal Bhat, which consisted of rice and lentils. This meal provided inadequate nutritional value and lacked the variety of ingredients essential to maintaining good health. Due to deficit resources, the orphanage is undoubte...
1 Geoff Childs Tibetan Diary From Birth to Death and Beyond in a Himalayan Valley of Nepal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) 41.
The article, “Nepal Quake: Death Toll Passes 3,200 as Nation Struggles with Devastation”, talks about the first earthquake and how people are joining together for the sake of survival.
The Potala Palace has seen its fair share of controversy, as Tibet is a very controversial part of the world. When Communist China invaded Tibet in 1950 with over eighty thousand troops, massive protests were held at the palace. It has been estimated that about one million people have been killed since the Chinese occupation and the exile of Tibetan government officials. During this time, the treasures of Potala were stolen and priceless, irreplaceable historical documents and artifac...
For the first week and a half, I stayed with a local family in the town of Mcleod Ganj, home of thousands of Tibetan Refugees. During this time I worked at the LHA institution teaching young women English. The first day was a tidal wave of new experiences. The small crowded streets that led to the local library were filled with busy markets, people selling handmade beads for only 5 cents, and stray dogs living in abandoned crates and boxes. Trash filled the streets, tainting the air with a putrid and foul smelling odor. There were beggars on the side of
I have a close friend named Supriya, whose uncle was the Prime Minister of Nepal. Supriya’s family, the Koirala’s, were exiled from Nepal when she was a young girl. They fled to India where she studied Hinduism and Buddhism, while gaining a Catholic education. Subsequently, Supriya moved to the United States to continue her education. I was invited to her traditional Nepali wedding ceremony in Nepal, which incorporated both Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Unfortunately, I was unable to witness the wedding first hand because I could not get a passport prior to the ceremony. Supriya was able to help me understand her culture as well as Hinduism and Buddhism in a way I had never heard before. It is certainly more enlightening learning different forms of religions from those who have practiced the religion since they were young
India, the second highest populated country in the world after China, with 1.27 billion people currently recorded to be living there and equates for 17.31% (India Online Pages 2014) of the world's population, but is still considered a developing country due to it’s poverty and illiteracy rates. As these nations continue to grow at rates that are too fast for resources to remain sustainable, the government’s in these areas wi...
Bangladesh is a proud nation built on the foundation of a rich literary tradition and history. As they finally one their independence from Pakistan in 1971 after many years of struggle, the masses of people that once made East Pakistan and East Bengal cheered as they finally gained their independence. As this youngest nation of South Asia was free to chart their own destination, with high hopes of becoming a better nation. But soon all those high hopes and expectations were gone, and Bangladesh soon drowned into a pool of poverty. For an average ...
Savada, Andrea Matles. 1993. Nepal And Bhutan: Country Studies. Washington DC: US Government Printing Office.
Wedged between the high wall of the Himalaya and the steamy jungles of the Indian plains, a small land-locked country Nepal is a land of snow peaks and Sherpas, yaks and yetis, monasteries and mantras, situated between India and China. Eight of the world’s ten highest mountain peaks are in Nepal, including Mount Everest. Nepal is the birthplace of Lord Buddha. And, most importantly, Nepal was never ruled by any country, never ever.
In Nepal, I experienced both the progressive style of family living and the older medieval style where custom and tradition count first no matter what. More than 90% of the people in Nepal who were born between 1978 and 1998 (the Generation Y youth) still live in old medieval-style families where cultural rules govern everyday life. The people of Nepal are socially segmented along lines of caste, sub-caste and ethnicity, and values and traditions also differ from one caste to another.
Another reason for a lack of good access to public health care for the Nepalese women is caused by religion. The major religions in Nepal are hinduism (82.62%), buddhism (10.74%), islam (4.20%), kirant (3.60%), and christianity (0.45%). Previously the economic and political power was centralized interlinking it with the Hindu caste system since the majority of the Nepalese population are Hindus. The hindu caste system consisted of the Brahmins(priests) at the top of the pyramid, Kshatriya (warriors and Kings) just beneath, followed by Vaishya (Merchants) and the Sudra (peasants and labourers), and at the bottom of the pyramid were the “untouchables” (butchers, carcass and waste cleaners). Although Nepal was declared a secular country in 2006 and the caste system abolished, the hierarchy in the caste system still lingers on.
Why Nations Fail takes an in depth look into why some countries flourish and become rich powerful nations while other countries are left in or reduced to poverty. Throughout this book review I will discuss major arguments and theories used by the authors and how they directly impact international development, keeping in mind that nations are only as strong as their political and economical systems.
Nepal is located in the Himalayas. Obviously, it is hilly and mountainous. Nepal is a land-locked region. The three sides of Nepal are bordered by India, and the People Republic of China covers the north of Nepal. The capital of Nepal is Kathmandu. Old Freek Street in Kathmandu is the best example for the typical rural Nepal. It is lively as well as unique in its history. Nearly 81.3% of Nepalese are the followers of Hinduism. Buddhism is followed by 16% of Nepalese as it is historically linked with Nepal. The birthplace of Buddha “Lumbini” is situated in Terai region of Nepal. The remaining percent are the followers of the other religions such as Christianity, Islam, Kirat , and animism. In Nepal, 125 distinct documented languages are spoken that come under two different language sub-groups: the Indo-European language and the Burman language. However, the national language of Nepal is Nepali, which belongs to Indo-European language sub-groups. Nepal is the least developed country. Nepal exports clothing, carpet, leather goods, hemp natural fiber, jute products, and grains and import...