Yam Bahadur Kshetri
Price-hike is like the heating of the sun that slowly but continuously affects the poorer and weaker sections of the people in a nation. The purchasing power of the poorer ones is being incessantly weakened. All the time, the purchasing power of the armies, civil servants, wage earners and fixed income groups becomes weaker and weaker. Every day, it sucks up the blood of the weak and makes them depressed and dejected. The price like that causes a situation of inflammation is hike a disease or a curse for all those people. But for the capitalists, the inflationary situation is a blessing in fact. It ever provides happiness to the hoarders and business people. So, it is really the blessing to the businessmen and the capitalists.
Salary-hike, however, lessens the effects of price-hike at least for a short period of time. It provides a relief and a smile at heart indeed. This smile may be likened to that of a newly married wife of a poor individual. During the first phase of a poor man’s wife, the brightness of her youth blossoms forth and she smiles through her heart. But when the stage of her delivery arrives nearer and nearer, her brightness becomes less and less day after day. Thereafter some wrinkles begin to appear in her face. She often gets teased and troubled by her young husband. Her smile, then, becomes weaker. Being the daughter of a poor father, she is destined to be the wife of a poor man. After a few days of her wedding ceremony, her smile gradually diminishes. Slowly and slowly she becomes less vigorous lean and thin. Who knows? There will be no surprise if she falls into further troubles and misfortunes!
The salary-hike also causes the same type of smile to the lower level salary workers, but not a lasting one. Just a momentary smile indeed! In a capitalist economy, there is always a competition, price-rise ultimately exceeds and gets a victory over the salary-hike. Salary hike is always dominated by the price-hike. This is the reality, this is the fact. An economist would realize it, but if he is already committed to work under the influence of the capitalists, he is very likely to hide such open facts. Like the economists, a gazetted officers also can realize that workers are not really benefitted with the increment of their wages alone. For himself too, he can realize that through the income of his monthly salary, there is no incentive to the overall standard of his living. So, he tries to adjust himself through his available resources. He tries his best to adjust his happiness within the limit of his economic standard. If he feels that there is some happiness with the increase of his salary, he does think changing it into a reasonable exposure. However, he would not make it known to the lower level workers like the peons to understand the fact about the salary-hike and price-hike.
What an irony in the modern economic world! Whenever the government declares the pay-hike of all the government service-holders, the media persons begin to visit the lower level working staff like the peons, the cooks, the gardeners, with mikes in their hands, and ask, “How happy you are with the rise of your salary?” The happiness of those working staff is circulated through the radios and TVs for some days. The media persons as supporters of the capitalists do appear before the peons with their smiling faces, typically dressed and speaking in a mild and sweet voice. How could an ignorant wage-earner know the reality behind his salary-hike? How is he to know that after the Dashain Festival or Tihar Festival the same government that once increased the salary would also allow the capitalists to raise the prices of all the essential goods. He would not know that the prices of all things he needs would be soaring up unbridled. The price of salt would be doubled and that of oil would be tripled! However, there is a type of hidden happiness in remaining unknown to this fact; even if ignorant of it he realizes that it is a natural thing. That is why he would not make a promise to involve himself in a war, even if it is the people’s war.
There is still another superb irony about the political parties in Nepal! There are certain political parties that declare themselves as the socialist parties. They move among the people with the symbol of the communist party in Nepal. Waving the flag and fixing it on the ground, they express all the formulaic words of communist principles. One after the other the socialist party and communist party of Nepal have been fortunate enough to form the government and exercise the supreme power of the state. They are the Nepali Congress and Nepali UML (United Marxist Leninist Party of Nepal). One becomes the Ruling Party and the other becomes the opposition party and vice-versa. Both of them enjoy equal facilities from the state. There is no conflict between them as regards enjoying the parliamentary allowances and other facilities. They are the leaders and forerunners of privatization and economic liberalism in Nepal. They are those political parties who are wholly responsible for introducing the policy of privatization and making the laws for the enforcement of that policy. Even the poor farmers and workers could freely use fulfilling the minimum requirements for their ownership. Now they have become the sole properties of the capitalists alone. Practically speaking, in practice they have proved themselves to be the followers of capitalism and contributing to the welfare of the capitalists.
In Nepal, after 1990 the price hike has been a continuous phenomenon. Why is the price-level increasing all the time without any control? This is a serious question and a serious problem as well. It is a serious question for those who have limited knowledge and no understanding at all. However, the answer is quite simple.
Before 1990, the main leaders were somehow maintaining themselves living abroad, but after that, they have been in power and flourishing themselves with commission they receive from the vested-interest groups within and outside the country. Particularly after this historical event, the economic power-holders have completely influenced the political leaders and have kept them under their grip. In Nepal, the national capitalists and the foreign capitalists both have already set a favorable ground for them to take any decision in favor of the vested groups in particular. Both the socialist and communist parties have been provided a comfortable ground along which they run their Pajero culture among the more influential politicians. Let us suppose that they have already been provided intoxicating things. The inner motives of enjoying the illegal benefits have been so deeply rooted not only on the mind of the parliamentarians but such actual benefits are being well-arranged by the political parties themselves. They are often on the way of searching Pajero benefits that can be shared from the top to the bottom of their own political co-workers. As a result of such a benefitting culture among the politicians, the businessmen and the industrialists continue raising the prices of goods as much as possible. They have kept the ruling party members into their good pockets. For this reason the business people do increase the prices of their goods. They also have formed their own organizations with the help of which they can unanimously increase the prices of their business goods. Shortly speaking, raising the prices of goods and thereby exploiting the weaker sections of the people is the result of profit-makers and commissioners. This is also the result of politicians who have lost their own self-esteem and the feelings of nationalism.
Let us now go back to the past. We can go ahead even if we entertain with the thoughts and thinking of the past. Our experiences and the conceptual ideas of the past can help us going head. In fact, that would make us conscious and wise. For the sake of saving all the national income of the Nepalese people, Prithvi Narayan Shah, Founding Father of Modern Nepal, had given his everlasting advice and slogan “No Appreciation for Foreigners’ Singing and Dancing!” His concept of making the country rich and prosperous is well expressed in the rhythmic language of Nayaraj Pant thus:
Avoid the practice of inviting singers from the foreign countries.
Rare things of the nation should not be revealed to the foreigners.
All the mountains, forts and castles should be kept secret.
If not kept hidden and secret, we will repent for the damage done to them.
While enjoying the singing and dancing of our people,
Whatever presents we offer to them remains within ourselves.
That makes the Nepalese people rich and prosperous.
No enemies, then, can direct their ominous eyes upon us!
(Page 191, Teachings of P.N. Shah in Sanskrit and Nepali)
Because of the price-rise affecting the whole nerves of the nation, the weaker sections of the people are being made poor and poorer every day. At present this is the fact that is accepted by all. Again, the investment of foreign capital is making the whole nation still a poorer one; this is another fact to be realized. In the end, the uncontrolled price-rise drives the whole economy into the well-known problem of inflation. There may be a situation in which the customers may go to the market with a large bag of money and return home with the goods in their own pockets. The development of every part of the nation should be based on the proper utilization of human labor and capital resources available within the country. Only the skill and technologies required should be imported from the foreign countries at any cost indeed. The whole economy of the country must be based on the capacity and full support of the nation. Then and then, the burden of price-hike caused with the compulsion of the foreigners can be mitigated to some extent. Anyway, our economy that forms the backbone of the nation should be a sustainable one. The politicians, who have already been influenced with the intoxicating type of Pajero culture, are no doubt aware of this fact but they may be pretending being unaware of it. In order to make the nation further dynamic in its own affairs, economic stability is an inevitable need of the hour. What is still more important is the political leadership that can make those people conscious enough to be changed as they have been more influenced by the foreigners and intoxicated with the Pajero culture recently developed in Nepal. A new leadership should make them fully aware of their own nation’s need. Let this leadership be able to guide the Nepalese people along a new path of peace, progress and prosperity. Let it help them keep their own self-respect, traditionally earned dignity and bravery. Let it be a rising star showing them a new path towards modern knowledge and advanced sciences!
[Prof. Yam Bahadur Kshetri, PhD, teaches Prithvinarayan Campus, Tribhuvan University, Pokhara.]