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  • Title: Nepal: "a problem of governance".
    Author: Bhattarai B.
    Journal: People Planet; 1993; 2(4):10-3. PubMed ID: 12287331.
    Abstract:
    Nepal faces the choice between sustainable development in a fragile mountain environment in balance with a growing population or the continuation of stagnation and inertia. The political change of April 1990 created new optimism for the country's 18.5 million people, 70% of who live in abject poverty despite international aid making up 60% of the development budget. The maternal mortality rate stands at an exorbitant 850 deaths/100,000. The life expectancy of women is lower than that of men, and there is only 1 doctor for every 30,000 people, while 90% of births are not attended by a trained practitioner. The annual population growth rate amounts to 2.1%, which could double population in 30 years. This rate had outstripped crop production on a limited supply of land, resulting in the addition of another 250,000 poor people every year to the total. Government policies are skewed; a major hydroelectric project is planned to be constructed in 1994 despite talk about poverty alleviation. The National Conservation Plan of 1988 is in its 3rd phase of implementation, with plans in forestry, irrigation, livestock, and horticulture also being implemented at the request of the World Bank. Family planning lapsed as the vertical delivery system was replaced by a horizontal one encouraging villages to build sub-health posts providing family planning and primary health care. 700 such village health posts exist among 4000 villages, and another 600 are scheduled to open in 1994. Positive signs of meaningful development efforts include the budgetary shift to education, health care, and clean drinking water provision. Decentralization laws passed in 1992 and subsequent local elections aimed at handing over to local people the responsibility for their development assisted by government funds and technical support. The poor and often illiterate people have the manpower to dig irrigation canals and stabilize hillside terraces; therefore, the ruling party's central policy is to mobilize there human resources for development
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