Flood of 1954: The beginning of a developmental state Sharad Ghimire Graduate Student of Global Environmental Policy, School of International Service, American University, Washington, DC, USA Editors Hari Dhungana-Coordinator Fraser Sugden Copy-editing Gyanu Maskey Layout and Design Manjari Graphics ©Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.sias-southasia.org NEW Nepal Journal of Published by Social Science and Nepal Policy Research Network ANGLE Public Policy Available at www.nepalpolicynet.com December 2014, Vol. 3(1), pp. 5-48 FLOOD OF 1954: THE BEGINNING OF A DEVELOPMENTAL STATE Sharad Ghimire* ABSTRACT Development projects evolve with reference to particular framings of the need and imperatives of a developing country. Once development projects get legitimated in this way, the aid agencies deepen their presence to move in a direction of their choice. This is evident from an examination of the 1954 flood in Nepal which devastated a significant part of the hills and Tarai in the eastern, central and western areas. This paper looks into the disaster caused by that flood; into how the government of Nepal, the civil society and donors responded to it; and into the way the crisis stirred conflict and contestation among political parties within and outside the government. This paper is based primarily on the review of newspaper coverage around the flood, the political processes and the inauguration of development project in Nepal in the 1950s. It shows the extraordinary power of how the crisis caused by flood stirs up political contestation and helps legitimise actions of one or the other actor, including the donors.