WITHOUT F EAR OR FAVOUR Nepal’s largest selling English daily Vol XXVIII No. 237 | 8 pages | Rs.5 O O Printed simultaneously in Kathmandu, Biratnagar, Bharatpur and Nepalgunj 35.4 C 4.4 C Monday, October 19, 2020 | 03-07-2077 Bhairahawa Jumla Karnali crisis resolution another example of anti-federalism approach, politicians and experts say Provincial leaders question the value of elected people’s representatives if the ruling party leadership’s diktat from Kathmandu matters above all. ANIL GIRI activist. “But the prime minister’s KATHMANDU, OCT 18 statement doesn’t go by the spirit of federalism. This statement shows how The political drama in Karnali has not centralised his mentality is.” only highlighted the fault lines in the The party’s provincial committee ruling party and how the top leaders plunged into a deep crisis last week manoeuvre their positions inside it after a no-confidence motion against but also how they are trying to weaken Chief Minister Shahi for incompe- the spirit of federalism. tence was initiated by 18 ruling party During his meeting with Karnali lawmakers led by party’s deputy Chief Minister Mahendra Bahadur in-charge and provincial lawmaker Shahi, his challenger Yamlal Kandel Yamlal Kadel. and other provincial leaders on The crisis was defused after seven Saturday, Prime Minister KP Sharma of the 18 provincial lawmakers Oli said that since the provincial withdrew their support to the motion governments are the units of the fed- after some horse-trading on ministeri- eral government, the provincial gov- al berths. ernments alone cannot change the The provincial leadership was also ministers, according to a participant summoned to Kathmandu to talk to at the meeting. Oli and the other chair Pushpa Kamal “He said any changes in the provin- Dahal and told to abide by the deci- cial cabinet should be made in coordi- sions of the two Nepal Communist POST PHOTO: DEEPAK KC nation with the federal government Party (NCP) chairmen. A man tends chyangras, a species of mountain goats, in Sallaghari, Bhaktapur. Traders bring the mountain goats to Kathmandu from the high mountain regions to sell during Dashain, when the and the prime minister,” said a partic- Kandel, the chief minister aspirant, demand for their meat is high. ipant during the briefing. is unhappy with the latest turn of But Oli’s diktat has not gone down events. well among politicians and experts. “What I did was known to the top “Provinces are not subordinate bod- party leadership. I have told the party ies of the centre. They are independ- leadership about the context of the ent bodies but connected with the no-confidence motion,” said Kadel, centre. Such statements from the who is upset over the summons to Poudel as finance minister is a wrong man prime minister would weaken federal- Kathmandu for resolving a provincial ism and disarm federal units. Federal dispute. “Our summoning has put a units have to be strengthened,” said question mark over the authority Daman Nath Dhungana, former and power of elected people’s at wrong place at wrong time, observers say speaker of the House of representatives.” Representatives and a human rights >> Continued on page 2 With no background in economics, the ruling party general secretary faces a host of challenges as finance minister in an economy ravaged by the pandemic. PRITHVI MAN SHRESTHA down imposed to prevent the spread KATHMANDU, OCT 18 of Covid-19 forced 61 percent of busi- nesses to close down completely, caus- When Bishnu Poudel became finance ing a dire effect on the economy by minister back in October 2015, he was rendering tens of thousands of people facing an economy badly affected by jobless and disrupting the production the earthquakes and the Indian trade and supply chain, according to a sur- blockade. In his second stint, the rul- vey released by the Nepal Rastra Bank ing party general secretary is facing in August. even a bigger economic crisis caused The survey shows that 22.5 percent by the coronavirus pandemic. of employees were laid off by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli businesses of the manufacturing and appointed Poudel to the Finance service sectors. Two-thirds of the Ministry on October 14. It, however, laid-off employees were either work- has become apparent by now that the ing on a contract basis or were hired decision was not taken by the prime temporarily. minister in view of the challenges On the other hand, the govern- facing the country’s economy. ment’s revenue collection has not Poudel’s appointment as finance min- been enough even to meet its adminis- ister was largely guided by the inter- trative costs. nal politics that is being played out in According to the Financial the ruling party. POST FILE PHOTO Comptroller General Office, the gov- With the country facing an extraor- Bishnu Poudel ernment agency which keeps account dinary situation, questions are now of the government’s incomes and being asked if the prime minister Poudel is a longtime close ally of expenditures, the government collect- made the right choice by picking Prime Minister Oli and has also devel- ed a revenue of Rs172.37 billion till Poudel for the crucial responsibility. oped good rapport with Dahal, who is October 17, the first three months of “I have not heard him talking about now the executive chair of the Nepal the fiscal year. But, during the same any economic vision for the country– Communist Party (NCP), was chosen period, the country’s recurrent either in his speeches or writing,” to lead the ministry given his role in expenditure, without taking capital said Hari Roka, an analyst on political settling intra-party differences, expenditure into account, stood at economy. “Therefore, questions according to party insiders. Rs182.85 billion. remain if he is the right choice to take “Poudel seems to have made a very “Resource generation amid chal- the country’s economy forward.” much profitable deal in exchange for lenging circumstances to meet The country’s economy has suffered agreeing on the provincial capital,” resources needed for health facilities, badly from the pandemic, with the said Chakrapani Khanal, a Standing implementing development projects World Bank, earlier this month, esti- Committee member of the ruling and supporting the sectors hit by mating that growth in the current fis- party. “As far as I know, Dahal had Covid-19 is one of his biggest challeng- cal year would be 0.6 percent and given a nod to his entry as a minister es,” said economist Govinda Nepal. could get as low as 0.2 percent. in the Oli Cabinet.” Sectors like tourism, aviation; Poudel succeeds Yubaraj Khatiwada, Despite coming from Rupandehi, micro, small and medium enterprises; who was a technocrat with a doctorate Poudel, according to insiders, played and the transport sector suffered in monetary economics. Poudel, on the an instrumental role in settling the badly. Informal sector jobs have also other hand, is a politician with no dispute over the Province 5 (now been lost amid reduced economic higher academic degree. Lumbini) capital for Deukhuri. activities. As finance minister in 2015-16, when Poudel, otherwise, was bent on mak- “Poudel’s first priority should be Oli was also in his first stint as prime ing Butwal the provincial capital. finding ways to prevent the country minister of a coalition government, Insiders say Poudel gave up on that from facing an unprecedented human- Poudel had, by and large, implement- demand so as to ease pressure on both itarian and economic crisis,” said ed the budget announced by Ram Oli and Dahal. Poshraj Pandey, another economist Sharan Mahat, a Nepali Congress “Poudel’s political future was and former member of the National leader and six-time finance minister. thrown into uncertainty after he Planning Commission. Even though Poudel presented the agreed to lose Butwal as the provin- Even the performance of budget for the fiscal year 2016-17, he cial capital as per the wish of Oli,” Khatiwada, a technocrat who had was no longer there to implement his said Roka. “Now Oli has rewarded served as vice-chairman of the plan- own budget, as the Oli Cabinet was him by appointing him the finance ning commission and governor of replaced by a Maoist-Congress coali- minister. So the move is guided more Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, tion government in August 2016 when by internal political management as finance minister was widely ques- Pushpa Kamal Dahal became the than the nation’s needs.” tioned because of the economic down- prime minister. But Poudel has a day job as the turn even before the pandemic. country’s finance minister and Poudel’s record as finance minister the challenges he faces are in the past doesn’t seem to be promis- immense, economists say. ing. The pandemic-induced lock- Under Poudel’s watch, the economy down and prohibitory orders witnessed a growth of just 0.2 percent have already resulted in massive in the fiscal year 2015-16 but it grew by closure of businesses with wide- 7.74 percent the following year when spread job losses. The govern- he presented the budget but was no ment has not been able to gener- longer the finance minister to imple- ate enough resources, while ment it. there is a growing call for sup- The situation is much worse now port for people and sectors badly and there seems to be no silver lining affected by the pandemic. on the horizon. The four-month-long lock- >> Continued on page 2 C M Y K MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2020 | 02 NATIONAL Five killed, three Health facilities in injured in jeep rural Taplejung face accident in Udayapur shortage of doctors The passengers were Most doctors do not wish to go to remote areas for work returning to their villages and those who do go stay for two to three months only.