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There are a few good points in the govern­ment’s Programs and Policies, unveiled on May 21, in what is a precursor to the national budget that will be presented on May 29. One good point is the setting of clear deadlines for big infra­structure projects. For example the Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa is to be completed within a year while the Pokhara Regional Internation­al Airport is slated for completion within three years. Such clear timelines will help observers evaluate, in real time, if the government is making steady progress.

These are not the only time-bound promises. The government also envisions close to double-digit eco­nomic growth in the next fiscal and sustained dou­ble-digit growth within five years. Similarly, the average income of a Nepali is to double over the next five years, to over $2,000 from today’s base of $1,004. Progress on this front should also be easy to track as the doubling of income can happen only if the economic growth in each of the next five fiscals hovers around 10 percent.

The government’s backers have termed the new programs and policies ‘visionary’, while critics have dubbed them ‘overambitious’. The critics have a point. For instance it took nine years for the average Nepali’s income to double to $1,004; but this government wants to double it again within five years. Likewise, economic growth over the past two decades has averaged a pal­try four percent; the government aims to take it to 10 percent (or thereabouts) within a year.

There is nothing wrong in dreaming big. After all, no other post-1990 government had the kind of resound­ing mandate that the current left government enjoys. Barring a political catastrophe, it will serve out its five-year term. That is important. Chopping and changing of governments every nine months or so wreaked havoc on the economy. The decade-long Maoist insur­gency proved even more costly. Now, finally, there is a semblance of political stability, which bodes well.

Yet the kind of economic turnaround the left gov­ernment aims for will happen only through sweeping reforms. Cartels of all kinds have to be dismantled. It should be easier for businesses to open and close, and to hire and fire workers. Moreover, big hydro projects should come through on time, and new industries set up to absorb the growing labor force. They won’t hap­pen overnight. Can the ruling Nepal Communist Party display the kind of unity and single-mindedness that will be needed to realize these ambitious goals?

After first going to India and then hosting his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Prime Minister KP Oli is now laying the ground for his state visit to China in early June. Starting with his time as government head during the 2015-16 border blockade, Oli has consistently emphasized Nepal’s need to maintain a calibrated balance between India and China. The five months of the crippling blockade had cruelly brought home to Nepalis the dangers of overreliance on any one of its two big neighbors. Oli, both during his first term as prime minister and later in the opposition, continued to strongly pitch for ‘equidistant’ relations. Thus it is not surprising that having done his bit to mend his frayed ties with India, which were badly damaged during the blockade, PM Oli, in his second inning as prime minister, is now focused on enhancing relations with China. Oli has made no secret of his ambition to make Nepal a ‘vibrant economic bridge’ between the two economic powerhouses next-door. To this end, during his upcoming China trip, he will focus on operationalizing the landmark Trade and Transit treaty that he had signed during his 2016 China trip as prime minister.

“My understanding is that China wants Prime Minister Oli to come with clear plans of the projects Nepal wants to develop under the Belt and Road Initiative [BRI],” says Gopal Khanal, PM Oli’s former foreign policy advisor. “So far Nepal has failed to offer a credible and specific plan on how it is to benefit from the BRI.”

Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, while speaking to media-persons in Beijing recently, seemed to suggest that Nepal was keen on having China develop some big-ticket infrastructure projects in Nepal under its BRI initiative. “Nepal has expectation that the initiative should contribute to the development of physical infrastructures, enhancing cross-border connectivity including railways and roads, pro­motion of trade, tourism and investment, and people-to-peo­ple relations,” he had said.

In other words, Nepal wants China to foot the bill, in toto, for connectivity projects. For instance, in addition to China bearing the expenses of the railway line up to Rasuwagadhi on the border, Nepal wants its northern neighbor to also pay for the rail link from Rasuwagadhi to Kathmandu (and beyond). Nepal could likewise lobby for the enlistment of the Damak Industrial Corridor project and cross-border electric­ity transmission lines under the BRI initiative.

During bilateral talks, the Chinese, for their part, may seek a formal extradition treaty, like the kind Nepal has with India, says someone privy to Oli’s upcoming China trip.

But by and large it will be a case of PM Oli putting forth a laundry list of expectations before the Chinese leadership.

Kathmandu: Ruling party leaders including Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and leaders of main opposition Nepali Congress held a meeting on May 23. In the meet at the Prime Minister's residence, Baluwatar, matters related to contemporary political issues including formation of parliamentary committee, parliament regulation and interim work procedure and government's policy and programs were discussed, the Prime Minster Office shared. On the occasion, PM Oli urged the main opposition party leaders to move ahead on the agenda of formulating parliament regulation on consensus.

Ruling party leaders present on the occasion were CPN Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha, General Secretary Bishnu Poudel na leader Subas Chandra Nembang. Likewise, leaders present on behalf of the opposition were NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, general-secretary duo Shashank Koirala and Purna Bahadur Khadka, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Bijaya Kumar Gachchahdar and Dr Minendra Rijal. RSS

The PATA annual summit 2018 hosted at Lakai Sandpine, Gangneung, Republic of Korea from May 17-20 2018 by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conferred Basant Raj Mishra, Executive Chairman of Temple Tiger Group of Companies with a Life Membership Award. The Association's highest honor, this award is presented to an individual affiliated to a PATA member organization who has devoted an exceptional service to the tourism industry in Pacific Asia Region. Mishra was also the first Nepali to be the Secretary and Treasurer of PATA.

The PATA Annual Summit brings together international thought leaders, industry shapers and senior decision-makers who are professionally engaged with the Asia Pacific region. The Summit embraces a global forum for enhancing the sustainable growth, value and quality of tourism. The Association provides aligned advocacy, insightful research and innovative events to its member organizations, comprising 95 government, state and city tourism bodies, 29 international airlines, airports and cruise lines, 63 educational institutions, and hundreds of travel industry companies in Asia Pacific and beyond. Since 1951 PATA has led from the front as the leading voice and authority on travel and tourism in the Asia Pacific region.

Kathmandu: Chudamani Upreti alias Gore, the main accused in the smuggling of 33.5 kilogrammes gold, has been arrested. According to high-level police source, he was arrested in India on Monday and brought to Kathmandu. Police has been investigating into this case by giving high priority. RSS

Kathmandu: Biratnagar-based camp office of the Embassy of India has been closed on Monday. The office was opened in 2008 following the devastating Koshi floods. The purpose of the camp office has been served, said a spokesperson at the Embassy of India, Kathmandu. The embassy spokesperson further said that they had already decided to wind up the camp office and relocate the personnel. This decision was conveyed by Prime Minister Modi to his Nepali counterpart during his visit to Nepal last week. RSS

Fiction

THE FORTYRULES OF LOVE

Elif Shafak

Publisher: Penguin Books; Re­print edition (April 26, 2011)

Language: English

Pages: 368, paperback

“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.”“The real challenge is to love the good and the bad together, not because you need to take the rough with the smooth but because you need to go beyond such descriptions and accept love in its entirety.”

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Elif Shafak’s characters stay in your subconscious mind long after you have turned the final page of her book. They are hard to forget. That’s how well she develops her characters and brings them to life. You only wish the same could be said of her storytelling. You would expect it from an author who claims, time and again, that her homeland is none other than storyland.

Inspired by Rumi’s messages on love, ‘The Forty Rules of Love’, like most of Shafak’s works, man­ages to confuse you no end. This often-poetic novel within a novel story unfolds in two parallel nar­ratives. The first one takes place in the 21st century and is about an unhappily married Jewish housewife named Ella living in Northampton, Massachusetts. Ella works for a lit­erary agency and is given the task of writing a report on a book titled ‘Sweet Blasphemy’ by Aziz Zahara. The sweet blasphemy is the second narrative of this novel that is set in the 13th century. It’s about Rumi and the infamous wandering dervish known as Shams of Tabriz.

The story of Ella finding love with a bohemian Sufi mystic while in the process of evaluating his book that is set in a time period we are famil­iar with is a lot less believable than the one where Rumi and Shams of Tabriz find comfort in each other’s company. And it’s the story that takes place in an era that you can’t really relate to that the readers find themselves increasing drawn to as the narrative progresses.

There is also an overdose of cli­chés that distract from the storytell­ing. Phrases like ‘shivers go down the spine’, ‘bowled over’, ‘far off the beaten track’, and, ‘make a moun­tain out of a molehill’, make the narrative somewhat annoying and lame. Shafak, who has previously written both in English and Turkish, seems to have made a mistake by writing the novel first in English, having it translated into Turkish, and then rewriting it in English. The experiment, albeit interesting, doesn’t quite work.

Despite having been quite harshly critical of her work, we would still like to recommend Shafak’s The Forty Rules of Love to our readers. If not for Shafak, then you might want to read it for Rumi or as an introduction to Sufi thoughts and ideologies. Also, the lessons Shafak shares through Rumi’s story encour­age you to make some changes in your life and fill it with love and even if that were the only reason to read this book, it’s reason enough.

Nepal Tourism Board, Nepal National Ethnographic Museum and friends of Jan Salter, who passed away last month, hosted the launch of the webpage, Faces of Nepal, at the Nepal Tourism Board, Brikutimandap on May 15.

The entire collection of Salt­er’s painting and drawings, which capture the faces of Nepal’s diverse ethnic groups, has now been made available at www.jansalter.org. Minis­ter of Culture and Tourism, Rabindra Adhikari, and Dep­uty Chief of Mission of the British Embassy Nepal, Ali­son McEwen, attended the function.

Jan Salter MBE (1936-2018), a British artist, is widely known for her portraits of the people of Nepal, as well as for her lead­ership in several social causes, including the anti-trafficking movement and animal welfare. She was also the founder of Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center (KAT).

The webpage contains information on paintings and drawings for sale. The amount thus earned will be donated to KAT, as per the wish of the late artist.