Global NRN Activities/ News » Regional NRN Convention - Alok Bohara
A Report on the Doha Regional NRN Convention:
Prepared for the Members of the North American Diaspora
January 20-23, 2005
Dr. Alok K. Bohara
Professor, University of New Mexico
Bohara@unm.edu
(version 2)
This report is prepared at the request of some of the members of the North American Diaspora.
It is a personal reflection, and is not an official report. I am responsible for any inaccuracies,
inconsistencies or shortcomings. I present my digression at the end of this document that you
may want to take it as a grain of salt.
The Doha convention was attended by about 40/50 or so delegates from places like Myanmar,
Germany, Belarus, Russia, Cyprus, Australia, Gulf countries, US, and Nepal. Hon. Ministers
Raghujee Pant and Ishwar Pokhrel graced the meeting along with the HE Ambassador to Qatar,
Mr. Shymanandan Suman. Dr. Shyam Karki (Maryland), Dr. Bishwa Acharya (Atlanta), Mr.
Ratan Jha (Houston), Mr. Aditya Jha (Toronto) and Dr. Alok K. Bohara (New Mexico) were
there from the North American side.
It was an educational experience for me, and I was very impressed by the hospitality displayed by
our hard working Nepali Dohabasis.
About 200/250 people attended the inauguration ceremony. Some business personalities like Mr.
Suraj Vaidya (FNCII), the Chairman of the Nabil bank, an officer from the Kathmandu Bank, the
Chaudhary group representative, some owners of the manpower companies, and two journalists
(Himal and Kantipur) were also present. A highly enthusiastic and strong presence of the Doha
community was quite visible.
Mr. Dangol, Dr. Mahato, and Mr. Udas were busy as usual running the meeting with much
efficiency, but the hard working Doha crowd deserves the credit for making it a successful
convention. The FNCCI's Executive Director Dr. Hemant Dabadi and the Kathmandu-based
administrative employee of the NRN worked very hard to make a preparation for this convention.
January 21st
Inauguration Day:
A young Nepali named Sagar Nepal (Coordinator of Organizing Committee) of Doha gave a very
emotional speech outlining the problems faced by eighty thousand hard working Nepalis in Doha.
The town hall type meeting also generated interactions between the ministers and the audience.
The dialogue brought out issues such as, 1) excessive fees charged by the manpower agencies
(80,000 Rs. for Gulf, and 300,000 Rs. for the Far Eastern countries like S Korea), 2) poor living
condition (15/20 living in one room), 3) delays in payments by the employers, 4) harassment and
early deportation cases, 5) inadequate justice (police mistreatment and jail terms for minor
offences), 6) other work related hardships, 7) "unsanctioned" manpower exports through India
and Indian agencies, and 8) the delay in the passing of the Act.
Mr. Pokhrel and Mr. Pant both tried their best to show the Nepali government's sincere concern
about the conditions of the Nepali workers and urged the manpower agencies to bear some of the
responsibilities. They also pointed out their inability to keep track of the statistics because of the
Nepali workers' tendency to use agencies in India to avoid Nepali embargo against countries like
Iraq and Afghanistan. Both realized that there was a need for a good labor law and some sound
export related regulations, and applauded the NRN organization for its "lobbying" effort.
Mr. Pant promised that the government will be a good facilitator, and displayed much optimism
about Nepal and her future. Mr. Pokhrel highlighted some accomplishments such as: WTO
membership, declaring 11 Oct as an NRN day, and the NRN Act. He also urged the NRN to help
Nepal in areas such as: FDI, exports promotion, lobbying, tourism, trade fair, and investments.
Without any elaboration, both Ministers urged the NRN organization to be "different".
January 22nd
Investments
The remittance worth $1 b. generated by about 1.2 million NRN has been a vital source of foreign
currency for Nepal (25% of GDP & equivalent to ½ of the state budget). Against this backdrop it
was only appropriate for the session to begin with the discussions on the investment related
issues.
The Nepal Venture Fund
Mr. Aditya Jha did a presentation on the Nepal Venture Fund. His contention was the following:
a mere 8% of the 1.2 million Nepalis would raise $100 m. The NVF would put mini-max limits
of $1 K and $50K. The profit distribution would look like as follows: 30% would be reinvested;
30% distributed among the investors; 20% for fund managers; 20% for capacity building (health
and education). The NFV could be incorporated in Singapore, for example, to avoid the low
rating problem of Nepal. Management expenses would be limited to less than 3%.
An illustrative example of its operation: troubled companies in Nepal (e.g. the Royal Nepal
Airlines) would be purchased at a low cost and sold at a profit after seven years of professional
management. International funding agencies will be sought to find the matching funds. Checks
and balances would be built to avoid any excessive risks.
Various committees would be created to ensure checks and balances: Investment Policy Council,
Ethnic Governance Council, Fund Advisory Council, and Social Venture Council...
Hamro Gaunko Afnai Utpadhan
(One Village, One Product)
Mr. Suraj Vaidya gave a good presentation outlining a program that sounded very similar to a
typical village integrated program but was different in many respects. The four villages were
picked out of 74 proposals. Each village basically picks a product and specializes in its
production and makes profit by selling it in the market. The model was followed after a Japanese program. The objective is to use local resources, build skill, and work as a team. The goat meat
production was used as an example to show how this import substitution scheme can be used to
make profit and empower the villagers. The project would be run like an NGO and will require
large sums of investment monies. The FNCCI plans to start it in March of 2005. They are
working to get it funded by various sources.
Planned Community Development in Nepal - the Texas Way
The topic presented by Ratan Jha of Houston, Texas. Municipal Utility District (MUD) is
extensively used as a financing tool by Land Developers in Texas to develop masterplanned
community. The MUD based development does not only lead to a financially
self-supporting entity but also to a planned and affordable community. This presentation
was sort of a "Concept Paper" to analyze and explore if the tax-supported development
(as MUDs in Texas) alone can be feasible to develop an affordable and planned
community in Nepal - especially in Kathmandu; or a hybrid model consisting of taxsupported
revenues combined with external aids (direct govt. subsidies, foreign donors,
etc.) will be needed in the context of Nepal.
Minister Pokhrel found this idea to be useful for Nepal and applauded Mr. Jha for
exploring it.
Nepal Study Center / Liberal Democracy Nepal Project
(Mr. Naresh Koirala did not come to Doha for his presentation of "Sustainable Road Projects".
Mr. Udas was very gracious in giving that spot to me. So I moved my presentation one day
earlier.)
I gave a brief account of the Nepal Study Center and its scope and the objectives. Established at
the University of New Mexico (Department of Economics), the Center's mission is to conduct
high quality research on Nepal and train Nepali doctoral students. It envisions bringing in Nepali
scholars on a short term sabbatical to conduct important interdisciplinary research (conflict,
environmental degradation, water resources, child labor, land use, poverty mapping, remittances,
GIS mapping just to name a few). Other activities could be 1) help students with travel grant for
conferences, 2) run workshops, 3) provide dissertation fellowships, and 3) conduct seminars. In
addition, the Nepal Study Center will forge links with the Nepali Universities to promote
knowledge transfer (e.g., help set up public policy school). The idea of a think tank type outfit in
the US can be very stimulating. Other countries like India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have their
studies program in the US, and the NSC would be the first of its kind for Nepal.
The Government of Nepal could be a very useful source of socio-economic information and
databases for the Center. Mr. Pokhrel showed much interest in helping the Center in this regard
and welcomed a proposal.
I also talked about the Liberal Democracy Nepal project. The LDN project brings together
political leaders, policy makers, civil society members, and the grassroots level people within a
common forum (on the web) to discuss and comment on issues related to promoting liberal
democracy in Nepal. We define liberal democracy broadly to mean a system that values regular
elections, multi-party system, social justice, protection of ethnic and political minorities, and the rule of law. The LDN project also intends to publish a journal two times a year. The LDN
project is very proud to have received an endorsement by an intellectual giant like Noam
Chomsky of MIT. This project is a result of collaboration between the North American Diaspora
and the Nepal Study Center.
I also notified the audience that the LDN idea would be discussed extensively by the North
American Diaspora during a meeting with the Nepali Ambassador (HE Mr. Shrestha) in
Washington DC (January 29th, 2005).
(The power point did not work so I had to do the presentation extemporaneously.)
From the floor, an audience member expressed his uneasiness with the word liberal in front of the
word democracy. I gave several examples as to why it was important to demonstrate that the
concept of democracy was an evolutionary idea and the word "liberal" is not meant to diminish
the universal ideal of democracy.
23rd ICC (International Coordination Committee) meeting
Non-ICC members were allowed to observe the ICC discussion, so I sat in the meeting as an
observer.
The committee decided to hold the next convention in Kathmandu (2005: October 7, 8, and 9)
during the time of Dashain.
The Nepal Venture Fund idea would be pursued and the members were selected: Mr. Aditya Jha,
Dr. Upendra Mahato, and Mr. Kunjar Sharma, and Mr. Sharda Thapa's name from the US was
also suggested as a fourth member of the committee.
Dr. Shyam Karki briefed the committee of his fund raising activity ($25,000) related to Devighat
Bidhyashram. He was congratulated and urged to continue to put efforts to make progress on the
project.
Dr. Upendra Mahato reported that the Pashupati Nath Ashram project, named after his mother,
was budgeted at 1 cror Rs.
Mr. Dangol reported that his 7 years old orphanage project with 50+ children was going well, and
he was more than willing to bring it under the NRN umbrella.
The scholarship-for-girls project would be contemplated soon and Mrs. Mahato and Mrs. Udas
would be involved along with Dr. Shyam Karki.
The ICC acknowledged the Nepal Study Center's initiative, and I was urged to explore
possibilities. The target of raising $1 million from various sources to make it a sustainable entity
would require much thought and energy.
