Nepal’s Maoists fail to bring economy under state control

KATHMANDU - The battle by Nepal’s former Maoist guerrillas to push for a new economical model next year in which the state would control economy and all resources with the private sector was defeated Sunday with the major ruling parties thumbing down the proposal.

Giving in to pressure, the opposition party has now agreed to an economy in which the state, private sector and cooperatives will be allowed to develop independently and work in partnership as the ground stone of the new economic and investment policy.

The dispute over which economic model would make it to the new constitution, that is to be promulgated by May 2011, had been going on for several months. The Maoists and a communist ally, the Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party, were mooting a state-led economy in which the private sector would be allowed to participate in select sectors only.

However, the task force comprising representatives from the major parties finally reached an agreement with the two dissenting parties capitulating Sunday.

“We decided that the foundation of the new economic and investment policy would be the independent development of the state, private sector and cooperatives who would work in cooperation to strengthen the economy,” former transport minister Ramesh Lekhak, a member of the task force, said after the talks.

The Maoists had also been seeking Nepal’s withdrawal from the World Trade Organisation (WTO), saying it would weaken the national industries.

While the quarrel about the economic model has been resolved, there are still serious differences on other major issues.

The Maoists, who have been advised by China to herd all smaller communist parties together and create a monolithic organisation like the Communist Party of China, are advocating a single-party system in the new constitution as well as compulsory military training for all citizens above 18.

Both are being opposed by the ruling parties and are not likely to be passed without their consent. There are still more than 200 contentious issues that have to be ironed out before the preliminary draft of the new constitution can be readied.

They include the form of government - whether it should be presidential or be headed by an elected prime minister and the election system.

The Maoists are demanding a presidential form of government in the new constitution.

Though less than five months are left to complete the colossal task of drafting the new constitution, regarded as the centrepiece of the peace agreement four years ago that ended a decade of Maoist insurrection, Nepal’s top leaders, however, have shown little keenness to complete the task in time, swinging between foreign junkets and intra-party feuds for leadership.

(Sudeshna Sarkar can be contacted at sudeshna.s@ians.in)