SANGAM

More incidents of bandhs hindering growth

By Sangam Prasain
Kathamndu, July 7
The first three months of this year saw 27 bandhs and chakkajams across the country. If this trend continues, these strikes will outnumber the 48 successive days of bandhs and chakkajams, not counting the sporadic student protests, recorded in Nepal in 2065, according to a report of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).
The report stated that out of the 27 instances of closure, Kathmandu Valley witnessed two days of life going out of gear. The valley recorded only three days of bandh.
A large share of credit for such strikes and bandhs goes to political parties. Tharu agitation scored the highest number to their credit by organizing a continuous 11 days of bandh in Terai.
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) had called for 4 days of strikes. The Maoist’s youth wing, YCL, had a share of a day grinding life to a halt.
Similarly, the business entrepreneurs, community forest users group, Dang, local people at Mahotarri, Jaleshwore and Tikapur FNCCI chapters, entrepreneurs from Jhapa and Dhaulagiri contributed a day each to the total days paralysed.
Transport entrepreneurs of Khotang staged an indefinite strike.
In the preceding year, of the total 48 days of strike, different political parties contributed 10 days. Similarly, there was a single 12-day strike called by the Sunsari and Morang Jute Mill workers followed by 4-day long bandh called by the locals at Udaypur over a murder case.
Likewise, transport, contractors, hotel entrepreneurs and the business community and the students had a share of 15 days.
During this period, the capital city saw three days of bandh. The eastern development region remained closed for five days. The far-western development region was closed for six days, the FNCCI data said.
The report also stated that over 800 industries across the country were closed in the preceding year, which had been directly affected by the frequent strikes and bandhs.
The increasing number of bandhs is sure to badly affect the Nepalese economy.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, economist and Vice-Chairman of the Nepal Planning Commission (NPC), said that closures and blockades impacted foreign and private investments.
According to him, the tourism sector would be completely ruined if the trend continued. Bandhs, he said, were behind the unnatural double-digit inflation.
"The industrial and business firms are suffering from a huge loss, the government offices and departments are being unproductive. The daily wage earners were facing difficulties to eke out their livelihood, which is sure to knock people’s income and dampen their confidence, ultimately threatening the economy with a long spell of slump," he added.
He pointed out that everyone is free to organize any type of protest under their rights to freedom but some common minimum agendas should be set to figure out the types and areas of protest.
"The opposition party andthe ruling party must come up with a Common-Minimum-Programme (CMP) to end such a culture that was hindering the development momentum of the nation," he added.
Kush Kumar Joshi, FNCCI’s president, said that those activities were creating a volatile and fluid foreign and domestic investment climate. "Without investment in infrastructure, employment opportunities will be a far cry."
He said that the bandhs and strikes were forcing business community to pay workers without their works. "We are frequently demanding the ‘No Work, No Pay’ procedures that will be, to some extent, relieve the business and the industrial sector," he said.
He said that such initiatives would help mitigate the trend of going to street for protests and strikes.
Raj Kumar Rai, president of All Nepal Free Student Union, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, Kathmandu, admitted that strikes, bandhs and chakkajams had frequently crippled the country for the last couple of years.
He said that the trend of students’ mass protests was invited by the government itself. "If the state shies away from its responsibility to address any issue, there is no alternative left rather than calling strikes and bandhs," he pointed out.
He admitted that such activities could disrupt the country’s economic scenario and adversely affect the social surrounding, including education and employment sectors in the nation. However, the students are compelled to be engaged in such activities. "All this is because of the state’s failure to address right things at a right time," he added.
According to a study conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Nepal’s industrial growth, decelerated from 3.9 per cent to 1.8 per cent from the impact of power and fuel shortages and labor tensions.
The Manufacturing Production Index (MPI), a measure of manufacturing activity, declined by 1.4 per cent in FY 2008, compared to 2.6 per cent increase in the previous year.