A plethora of pipedreams

Some items in the latest programme have been reappearing unfailingly for the past 30 years.

President Ram Chandra Paudel presented the Nepal government’s Policies and Programmes for the upcoming fiscal year 2023-24 at a joint session of Parliament on Friday. Although any bold departure enabling structural reform in the economy was not expected from the current set of unimaginative political gerontocracy, the government was at least expected to address the unprecedented downturn in the country. There was reason for optimism because this was the new government's first annual policy and programme since the general election in November 2022. Pushpa Kamal Dahal became Prime Minister in December and Paudel became President in March. But these changes in the political leadership did not bring much-needed freshness in the policies and programmes.