Government prescribes pills for economic ills

The government has brought Immediate Action Plan today for 'a great leap forward', though its first relief measure brought some five months ago failed to cheer the people.
The country has prepared the foundation for the economic growth in the first six months of the current fiscal year, said Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, launching the 'Immediate Action Plan for Economic Development and Prosperity' here today.
The ambitious Plan has prescribed one-and-a-half dozen sectors with a special focus on agriculture, forestry, tourism, energy, physical infrastructure, rural infrastructure and urban development, investment promotion, international trade, promotion of domestic products and private sector and New Nepal Initiatives for the economic development.
"The government will launch four campaigns — investment promotion, economic growth with wider base, employment creation, and social security — for its four priorities Peace, Constitution, Good governance and Prosperity," he said, adding that the country has challenges, however, with the uptimum utilisation of available resources the country can move ahead in time bound manner to boost the current sluggish economic growth with some half-a-million employment creation.
"The government will mobilise one million volunteers — mostly the students — as a national volunteers under the District Development Committee (DDC) under New Nepal Initiative," the Premier said, adding that the volunteers can select the districts according to their choice. "The government will request every citizen to donate one day salary and NRNs to donate $10 for the New Nepal Initiative Fund that will help create jobs, and boost economic growth by investing on infrastructure.
The government has vowed to invite $1 billion worth foreign investments in next six months, read the ambitious Plan that has promised to increase the contribution of industrial sector to 10 per cent from current 1.4 per cent to the gross domestic production (GDP).
Similarly, the traditional agriculture will be modernise with stress on establishing chemical fertiliser industry and herbs process centres and land reform programme that will boost the contribution of agriculture's contribution to five per cent from current four per cent to the GDP, the Plan read. "The government will also declare 2013 as Agriculture Year to promote the sector.
"The premier also promised that Nepal will sign Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) with China, South Asian countries and atleast five developed countries to create confidence among the foreign investors, apart from requesting them to invest in second international airport, east-west railway, Kathmandu-Terai fast track. He also highlighted 14 infrastructure projects —including Sikta, Rani Jamara and Babai irrigation projects — as ‘Projects of National Pride’.
The government has also highlighted 10 challenges including corruption, lawlessness and bureaucratic delay, energy crisis, slow industrialisation, rising unemployment, lack of infrastructure, low economic growth, traditional agriculture system and low foreign investment and promised to fight them.
Similarly, the government has prescribed financial sector reform, capital market, housing, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), poverty alleviation and social security and respectable foreign employment, resource management for the economic development. "Promoting these sectors will give a 'big push' to translate the people's aspirations into reality," he added.
However, the economists dubbed the Prime Minister's move as a populist as the programmes is collected from the budget but has no budgetary allocation.