The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in Nepal: Structural Analysis of Socioeconomic Development from the Past Five Decades

Abstract

As Nepal opened her door for international communities, it emerged from a barter system to global economy. During the last five decades (1950/51 - 2000/01) the country has witnessed different motley politico-economic decision making systems. The initial years in 1950s after emancipation from a very autocratic regime of more than 100 years were a political mess. The second half of 1950s was in the process streamlining, but another unfortunate political incident of 1960 pushed the country in different direction. The socioeconomic development of 1961 to 1990 was very sluggish, regionally biased, and unproductive, which forced the increment of mass poverty level in Nepal. The socioeconomic progress after 1990 seems encouraging but the real achievements have been shadowed by the weakness of politico-economical characters of ruling leaders. In last 50 years, Nepal followed the modernization path and experienced lots of developmental patch-ups, which did not sustain and enhance the productivity at the local level. Rather, the country witnessed a persistent poverty in spite of huge national and international expenses. In order to break the spurring poverty level the village economy needs to be enhanced with equal emphasis on human or social and ecological capitals enrichment activities.