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Numbers that matter
JUN 18 -
A plan is a course of action for the future. Anyone who has ever made a plan must know that planning is a lot easier when there are clear objectives with a good understanding of the prevailing conditions. Further, most people will be well aware that the plan itself never accomplishes anything. It is in the implementation that targets are successfully met. The upcoming budget is an outline of how the government plans to spend its money. The budget’s allocation should technically be based on the broader strategic plan developed by the National Planning Commission.
While Nepal once used to plan for five years, it now seems incapable of looking beyond three. Beyond this extended three-year vision, Nepal has no pre-planned trajectory or target. While playing it as we go does allow for an inordinate amount of flexibility, it might help to have a dream for Nepal in 2050.
Back in ancient Greece, the Oracle of Delphi acted on behalf of Apollo to shed some of his visionary light on the future. The Oracle’s light was often obscure and not always promising, but the prerequisite to meeting the Oracle was inscribed upon her entrance: “Know thyself.” While monarchs have only themselves to think about, leaders of today’s Nepal have to know the nation. Nationhood and a pluralist democracy demand that the leader be a representative of the nation. Unfortunately, Nepal still suffers from the traditionalist view that the nation should represent the leader (or leaders). The only way to change this is to move the discourse from that of leaders to that of the nation.
The 2011 census is perhaps the first step for Nepal to get to know itself and end its delusions with the ineptitude of its political brass. There is no better way for a nation to know itself than through a thorough and rigorous counting of all those who are a part of it. This is not just a head count, but the collation of information that reveals the state of the nation. The national census is as important, perhaps even more important, than a constitution. The aspirations of the people can no longer rest in their words; rather it must come through the numbers who sweat and toil to make ends meet. For instance, the census should be able to tell us by how many Nepalis per household per district have left the country. It should also reveal per district which country is the most popular destination. It is the role of the Nepali state to ensure that the rights of these workers are protected in their destination county. The government can and should then be held accountable for this. A good indicator of the impact and responsiveness of Nepali embassies and its foreign services abroad is to compare the ratio of Nepali Foreign Service personnel per country per Nepali worker over time—personnel numbers should reflect changing labour patterns. Should an embassy not be functioning up to par, Nepali workers should then be able to hold their local representative accountable for why our foreign ministry is not meeting their needs, especially when it has the information necessary to guide its actions.
The census is a means to ensure accountability. It is also a means to ensure action. Disability in Nepal has long been a topic of offhand callous jokes and largely suppressed from the social consciousness. For a long time, talking about disabled people was taboo and they were largely ignored as having tragic fates. The dominance of Brahministic Hinduism also meant that the disabled were considered to be suffering along the great wheel of karma. For a family to have a disabled child was a curse — a result of a previous life’s sins. The disabled child was then hidden away from the public eye, a stain on the families’ honour and integrity. Such perceptions still persist and this neglect of disability explains why it has hardly featured in previous censuses.
The cycles of suppression and inaction are mutually reinforcing. By suppressing issues of disability from the broader social consciousness, Nepal has so far been able to avoid addressing disability. It is clear from the last census that a proper count of disability was not carried out. This is self evident when two government bodies—the National Census Bureau and the National Planning Commission (NPC)—give two different numbers for disability: 0.45 percent and 1.63 percent respectively. On a side note, how the NPC can gather statistics that are different from the government body whose function is to gather this information is a mystery in itself. The other major player in this field, the World Health Organization, has slapped an estimate of 10 percent (around 3 million) Nepali people with disabilities. WHO explains these to be
an extrapolation from worldwide averages.
The variances in these numbers are considerable. It is clear that disability did not feature as an important part of the last census. In 2011, it is necessary that they feature within the census. Even for Nepal, a country with an aversion to planning, these numbers do matter. The yearly budget allocated by the government is largely dictated by these numbers. If only 0.45 percent of your population is disabled, then you allocate a budget that matches that number. Since this figure itself is contentious, the budgetary levels do not meet the actual need. Additionally, this information is not disaggregated. It does not reveal a breakdown of the various forms of disability and in so doing negates the ability of healthcare strategies to incorporate stronger preventive measures. An accurate estimate would increase the ability of disability organisations to enforce disability-friendly laws and ensure disabled-friendly access in public buildings. Most importantly, the census becomes a necessary tool to acknowledge disability as a part of our social make up.
Disability access is not welfare but a basic human right—they are attuned to the core role of the state as an institution that ensures equal opportunity for all its citizens. The 2011 census thus will not just be a means to gather information to plan for the future, but will also be a measure of how far Nepal as a nation has progressed as it has blindly and haphazardly fumbled forward.
Posted on: 2010-06-19 09:07
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