"Sir this is New Nepal so you can not force us to do the things" this is an answer of one of my students when I asked about why he had not completed his assignments. This is a case of spreading anarchy in the country in the name of 'New Nepal'. New Nepal has become rhetoric of the day but the question remained unanswered whether we are capable of making a New Nepal?

Following the success of April Movement of 2006, the term 'New Nepal' has became the supplement to the anarchy. From the very grass root people to the policy makers and the politicians the term New Nepal has become a way of getting impunity. People have the hopes that New Nepal would be a Nepal where they will be free from the poverty, inequality and insecurity but their dreams come as mirage. People have high hopes on the Maoists as they did armed insurgency in the name of removing inequality and to create just society but they are gradually moving towards the same path earlier made by other political parties. Before joining the government Maoist leadership made various claims of uplifting the situation of the country within short span of time but they are involved into the blame-game only to save their face. The repeated attack of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is also the chairperson of the former terrorist labeled rebel group, against leaders of other political parties and the bureaucracy, is a case in point. Rather than taking some immediate relief plan the government opted in the attack to the judiciary, bureaucracy and also to convert government institutions as the recruitment centers of their party cadres. Nine of the relatives of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and six relatives of Dr. Baburam Bhattrai, second in command of the Maoist party who holds the Finance Ministry portfolio, have been appointed at the top posts of various institutions, which shows that Maoist's rhetoric of make drastic change within a short period of time is limited to their family not to the whole country and its people. The government continued trend of previous government to make changes in the bureaucracy, which has very negative impact in the country. Earlier, the government promised not to make any changes in the bureaucracy but they did it and while doing so they did not give priority to the merit and just making it on the basis of affiliation they have. The people, who are close with royal government, are in the frontline of the Maoist government and taking advantage so the qualification they have did not work. Let's take an example of Hira Bahadur Thapa, who was charged of helping Foreign Minister of the royal government Ramesh Nath Pandey, to take some important documents during the April movement has been appointed as Foreign Affairs Advisor of the Prime Minister Dahal. All the government offices are changing into the recruitment centers of Maoist party. You have to show affiliation with Maoist party for any work you want to carry out.

The government increased load-shedding hour to 12 hours from this week and the hour will increase to 16 hours in the days to come. The government, in the name of providing relief to the people, mulling over to install thermal plant, which is only a ploy to cheat people, as the electricity generated from these plants could not be under the reach of general people. The government should have long-term vision, so, rather than making some cosmetic changes the government should adopt some short and long-term strategies to overcome the power crisis. Making rhetoric about generation of 10,000 MW electricity within ten years without making concrete plan will just be a ploy to cheat people. In one hand the Maoist cadres in the name of trade union forcing industries to shut down shutters by raising unnecessary demands, on the other hand the government led by Maoist, is asking for more investment in the country. Recently, the attack in media houses indicates that more challenging days are ahead for the economic sector of the country.

The law and order situation of the country is almost out of gear. Despite the government's claim of improving law and order situation of the country, people have been able to carry out explosion in  front of the Tribhuvan International Airport, the country's only international airport, in the broad daylight. The 12 hour of load-shedding not only caused problem in day-to-day life of the people, it has also increased rise in criminal activities. The Prime Minister and ministers proudly announce that the load-shedding hour will go up to 16 hours. Youth wings of two major coalition partners CPN-Maoist affiliated Young Communist League and CPN-UML aligned Youth Force have been competing to break the law and order situation of the country and involve in illegal activities. The government seemed helpless in front of them and the home minister said that he failed to check the illegal and forceful activities of the youth wings of the coalition partners.

Nearly one year has been passed following the election of the constituent assembly, but the house is yet to enter into its real business of drafting a new constitution. The house has been engaged in all the political give and take rather than concentrating in the real business of drafting a new constitution. The house is yet to enter into the debate on the model of federalism and other aspects, which is considered as the most challenging phase of the constitution making process, so the probability of not drafting the new constitution within stipulated time has been increasing. If the constitution was not drafted on time the country, have to face a major setback. The human rights situation of the country is very poor. The government's apathy to take punishment against persons involved into grave human rights violations, so, other people were also involved into criminal activities in the name of politics.

The country is moving towards collusion course. The leaders are only guided by their personal and party interest. They are not giving proper attention towards some burning problems of the country like deepening fuel crisis and its impact, global economic crisis and probable civil war of the country, if the situation continues, it will push the country towards reverse direction. If the political parties are serious enough towards making new Nepal, rather than making rhetoric of New Nepal, they have to move towards materializing the concept. Making new Nepal is not a hollow concept, it needs brainstorming, proper planning and cooperation from all sector of the country, so mere rhetoric of making New Nepal and continuing the mistakes of the past will led the country towards anarchy.

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(Note from the Nepal Horizons Editorial Team: The views and opinion expressed in this article are that of the author and not of NHC. We request individuals with interest in Nepal to submit their views on contemporary Nepalese issues to the following e-mail address: editor@nepalhorizons.com.  Pictures of contributors or images that relate to submissions are welcome)