In response to my previous post, Prabaas commented to bring to my attention a wonderful article enumerating the "sins and virtues of new Nepal" by Dr. Kul Chandra Gautam. It is a must read. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. The article clearly distills the ills and the achievements of the past twenty years of social turmoil and political change. So I thought the article deserved a post of its own.
While the "sins" (I rather like the word "ills" instead of "sins" in this context) as identified by Dr. Gautam seems to be quite evident to every Nepali citizen. All we do nowadays is: rail against the tyranny of a hyper-politicized culture while eagerly participating and contributing to it; cynically blame the government and the leaders for the culture of impunity and lawlessness; and rue the disregard of the economic and development matters because of the political feuding. We have became a wholly cynical society and we accept our common cynicism as a badge of Nepali honor.
However, the seven virtues of the new Nepal that Dr. Gautam identifies aren't highlighted as often. For all the limitations and distortions of the last twenty years' worth of historical political changes, there have been many areas of growth and progress. Dr. Gautam lists seven areas of optimism.
It is imperative that we constantly remind ourselves of the many virtues and achievements in our long journey on a very uneven and incomplete road to progress.
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