Kazakhstan and its Implication in Economic Prosperity of Nepal

Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country and largest landlocked country of the world. It is 27^th most corrupt country of the world and ranks forty position behind Botswana in the ranking of economic freedom published by the Heritage Foundation. The country has been ruled by same president- Nursultan Nazarbayev- since its separation from Soviet Union in 1991.  The president has slashed free media so as to make it non existential, has arrested opposition leaders, and “has passed laws making it impossible for new political parties to form” (infoplease). It is not difficult to surmise, in light of these evaluations of Kazakhstan’s political aspects, the motivation for making of the film BORAT even though the slandering of political and social aspects of Kazakhstan is a massive hyperbole in the film! 

The book Why Nations Fail completely ignores Kazakhstan when describing extractive institutions in Central Asia but if Corruption Perception Index for Kazakhstan is any indication of level of extractive political institutions, it definitely is exacerbate.   “[Kazakhstan] is a part of current mosaic societies under extractive institutions, and unfortunately it has many commonalities with other Soviet Socialist Republics- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, [Uzbekistan] and Turkmenistan” (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013, p. 372). Despite all these factors, Kazakhstan is the richest central Asian per capita with GDP per capita (PPP) of 13,200 US dollars as of 2013. How could Kazakhstan -but no other countries listed above- achieve an economic growth of above eight percent despite lacking sound political institutions? We will answer this questions at the end of the article, but let us first review what literature tells us in this regard.

Some scholars- prominent of which are Acemoglu and Robinson-assert that inclusive economic and political institutions are very important because economic growth and prosperity are associated with inclusive political and economic institutions as we mentioned in the case of Botswana. They claim that geography and resources alone cannot determine prosperity of the country, but it is upon economic and political institutions of the country which leads the country into greater economic growth.  The United States being richer today than geographically well suited and resource rich Mexico or Peru (Ibid, p. 42), the contrast of economic development of South and North Korea (Ibid, p. 75) and rapid economic development of countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Botswana despite having a very hot climate (Ibid, p.49) are arguments in favor of institutions over geography and economic resources.

 However, resource rich countries such as Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela have achieved satisfactory economic progress in spite of what we would call as extractive institutions and restricted economies. This phenomenon has led Thomas L. Friedman to devise the first law of Petro politics, which states that democracy and oil- an important economic resource or perhaps the most important- do not mix (Friedman, 2006). Other research suggests that oil wealth impedes the democratic transformation in authoritarian states and that “oil wealth lengthens the tenure of authoritarian rulers, although this result is somewhat fragile” (Ross, 2008), oil rich Kazakhstan, as we will explore later, being no exception.  Moreover, these countries are unlikely to go through  a "fundamental transformation" of extractive institutions towards inclusive institutions, for their economic growth is generated by "the increase in the value of the natural resources" (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013, p. 445).  

Institutional explanation does not account for the reason of Kazakhstan’s prosperity but the explanation from resources perspective does. Kazakhstan is a one of the resource richest country per capita as it has the every single element of Mendeleev's periodic table on their land. On top of that, it has an abundant supply of uranium(first) petroleum and natural gas(11th largest reserve in the world), potassium (main export), uranium, chromium,  lead, and zinc (second largest reserves in the world) , manganese(third largest reserve), copper(fifth largest reserves) and coal, iron, and gold(ranks in the top ten) ,and to a less extent  diamond (Mineral Wealth, 2013).  

Nepal is different from Kazakhstan or Botswana for it underwent civil war and political restructuring after adoption of democracy in 1951.  An explanation is that Nepal lacked as much economic resource as Kazakhstan, modern technological advancement and industrialization to spearhead economic boom in the country as Kazakhstan did. In addition to lack of as much economic resources as Kazakhstan, the failure of economic boom in Nepal, as we discussed in the earlier post, was because of short-sightedness of Ranas and political players thereafter, which made the country devoid of creative destruction in industrialization, technology and education sector. While the economic boom in Kazakhstan has held back Kazakh from revolting against its extractive political institutions, the relative deprivation in Nepal led to civil war, political instability, and lower economic growth.

So, we can conclude that inclusive political and economic institutions in conglomeration with economic resources pave a way for virtuous cycle of economic prosperity and political stability. While countries with extractive political institutions in conglomeration with large economic resources can produce a large economic growth and maintain political stability, countries without substantial economic resources may fall in a vicious trap of failure to establish an inclusive institution, to remove extractive institutions, to maintain political stability and to have a high economic growth.It seems there is no alternative to embracing inclusive political and economic institutions in Nepal.

Note:

Extractive institutions are meant to benefit the selected few by extracting from many,while inclusive institutions, on the other hand, distribute power in a pluralistic manner, enact rules of law, and encourage investment in new technologies and skills which are conducive to pluralistic  economic growth.

References:

Friedman, T. L. (2006, May 1). The first law of petropolitics. Retrieved from Foreign Policy: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2006/04/25/the_first_law_of_petropolitics

infoplease. (n.d.). Retrieved from Kazakhstan : http://www.infoplease.com/country/kazakhstan.html?pageno=3

Mineral Wealth. (2013). Retrieved from Bussiness and Econmy: http://prosites-kazakhembus.homestead.com/mineralwealth.html

Robinson, A. J., & Acemoglu, D. (2013). Why Nations Fail. New York: Public Affairs in Papers.

Rodrik, D. (2003). In search of Prosperity. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Ross, M. (2008). Retrieved from CiteSeer: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.387.1268

The Curious Case of Botswana: A Lesson for Nepal

Botswana is an anomaly in that it, despite being a landlocked country in sub Saharan Africa, has very high per capita income- even higher than that of prosperous countries in Latin America or Asia. It is the richest country in Sub African Africa per capita with GDP per capita (PPP) of 16,200 US dollars. It will be in my scope to unfold the reasons for its economic prosperity and to understand its implication for Nepal- a land-locked country in South Asia with similar background. Our first task would be to demystify the anomaly by looking at its history.

Botswana benefitted from a pre-colonial institutional inheritance that was not removed during the period of colonial influence (Rodrik, 2003, p. 107). When most of African, South American or South Asian countries were colonized and exploited by European superpowers, Botswana, by a tactful diplomacy of its founding fathers, avoided the indirect rule of the British and furthermore subverted worse consequences that would have befallen their way if Rhodes had succeeded in capturing their land (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013, pp. 404-413). Nepal was also neither colonized by any economic superpower of the world, nor had major influences from them. The concrete answer for higher economic growth in Botswana, thus, lies in the inclusive political and economic institutions Botswana has adopted since its independence in 1966 -when it was one of the one poorest country in the world.

In the book The Great Escape, Angus Deaton cautions present day rich countries which had developed in their own way under their own political and economic structures to make sure that they do not impede poor countries in emulating what these countries had done to accumulate wealth (Deaton, 2013, pp. 312-324). Erik Reinert would have concurred to Deaton’s argument as he proposes  emulation rather than comparative advantage as the recipe of successful development (Reinert, 2009, p. xxiii). He refers to the quote:

“The nineteenth century saying in the USA was: Do not do as the English tell you to do, do as the English did. Now the saying for [other developing countries] would translate to:  Do not do as the [rich countries or their associates] tell you to do, do as [they] did” (Ibid, p.168).

Botswanan leaders hit “nail on head” in directing their country by associating with a suggestion for developing countries. Botswana exhibited many similarities in political and economic development of England for Botswana achieved rapid political centralization, had its coalitions against an extractive institutions, adopted sound economic policies, and provided private property rights to encourage investment and economic development. The wise and foresighted leadership of Sereste Khama also accounts for a success story of Botswana, for he did not try to enrich himself at the expense of the inclusive institutions and creative destruction from which the country was to benefit (Rodrik, 2003, p. 13). For that matter, “Botswana is particularly lucky that their leader was Sereste Khama and not Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe” (Robinson & Acemoglu, 2013, p. 413)  or Rana Prime Minister of Nepal. Granted that the economic boom in Botswana has been made possible on a foundation of diamond mining, country ,however, would not  have had economic prosperity they witnessed, if it was not for inclusive political institutions and subsequent policies generated from such institutions.  Let us now ponder upon the political history of Nepal.

Nepal was quite an isolated country until 1951. Before 1951, the country was ruled by elitist Rana brothers under Kings, and they consolidated their power by shielding any form of development within the national borders. The theme of the book Elusive Quest to Growth suggests prosperity as a combination of right incentives and intentions. That is to say prosperity happens when there are right intentions in agents responsible for economic growth and when the agents of economic growth provides incentives for its population to engage in activities of economic development.  Government, in this case, needs to have the right intentions and needs to create incentives for its population to instigate the creative destruction such that there is an adaptation of technology and an investment in complex machines and high quality schooling (Easterly, 2001, pp. 285-291).

Ranas feared creative destruction as it could potentially have endangered their political power, they had no intentions for development, and they failed to create incentives for people to have a growth mindset. Rana system was, what Ram Sharan Mahat in his book In Defense of Democracy wrote, “undisguised despotism with absolute total control over all forms of public life” (Mahat, 2005, p. 45) with no or little leeway for aspects of development.   Once Rana were ousted from power in 1951, one form of the extractive institutions was replaced by another and Nepal missed an opportunity to imbed pluralistic elements in politics primarily because copying a model of inclusive institutions without unprecedented critical junctures in the political process is very difficult, and secondarily because Nepal lacked the likes of selfless nationalistic leaders like Botswanan Khama. Back and forth shuffling from a party less system to a democratic regime and “sporadic-ephemeral democratic governments” in the process could not stabilize politics, which catalyzed a civil war and a complete political restructuring from monarchy to federal republic state in 2008 from a liaison of actors of the civil war and disgruntled political parties.

Alongside institutions, a major explanation for lower economy definitely is Nepal’s lack of chief economic resources- substantial gold and diamond mines or a reserve of oil or natural gas- and lack of large manufacturing industry. Nepal’s main economic activity is agriculture but Nepal has no significant net exports of agricultural products. Let us understand the role of- what economist and politicians in Nepal call an optimism in Nepalese economy- hydroelectricity sector in our economy. Investment in hydroelectricity was thwarted by the political instability of the country, and Nepal was able to generate around 800 MW electricity of potential 83,000 MW in a period of a century.

Because of the differences in institutions,  Botswana is the least corrupt country in Africa and its position is even better than some of European countries such as Italy, Portugal or Greece, while Nepal ranks 116^th   on corruption perception index of 2013(Fineey, 2013).  On foundation of good institutions again, Botswana is twenty seventh most free country economically while Nepal is one of least economically free country in the world. Despite being a sparsely populated, agriculturally deficient, dominantly tropical, landlocked country in a very “precarious geopolitical location”, Botswana has been experiencing rapid economic growth by African standards because it possessed the right institutions right after independence and implemented sound policies in place (Rodrik, 2003, p. 113), while Nepal is settled to have one twelfth of GDP and a slower economic growth than that of Botswana due to the lack of sound political and economic institutions.

I will compare Nepal with Kazakhstan, another landlocked but a rich central Asian country, in next post.   

Note:

Extractive institutions are meant to benefit the selected few by extracting from many,while inclusive institutions, on the other hand, distribute power in a pluralistic manner, enact rules of law, and encourage investment in new technologies and skills which are conducive to pluralistic  economic growth.

References:

Deaton, A. (2013). The Great Escape . Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University 

Easterly, W. (2001). The Elusive Quest for Growth. Cambridge and London: The MIT Press.

Fineey, M. (2013, December 3). Botswana Again Ranked as the Least Corrupt Country in Africa. Retrieved from reason.com: http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/03/botswana-again-ranked-as-the-least-corru

Mahat, R. S. (2005). In Defense of Democracy. Kathmandu: Adriot Publishers.

Reinert, E. (2009). How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor. New York: Public Affairs in Paper.

Robinson, A. J., & Acemoglu, D. (2013). Why Nations Fail. New York: Public Affairs in Papers.

Rodrik, D. (2003). In search of Prosperity. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.

Meaning of Life

Understanding the nature of the world has become the primary concern in rationality of human beings. The quest has given birth to a wide array of field of study- biology, physics, psychology, philosophy, chemistry among others. In so far that finding the nature of the world is concerned, there has been a rigorous assessment in different fields of studies which has led to mind-boggling inventions and discoveries in the world. An equally important quest has been to find the meaning of life.

A beginner into this inquiry, would want to know outlining or shortcut answers to the philosophical question of our life, especially that of the meaning of our life. However, the different schools of thought- both in religion and philosophy- in response to this question have only provided different obscure and contradictory concepts, let alone a unanimous one.

Before delving into the subject matter, let us first make the assessment of this paper clear. Trying to decipher the “meaning” is to understand the purpose and role an individual holds in the cosmos and the course of actions s/he is supposed to take. “Life”, for the purpose of the paper means a duration between the birth of a human being and the death of his/her material body and rational ability. It will be in the scope of this paper to understand the evolution of human beings, the beliefs they had in the process and the meanings they assigned to their life. In doing so, I will try to elucidate abstract concepts of different philosophers and religions and try to examine these philosophies. Our first aim is to understand the significance of the question and the motive for knowing the answer in our human mind.

Setting the Stage: Who and Why ask the meaning of life?

Let us begin with the first fundamental question- who seeks the meaning of life? Philosophers, Aristotle, for example, propose that human beings are different than other creatures in for their ability to think (Jhonson, 2014)  , and it is this ability that has enabled the human being to make unprecedented progress culminating to industrialized era. Philosophers claim that the propensity to assess the intricate meaning of life, however, is not innate in all human beings and that it is an indication of “sickness” in human beings. Sigmund Freud explicitly remarks that the person who asks about the meaning of life is sick- the reason of which, he thinks, is “unsatisfied libido” (Jones, 1957, p. 3:465). In Freud’s response, Plato, very long before Freud, would have consented him in that Plato also thought unfulfilled appetite as a cause of spiritual sickness in the soul (Young, 2003, p. 14) although he was of the thought that life should be spent in the pursuit of knowledge of the forms (Ibid, p.16).  Einstein also separates the rational ability to think about the world from sickly questioning to find the meaning of life. He said that a man with no longing for knowledge of the universe is as good as dead (Einstein, Living Philosophies, 1931, p. 6), but he blatantly also asserts that a man is seeking religion for self-help in trying to answer the question about the meaning of life (Einstein, Opinions by Albert Einstein : Quoted in On the Meaning of Life by Jhon Cottingham, 1934, p. 11). Irving Singer in his book- Meaning in Life- validates these thoughts to mention that the intention of a healthy person is not to think about the meaning of life (Singer, 1992, p. 2). It is evident from these philosophers that there is a fine border between a sickly inquiry of life and a “normal” interpretation of life.  Perhaps not if we are to accept Fredrick Nietzsche’s definition that man is, by default, a sick animal (Ibid, p. 3). It is to mean that we will be forced to contemplate the meaning of life one time or another as “sickness” is an inevitable phenomenon in human beings.

Tackling the big questions

Stoics in our textbook invite us to live according to the nature of the cosmos, and our lives are dimmed meaningful, according to them, when our actions are concurrent with the demand of the nature. As such, it is essential to understand the nature of cosmos first. There is a pessimism from earlier philosophers when they define the underlying principles of the universe.  Thomas Hobbes (1651) said that the human life in the universe is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. These ideas are backed by Schopenhauer who claims that the guiding tenet in the world is dynamic, brutal, non-purposive and directionless. These ideas are again validated by Nietzsche, who claims that the universe is vicious and that it causes more suffering than happiness in so much that he gave a philosophical assertion that god is dead (Singer, 1992).

Despite the pessimistic view of the nature, philosophers see longing for knowledge, beauty and our own extension in the world as the primary motives behind the life. There is no human who does not want to have his desires fulfilled, who does not want to be validated and who does not want to feel happy, content or understood. Oprah Winfrey, a famous interviewer, in this regards in Harvard Commencement Speech of 2013 said:
“I have to say that the single most important lesson I learned in 25 years talking every single day to people, was that there is a common denominator in our human experience. Most of us, I tell you we don’t want to be divided. What we want, the common denominator that I found in every single interview, is we want to  be validated and understood” (Winfrey, Harvard Gazette, 2013).

 Similarly, when explaining absurdity, Albert Camus is of the perspective that happiness and reason are the greatest longing of human beings, although these longings are only ephemeral (Singer, 1992, p. 32). Meanwhile, Hegel thought the impulse of reason is the desire instigated to understand oneself (Young, 2003, p. 62).  John Cottingham in his book On the Meaning of Life, in a clear manner, encapsulates the nature of the cosmos, which he thinks, is to produce human beings who seek truth, embrace aesthetics, and fulfill their life with mutual love and affections (Cottingham, 2003).

However, Singer (1992) quotes Aristotle to cite that although contentment, happiness and joy are essential, no man can be happy perpetually. Everything in the world is short lived and there is nothing which can last forever- happiness quickly fades and is hard to recapture, and contentment turns into boredom. Life is not a marathon where an individual who have travelled fastest and furthest can feel that they are closer to some absolute and all resolving goal.  It is true that we are guided by ideals of love, beauty, creativity, freedom, happiness and self-improvement, but there is no end goal – there is no finish line of learning or loving. The universe, economy, population or knowledge is expanding, but -to what limit or end- nobody seems to concur.   By defining “sickness” in people seeking the meaning of life, philosophers were correctly referring to unfulfilled appetite in complexity as its cause. This elusive nature of the world led Blaise Pascal- a seventeenth century philosopher- to comment in this way:
 "I see these frightening expanses of the universe that shut me in, and I find myself stuck in one corner of this vast emptiness, without knowing why I am placed here  rather than elsewhere… All I know is that I must soon die, but my ignorance is  darkest concerning this very death that I cannot avoid” (Cottingham, 2003, p. 32).

Religious Perspective

Inability to reach a decisive conclusion about the meaning of life and the absence of clear end goal paved the way for emergence of different religious tenets- backed by the idea of the God – within different civilization. Their dialectics are different, but all of their motive is to bind the human being into a moral and ethical standard so as to provide a unitary purpose.   Hindu Religion- of which I can speak and have knowledge- open a way for our lives to have a meaning in a strong sense that would move our life beyond a mere ephemeral satisfaction (Ibid, pp. 62-104) towards the liberation of the soul.

Hindu religion divides our actions into the concepts of Kama, Artha, Dharma, and Mokshya. Kama means lust, Artha is economic gain, Dharma is a selfless act and Mokshya or Nirvana is a supreme act of liberation of the soul. Hindus regard Mokshya or Nirvana as the end goal of human being ,and the religion claims that Nirvana can be  achieved through “work, dedication to work, knowledge and devotion to Hindu teachings” (Payne & Nassar, 2012, pp. 46-48). The religious interpretation of reality is tested and severely rejected by the evolutionary perspective of Charles Darwin, who hints towards the denial of an omnipotent creator or the God. Similarly, many great philosophers’ notion that “ultimate being or highest good” provide objective ends is also put in question through this idea.

Evolutionary Perspective

If we were to compress 14 billion years after the big bang into 14 years for simplicity, earth would have existed only for past five years, entire recorded history of human would remain for only last three minutes and modern industrial civilization would last for only six seconds (National Geography, 2014).

This information entails that our current human form is an outcome of continuous evolution in many generations through mutations and natural selections, and that none of the character of human beings, of other creatures or of the earth are a part of the grand design of the Supreme God.   According to the natural selection theory of Darwin, there is no purpose or selection whatsoever in the natural working of evolution, but it is an entirely arbitrary process whereby certain favorable traits are passed on to the next generation (Cottingham, 2003).

Preservation and Continuation as the sole goal

That we are complex beings for our rational ability makes understanding of our purpose very difficult. We can fabricate reasons for our benefit,. Thus, if we are to understand the purpose of our life, we need to observe other animals which do not put a veil of complexities but exhibit observable purpose. Just as Leo Tolstoy achieved his own salvation by understanding the life of peasants (Singer, 1992), observing the animals – which differ from us only in our ability to think- is one of the ways to understand the intricate purpose of human beings. Animals long for food, shelter and reproduction and try to avoid danger through their own means. These four factors, I believe, are the core purpose of the human being as well, but the only difference is that our means of achieving those fundamentals of living is rationality.  The rest, whatever we may claim, is secondary and unimportant.

In similar ways that the role of the rose is to be red in color and to provide wonderful smell, and that of dog is to bark and to be loyal to its master, our role is to think, to create and to be rational. Since we have the ability to think, our role in the world is to be creative and improve the world as we see it, and our purpose, just like everybody else’s, is  -just as Fernando Savaster in his book Questions of Life describes- the “preservation, regulation and reproduction” of our life (Savater, 2002).

 Meaningful life in an individual level

Thus far, we have tried to understand the meaning of life at a macroscopic level. We have pointed out that our role in the universe is to be rational human beings and that our sole purpose is the preservation and continuation of ourselves. Now, let us analyze on a microscopic level what we ought to do as a rational, and moral being seeking for happiness and continuation of ourselves in a right milieu.

 (Griffin, 2012) in her book Where We Belong mentions that the purpose of the life should be the life of purpose thorough self-actualization. A step further, Simon Sinek, in one of his TED talk suggests that our purpose should be contemplated in question “why rather than in what” (Sinek, 2009). Similarly, Oprah Winfrey says that it is important in life to develop an “internal moral, emotional GPS” that can tell us which path to take (Winfrey, You Tube, 2014). Herman Hesse in Novel Siddhartha describes most people as falling leaves that drift and turn in the air, flutter and fall in the ground and few as the stars which travel one defined path where no wind reaches and which have within themselves their guide and path (Hesse, 1998, p. 58).

The bottom line of all these thoughts is that we need to be contemplative and live a meaningful life. The problem, however, is the lack of a single unified and meaningful criterion that sets the standards for a meaningful life. I have subscribed one criterion for living a meaningful life set by Michio Kaku, who encodes the appeal that the purpose of human beings is to make the world better that that we entered in. We would also be in parallel with the Aristotelian definition of the good life which he said is a “rational dedication to some goal that structure one’s entire being” (Singer, 1992, p. 107) in fulfilling the claim of Kaku. We have explained earlier in the paper that the nature of such structure as defined by Aristotle is evolution, and improvement in the world is, to its core, an evolutionary process. Therefore, this can be said about our life that it needs to have a mutual characteristics of validation, happiness, meaningfulness and elements of improvisation.

Happiness, Meaning in Life and Morality

Happiness in life and meaningful life are not the same, and meaning or happiness in life is not a product of a moral life. An individual who has to struggle against an unwelcoming environment might nevertheless have lived a meaningful life and vice versa.  Galileo Galilei may not have lived a happy life, for his speculation about the nature of the universe was ill-treated by the fundamentalist, but he lived a meaningful life because he devoted his life to find the truth. Similarly, a politician who accumulates illegal wealth so as to raise a happy family and who lobbies political agenda in favor of few elitist people at an expense of benefit of millions of people may find himself happy in his family and meaningful to those politicians, but he is immoral and he is not living a life that is desirable.  What ought we to do then? We answer this question in the closing remarks.

A life can have significance only when it increases the meaning and happiness on number of similar lives “regardless of any effect upon ones desire both through relative or objective standards” (Ibid, 131-148). The meaning of the life can be measured by the positive impact it makes on the numbers of people. That is to say the greater the number and quality of lives one can transmute, greater the significance of one’s life.  In this respect, Bill Gates- who has made this writing possible through his product and have provided a lot of aid in helping people in Africa- have lived a more meaningful life than a hypothetical person, who may earn as much as Bill in an illicit manner but does nothing but waste money on drugs and gambling.   

Conclusion

The common theme in all of the accepted claims of this paper is that human beings fear death as a loss of their existence and that inherent human tendency is propagation like that of all other creatures. Rational ability makes us complex, but it is our means, similar to a red color and the good smell of a rose, to fulfill our purpose in the world. The direction the world is heading is not foreseeable, but on an individual level, the true meaning of life can be achieved by doing most good for most people -ourselves included- and thus by being an agent of evolutionary process of improvement.

 References

Cottingham, J. (2003). On the Meaning of Life. London and New York : Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group.

Dormael, J. V. (Director). (2009). Mr. Nobody [Motion Picture].

Einstein, A. (1931). Living Philosophies. New York : Simon And Schuster.

Einstein, A. (1934). Opinions by Albert Einstein : Quoted in On the Meaning of Life by Jhon Cottingham. New York : Crown Publishers .

Griffin, E. (2012). Where We Belong. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Hesse, H. (1998). Siddhartha. Dover Publication.

Jhonson, M. (2014, August 4). Philosophy: Aristotle on the Purpose of Life. Retrieved from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQk6t-9mQjE

Jones, E. (1957). The Life and Work of Sigmound Freud- Letter to Marie Bonaparte : Quoted in Meaning in Life . New York: Basic Books.

National Geography. (2014, May 19). Documentary | History of The World In Two Hours - History Documentary. Retrieved from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0RwiUUj01o

Payne, R., & Nassar, J. R. (2012). Politics and Culture in Developing Areas. Pearson Education .

Savater, F. (2002). The Questions of Life: An Invitation to Philosophy. Polity.

Sinek, S. (2009). Retrieved from TED Talks: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en

Singer, I. (1992). The Meaning in Life . New York: The Free Press.

Winfrey, O. (2013, May 31). Retrieved from Harvard Gazette: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/05/winfreys-commencement-address/

Winfrey, O. (2014, February 7). Retrieved from You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSz4djCNSXA

Young, J. (2003). The Death of God and the Meaning of Life. New York : Routledge.

Bleak Picture of Education in Nepal

Photo Courtesy: Wise Initiative 

Quality education is the modern day tool to shape young potentials into future scholars and leaders of a country. However, providing the primary education has become a prominent concern for developing countries let alone the equitable and the quality education. It is estimated that seventy five million children, half of whom are female, are deprived from attending primary education institutions in developing countries (Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany). Poverty, gender based discrimination and warfare are primary constraints to access to education in these countries. Similarly, economic disparities, rural-urban connections and public- private education systems seem to hinder the equitable education in these areas. .  Let us  examine the comprehensive overview of educational system and its impact of one of the typical developing country-Nepal- through this piece.

Nepal is a small landlocked South Asian country sandwiched between India and China. The first education institution was established in 1853 and the first university was established in 1959, around eight hundred years after establishment of Oxford University. Nepal was an isolated country-quite like modern day Myanmar and Bhutan- and its educational sector was dawdling until 1951. The code of life-DNA- was discovered, technological gadgets such as television and telephone were invented on leverage of the educational institutions, but Nepal did not even have a basic framework for higher educational institutions till then. After the educational plan in 1971, development of educational system seemed to gain a momentum. Two distinct educational institutions emerged: public and private ownership educational institutions. Particularly after 1990, private educational institutes flourished in the urban areas of country, where kin of elitist, rich, and educated people enrolled.  Similarly, public institutes were left mostly for the kin of people of poor, uneducated, proletariats, marginalized and indigenous, whose main concentration was in rural area. A massive discrepancy in the educational standards in public and private institutions was thus created in these educational institutions.

Photo Courtesy: Etra Association

School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination, also considered as Iron Gate to further education, is the tenth grade equivalent of American System and is administered by the education board of Nepal independently. Every year less than fifty percent of students pass the School Leaving Certificate. To break it down further, approximately three in four students from public schools fail in the same examination every year. While the pass rate for public schools is recorded at just 28.19 for year 2014, it is over ninety percent for the private schools (Sharma).  This is testament to poor educational standard in public schools of Nepal, the reasons of which have been linked with apathy from parents and teachers, party politics in schools, poor educational and economic background of students in public schools, lack of education conducive environment which sees perpetual value associated with education, among many other reasons. Teach for Nepal (TFN), an organization working to improve the educational standards of Nepal, claims that most of the public educational institutions are under resourced and that these institutions struggle to get and retain qualified teachers. The other reason for predicament of education is that teaching profession is regarded as the profession to be taken care by the people on the bottom half of academic aptitude.

The consequence of this educational system is that it has created a viscous circle of brain drain to western countries and labor drain to Middle Eastern countries. The brightest student who get an opportunity to attend good private school tend to migrate for education endeavors to western countries like Australia, United States, Japan and United Kingdom.  A statistics shows that staggering 28,216 students went for abroad studies in the 2013/2014 fiscal year, of which 1456 came down to the USA (Facts). As a matter of fact, around 9000 students are enrolled in educational institutions across USA and Nepal is the largest country to send students per capita to the USA as of 2013 (Anderson).It would be a fairy tale ending if these students could return to the country, but the bitter truth is that most of them settle down in these countries for better standards of life.

On the other hand, inefficiency of entrepreneurs and government to create jobs at local level has created inevitable flow of public school educated rural youth to Arab countries. About 1,500 Nepalese, in average, officially left for jobs abroad each day in the 2014 fiscal year excluding those leaving for India, which is the largest destination for Nepalese migrant workers (Harris). Nepal is the largest country in terms of population to earn its greatest source of its GDP from emigrant workers with around forty percent. However, a recent article published in the New York time claims,” While foreign jobs have eased Nepal’s endemic poverty, they may be creating a vicious cycle that forces more and more people to leave by keeping the country’s currency and inflation high while hurting domestic production” (Harris).

It makes me to wonder what alternative does the Nepal government have to spending nearly a billion dollar in educating students in rural areas for the menial jobs in Middle Eastern countries, the ramifications of which seems to hurt the national economy on long run. What purpose do the private institutions serve when they essentially prepare the brightest to leave the country and when the country does not seem to be ready to welcome them back? If you ask me, there is a massive flaw in educational policy making of Nepal which the developing countries need to heed. But, my mind boggles over the question of how these mishaps in education sector are to be cured in developing countries, the typical example of which seems to be Nepal.

References

Anderson, Nick. "The Wahington Post." 27 August 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/howard-us-kathmandu-connection-nepal-emerges-as-top-source-of-foreign-students/2014/08/27/4cd70376-2a20-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html>.

"Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, Germany." n.d. Education in Developing Countries. <http://www.bmz.de/en/what_we_do/issues/Education/hintergrund/bildungsituation/>.

Harris, Gardiner. "In Nepal a better Life with Steep Price." The New York Times 14 August 2014.

Facts. 22 July 2014. Facts. <https://www.facebook.com/factsnepal/photos/a.601603456529911.1073741825.461353277221597/822088927814695/?type=1&theater>.

Sharma, Nirajan. 28.19 pass in public. 14 June 2014. <http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=77105>.

The Philosophy of Life

                                                                  

Wavering layer of water glimmered golden by the diminishing shafts of sunlight as the sun paced to hide behind the lake. Ephemeral rays of light shone on my eyes, just as the floodlight focuses the protagonist of a featured drama, and these waves of light swept the banks of Lake Pontchartrain leaving traces of darkness behind. The sun looked like a semi-circle dipping behind the lake as the color of the sky changed from orange to red to blue, and the sun soon disappeared from mauve sky like a deflating balloon. The sun has rose and set exactly for twenty years since my birth, but today it has invited me to contemplate fundamental question of purpose of my life which still hovers over the horizon. 

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Mark Twain quotes that the two most important days in our life are the day we were born and the day we find out why. However, finding the purpose is not one time eureka moment; thus, it needs a thorough and continuous introspection. Emily Griffin in her book Where We Belong iterates that the purpose of the life should be the life of purpose thorough self-actualization. A step further, as Simon Sinek in one of his TED talk suggests that our purpose should be contemplated in question “why” rather than “what”, here I am, at the banks of Lake Pontchartrain, reflecting on my eclectic life.

My current state of life is the result of series of events and coincidences, and my present day beliefs are amalgamation of the beliefs of people I have come across on real or virtual front. From the high hills to the sea level and below, and from conservative Sanopakha to liberal-lewd Bourbon Street, I have seen destitute and affluence of many aspects comparable. In having lofty dreams and in being sunk to smell the dust with bitter disappointment, I have become both a freak and have tried to become a sage, or that is, at least, what I reckon. I have lost people close to me from life and have lived in isolation for a considerable time. The family for me has become what Matt King describes in film The Descendant: “All part of the same whole, but always separate and alone and drifting apart like an archipelago.” These experiences have treated me to form two basic realization in which, I think, I need to base my purpose. 

The first realization is that happiness is an essence to living and that our happiness comes through validation and through happiness of people whom we care. The second realization I have made is that our life is a message, and that it is not the destination but the journey that is more important. I have figured that riding Mercedes in 200 km/h in I-20 lane will not give me happiness, when my relatives have to struggle to buy a pair of slippers with a daily average income of less than $2.00 a day. Getting good GPA, having good connections and finding a job with a steady income is not a perpetual source of happiness, when students of the same academic aptitude have to toil in Middle Eastern countries for living. It is easier said than done, but “an attempt”, I emphasize “an attempt”, to change the lives of around thirty millions people every day can be a greater source of happiness than a paycheck of some thousand dollars which may give no validation to my life.  I am aware that life is not lived in rhetoric and that it is not idealistic, but there is a so much in our system that needs an improvement, and my inner conscience seems to lead me to fixation of same.

'
Mahatma Gandhi said that the only tyrant we have to accept in this world is the “still small voice” within us even though we may be in a prospect of a hopeless minority. Similarly, Herman Hesse in Novel Siddhartha describes most people as falling leafs that drift and turn in the air, flutter and fall in the ground  and few as the stars which travel one defined path where no wind reaches  and which have within themselves their guide and path. I am not sure if I am a leaf drifting on the wind, carried away by an impulsive thought, or the star on its own path, what I know for sure is that I have the “still small voice” budding inside me. It may take few more walks to Lake Pontchartrain to validate the voice, but I am patient and hopeful, not only patient in the “still small voice” gaining the shape, but also patience in waiting for my purpose to become vivid. And I am hopeful because, as the theme of Shawshank Redemption depicts, fear holds us a prisoner and only hope can set us free –beyond this horizon into new beginning.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Boy!

The Man With Broad Shoulder

In a long line of cabs in Princeton Junction, Josue Lajeunesse -exhausted and sleepy- waits for passengers in his cab. His drowsy oblong face and half closed intense black eyes are reflected in side view mirror of his cab in dim midnight floodlight. “Almost every day I am out all night. I get home probably at 1.30 or 2.30 in the morning, sleep a couple of hours, and go back to work in morning”, says Josue in typical Haitian accent with mixed reactions: one of satisfaction, and another of exhaustion. Driving is a second job for Haitian Josue who has been working as a custodian at Princeton University for the last fourteen years. 

Photo Courtesy: Zimbio

Dust bag and motor hood attached at his back and extension tube in his hands, Josue moves vacuum cleaner on the floors of Princeton University with a serious expression in his swarthy face. He works in two different positions with tremendous effort not only to look after his children, but also to look after his brothers, sisters, aunt, nephews, and niece back in Haiti. “My older brother died like four years ago. But his kids, I have to take responsibility of them”, Josue stretches his voice as he says so, implying a huge responsibility he holds of them. On top of that, Josue is involved in some social projects to help poor people in his hometown-Lasource. Josue works so hard to improve the life standard of his family and society.

Josue with his brother started a clean drinking water project in Lasource in 2005.  As a result, twenty to twenty five families in Lasource have access to clean drinking water, for which they previously had to walk twenty to twenty five miles. Josue plans to visit his family in Haiti, for whom he has been working so hard. “I do not have opportunity to travel, but definitely this year in summer time I will try and go visit them”, says forty four year old Josue who has a weak chin and a loose jaw line, a broad nose with large nostril and small ears with attached earlobes. On his return to Haiti, Josue compares Haiti as being a small country with different system as compared to the United States of America. As a matter of fact, Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas; thus, a number of people cannot even afford a daily plate of rice. Those people are forced to eat cookies made out of yellow dirt. Emaciated torso, thin legs and hands and huge head define the body structure of most of the Haitian people, people of Lasoucre being no exceptions. Their miserable life is reflected in the contour of their body, but not in their looks, for those people have apathy in their face for their situation.  

Photo Courtesy: Examiner

Josue is disappointed with the condition of Lasource, which, he says, is very different than what it used to be when he lived there. “When I come back, their face look so different. People get old very easy when they have not aged”, he says with an air of disapproval in his voice. Moreover, Josue speaks of the ineffectiveness of the Haitian government, but in the meantime, speaks of his concern for his family and society where he spent more than first two decades of his life. “This is terrible. There are so many things that the government has not done that it is supposed to do. I do so much, but that is only me”, says Josue with disappointment in the voice. He takes a deep sigh, hits the car in frustration, covers half of face with a hand and cries with his head held low. “I hope I can do something better; I am very concerned about it. I believe everybody deserves to live right, and have food to eat”, he continues with reconciliation of emotions, but cries again in agony of dissatisfaction.

Photo Courtesy:NetoGritim

Despite the ineffectiveness of the Haitian government to solve the basic problems of people of Lasource, Josue has not given up his hopes. “Over here they never had any water. Never”, Josue says, stressing the fact. “They had to go all the way to the mountain to have clean water to drink. That is from where this water comes”, he continues in a satiated tone, pointing towards the adjacent green hill with sparse trees. He emphasizes on building at least two big reservoirs that can hold millions of gallons of water for the rest of the people. He believes that will be a benchmark for local people to function all the time. “My dream is to change this whole town, and I pray that my dream will get through,” he says confidently. 

Video Link: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S25/98/60O34/