Towards 2030

At the cusp of a new year and a new decade, Nepalis must take stock of promises not kept and the opportunities lost to take the country forward in the last 10 years.

In 2010, there was optimism that with the war ended and a new constitution being drafted, the country could convert stability into prosperity. The vision was turned into a political slogan, but the decade was squandered.

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Another decade to get it right, Editorial

Nepal in 2030, Sanghamitra Subba

The most spectacular failure has been in governance, and over the past two years. Despite local elections that promised accountability and a ruling party commanding a two-thirds majority, Nepal is still drifting aimlessly without a coherent strategy for the future.

But Nepal never fails to surprise. We make progress regardless of all the obstacles. This is the only low-income country with low growth that has more than halved its poverty rate in the past 10 years. Despite conflict and disasters, and despite government, Nepal took rapid strides in human development. Imagine how much further we would have gone if we had better leadership.

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Nepal in the 2020s, Sewa Bhattarai

How will Nepal develop in the next decade?, Sonia Awale

In this year-ender edition we take a look forward to see what the coming decade has in store for us. Where will Nepal be in 2030? Planners, and even astrologers, are optimistic the country will take a great leap forward.

We would like to believe National Planning Commission Member Min Bahadur Shahi when he says: “The 2020s will be a progressive decade of sustainable and just development. There will be double-digit growth, increased investment from the government and the focus will be on quality, not quantity.”

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A future written in the stars, Sanghamitra Subba

Nepalis have been let down before, and they will have a chance in 2022 to cast their verdict in the next elections. But the challenge for planners is to get out of the low-growth, high-migration trap so the country can graduate to middle-income status by 2030.