I shake my head in disbelief on news of a bandh striking right in the middle of the week during the time of Nepali new year. News came out that there is already a strike in the eastern and southern part of the country and my freight forwarder has informed me that there could potentially be one on shipment day coming up.
Since May 2008, I have become actively involved in Nepal from a simple desire - to bring in fresh organic produce grown from our company farm in Phulbari to my hometown Singapore. The approaching bandh will affect an air shipment of vegetables and produce once again
retarding business and the image of Nepal.
A visit in March 2008 after an eight-year hiatus to our farm had me hooked on the salads, potatoes, cauliflower and a long list of vegetables that had been growing on the land under the guidance of a European expert. It seemed plausible to export fresh and processed produce from the Himalayas to our tiny island that imports more than 90% of its food from all over the world. The island’s population of 5.08 million comprising citizens, permanent residents and foreign workers consumes 83.8 kg of vegetables per capita. There is room for imports from Nepal flown in on the two available airlines reaching Singapore.
Promoting Organic Himalaya allows me interaction with the Nepali farmers, retailers, shippers and indirectly, government or the people run the bureaux for export.Coming from business-oriented Singapore where protests, and industrial strikes are unlawful and subject to jail sentences and hefty fines, one can understand why the heavy-handedness.One body cannot loom overwhelmingly against the other. The way is partnership. You help my business prosper and I will reciprocate with improved wages and working conditions. The rule of law finds some equilibrium.
So what is the excuse for the coming bandhs this time, I try to find the answer. That is probably the hardest thing to do. From my reading, it seems to be led by unions or groups affiliated to political parties. Reasons for rightful increase of wages or medical care somehow become mired by politics. There are minority communities airing grievances with threats of hunger strikes or roadblocks. Sooner or later, they will also resort to political alliances if their cries are not heard.
Honest business leaders who do not subscribe to giving party favours had to think of other strategies to operate profitably or close down. Do the leaders of the groups who call the strikes think that they can really achieve anything for their people if they bring the house down,or worse, the nation? Just a bit of restraint should ease the way.
Take my small business as an example. I order vegetables, jams, pickles, dried pulses and legumes from various parts of the country for this coming shipment. A strike would mean cancellation of orders and a blow for the farmers whose produce will not reach their market.
Vegetables will continue to grow and cannot wait for bandhs to clear. Wait another week and the losses are hard to retrieve.
Strikers should discriminate here and allow commerce to operate.Trucks delivering goods armed with purchase orders and invoices should be allowed to carry on. And I don’t mean greasing the outstretched hand to pass the barriers. Just reasoning with the youths “Brother, do you know that if I don’t deliver I won’t earn this amount of money. That would mean my wife, sons and daughters, the workers, their wives, mothers, fathers and sons and daughters will not get money to buy food, pay for school, electricity, water, transport, seeds, etc. You mean to say that if you don’t work, the rest of us will have to stop and bring the hardship on ourselves? Think brother.”
Of course, all this is wishful thinking and will the bandh leaders care? As long as the bandhs continue to swat everyone by their randomness, I will never be able to go forward in this enterprise. I cannot make it sound whimsical to my customers that some crazy guys in Nepal have blocked the road to the airport and prevented our boxes from getting loaded on the plane.
I cannot hide the sad truth that surrounds me on the farm and in the country where physical threats and forced contributions by some groups have agitated once placid villagers to join in the demands. Nepal is going down if no one cares.
Last year on May 7th, the people of Kathmandu came out in a sane and peaceful manner to counter the week-long general strikes that crippled their country. Some 35,000 people were reported to protest against the strikes which resulted in the normalisation of businesses and lives.
Let’s hope that this spirit of reason still dwells in the 35,000 who showed courage and resolve to end what could potentially be another round of economic and social disaster if arbitrary strikers do as they wish.