Citizens should act responsibility when the governemnt is not able to deliver!!

Is the Nepali state on the verge of collapse ? Within the last decade, we have had 10 defferent heads of state. The political leaders of our politically unstable nation have been unable to address the needs of our society. Our state is crumbling, but that doesn't mean our society has to be weak too. We are a inherently optimistic people; we have the ability to shape our own destiny.

Historically, we have not had the opportunity to difine our own political destiny. Now, when we finally have the opportunity, we expecst the government to fix all the problems. Old habits ae hard to brak; our political leaders have proved that they are ineffective in addressing our concerns. They are more adept at playing the balame game. Howerver, the people want statemen to fix our problems; we blame them, but offer no solution.

Also, let us realise that government is not god. Political leaders cannot do everything for us. Citizens make the government ina democratic society and hence we should hold ourselves accountable at times when the government is not able to deliver. Citizens create society and the society cultivates the leaders. We lack promising leaders - I suspect mainly because the Nepali society focuses more on tribal needs. There is lack of robust nationalism. Political parties steem more intrested in creating factions than in uniting the nation. We as citizens of Nepal need to understand the reality and start acting rationally to build our nation.

It will be a genteel understatement tosay that government is not important. It is. However, we cannot have functional, accountable, transparent and responsible government without informed, dependable and hardworking citizenry. We must cultivate the sense of citizenship. One way to act would be to create a sense of private citizenship, empower oneself in order to contirbute to our own lives and nation rather than waiting for the government to do so.

As the second century Roman Philosopher-emperor Marcuts Aurelius points out in his Meditations, one must become "rational soul". By this he means that we should have affection for our neighbours, truthfulness and humility. He believes human beings are made to help others. Nothing is good except what leads to fairness, and self-control, and courage and free will, he says. Nothing is bad except what achieves the opposite. As Nepali we should work for ourselves and for our nation, rather than merely protesting against each other as political parties do.

Democracy is our destiny but today, it is urgent for us to determine the path of our country. Nepali government remains weak because of unskilled leaders. Howerver, our society can still become strong, stable and achieve relative success. We can start by learning from our neighbours. India has a relatively weak government but the society is strong.

There is a maxim in India: When government sleeps, economy doubles. Even Bihar, India's poorest, most lawless, and underdeveloped state recently achieved a very high growth rate in 2008-2009. If the Bihar government is to be believed, the state's growth rate of 11.4 percent is higher than India's industrially developed states. One of the factors for Bihar's progress is attributed to a swelling organised private sector. If Bihar can develop then why cannot private citizens of Nepal take intelligent risks despite the problems and take Nepal our of the abyss?

Human capital is the most important wealth of any country, Nepal being no exception. Again, to go back to anIndian example, it is worth remembeing Indian citizens' response inthe aftermath of the 2005 tsunami. In the past, one would have expected the goernment to do everything, but in this case within two weeks Indians had privately domated US $80 million to the relief effort.

It is about time Nepali private sector flexed its muscles too. More private and nonprofit groups need to get involved in health care and eduation sectors, which are converntionally the responsibilities of the state. In India more than 25 percent of schools and 80 percent of the health system are controlled by the private sector. There is no reason Nepali private bility upon itself.

The private sector here could ultimately contribute fora stable democracy. Democracy can be noisy but eventually it allows individuals to empower themselves economically and politically. Despite the mountain of rhetoric about helping the people, our government has done little for us.They havemade too few investments in human beings- in our health and education, and the money budgeted has rarely been well spent.

More responsibility goes to the future of nation-they youth. It would be prudent for youth like me to become more involved in pragmatic practices to turn the Nepali dreams into reality. As youth, we must own the challenge. Historian Arnold J. Toynbeeonce wrote "Growth takes place whenever a challenge evokes a successful response that, in turn, evokes a further and different challenge". It's they outh who will inherit the nation. We should react resolutely inorder to address the nation's challenge. The desire to have a peaceful and prosperous nation is not sufficient in itself. It also requires pursuance of well coordinated, comprehensive course of action with perseverance.

I am acutely aware that I sound idealistic when I ask citizens to build their own nation. However, the history humanity teaches us that passion persuades. Hence, if youare passionate about our country and can persuade our fellow friends and family members to start working hard and countribute to our own nation- even through samll endeavours like following traffic rules, not engagingin corruption and leading an environmentally friendly lifestyle-- the country is bound to see better days in the future.

If we are accountable we will have the power to hold our leaders accountable. Hence, as a fellow Nepali, I urge you to spread the word of citizenship and save our courntry.