View: Nepal’s wellbeing is in India’s interest, stop harping on how much we are helping

By Shiv Shankar Mukherjee
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall” – Nelson Mandela

Nepal has taken a colossal fall. Near-saturation coverage has meant that the world has seen the heart-wrenching scale of this tragedy and the world has rushed to provide help, to deal with the immediate crisis: Saving lives, providing shelter, food, water and medical care for the survivors.

But rescuers are facing every kind of obstacle one can imagine: A poor country with poor infrastructure, bad weather, difficult terrain, remote areas which make access a nightmarish task, roads that range from the dangerous to the impassable especially after the earthquake, a pervasive fear of aftershocks, rotting human and animal corpses posing dangers of an epidemic… The four horsemen of the apocalypse rarely had such a favourable hunting ground.

In pursuing Nepal’s medium and long term recovery, first and foremost it must be understood that the road to recovery has to be travelled by two partners only – the people and government of Nepal and the people and government of India. Their real and difficult journey towards recovery and beyond will begin when the tragedy’s dust settles, when donor enthusiasm fades, when television cameras move on to more current disasters in a conflict-ridden world.

As for murmurs about the need for better coordination along with suggestions that relevant UN bodies be empowered for this, I must say that the best help that the UN can give is to stay out of the relief effort inside Nepal and advise other rich country donors to do the same. Instead confine this coordination to deciding the financial and material help that they can give, transfer it to Nepal, and leave it to the Nepal authorities to make the best use of it.

No country in the world, not even the richest one, has the capability of disaster management that India has, from our own experience. Not one of them could have done what India did in the evacuations in both Gulf wars, then Libya, and most recently in Yemen, in the worst possible conflict conditions. Our armed forces and increasingly professional disaster management teams are used to dealing with rescue efforts in the face of rotten infrastructure, fragile and helpless populations, while others are not.

This is a matter of fact. But in the context of Nepal – which is geographically, culturally and economically virtually an extension of India, with an open border underlining this reality – this makes it our responsibility to assist Nepal not just to mitigate the immediate crisis, but to double and redouble our assistance and the reach of our helping hand, not just for the few years it takes to attain near normalcy, but permanently.

And we should do this not because of altruism but because a stable and economically growing Nepal is essential to our national interest. We have spent billions in Afghanistan. And although we are the largest donor to Nepal, the total amount for development cooperation in Nepal is a pittance in comparison, and should be increased in multiples. The PM’s promises during his visit to Nepal and his government’s admirable response to the disaster in Nepal have hit the right spots. But declarations of intent become counter-productive unless followed by speedy implementation.

We have to give the lie to the saying that is unfortunately widespread in the developing world, that India promises but China delivers. This is the opportunity for our action oriented PM to light a fire under all those institutions that are involved in our dealings with Nepal, and to implement all those measures of aid, trade facilitation, border management, water issues and so on as a permanent feature of our policies. Help rebuild Nepal as you would help rebuild any Indian state.

It is silly, and futile, to expect fulsome expressions from Nepal as a quid pro quo for our help. We should continue to help because it is in our interest to do so. Remember, if we want to ensure that Nepal’s territory is not used against India’s interests, we can only do so with the willing cooperation of Nepal.

Forget about the ‘anti-Indian’ rhetoric from some individuals – the carping a few politicians out for cheap popularity as well as the result of two and a half centuries of brainwashing by the Shahs and the Ranas intent on making big brother India the scapegoat for their own failings as rulers. The vast majority of the people of Nepal have no such hang-ups, even in the face of the patronising attitude often displayed by many Indians. Bottom line, we must factor in the fact that Nepal is a sovereign nation whose wellbeing is in our interest, and stop harping on about how much we are helping our less endowed neighbour.

As an example of extracting opportunity from the jaws of disaster, consider the lack of electricity hampering rescue and relief efforts. Nepal has 50,000 MW of potential power. Its demand is a little over 1,000 MW and it generates only 425 MW, actually importing power from India. Now is the time, and the opportunity, to discuss with the Nepal government genuine cooperation in the power and water sectors, long bedevilled politically, and forge ahead on this, which could make Nepal the richest country in South Asia, and be of great help to India’s development as well.

(The writer is former Indian Ambassador to Nepal)