BP Badal
Maghi (Maghe Sangrati) is one of the highly celebrated festivals of Nepal. Hindus (83%) and Buddhists (11%) population of both civilizations celebrate it as the enthusiastic festival of the movement of the sun in the solar system. People visit rivers, take holy baths, worship and pray in temples. Back home people eat delicious foods – refined butter(Ghee), Chaku (Retreated molasses), Tarul and Sakhharkhanda (Yam and Sweet Potato), Til ko laddu (a chewy candy made out of sesame seeds and Chaku), Khichadi (Rice cooked with black gram Dal) and sell roti (Sweet bread). Singing, Dancing, Drinking, and playing with cultural dresses are very famous. People do oil massages at home.
This is a very significant festival in Nepalese culture. At this festival normally people stay at home and enjoy themselves with family. The festival is itself a high value of cultural tourism in Nepal. On such a big day, on 15th January 2023, after the inauguration of the third international airport of Nepal, got a devastating aircraft crash- killing 72 people in Pokhara. The accident has raised a few grave questions about the poor nature of corruption of Nepali people that must be changed and cured in every home.
If money is lost, nothing is lost, if health is lost, something is lost and if character is lost everything is lost. We lost the lives of 72 people, and we lost the respect of families around the globe. The accident clearly pointed out the corrupt characteristics of Nepalese society. Thus it has a serious impact on the tourism industry. Killing the hen and giving golden eggs are really a misfortune. The aviation industry of Nepal, with certain greed and bribe to bureaucrats and politicians, killed tourism. Recently reviving tourism due to the devastating pandemic is again in crisis. Thus a single bit of corruption should be eradicated.
Economic poverty is the result of a lack of labor, toil, and sweat. It is the lack of entrepreneurial financial literacy. It is the lack of confidence. When we start business poverty will be eradicated. So monetary poverty is simply the result of laziness. So economic poverty is nothing. If we are economically poor, nothing will happen, we have to increase our productivity. Without increasing productivity, the industry tried to earn more profit so the disaster happened.
Social poverty is the health of society. If society is not healthy it cannot move properly. Change or development in like such a society is almost impossible. Very traditional, rigid, and ignorant societies need a higher level of awareness and spiritual moral education. Against 83% Hindu and 11% Buddhists Nepal is declared a secular country. Hinduism and Buddhism are not Religions; however, they are the notion of eastern oriental civilization. They are completely democratic and secular but we were not able to prove them. We did not recognize our assets or property. So we self-declared we are poor. We forget our culture, tradition, and religion, and accept the idea of high earnings of materialistic characteristics. This is our policy corruption.
Real poverty is the poverty inside human psychology. When we lose our character we will lose everything. We lose our character in corruption. Nepal ranks at 117 in Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index among analyzed 180 countries. Ok, we did not have money, and we did not have good moral education, but we lose our character. So we are proved in this world as a really poor nation. Corruption is as bad as rape. A corrupt human is more sinful than a rapist. A murderer murders once but a rapist murders a victim every second of a lifetime. Most of the rape victims have mental disorders due to the accident. Corruption is more dangerous than rape. So corruption is more than rape and a corrupt is more than a rapist.
The corruption in the aviation industry of Nepal has raped. The stakeholders of the aviation industry must take responsibility for the this. The family of dead people always remember the murderers. Who are the murderers? The corrupt politicians and bureaucrats were lured by the corrupt benefits, commissions, and bribes provided by the private investors. Thus the overall industry is a heinous murder. This is not other than corruption. 90% of social media comments related to the accident claim the reason is corruption. Corruption kills humanity. When humanity dies everything will die.
Nepal as a nation (117/180), is 65% corrupt. 65% people of Nepal are corrupt. 65% of families, 65% of fathers, 65% of mothers, 65% of sons, and 65% of daughters are corrupt in Nepal. The corrupt people are the poorest people in the world from economic social and cultural dimensions. They cannot survive when their posts dismiss. The corrupt people are poor. We are definitely poor. Most importantly, tourists do not visit to see our poverty and corruption. The crash has had a direct impact on Nepalese society, culture, economy, character, and of course tourism. And its panacea at the people’s level is to avoid corruption with high thinking and high living.
Let’s start to live in self labour, start to speak truth, as a simple natural human being, corruption will be controlled. Society will be progressive and peaceful. Heaven can be seen in earth if all of we can turn into a natural human being.
(Dr. Badal is a working scholar on rural tourism, development, and planning)
