Unleashing Nepal: Past, Present and Future of the Economy
- Sujeev Shakya / Penguin BooksAbout the Book
The past decade has been an eventful one for Nepal. It has featured thwarted attempts at democracy, a royal massacre and a coup, and finally Maoist guerrillas coming over ground, winning a popular electoral mandate and decisively ending the centuries old institution of monarchy.
Unleashing Nepal has been written at a time when many fundamental questions on economic rights are being raised by an ever more assertive citizenry. It narrates the chequered history of Nepal's economy- from the time of unification, through decades of autocracy, mixed economy and foreign aid dependence, to the ‘conflictonomics' of the Maoist guerrilla war and a remittance economy driven by the labour of Nepali diaspora.
Unleashing Nepal will also tell the stories of figures who are a crucial part of Nepal's economic life—the night watchman in India or Dubai, the selfish aristocrat of the past, the foreign aid worker and the modestly venal government servant. More unusually, the reader will read about Nepali youth with global desires and resourceful village communities who manage electricity while Kathmandu is plunged in darkness.
Acclaimed columnist and business executive Sujeev Shakya unflinchingly examines the squandering opportunities of the past, but most importantly, looks at Nepal as a potential Asian Tiger.
This compelling and readable economic history displays the combination of acute business understanding and cantankerous humour that earned the author an enthusiastic readership for his fortnightly column in Nepali Times, under the nom de plume Arthabeed. The author unflinchingly examines the squandered opportunities of the past, but also, importantly, looks at Nepal as a potential Asian Tige.
This dream is shown to be a real possibility given Nepal's rich cultural heritage, unparalleled hydropower potential, its advantageous location between economic giants India and China and its massive population of youth and migrant worker population.
Book Introduction & Foreword
The Book's foreword has been written by noted business guru, columnist and writer Gurucharan Das, former Vice President of Procter and Gamble and writer of India Unbound.
The introduction to the book has been written by Prof Ashraf Ghani, former Finance Minister of Afganisthan and co-author of the book Fixing Failed States.
