Analyzing Thirteenth Plan Of Nepal For National Development

Selection of Thirteenth Plan of Nepal for the national development policy

Question:

Describe about the Policy Analysis.
 

The principal aim of developing this paper is selecting a particular policy at the national context of a country devised by the government in aid to promote the development throughout the nation. After that, achieving the significant objective of the document will be done, which is analysing the contents and strategies adopted for the policy to develop a proper sense regarding the key areas of the country covered by the identified approaches and the expected outcomes of such adoption (Acharya, 2012). This particular report critically selected the Thirteenth Plan of Nepal for the financial year 2013-14 to 2015-16. The planning and implementation of the identified policy is a vital responsibility for the National Planning Commission as part of the Government of Nepal.

The primary reason for selecting the identified policy for conducting the evaluation is based on the dramatic political and institutional changes identified within the country for supporting Nepal’s precedence towards the sustainable peace and equitable development. “The Comprehensive Peace Accord” and the “The Interim Constitution of Nepal (2007)” are developed with some of the above guidelines to promote the life and wellbeing of the national population (Araral, 2013). By investigating the current situation, the government or the economic condition of the country is facing the significant amount of challenges for developing an environment for the population of Nepal, in which they can experience different kinds of economic and social transformation in accordance with the proposed guidelines (Bardach, 2012). Apart from that, some of the additional hurdles can also be observed related to the country, which is majorly based on eliminating the poverty and enhancing the standard of living for the Nepali people. The national bodies of the statehave also identified the factors for achieving the mentioned objectives by forming an environment welcoming the investment in the productive areas to generate the increasing employment opportunities and development priorities.

From the context of Nepal, the preceding twelve periodic plans of the country undertook the proposed development on the continuing basis for setting the goals and priorities facilitating the overall national development. In thecase of the Thirteenth Plan (APTP) identified by the country for the period of 2013-14 to 2015-16, it is devised by developing the long-running effects of the visions supporting the millennium development of the overall nation (Blum & Schubert, 2013). The originalview of the particular plan is upgrading the status from least-developed country to the developing economy within the next decade. In order to attain the identified vision of APTP, all the strategies, goals, and objectives are aligned and formulated accordingly to materialise the content. The subsequent portion of the paper will importantly evaluate and judge various areas of the certain policy from the context of the selection country to promote the enhancement of the necessary areas.  

Relevancy of the Policy in achieving the Goals

The relevancy of the identified policy named as APTP incorporates different suggestions from the representatives of the political parties, such as the government, non-government institutions, development partners, former vice-chairman, and various members of “National Planning Commission”, and various development partners (Cook & Halsall, 2012). In thecase of planned development, the approaches all started in 1956, where the implementation of thefive-years plan and three-years plan can be observed within the country for nine and three times respectively. The last of those was the three-year plan ended in mid-July of 2013. It can be observed critically that the combined effects of these programs had contributed remarkably to the social and economic development of the country. However, the country still faces some significant challenges from the rise of poverty, social exclusion, and the economic disparity, which requires the national development of policy in the current context to address the issues adequately. The essential selection of “APTP (FY 2013/14 to 2015/16)” is developed to cover these problems significantly and some other relevant matter of concerns (Di Mauro & Pesaran, 2013). As discussed earlier, Nepal is considered as a least developed nation, whereas the country can manage the achievement of the status of a developing country influenced by the increasing development efforts and the accelerated political commitment in the future context. There are three essential criteria should need to be maintained by the country in order to earn the status of a developing country, out of which, the country with its previous policies have been able to achieve one (Diaz & Torres, 2012). Therefore, the country is required to maintain one more criteria for acquiring the status of a developing country. Therefore, the particular relevancy of the identified APTP can be observed in the development of the strategies, goals, objectives, priorities,and contents of the current policy oriented towards achieving the designated status for the country. Not only that, but also the strategies aim to promote multiple aspects of the country, such as the sustainable development, developing possible adaption to the different climate change issues, elimination of poverty by ensuring the environment-friendly economy, and enhancing the human rights (Díez & Franceschet, 2013). Therefore, the strategies and the other major concepts of the identified policies are developed to provide emphasis on the regional as well as the international commitments associated with the county, which are necessary for promoting the basic status of the overall economy.

Objectives of Thirteenth Plan and challenges faced by Nepal

The development of the APTP policy is done with ensuring the achievement of a long-term vision, which is based on facilitating the upgradation of Nepal from a least developed country to a developing county by the period of 2022. Therefore, it can be observed by determining the long-term vision behind the development of the policy that the specified development policy effectively recognizes the need of promoting the economic condition of the country for welcoming more foreign investment and improving the standard of the overall community (Dunn, 2012).

By looking at the objective of APTP, the approaches are shaped up in fashion for reducing or eliminating the economic as well as human-related poverties throughout the nation to direct the favourable changes in the standard of livings of the common people. Therefore, the identified objective of the development plan is focused on bringing necessary enhancement in the daily behaviours and lifestyles of the overall residents within the country, which is highly essential for the company to promote its current position in the global economic environment (Hula, Reese, & Jackson-Elmoore, 2012). An increasing lifestyle and standard of living of the country will efficiently proliferate the productivity to the less-developed areas of the country with the help of industrial revolution.

The three-year plan as identified by the government bodies and authorities of Nepal is also developed with a certain goal, which is based on the decreasing the particular proportion of the poverty level to 18 percent. Considering the analysis, it can be observed that the fundamental goal of the current development policy is aimed to provide emphasis on the problems and challenges experiencing in the contemporary period by the country (Levrero, Palumbo, & Stirati, 2013). These difficulties and limitations are adequately addressed by the policy to develop certain relationships with the identified priorities of the country. Apart from that, the following goals of the policyare also based on promoting the growth of economic, agricultural, non-agricultural, employment, life expectancy, population, and different other associated factors. The three-year development plan has developed and put forwarded some of themajor strategies in order to promote the growth of various factors (O'Donoghue, 2013). The strategiesare based on deciding the targets allocated for each development category within the FY 2015-16. Based on such information, it can be acknowledged that the identified development plan provides vital priority to the improvement of enrolment rates combined with the different primary levels of mentioned factors. Based on the projection, it is expected that current human development index for the country will rise to 0.583 alongside the basic growth in the per capita gross income by the end of the current APTP.

With the help of the discussion, the basic understanding can be gained about the different priorities of Nepal, which are required for supporting the identified prospect of the country in its future period(Patton, Sawicki, & Clark, 2013). On the other hand, different strategies are followed by APTP in order develop a suitable coordination to these individual priorities. These strategies are devised by the three-year plan during the beginning stage of developing the relationship with the priorities of the country and successfully able to promote the concerns for achieving the long-term vision related to the overall process. As part of the investigation, these strategies associated with the overall plan are recognized and should need to be elaborated in a specific manner. Firstly, the formulation of the strategy is done regarding the achievement of extended and sustainable economic growth by ensuring the increasing contributions from the manygovernments, private, and cooperative sectors within the development process(Pop, 2012). Secondly, the strategies are also developed for establishing and driving the appropriate physical infrastructure alongside the enhancement of quality and access to different kinds of social services. The identified strategy will help to formulate and maintain the relationship between the population with the differentother platforms of the world while significantly increasing their physical presence. Thirdly, the strategies are designed to shed light on the promotion of good governance practices within the critical areas like the public and private sectors(Scollon, 2008). Apart from that, the strategic involvement can also be observed in the process of empowering the target groups of the country socially and economically with the help of different development programs. The basic aim of the identified strategy is aimed to promote the wellbeing of the natural environment by allowing the increasing contribution of the population towards the different climate change adaptions, as identified by the environment policies and guidelines.

Relevance of Thirteenth Plan for Nepal's development

Furthermore, in order to implement the identified strategies discussed in the above paragraph, the APTP was required to identify clearly about the major priorities related to the current economic and social environment of the country(Shafir, 2013). According to the investigation, some of the basic priorities are clearly disclosed by the APTP for favoring the development the entire nation. Firstly, the three-year plan has been able to identify the need for maintaining different development in the energy industry like the hydropower segment. Secondly, the APTP recognizes the need for developing the agricultural sector within the country to increase the major productivity and provide auseful contribution to the country(Smith & Larimer, 2013). In this case, the particular plan has identified the need of maximizing the productivity, commercialization, and diversification associated with the specific industry. Lastly, the strategies have recognized the necessity of developing the other majorly contributory sectors of the country, like the education, healthcare, and sanitation sectors. 

Based on the investigation to the economic growth rate related to the current context and the expected outcomes, the industries influenced by the policy and its involvement can be determined. By considering the increasing pace of the national development and the available resources within the country, it is estimated that the annual growth rate of the overall three-year plan is estimated to be at 6 percent (Somit & Peterson, 2012). The majority of this identified growth is significantly contributed by the agricultural and non-agricultural industry. Such fact leads toward the particular understanding that both of the industries from the country have benefited highly from the introduction of the individual plan. The particular growth rate in the agricultural and non-agricultural in the present day context is known to be at 4.5 percent and 6.7 percent respectively. On the other hand, the result of such an increment in the particularly identified industry will make sure the increasing per capital income and employment opportunities within the country with around 4.6 percent and 3.2 percent respectively (Tatto & Bruner, 2012). Therefore, the overall growth in the standard of living can be delivered by the impact of the technical improvement. Here, it is estimated that basic inflation rate for the countryis stable at 7 percent throughout the levied period of the three-year plan. According to the estimation during the strategic formulation related to the APTP, it is identified to increase theproportionof the standard of living of the country’s population to 18 percent with boosting the employment and eliminating the poverty from the targeted economy.

Based on the initial discussion, it is quite clear that the agricultural industry is one of the major industry, in which the three-year plan provided the major focus. It is estimated to maintain a growth rate of 4.5 percent in the agricultural industry by the particular plan with increasing the productivity and production(Thissen & Walker, 2013). By the help of the certain emphasis provided by the APTP, the proper benefit can be achieved by the agricultural sector of Nepal, where the growth in the segment ensures the attraction to the private investment. The particular plan provides emphasis on developing different cooperatives, commercialization, research and development, agro-credit, agro-roads, market mechanism, and electrification. On the other hand, the industrial sector is estimated to achieve a growth of 6.7 percent excluding the agricultural revolution for the country. With the help of institutional reforms and different types of enhancements initiated in the various industrial factors by the particular planning, the estimated growth in the industry sector is expected to achieve within the identified timeframe(Vaitsman, Ribeiro, & Lobato, 2013). Additionally, it should need to mention that critical reforms in the relevant policies and procedures like the involvement of a new “Industrial Enterprises Act” are shaped up in the appropriate manner to alter the industrial climate in the positive direction. Therefore, the commercial environment has gained animmense benefit out of the strategic implementation of the identified three-year plan.

Long-term vision of Thirteenth Plan for Nepal

Therefore, it can be observed that the commercial and industrial sectors of the country are benefitted from the application of the policy, as the specific segments are expected to be developed and expanded through the implementation. Such development and expansion isfacilitated by the improvement of medium and cottage industries alongside providing the special focus to the minerals industry and maintaining the industrial peace at the efficient manner(Shafir, 2013). Considering the particular benefits given to the specified industries, it is determined that the major advantage is delivered to the overall environment of the country, which can become conducive to the full utilization of existing and potential industries formed within the country. 

The policyis developed with four different stages based on contents, strategies, output or implementation, and outcome or result. Implementation of the policy is one of the most challenging tasks for any national bodies from their respective country, where the process demands turning the policy into the active practice. However, there is a significant gap exists between the actual results of the implementation and the expected outcomes during the planning process. According to Buse et al. (2005), there iswide range of theoretical models available in this particular context devised by different scholars in order to identify and address these gaps (Pop, 2012). In order to determine the factors or individuals suffered from the implementation of the policy, atop-down approach is selected mostly. The importance of this particular policyis based on shaping up the approaches related to the policy formation and policy execution with including the unique set of activities. In the case of the three-year policy designed and adopted for Nepal, it can be stated that the guidelines are strictly levied initially in the political process. Subsequently, these policies are communicated to the subordinate levels with identifying and adopting different kinds of managerial, technical, and administrative approaches into the overall practice. Based on the different suggestions from the political scientists and their particular theories, the approaches of the top-down model requires some of specific criteria in the proper place for implementing the policies (Levrero, Palumbo, & Stirati, 2013). These criteria involves the associated objectives to be clear and consistent in terms of their basic logics, and should need to be comprised of the adequate casual theories. It is based on the developing and arranging the activities and proposed functions are supporting the achievement of the desired outcomes. Additionally, the overall implementation process should need to be structured in the proper manner to provide the compliance guidelines to the implementers or the government bodies of the country.

In thecase of the problems identified from the context of Nepal, it is very unlikely that the mentioned criteria are included in the formation of the particular policy. On the other hand, some critical areas of the policy only provide preferences to the higher level of government officials or bodies while neglecting the role of other actors in the industrial level as well as the individual context. Considering the particular understanding, it is observed that the impact of the government action in the economy of Nepal would be risk over-estimating as some critical factors might be overlooked by the policy. Lastly, every policy tends to be altered after their implementation,and it is often difficult to apply and control the direction of the policy without the proper support obtained from the single or dominant agency.

In order to develop the report, the analysis of the particular policies under the three-year plan for Nepal, the primary examination is done on the different alternatives of the policy and judging the soundness a clarity of the outcomes (Hula, Reese, & Jackson-Elmoore, 2012). Secondly, the political choices among the different alternatives are needed to be decided, as it is essential to ensure the policy is gone through the political process,such as the political guidelines and regulations.

Considering this particular analysis, the major challenge observed in the policy and its implementation is the attaining the targeted growth within the identified timeframe. One of the basic reason for creating such a challenge is the institutional rigidity involved in the particular country, where the rigidity is largely formed for the basic cultural values of Nepal.Additionally, the internal conflicts are responsible for hampering the cooperative action developed by the political associations in the modern administrative framework.  

Conclusion

After analysing the particularly selected policy from the context of Nepal, it can be critically articulated that developing and implementing the public policy experiences various problems. Censoriously observed that these challenges could be from the perspective of values, politics, different expectation of the members, and institutional involvements. Therefore, it is expected to develop the knowledge of the policy-makers by sophistically examining the past and present impact of the policies. 

References

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