Nepal's Descent into Consumerism: Examining the Erosion of Production and the Path Forward

The development of human civilization is linked to production. Humans create new things by utilizing nature to fulfill their needs. The identity of any society is guided by the creation and production it undertakes. However, when consumption, rather than creation and production, is considered the standard of success in a society, a consumerist society is born.

Consumerism is a state where the market controls human desires. A consumerist character limits people, transforming them from creative producers into mere statistics or consumption machines for the market. In a consumerist society, the market controls human culture and psychology, and people attempt to find mental satisfaction through the consumption of goods. When an item is used more for display and prestige than for its utility, that society is considered mired in the quagmire of consumerism. Simply put, a society where a person's identity, success, and happiness are based on the purchase and consumption of goods or services they use is called a consumerist society.

It should not be hesitated to state that contemporary Nepali society is trapped in the vicious cycle of both consumerism and non-production. A non-productive society is one that relies solely on things made by others instead of creating or producing the goods or services it needs itself. In such a society, economic activities are centered on consumption rather than creation. Nepal is currently passing through this very characteristic, which can be fatal in the long run. We are dominated by consumerism without domestic production, and we have become dependent consumers. This lack of production is hollowing out not only the economy but also our human sensibilities and social character.

In developed, production-oriented countries, a culture of consumption emerged after an abundance of production, but in Nepal, consumption has skyrocketed without the foundation of production being laid. This is a parasitic economy that is also weakening our national sovereignty. But this situation did not arise overnight; it is the result of decades of flawed economic policies, political instability, and neglect of production.

In Nepal's modern economic history, the Democratic Socialism put forward by B.P. Koirala can be considered an original and progressive concept. After becoming the popularly elected Prime Minister in 2015 BS, he advanced an economic policy suitable for the soil of Nepal. The center of his socialism was the farmer tilling the land. He used to say, 'When making plans for Nepal, hang a photograph of a poor farmer on the wall of the Planning Commission and ask: What change will your plan bring to this farmer's life?'

The core essence of B.P. Koirala's Democratic Socialism was self-respect based on production. B.P. emphasized rural self-sufficiency over large and imported industries. He sought to establish the rights of the tiller on the land by abolishing the Birta system, so that farmers would be encouraged to produce. He envisioned local raw material utilization and job creation through small and medium-sized industries. However, the political coup of 2017 BS occurred, a political event through which the Panchayat completely prevented his original economic model from being fully implemented.

The privatization policy after 2046 BS transformed B.P.'s dream of a productive society into a consumerist society. Although some government factories were opened during the Panchayat era, they were under state control and could not connect with people's entrepreneurship. The neo-liberalism after 2046 BS failed to protect domestic industries, and Nepal turned into a trading economy.

After the restoration of democracy in 2046 BS, Nepal embraced neo-liberalism and a free-market economy, following the global economic wave. This became the departure point for the collapse of Nepal's productive foundation. The then Nepali Congress government privatized dozens of state-owned industries such as the Bhrikuti Paper Mill, Bansbari Leather Shoe Factory, and Hetauda Textile Industry. Due to a lack of strategic planning, these industries were used by the private sector to sell off land or shut down, rather than to operate them.

With the displacement of domestic industries, customs duties were drastically reduced, allowing foreign goods to enter cheaply. Nepal's small entrepreneurs could not compete with the vast capital and technology of foreign production. Consequently, Nepal transformed into an importing nation without ever entering the stage of becoming a producing nation.

Although the Maoist armed conflict that began in 2052 BS brought about a historic political achievement, it obstructed the country's economy and infrastructure development during that period, leaving the country's overall production system in limbo for a decade. The impact of the ten-year People's War on the rural production system eventually became the point of youth migration for the country. After the peace process, these displaced people began migrating abroad instead of returning to the soil. During this time, the path of foreign employment opened up widely. Money came from foreign employment, but there were no young people left in the villages to work the land. Arable land lay fallow.

The bulldozer reached every village, but instead of the village's production coming to the city via those roads, multinational company goods started reaching the villages even before the remittance money did, creating a path for the remittance money to return where it came from. Thus, contrary to the spirit of the socialism-oriented constitution, Nepali society took the path of consumerism.

Remittances also increased people's purchasing power, but there were no Nepali goods in the market. Consequently, the money from remittances was spent on imported goods, returning abroad. After the Comprehensive Peace Accord of 2063 BS, a major political change occurred in the country, creating great enthusiasm among the Nepali populace. But ironically, before that enthusiasm could materialize, this period proved to be the golden age of labor migration, consumption expansion, and dependency in economic terms. During the transition period after the peace accord, various factors such as political instability, load shedding, and labor strikes caused even existing industries to shut down. The balance between production and consumption was so distorted that Nepal's exports remained stagnant while imports increased tenfold.

The Journey Towards Consumerism: A Socialism-Oriented Constitution

The new constitution of 2072 BS envisioned a socialism-oriented economy, but in practice, a consumption-oriented economy became even stronger. Looking at the decade since the promulgation of the constitution, it would not be wrong to say that we are moving towards extreme consumerism, not socialism. Although federalism brought rights down to the lower levels, the village did not become the center of economic production. Local levels spent their budgets on non-productive infrastructure focused on commissions, such as constructing roads, building view towers, and formulating development plans centered around cadres of their respective political parties, rather than on productive sectors, often in an arbitrary manner without proper planning.

The bulldozer reached every village, but instead of the village's production coming to the city via those roads, multinational company goods started reaching the villages even before the remittance money did, creating a path for the remittance money to return where it came from. Thus, contrary to the spirit of the socialism-oriented constitution, Nepali society took the path of consumerism.

Looking at the statistics from the decade before and after the promulgation of the constitution, the contribution of industry to Nepal's Gross Domestic Product has decreased from 10 percent to around 5 percent. A large portion of the budget is spent on the import of consumer goods, while consumption accounts for nearly 90 percent of the GDP, whereas the share of savings and investment is extremely low. The country's major leaders and all coalition partners have played a decisive role, in one form or another and at some point, in all this, making consumerism their political base and promoting comprador capitalism to sustain their cadres. Policy benefits were given to trading agents who import goods rather than to those who produce. Remittances were considered the standard of the country's financial success, while no one paid attention, nor was it made a subject of debate, that this was the migration of our productive force.

The dissatisfaction among the youth seen on Bhadra 23 and 24 last year (the Gen Z movement) and the incidents of parliament dissolution are the political consequences of this consumerist crisis. The new generation sees the world's facilities on the internet and desires to consume them. But there is no production or employment opportunity in the country. This gap causes extreme frustration among the youth, leading them either to want to leave the country or to revolt on the streets. The Gen Z movement was a prime example of this.

The situation of new and Gen Z-based parties in the upcoming elections following the Gen Z movement and parliament dissolution is somewhat peculiar. They claim to represent the new generation and emphasize issues of corruption and good governance, but they have no clear concept of how to reduce Nepal's dire trade deficit and transform the consumerist society into a production-oriented one.

They talk about changes that sound unnatural and artificial, but they have become extreme victims of populism. Even the basic and fundamental understanding that an anti-corruption slogan alone cannot make a consumerist society productive is not heard. They make promises for cheap popularity, talk about good governance and technology, but no different guidance is seen in them regarding how to become self-reliant by sweating on the soil.

They are trying to become popular in the viral style of social media rather than through sustainable economic programs. This kind of populism further promotes consumerism because it distracts people with immediate, cheap satisfaction. Unless the emerging parties bring a blueprint for production and self-reliance, their rise is unlikely to have any positive impact on the consumerist society. Rather, it might create even greater disappointment among the people.

Capitalization of Remittances

The problem of labor migration and remittances that Nepal faces today was once experienced by the developed country South Korea. After being ruled by Japanese colonization for a long time, Korea had to face a civil war immediately after gaining independence from colonization, eventually reaching the point of division. Young Koreans, weakened by the civil war and division, went to work as laborers in German coal mines and in the Middle East to build roads in the 1960s and 70s.

The then Korean government did not allow the remittances sent by those youths to be spent only on consumption. Instead, it adopted a historic economic cooperation policy with the workers abroad and those who returned, using the money sent by the workers through the national banking system as investment capital to establish the foundation of today's world-renowned large industries like Hyundai and Samsung.

The government ensured the financial security of the youth sending remittances. When they returned, programs for collateral-free loans and tax exemptions were introduced for them to start enterprises in their own country. As a result, the government succeeded in building national capital from the sweat and blood of the workers' remittances. The foundation of today's Korean prosperity is precisely that remittance from the 70s and the correct policy of the government. If the Korean government, formed against the backdrop of war and division sixty years ago, could adopt such a policy, there is no debate about how relevant or irrelevant the thinking and adopted policies of the Nepali government are, even now, sixty years later, in an era transformed by the development of science and technology. Moreover, the details of remittance usage are in a deplorable state.

Excessive consumption is increasing the exploitation of resources, and in the economies of emerging and powerful nations, the race for consumption has led to a dire crisis in pollution and waste management.

Production and Education System

The production system of any society is a reflection of its education system. Ironically, the relationship between Nepal's education system and production has never been established. Nepal's education system is working to produce only intellectual laborers or administrators rather than entrepreneurs or producers. There is a fatal psychological flaw among graduates: 'I am an educated person; I should not touch the soil.' Education has taught contempt and aversion towards labor, which is a major cultural obstacle to building a productive society. Universities in Nepal today are merely certificate-distributing factories and transit points for going abroad. The main reason why highly educated youth migrate for employment is that our education fails to provide skills according to market demand and the lack of a production environment in the country, leading to the migration of the country's best talents.

Bookish knowledge alone is not enough to connect education with production. As an alternative, practical skills and entrepreneurship should be made mandatory from the school level. Initiatives should be taken to move towards a 'study while you earn' model by linking universities with research and industrial centers.

In a non-productive society with no basis for production, when there is an intense desire for consumption, various vices begin to appear in society. This leads the society towards moral and psychological decay. The greed to get rich quickly without hard work fuels fraud, corruption, and criminal mentality. The bribes taken by employees in Nepal's administrative sector and the hassles in service delivery are the results of this consumerist hunger.

People not involved in production lack creativity. This leads to widespread anger, envy, wrath, and the tendency to resent the progress of others among the general populace. Zero spirit of cooperation and uncertainty about the future are diseases of a non-productive society. Nepal is not immune to this infection; rather, it is ready to fall victim to the disease.

Challenges of a Consumerist Society

When any country reaches the extreme point of consumerism, it has to face serious challenges. This can be understood through various global examples. Even in developed countries like the United States, consumerism has led citizens to be trapped in excessive credit card debt and personal loans. In Nepal too, due to a lack of production but increasing consumption, the burden of debt has mounted at both national and individual levels. Excessive consumption is increasing the exploitation of resources, and in the economies of emerging and powerful nations, the race for consumption has led to a dire crisis in pollution and waste management.

There are examples of some European countries like Greece facing the situation of bankruptcy and losing economic sovereignty because they lost their production capacity and indulged only in imported consumption. This is the biggest challenge for a non-productive country like Nepal.

The future of Nepal's consumerist society is currently at a critical juncture. Although it appears modern from the outside, it is hollow inside and living on borrowed time. It is consuming foreign goods at the cost of the blood and sweat of youth sent abroad, which is not sustainable in the long run. Now, Nepal has no alternative but to adopt effective policies to link its original path of self-reliance with modern technology and utilize remittances for national capital formation.

The upcoming elections must choose leadership that can change Nepal's economic character, not just its faces. It is the need and responsibility of today for both new and old parties to abandon the cheap politics of populism, and for voters to rise above momentary greed and stand in favor of building a productive society.

By internalizing the fact that consumption without production leads to destruction, the political agenda must now shift from importing for consumption to producing for self-reliance. If we do not take this path today, the next generation will inherit only a hollow, parasitic, and failed nation.