MP Harka Raj Rai Advises Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle to Reduce Foreign Debt

Kathmandu. Chairman of Shram Sanskriti Party and MP Harkaraj Rai has advised Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle to stop the race to increase foreign debt in the name of development and focus on reducing debt. He gave this suggestion to the government while participating in the discussion on the Appropriation Bill 2083 in the House of Representatives meeting on Friday.

He demanded that the economic policy be determined in such a way that the common Nepali citizens, who are crushed by the burden of debt due to the annual increase in foreign debt in the name of winning the race for development, can be freed from this. Speaking in the parliament meeting, Chairman Rai urged the government to reduce the number of projects rather than carrying the burden of debt by including unproductive and unnecessary projects.

He emphasized that the economic policy should now focus on self-reliance. He argued that to take the country on the path of industrialization and production, the education system needs a radical change. He clarified that the country cannot make a leap in production as long as children are not taught the importance of labor and how to work from the school level.

Discussing the relationship between education and labor, Chairman Rai said, 'In the race for who brings more development, our foreign debt is increasing every year. I want to request that we reduce the number of projects. Instead of bringing unnecessary projects and later being crushed by the burden of debt, our economic policy should move towards self-reliance. I have said this many times standing here – as long as we do not bring labor into education itself. If we do not teach children to work in school itself. If we do not establish the standard that work itself is education, then production will not happen in the country.'

Stating that an economy without production cannot advance the country, he explained the concept of labor culture advocated by his party in the parliament. He said that labor culture is not just an agenda of a political party but a campaign to teach citizens how to earn a living. He stated that instead of always distributing relief of food and shelter to the hungry and naked citizens and making them dependent, they should be enabled to produce and consume on their own.

Setting a new standard where the success and failure of the government should be measured based on the increase or decrease of foreign debt, he urged the Finance Minister to resolve not to take debt in the upcoming budget. He added, 'I want to suggest that our success or failure is determined by whether we reduce or increase foreign debt. Therefore, we must strive to reduce debt as much as possible. And I say – next year, without taking debt, to our Finance Minister, the Government of Nepal.'

Chairman Rai cautioned the government to abandon dependency and have the courage to run the country on its own strength.