An experienced Nepali bureaucrat in UN Service, Kul Chandra Gautam said that Nepal is suffering from political turmoil and insecurity and that security is the biggest challenge for Nepal’s development.
Mr. Gautam expressed his views in a gathering of Nepalese development experts organized by Society for International Development, Nepal Chapter during his private visit to his home country in Kahtmandu on Friday. He is serving as Deputy Executive Director in UNICEF Head Office, New York.
During his speech, Mr Gautam highlighted the two types of insecurity in Nepal, one caused by the Maoist insurgency and the other caused by lack of basic social services.
Though he is the first Nepali to hold such a high-ranking post in the UN, he apologized for his lack of experience in the field of Nepal’s development and added that the allocation of certain amount of the budget for the local bodies is highly appreciable.
He also suggested some ideas and guidelines to increase the budget to the representatives of the local bodies to enable them to decide their plan and actions
In a response to a question regarding his contribution as being a Nepali for the nation, Mr. Gautam made it clear saying, ” I am not a Nepalese representative to UNICEF so I couldn’t do any such favor to the nation.”
He further said, ” I can highlight good examples of development projects in micro level in Nepal to the international community which will be helpful to mobilize more resources for the development of our country.” He mentioned the Vitamin A capsule distribution project in Nepal which achieved a success rate of 85%, the highest in all countries that have such a project.