Interview with Dr. Swarnim Wagle, Member of National Planning Commission
Just stumbled up on this interview of Dr. Swarnim Wagle who is currently one of the members of the National Planning Commission of Nepal. Dr. Wagle had an impressive career so far. Born in a remote village of Gorkha district, he got educated in the prestigious Budhanilkantha School and then attended London School of Economics, and Harvard University before finally getting his PHD from Australian National University. Having worked for international institutions like World Bank and UNDP in several countries, his decision to return to Nepal and take up a job at National Planning Commission that pays about 1/40 of his previous salary is truly appreciable. I am more impressed by the fact that he seems to be committed to promote the role of private sector in the economy and does not shy away from making his views clear although he is regularly swamped by leftist intellectuals and their centuries old rhetoric whenever he presents his views regarding the economy. I hope he will be able to make the changes he wishes to make before his willpower and motivation in engulfed by the corrupt Nepalese bureaucracy and politics. We need more people like him. My only fear, though, is that he may start patronizing and may end up making the state mechanism more efficient at repressive entrepreneurial aspirations of the citizens. I hope that does not happen.
