The way towards a Digital Nepal

In this 21st century, digitalization is regarded as the most important aspect of developing the infrastructures of a country in an effective and convenient manner. The lives of people are made easier with the invention of digital resources; since it has brought effectiveness in the works of people with the reduction in cost and time of completion. Digitalization has paved the way towards development for numerous developing as well as developed countries; where Nepal is not an exception. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has done tremendous development in the fields of education, business, banking, and other infrastructures in Nepal. Nepal can achieve high development through ICT by utilizing Information technology to the utmost level for fulfilling the needs of citizens of Nepal through the means of digital technology. Nepal has a great scope of development through digitalization. E-commerce, e-governance, e-banking, e-learning, etc. are developing at a tremendous speed through the collaborative effort of non-governmental agencies, public, private agencies as well as the GOVERNMENT. Most of all, the government of Nepal should play a key role in digitalizing Nepal. Different plans and policies should be formulated as well as implemented in a well-organized manner with proper supervision. The tax of citizens should be fully utilized for the developmental activities in the country apart from the salary and wages of the government officials. With detailed research on science and technology, Nepal should make the best use of trained and skilled manpower inside the country itself and popularize Nepalese production all over the international market. This essay discusses the present scenario of digitalization in Nepal and puts forward some ideas to make a DIGITAL NEPAL. The present scenario of the telephone and internet facility of Nepal does not fulfill the demands of every citizen of the nation. According to the report of Nepal Telecommunication Authority, there is about 5 major telephone service providing companies in Nepal with some other companies as well. Telephone subscriber lines are established in 90% of the total area of the country. The number of telephone subscribers in Nepal reached 3, 96, 12, 267 (3. 97 Crores approx. ) till Baishakh 2078 BS. In this way, about nine-tenths of the population of Nepal are enjoying the facility of mobile and telephone communication i. e. voice communication. While talking about Internet facilities, about 90. 56% of the total population of Nepal are enjoying the facility of Internet among which 72% use mobile data and 28% use fixed broadband internet connection. Different companies like World link, Vianet, Subisu, etc. are responsible for providing fixed broadband connections in Nepal. The cost of internet in Nepal is 13. 15$ per month and people have to spend about 5% of their monthly income on internet expenses. The government of Nepal imposes a 30% tax on companies providing fixed broadband connections which is very high. Apart from these, the tax on optical fiber cable (15%), routers, etc. is high in Nepal. Moreover, the average price of mobile data; 1 GB (GigaByte) is Rs. 71 in Nepal, which is also expensive. Thus, the government of Nepal should decrease tax on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunication authorities to make internet free among Nepalese and encourage entrepreneurs to distribute their services in all parts of the country. There are numerous development projects lined up by the government for the development of the IT sector in the country. The plans and policies in Nepal are formulated but not implemented in a proper way. The one and only IT park of Nepal situated in Banepa, Panauti was not in operation for 13 years before 2017 AD. In 2017 AD, the park reopened under the collaboration of Kathmandu University, Soft tech foundation, cloud Himalaya, and the department of information technology. The government should establish more such IT parks in Nepal to increase the research in science and technology and link it with the development of the country. In the same way, the recent development project “Mid-hill highway” declared in 2064 BS targets to plant optical fibers in 32 districts of Nepal. According to the 15th year plan, the project is to be completed in 2079/80 BS. However, the poor implementation and slow progress have compelled the government to increase the ESTIMATED deadline of the project each year. This project also plans to develop 10 cities into SMART cities; though, the criteria for smart cities have not been announced by the government yet. The 2019 Digital Nepal Framework targeted to improve the digital literacy rate of Nepal to 75% by 2022 AD. The digital literacy rate of Nepal in 2019 AD was 31%; however, as the digital literacy rate has not been measured since 2019 AD, we cannot say whether the target is being achieved or not. But, with 90. 56% Nepalese population using internet; we can predict that the digital literacy rate has also increased to a great extent. Although the targets of spreading internet connectivity among Nepalese and increasing digital literacy rate is achieved; people are not using them for research purposes i. e. they are using IT as a means of entertainment rather than opportunity. In the same manner, the system of providing IT-related education started in Nepal in 1994 AD. About 200 colleges are providing IT courses to students till today. Each year about 5000 students graduate in the IT field; among them, almost 30% of the graduates go to foreign countries for further studies and employment opportunities. Merojob, an online job provider app has stated that among 4 lakhs 50 thousand people seeking jobs in various sectors, about 35000 of them are seeking a job in the IT sector. Unable to get the platform to show their talent and skills in their own country, most of the people go to foreign countries. In this way, each year Nepal loses talent and skilled manpower in the IT sector. We can sum up the present scenario of digital Nepal in four challenges. Firstly, Nepal formulates and makes plans and policies but does not implement them in a well-organized manner. Secondly, all the developmental activities running in Nepal to improve the IT sector are going in very slow progress due to the lack of supervision of concerned authorities. Thirdly, skilled manpower produced by different educational institutions of Nepal are not getting the opportunity to showcase their talent and abilities in their country itself; thus, they are going abroad. Likewise, the cost of broadband connection in Nepal is also high, which can be reduced by reducing the tax on ISPs/ Broadband companies. Similarly, startups and entrepreneurs in Nepal are demotivated due to poor implementation of government plans and a high amount of legitimate tax. In the same way, Nepal achieved the target of providing 90% of the population with internet connection; though, not with broadband. The ongoing lockdown due to COVID-19 has somewhat increased the digital literacy rate among the people. Although Nepal has achieved some targets in digitalization; it is seen that still, the challenges of digitalization in Nepal dominate them. Thus, we need to seek possible solutions for these challenges, and with new ideas and skills; we should develop our country in terms of the digital sector. Nepal is capable of developing tremendously in terms of the digital sector only if RESEARCH is given priority in the country. Research on science and technology can establish different types of development projects that benefit the citizens of the nation. Nepal should face all the hindrances of digitalization by seeking possible solutions. The practice of e-banking, e-learning, e-commerce, e-governance, etc. in Nepal with proper plan and implementation can lead to great progress in digitalization. Digitalized ways of banking, governance, etc. can save time, energy as well as increase the efficiency in developmental works. Similarly, the invention of excel sheets, word files, etc. has decreased the workload of people a lot by reducing the chance of mistakes in the manual entry as well as by reducing the amount of time spent. Nepal should fully utilize the digital resources and target towards improving the living standard of Nepalese with the overall development of the nation. In today’s era, storing money as paper cashes inside the house/ workplace can be very dangerous. Disasters such as earthquakes and forest fires can destroy all the savings saved by a person in his/her life; if all the cash is kept in a house. In order to face this, e-banking is required. E-banking is a very convenient method of saving one’s money as people can withdraw money any time they require and the money is kept the same inside the bank. Nepal’s present state in e-banking is productive but it can improve more. Similarly, while paying electricity and water bills people from rural parts of Nepal have to come physically to the headquarters to pay the bill. Alternatively, using mobile wallets to save money as well as withdraw it can be very productive. It will save time as well as energy. E-learning is regarded as the best method of teaching in today’s era. Through e-learning, students can utilize digital resources any time they require. E-learning supports different minds of students. Some students are slow learners whereas some learn very fast. Students can watch different videos, simulations, animations to understand specific topics. Pause, fast forward, and replay systems can help the students to understand better. Similarly, e-learning also develops self-learning in the students. As we know, the internet is a hub of ideas of different people on different topics; students can do detailed research on any topic they desire to and they can self-learn about different topics of their interest. E-learning is cost-effective as compared to physical learning. E-learning doesn’t require as many resources as physical learning and if INTERNET is made free to all the people of Nepal, the amount of money required in education will be very less. Thus, e-learning can be accessible to all Nepalese if the internet’s cost is reduced and it can produce skilled manpower in various sectors. E-governance is another key part of digitalization. There is numerous example of the countries that are running government digitally. E-governance includes paying taxes online, providing licenses and citizenship to the people through websites and apps, voting for political leaders digitally, etc. Nepal’s procedural administration i. e. focusing on process rather than outcome; makes the Nepalese citizens go for a long process to achieve their citizenship or license. Similarly, voting digitally can decrease the spoofs done by political leaders (if any). It also decreases the amount of time and budget required for voting as compared to physical voting. For this, the Nepal government should make an app that contains paying bills, taxes, getting citizenship, voting, etc. Using the local body they reside in including the tole and ward number, the digital identity of Nepalese citizens can be made which are to be registered in the app from the server itself. To protect the identity, passwords should be created by the citizens themselves and updated from time to time to decrease the chance of cyber-attacks. When this identity is made, Nepalese citizens can vote, get citizenship using the apps. One section should also be there in the app that maintains the records of ongoing developmental projects of Nepal, budget invested in them, etc. to maintain transparency. Hence, practicing e-governance in this manner is convenient, cost-effective as well as transparent that maintains good governance in the country. Nepalese citizens should be provided with basic health care using telemedicine and virtual health care methods. Most of the rural parts of Nepal do not have access to hospitals in their own localities; thus, they should be provided with basic health care through a digital platform. Through digital platforms, patients can get access to doctors through video calls where doctors can examine the illness in the patient with a conversation with the patients along with videos. Virtual health care is cost-effective as well as accessible to all people. Thus, the Nepal government should look forwards to establish digital health cares that provide service through digital platforms to all parts of the country. This decreases the cost in the health sector as well as promotes accessibility. Likewise, it increases the life span of people due to health improvement ultimately increasing their quality of life. Agriculture is the major occupation of Nepalese. The report given by the Department of Agriculture in 2018 AD states that about 64% of the Nepalese population is engaged in agriculture. Though Nepal is an agricultural country, traditional methods of agriculture still pertain in many parts of the country. Scientific methods of crop production can increase the yield of crops as well as increase the disease resistance capacity of the plants (increase in plant’s immunity) ultimately increase in the overall food quality. Teaching farmers the scientific way of crop production through digital platforms (video conferences), can contribute a lot to change the traditional ways of farming into contemporary. Moreover, acknowledging the farmers with the scientific methods of irrigation, as well as a plantation of plants in an organized (scientific) manner can increase the crop quality. In addition, examining the soil quality and plants diseases by the plant experts digitally can save time, energy as well as cost. It can decrease the import and increase export of agricultural goods. For this, the Nepal government should make a separate app for farmers in the digital platform and use digital resources in agriculture as well. E-commerce is one of the major benefits of digitalization. Online shopping is cost-effective and saves energy and time for consumers. People can choose any type of product they want through online shopping apps and pay digitally which is to be delivered by the employees of the company. E-commerce is practiced in Nepal by several companies such as Daraz, Foodmandu, Sastodeal, etc. which is favored by the customers as well. Apart from e-commerce, other entrepreneurs seeking opportunities in digital platforms through their innovative ideas should be encouraged to start their businesses. This can provide jobs to numerous employees. The government should encourage such entrepreneurs by evaluating them and providing attractive prizes which can increase the competition among the companies. Nepal is very rich in natural resources and is gifted by attractive natural heritages, which support the development of the tourism sector in the country. Advertisement of touristic places through digital platforms can increase the number of tourists visiting Nepal. Similarly, the management of data about the touristic places and their beauties in a digital platform can help in the maintenance and proper supervision of the heritages. This can help in the timely maintenance of natural heritages as well as increase the attraction of tourist ultimately increasing foreign currency. Digitalization in the energy sector and infrastructure development can help in the proper management and distribution of energy as well as infrastructures all over the country. Digital platform helps the government to manage the demographic data of the whole country. According to the demographic data, the government can formulate plans and policies regarding different sectors to benefit target groups or the nation as a whole. Production of hydropower electricity is not enough; distribution in an organized manner is also required. Using the same technique water supply, waste management, and transportation management can be done in an organized manner. The amount of water to be supplied in a particular part of the country can be calculated and provided accordingly. The number of passengers that come at a particular time in a particular place can be managed in digital data and transportation systems can be managed accordingly. In this way, with demographic data, it becomes easier to distribute facilities to the citizens as well as organize developmental activities around the nation. Thus, the government of Nepal should make the best use of digital platforms to formulate plans and policies required for the development of infrastructures of the nation and distribute energy in the country. Using the aforementioned methods we can do great progress in the development of Nepal through digital platforms. Apart from these, the Nepal government should strictly implement the plans and policies that are formulated. Similarly, developmental activities that are in progress should be monitored and supervised timely. To reduce brain drain in the country, the government should provide more opportunities to the skilled manpower by collaborating with different agencies and creating IT agencies. One of the ways of reducing brain drain can be by establishing more IT parks in the country to increase research in the digital field. In the same way, the government should reduce tax on broadband companies and plant optical fibers in all the 77 districts of the nation to make fixed broadband connections popular among all the citizens. Also, organizing different programs that encourage entrepreneurs and young minds of Nepal to build up their innovative ideas in their own country can increase the number of entrepreneurs in Nepal and increase business as a whole. Using these solutions, Nepal can remove all the hindrances of digitalization in Nepal and progress further. The government of Nepal should realize the value of digital resources in today’s era and invest the required amount of budget in the IT sector as well. When the Nepal government develops the infrastructures of the country including the ones mentioned in this essay as well as the Digital Framework-2019 with proper investment, a smooth process, and timely supervision; Nepal can achieve a great outcome in the days to come. Nepal has the potential to excel in the digital sector with the help of skilled manpower produced by educational institutions. Nepalese citizens should utilize the internet provided by the government in the research on productive works; mainly, on science and technology. This will create new and innovative ideas in the young minds of the country and ultimately provide a great outcome in the future. Nepal government should collaborate with the citizens of the nation, international agencies, non-governmental agencies, private companies and create a digital nation. As reflected by the wants and desires of Nepalese citizens for the development of Nepal through different protests, every people of the nation hopes that the Nepal government acknowledges the methods put forward by this essay for the digitalization of the country and works towards making Nepal a DIGITAL NATION.