BBC Discussion with the current & former Vice-Chairs of the National Planning Commission

BBC Nepali Service's Mr. Narayan Shrestha moderates a discussion with Mr. Jagadish Chandra Pokharel, current Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission (NPC) and Pitamber Sharma, a former Vice-Chair of the NPC on November 7, 2010.

This discussion sheds lights on the inner workings of economic planning and implementation at the highest level of Nepal's government. The bottom line is that domestic politics and donors agenda over-rides the technocratic views of the NPC or the real economic needs of the people. Mr. Sharma even quotes the Godfather ("make an offer they can't refuse") to illustrate the position of the NPC within the economic planning hierarchy of the country.