English - Support to Participatory Constitution Building in Nepal ...

The Remake of a Statefeelings of the migrants. Answering to disgruntled interviewees, the Italybornastrophysicist and Nobel Laureate Ricardo Giacconi said, “Scientistsare like painters. Michael Angelo became a great artist because he hadbeen given a wall to paint. The US gave me my wall” (ibid, p 15). A goodnumber of Nepali migrants who are working in India, other professionalmigrants and students who go for study in the US and the Europeancountries have a similar feeling to share. Nepal is in a fragile transitionalphase at the moment. There is insecurity in social, economic and otherenvironments. Uncertainty exists in regular provision of services likeeducation and opportunities for jobs and other personal development.So, migration in the present situation of Nepal can be looked as a logicaldecision on part of the migrants who share similar feelings.Akin to the rest arguments, the Human Development Report (HDR) (UNDP2009) also puts forth that the majority of migrants far from being victimstend to be successful. The report shows that outcomes in all aspects ofHuman Development not only income but also education and healthis for the most part positive. Their argument is that migration allowsindividual migrants to have access to better paying jobs and in the facethat distribution of opportunity is extremely unequal. Similarly, mobilitycan facilitate access to ideas, knowledge and resources that complimentor enhance their progress. Thus, migration is considered to be a vitalstrategy for households and family seeking to diversify and improve theirlivelihoods especially in developing countries (Adhikari and Gurung 2009).UNDP (2009) shows that the poorest ones have the most to gain frommoving. For example, it depicts that migrants from the countries with lowHDI saw fifteen-fold increase in income, a doubling in education enrolmentrate (from 47% to 95%) and sixteen-fold reduction in child mortality (from112 to seven deaths per 1000 live births) after they migrated to thecountry of higher HDI.Besides individual and family level, these discourses also show that migrationis beneficial in the more meso country level. Brackings (2003) shows thatremittances from successful migrants feed into the social and economicstructure: the deficit within which influences the decision of the migrantsto migrate in the first place. Moreover, her research shows that remittanceflows may also contribute to a liberalised economic space as remittanceensures the poor against the ‘kleptrocratic behaviour’ of the political officeholders. Such behaviour of the state parties is considered to be one of thereasons for underdevelopment in Nepal. This insulation against kleptrocraticbehaviour could provide the locals with the capacity to make state servicedelivery more responsible and transparent. Enabling the efficient deliveryof state services is one of the components of state-building.171