Attitudes of Nepalese Stakeholders towards Sustainable Development of Nepal: A Thematic Analysis

This paper aims to observe and analyze the attitudes of various Nepalese stakeholders with the streamlined research questions to deeply dig out long standing development dilemmas in social, economic and environmental sectors, which have been reeling from government instability, unemployment, import dependency, and deforestation. This comes in spite of Nepal having abundant natural resources and natural wonder like Mt. Everest, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha, UNESCO heritage sites, and in spite of Nepal adopting the policies of liberalization, privatization and globalization, which were purported to develop the nation. Nepal has been struggling with chronic development barriers that have been traced out as remedial themes through Thematic Analysis (TA) for assisting policy makers for sound policy framing and result-oriented implementation. A thorough study reveals that the deep development aspirations of Nepalese people are hindering by the vested interests of its few stakeholders, political instability, poor governance, rampant corruption, ineffective service delivery mechanisms, socio-cultural orthodox practices, untapped and trapped economic opportunities, and environmental problems. The reasons behind the inability to meet contemporary sustainable development (SD) needs even in a country with strong historical foundations and growth oriented neighbor countries have to be contemplated to pave the way for progress and prosperity in Nepal.