The Booming Sixties (part 2)
Chapter 16: The Booming Sixties (part 2)

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A History About Economics: So what do you know about economics?

Chapter 19: Nepal’s Industrialization, and how it became industrialized

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The Industrialization of Nepal is an interesting portion of history to look at. For starters, the country underwent a massive economic change than before, and became the first Asian nation to become industrialized. In 1865, the Nepalese Bicameral House passed the ‘Edict of Economic Stabilization’. This was done in response to the fact that the rapid industrialization led to a good amount of increase in inflation. This was largely due to the fact that the increased printing of notes made it harder for the Nepalese economy for cope with the ordeals of industrialization. The Edict led to inflation controls being implemented within the economy to make sure that the inflation was kept in check. The country also started to limit the printing of new money to aid itself in this endeavor.

This was very helpful to the Nepalese economy. Not only did this allow the Nepalese government to control the convertibility of the Nepalese currency, it also raised the value of the Nepalese currency and made it easier for the Nepalese currency to buy more on the international stage. This was exemplified, when Nepal started to import British medical supplies from the British Raj by mid-1865 in order to modernize the old Nepalese medical field.

These contributions also lead to the introduction of railroads into Nepal after much waiting. The government had started feasibility and observation tests since 1859, however from February 1865, the construction of the Kathmandu-Pokhara-Bharatpur Railway road began. Using the valleys and the passes in the hills and following the river banks of the mighty Trishuli River and Marshyangdi River, the railroad construction began and the construction sector began to employ a good amount of people into its ranks.

The railroad construction was a fairly easy one. Between the three cities of Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Bharatpur, there were multitudes of valleys and river pathways which made for flat ground (relatively). This allowed for ease of construction. It was really only when approaching the cities themselves that the construction began to grow somewhat hard, as whenever the cities got close, the hills grew steeper to lower into a valley. The small trading town of Mugling which was nestled between the Trishuli River and the Marshyangdi river became an important railway hub as a result as it was connected by road to all three aforementioned cities.

The construction of the new Bhimsen Railway as it was named after the First Mukhtiyar of Nepal who died that same year in 1865, was completed in early 1868. This made the transport sector in Nepal much easier and the time taken to move from one place to another in Nepal became infinitely easier.

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The Bhimsen Railway near Mugling in 1873

This success eventually lead to the ‘Transportation Act of 1869’ which advocated for the construction of roads, and transportation links between all settlements in the nation. This would make connectivity between the nation much easier, and the prevalence of roads throughout the nation would make the economic situation of the country grow firmer as well. However despite this fact, it was known that trying to construct roads in the high mountainous regions of the Himalayas upon which Nepal was nestled upon was very unfeasible. And thus, the it was quietly acknowledged that The Himalayas would be constructed in walking paths instead rather than full blown roads, as this was seen as the most feasible at the time.

By late 1869 and early 1870, the government had also started to employ hydraulics into their Textile industry to make the quality of said textiles much better and to make its efficiency to be better than before.

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The History of Nepal, Edition 7

By: KP Sharma Oli

Chapter 18

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The History of the Nepalese Nation is embedded in the romantic era of Nepal. Generally all historians agree that the Romantic Era of Nepal started in the mid-1860s and ended in the late 1890s. The very first post-industrialization book named ‘Kutu ma Kutu’ was published as an amalgamation of Nepalese folk poems. Some poems were even written by King Rajendra himself, and thus gained the royal seal of approval for publication. The publication of this book in October 1865 is generally seen as the beginning of the Romatic Era of Nepal. The book proved itself to be very popular in Nepal, and till this day, it is seen as a standard for Nepalese poems.

This romanticizing of Nepalese culture during this time also led to some trouble however. A good minority of Biharis, and Bengalese lived in the southern slopes of Nepal, and the central focus on Nepalese culture didn’t make their lives easy at all. Thus cultural fractions started to grow. In order to counter this, the government of Nepal, aided by the popularity of the ongoing Cultural Revolution in Nepal began to make several changes in the Nepalese culture itself and how it presented itself.

On January 17th, the Nepalese government officially changed the writing script of Nepal. Ancient Nepal had used the Pali Script that South Indians like the Telegu, Malayam, used. The Pali script was also widely used by the Burmese, Laos and Cambodian people, and it was widely recognized as the script of Lord Buddha, who was born in modern day Nepal. Buddhism had had a surge of popularity due to the Cultural Revolution, however the conversion to the Pali Script was controversial. The scripts were very similar so learning it wasn’t that hard an issue, however the issue remained in theology and what to do about that, as the Sanskrit language in which the Vedas were written in was Devanagari script, the now old script of Nepal. An Amendment was made to the law, so that Brahmins and theologists as well as Clergymen were allowed to retain use of the Devanagari Script for theological purposes. This amendment soothed the opposition to the law, and the Nepalese script slowly transitioned from the Devanagari script into the Pali Script.

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Few Letters and phrases in Pali script that was adopted by Nepal.

This however didn’t sit well with the Biharis living in Janakpur, and on August 12th, 1866, hundreds of Biharis rose up in revolt in the city. This led to the government allowing the nearby 4th ‘Bharatpur’ Infantry Division being deployed to put the rebellion down. The consequential Battle of Janakpur on August 28th, saw around 890 Nepali Biharis killed and around 231 Nepalese soldiers being killed by the resulting battle.

The aftermath of the battle was brutal to the Biharis of Nepal. The Bihari Expulsion Act of 1867 was a harsh law, however everyone knew that Biharis weren’t ethnic Nepalese, and the Nationalists and Hawks did not object when the Act called for around 100,000 Biharis living in Nepal to be expelled into the British Raj. This was around 60% of the entire Bihari Population of Nepal at the time. By 1880, around 90% of the Bihari population was expelled from Nepal, and till this day the enmity between Biharis and Nepalese remain strong due to this.

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Expulsion of Biharis from Nepal, 1880.

However despite the horrendous act, and a large blemish upon the legacy of Ranajor Singh Thapa, the conversion to the Pali Script was successful and added fuel to the fire of Nepalese Romanticism and Cultural Revolution.

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Literary History of Nepal

By: B.P Koirala.

Chapter 12

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The Nepalese government’s decision to convert to the Pali script was welcomed by the majority of the populace, however despite this, this decision to convert the language script created the Panic of 1867. The Panic of 1867 was the result of largescale illiteracy in the Nepalese populace. This led worry in the government over the efficiency of the Nepalese government and nation to conduct itself until the conversion of the script.

This led to widespread political intriguing on part of the Nepalese government and in fact there was a real fear that the newfound economic prosperity that Nepal was gaining could conduct a nosedive due to this. However soon, Mukhtiyar Ranajor Singh Thapa went to King Rajendra. King Rajendra, using his absolute power as final statement, decreed the creation of ‘script pamphlets’ which allowed for easy translation between the scripts and they were easily translatable. Using this brief moment of respite, Ranajore Singh Thapa passed the ‘Education Act of 1867’ through the Nepalese Parliament and the Rastriya Adhivesana. This act was monumental. It called for Nepal to have 75% literacy by 1900 and the widespread construction of schools within the nation. This was passed and construction and legation of the schools began. The Royal Nepalese curriculum was established in 1868 which outlined the following subjects to be taught on the basic levels:-

  • English
  • Nepali
  • Science
  • Literature
  • Mathematics
  • Geography
  • History

  • Specialization courses like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Management, Finance, Economics etc would also be provided at higher levels of study. Basically this Act meant that all children from age 7 to 15 would have to go to schools. On the ground basis, average Nepalese were much richer than Indians towards the south Tibetans towards the north. This made much of the Middle Class capable of funding their education. The Government also announced the ‘School Loan Scheme’ which gave 33% discount to children from low income backgrounds and provided loans with low interest for them to go to school.

  • This act proved itself successful, and by 1875, around 150 schools, some big, and many small-scale schools cropped up throughout the Nepalese nation creating a centralized and well-managed schooling system. This also aided the Nepalese from transitioning from a Devanagari Script to the Pali Script, as the schools were taught with the Pali script. Many history teachers and geology teachers were actually British Indian teachers from the Raj hired by the government on a temporary basis. The newfound wealth of the Nepalese government was largely attributed to the availability of the Nepalese to do this.

 
Interesting chapter; even a buildup of Nepal is bound to have some problems, and I like that you dealt with it realistically. Sadly, expelling a minority population that disagreed with your viewpoint has been SOP (or standard operating procedure) throughout history (the Turkish treatment of the Armenians was much worse than what Nepal did to the Biharis, for instance)...

I do see Nepal trying to make amends for this in the future, though...
 
Interesting chapter; even a buildup of Nepal is bound to have some problems, and I like that you dealt with it realistically. Sadly, expelling a minority population that disagreed with your viewpoint has been SOP (or standard operating procedure) throughout history (the Turkish treatment of the Armenians was much worse than what Nepal did to the Biharis, for instance)...

I do see Nepal trying to make amends for this in the future, though...
Somewhat yeah.
 
I know this comment is really, REALLY old but I really love this TL and wanted to state some ideas for you.
Because Nepal became a developed country extremely quickly compared to OTL I can see labour costs rising, which would mean Nepal opening it's borders to foreign laborers like from India. This could also be the foundation of a monarcho-far-leftist movement; campaigning for the rights of laborers to be citizens.
Could also satisfy OP saying that Nepal might "make amends" for the Bihari expulsion.

That's all!
 
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