Raja Ra Praja

Dear Nepali citizens and friends of Nepal,

You might be wondering why Nepal is still poor when its countries of equal economic status have reached the sky with booming economic development.

Let me try to answer. This is one of the reasons, I have recently found. Nepal is one of the poorest countries of the world but Nepal's king is the highest paid king of
the world. The income of Nepali king Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev is:

2,426 times higher than that of Chinese president
318 times higher than that of Indian president
301 times higher than that of Pakistani president
173 times higher than that of Russian president
57 times higher than that of French president
15 times higher than that of British president
10 times higher than that of American president

Netherlands queen's income : Rs. 22,32,00,000 (per capita income Rs 17,25,120 )
American president earns Rs. 3,24,00,000 (1,15,20,000 returns in tax), (per capita income Rs 25,24,320)

Japanese king earns Rs. 22,23,52,000 (per capita income Rs.24,15,600)
Chinese president earns Rs. 1,35,000 (per capita income Rs 67,680)
Indian president earns Rs. 10,11,000 (per capita income Rs 34,560)
French president earns Rs 57,96,000 (per capita income Rs 15,84,000)
Pakistani president earns (after the coup) Rs 10,94,000 (per capita income 29,520)

British Queen does not get any salary from the state. She has a property of Rs 30,24,00,00,000 (the profit of investiment, after paying the tax, is hers) but even her neckless is the property of the country. British prime minister earns Rs 2,19,58,000 (per capita income is Rs 18,16,200)

Russian president earns Rs 19,03,000 (per capita income is Rs 1,54,000)
Belgian king receives salary as a civil servant (per capita income is Rs 16,74,000)

And, Nepali king earns Rs 61,91,00,000 (per capita income is Rs 16,560=US$ 230)

[This means the Nepali king earns Rs. 19,878 times higher than a citizen. Last year it was 37,385 times higher. Thus a citizen can earn as much as the king earns in a year only after working for 19,000 years or in 316 lives. Ho la!]

Appendix
Nepali royal family is involved in various businesses. A king does not have to pay tax according to Nepal's constitution. The present king has inherited the property of earlier king's family and nobody knows how much it is. This king has taken Rs 1,06,45,00,000 in past three years for his small family

Courtesy: Mulyankan Monthly (Nov-Dec 2005)
US dollar 1 = Rs 72