Nepal's new constituent assembly marks an end to 58 years of struggle for a republic. The future, however, pose a bigger challenge for the Maoists in terms of rescuing the country from economic ruin caused by 12 years of violence. Each elected member's road to the new constituent assembly is paved by death and destruction. The Maoist insurgency has killed more than 16,000 people, physical infrastructure worth US$250 million has been destroyed and around 4,00,000 rural families have been displaced over the last 12 years. Nevertheless, creation of the constituent assembly marks the end to 58 years of armed struggle and to write a new constitution to effect the transition from monarchy to a republic.

In 1950 when the Nepali Congress Party had taken up arms to fight for a new constitution, it had demanded a constituent assembly for the first time. Since then many others have taken to armed struggle with the same demand. The Nepal Communist Party-Maoists were the last to do so, but in the most violent ways. As the Maoists come to power, the roots of their long struggle to rewrite the kingdom's constitution remain. A caste-based social structure and feudal system of governance resulted in regional imbalances and the monopoly over power by the monarch, leading to the Maoist violence.

Now, without the king, the two other causes of social unrest are: the unequal access to resources and the caste-based social structure. While a classless society is process driven, remedying unequal resource distribution is the most immediate task before the new government, which is a greater challenge for Maoists than gaining power in the constituent assembly.

The Maoists violence in the last 12 years has caused much destruction, with the economy threatening to slip into coma. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Nepal's economic growth has slowed down to an average of 1.9 per cent in 2001-2004, compared to 4.9 per cent in the previous decade. According to the Nepal Rashtra Bank, the country is losing 6.3 per cent of its GDP annually due to the violence. Development expenditure has come down by one-third since 2001. On the other hand, expenditure on security has doubled in the same period.

This has impacted the country's 80 per cent population who depend on agriculture and forests for their survival. Both these sectors contribute substantially to the national GDP. Interestingly, Nepal's long tryst with violence also stems from these two aspects of its economy. Forests and lands are intimately linked to unequal resource distribution. Feudal governance meant a skewed land distribution that the Maoists exploited to gain power. Forests, another valuable resource are also a major contest between government and the rural communities.

Governments tried to nationalize the forests and curtail local access under the monarchy. Deforestation followed due to bad forest management by the government. Deforestation led to degradation of agricultural lands in the hills, presaging low incomes for the majority of the people. With multi-party democracy coming in 1990, elected governments granted rights over forests to local communities through the much hyped community forestry programme, resulting in economic prosperity for many rural communities, which has been documented by many international organizations. Over 13,000 local forestry groups have a cash reserve of (Nepali) Rs 100 million.

However, since 1999-2000 governments have been taxing the local forest users on their earning from such programmes. That was one of the main points of grievance for the 35 per cent of the country's population that was getting substantial benefits from these programmes. The Maoists exploited this grievance initially to gain popular support. However, instead of helping the local communities, Maoists also levied taxes on them. This resulted in double taxation on the forest communities leaving them hardly anything, which explains why many of these community forestry groups stopped functioning. Rural poverty is mostly reported from these groups.

Maoists have, no doubt, inherited a battered economy; but they can also usher changes. Their manifesto talks about decentralized resource use and equal access to wealth, which is highly suitable for resurrecting the economy. Estimates note that communities can double their earning from forests, provided they have the right policy incentives. Agriculture can still be resurrected to sustain the entire country's population. For that, the right and access to land is of prime importance. So, to translate the concept of a republic promoted by the Maoists into a republic of the people, they have to restore forest rights and ensure agrarian revival.