WIP

Nov 2024

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Nepal very obviously lags behind the Western Countries in terms of development. But, how far behind? When and how the various developments took place in the Western Countries and how many years is Nepal behind them. I have attempted to study and compare the various developments in society, culture, infrastructure,etc development in Nepal and United States.

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Comparative Timeline of Developments

Governance and Political Systems

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The establishment of democratic governance, free press, and core civic institutions marks a fundamental shift toward modernity.

In the United States, this transition began with the drafting of the Constitution in 1787, following the American Revolution(1775-1783). Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, the framers crafted a forward-looking system rooted in democratic principles and individual rights, setting an influential global precedent for modern governance. The American model would inspire many future democracies.

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In Nepal, this process unfolded much much later, as the country remained politically and socially isolated under monarchical rule, especially during the Rana regime (1846–1951). The Ranas enforced strict isolationist policies and limited freedoms, delaying democratic reform until 1951. While Nepal briefly experienced democratic governance in 1951, a more robust transition only occurred after the 1990 People’s Movement and the eventual abolition of the monarchy in 2008.

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2008 (Full democracy) | 1947 (independence from Britain) | 508-507 BCE (Ancient Greece) | U.S. established democracy in 1789; Nepal only stabilized as a multi-party democracy in 1990, with full democracy solidifying post-monarchy in 2008. | | Free Press | 1776 | 1991 (Constitution of Nepal 1991) | 1950 (Constitutional guarantee) | | Free press in U.S. aided intellectual freedom early on and is still proudly??

Kantipur, Nepal’s first private media, began in 1993 (2049 BS) |

Infrastructure: Transportation, Electrification,..

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Thomas Alva Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. The US was more than 90% electrified by 1950. The Nepal Electricity Authority(NEA) was established in 1985, and by 2000, only 30% of Nepalese had access to electricity.

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Nepal constructed its first major highway, the Tribhuvan Highway (189 km), in 1956.

By comparison, nearly a century earlier, the United States had completed its 3,000-km Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, revolutionizing cross-country travel. By 1956, the U.S. also had regular transcontinental and transatlantic air services, enabling rapid, long-distance travel and connecting major global hubs.

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1869 (U.S. Transcontinental Railroad, 3000 km)

1913 (Lincoln Highway, transcontinental - NYC to SF*, 5400 km)

1956 (Interstate Highway System, 78,000 km)

| 1956 (Tribhuvan Highway, 189 km)

1967 (Mahendra Highway, 1000 km) | 1839 (Grand Trunk Road, 2500 km)

1853 ( *First Passenger Railway, Mumbai to Thane, 34 km)

1956 (National Highways System)* | In 1869, a revolutionary technology was introduced: the transcontinental railroad. A passenger departing New York could reach California in just 83 hours—52 times faster than the wagon and with much greater comfort and safety. | | First Major Railway | 1828 (Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 21 km) | __ | 1853 (Mumbai to Thane, 34km) | UK (1825 Stockton and Darlington Railway) | | First Airline | 1919 (Boeing Air Transport) | 1958 (Nepal Airlines) | 1932 (Tata Airlines) | first transatlantic flight(1919)

first US transcontinental(NYC-SF) air service(1933)

In 1933, just 30 years after the Wright brothers flew, the first transcontinental air service was introduced. You could travel from New York to San Francisco in 20 hours. | | First Hydroelectric plant | **1882 (Vulcan Street Plant, 12.5 KW) | 1911 (Pharping Hydroelectric Plant, 500 kW) | 1902 (Shivanasamudra Hydroelectric Station, 4.5 MW) | | | 20% Electricity Access | __ | 1998?? | __ | 1879: Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated the first practical light bulb | | 50% Electricity Access | 1925 | 2015 | 1996 | | | 90% Electricity Access | 1950s | 2018 | 2016 | | | End of Load Shedding | - | 2018 | - | |

Urbanization, Quality of Life

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In 1990, less than 1% of Nepalese used clean fuels for cooking. More than 90% of the United States had been using clean fuels for half a century by then. ****Today, only ****35% of Nepalese use clean fuels for cooking.

LPG was first developed by American chemist Walter O. Snelling while working for the U.S. Bureau of Mines. in 1910. By 1930, around 40% of U.S. homes were cooking with natural gas.

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Ref. Nepal Census 2021 | | Share of households with air conditioning | >90%50% in 1974 | 0.8% (in 2021) | | | | percentage of household owning a vehicle | >90% | 3.1% | | | | Registered vehicles per 1,000 people, 2016 | 863 | 84 | 158 | WHO_owid Automobile:1908 (Ford Model T)1940s (royal imports)1944 (Premier Padmini - india)1886(Germany)when were automobiles first sold for general public or any data related to it in census | | Urbanization??, cities??: india, south korea, bangladesh, taiwan, china(todo) | | | | |