Prem Prasad Acharya | Why did he set himself on fire?

Prem Prasad Acharya was a businessman who set himself on fire in front of the parliament in the capital city of Kathmandu!

The 37 year old business man was rushed to hospital after the incident where he deceased the next day. Acharya died Wednesday morning at the Nepal Cleft and Burn Centre, where he was being treated for injuries he got when he tried to kill himself.

Why did Prem set himself on fire?

About an hour before the incident, Prem Prasad Acharya wrote a long status update on Facebook. He said that he had tried different businesses in Nepal to make money to pay off his loans and make his family happy, but none of them worked.

On the same Facebook post he has made some demands which clearly explains the reasons what made him do this.

What demands has Prem made?

1. Zero vat on national product. Charge 20% on imported goods instead. VAT is the main cause of price increase in consumer goods.
2. Govt implement attractive market buying and selling policy like Buyers Pay First. End the loan market. Here, the leading producer/supplier has to follow the commercial brands like Bhatbhateni, Big Mart, Dabur Nepal. They have to keep giving goods to them on loan and after selling the same goods, they divert the money to other areas (shares, land) etc., open a term in the bank, collect interest and other additional profit earners and give them to the producer/supplier. . The rich are exalted by money, the poor are oppressed.
3. Implement Higher the Profit – Lower the Tax Rate tax policy. As the tax rate will decrease with more profits, all industrialists/businessmen will move towards making more profits.
4. Implement Land Leasing system. The people of Nepal have become lazy because the land will be transferred from generation to generation. Give the ownership of a piece of land to one person only for up to 50 years.
5. Change the Banking Mortgage Valuation System. Let the unproductive land in the city get the same valuation as the productive land in the village. If you keep 4 annas of land in the city in the bank, no money will come without selling it. But the productive land of the village continues to give income, the crops and production continue to bring in money and the bank loan repayment base is high.

Check out the full Facebook post here.

Reflection of state’s extreme failure

Kathmandu Metropolitan Mayor Balen Shah said that Prem Prasad Acharya setting himself on fire shows that the state has “extremely failed.” After Acharya died during treatment, Mayor Shah wrote on social media that the death was caused by the state’s lack of responsibility.

People from all around the world are expressing sympathy and support to the family of the deceased. Social activist Dipika writes, “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Prem Prasad Acharya, a kind and good human being, I am Dipika Jamkatel, a social activist based in Sydney, Australia originally from Nepal. I am raising funds for the late Prem Prasad Acharya’s Family.”. Click here to check out the Go Fund Me campaign.