Mahabir Pun Begins Protest Demanding Government Priority for Innovation


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A young entrepreneur in Nepal is staging a sit-in protest on the streets of the country's capital, demanding that his demands be met, the BBC reports.

Mahabir Pun, who runs the National Innovation Center, says he's been meeting with government officials to push for innovation, but they haven't been listening.

"I met many leaders ranging from the prime minister to the finance minister, to the industry minister, but they just said they were positive about my demands," Pun tells the Kathmandu Post.

"This compelled him to take to the streets."

He's demanding that the government allocate 1% of its annual development budget to support talented and creative Nepalis involved in research, that it let new entrepreneurs do research, that it give permission for license, grants, and easy loans to start an enterprise, and that it create a "New Entrepreneur Development Committee" to promote indigenous products.

He's also demanding that the government create an "Applied Research and Innovation Department" under the Ministry of Science to promote applied research "with priority on private research centers, non-profit research centers, and universities."

But Pun's supporters are skeptical.

"We have a very bad culture here," says one.

"Our government gives priority to importing things but does not

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