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KUNDA DIXIT in GANGTOKNepal’s rulers and planners may not need to go on governance junkets to the West to figureout how to run this country. The model is right there across our eastern border in Sikkim.

The erstwhile Himalayan kingdom that once lagged behind Nepal in everydevelopment parameter is now surging ahead in literacy, child survival, health servicesand infrastructure. And not just Nepal, Sikkim is overtaking other Indian states as well.

Sikkim is one-tenth the size of Nepal and has one-fortieth our population, and thatmakes it easier to get results. In terms of ethnic diversity, topography, culture andtraditions there is no other place more similar to Nepal. So, theoretically, what works inSikkim should work in Nepal. But it doesn’t. Sikkim’s formula is good governance,grassroots democracy, and a strong, visionary leadership. The can-do statesecretariat in Gangtok couldn’t be more different from the officialdom oneencounters in Singha Darbar.

Why Sikkim works

Sikkim’s Chief Secretary, Sonam Tenzing, receives us in his oak-panelled room, andseems well-briefed about goings-on in Kathmandu. Tenzing’s wife is from Nepal, butthat is not the only reason. “What happens in Nepal touches us,” he says. “InSikkim’s development we’re trying to do everything Nepal didn’t do and shouldhave done, and what Nepal has done and shouldn’t have done.”

Sikkim is one-tenth the size of Nepal, but itseems to be governed ten times better.

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RAJENDRA DAHAL in BIRATNAGAR

nitial public apprehension has given wayto keen anticipation in eastern Nepal tothe massive civic reception planned for

Friday in Biratnagar in honour of KingGyanendra and Queen Komal.

Fears that the Maoists may try todisrupt the rally during the bandh they havedeclared for Friday has been allayed by amassive security bandobast in and aroundthis industrial town. News from Kathmanduthat King Gyanendra will be making a royaladdress has raised expectations here of adramatic new announcement for politicalrapprochement.

King Gyanendra was set to fly out ofKathmandu on Thursday itself, and spendthe night at the army camp in Itahari beforehis address at the city stadium. Full details

Royal rally

of the king’s itinerary have not been madepublic perhaps for security reasons, but he isexpected to also visit Myanglung Bazar inTerathum which was devastated in a fire lastmonth, and a tea estate in Jhapa. Theprocession will start at 1PM and end by3PM with the royal address scheduled tobe broadcast live about 2:30 PM. Thequeen is expected to return to the capitalon Friday afternoon.

Conspicuous by their absence here arethe main political parties. They haven’tannounced a formal boycott, but leaders ofthe Nepali Congress and the UML haveflayed the public felicitation for the king,saying it harks back to the days of absolutemonarchy. Even the centre-right RPP andthe tarai-based Sadbhavana party haveformally stayed away, but left it up to

their local cadre to go if they wanted to.By declaring the bandh, the Maoists areexploiting the rift between the king and thepolitical parties.

The vacuum left by the political partieshas been filled by erstwhile Panchayatstalwarts like Dil Bahadur Shrestha, DirghaRaj Prasai, Tanka Dhakal and other ex-panchas from the eastern districts who havedescended on Biratnagar in large numbers.CDOs from many eastern districts havebeen told to travel down to Biratnagar withcivil servants in tow. But lack of transport isand security is said to be delaying theirarrival. In addition to the king, primeminister and security brass, nearly theentire government machinery is here.

The prime mover behind the rally isdeputy prime minister Badri PrasadMandal. “This is a rally by Mandal ofmandaleys,” Kishore Chandra Biswas ofSadbhavana from Sunsari district told us,referring to the label given to Panchayatsupporters.

Although most people are politicallyindifferent, they are generally happy to havethe king here. Biratnagar has so far beenspared the worst of the Maoist attacks thathave plagued other parts of the country.

The East is set to welcome King and Queen.

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EXCLUSIVE

Un-unitedMarxist-LeninistsThe Communist Party of Nepal (UnitedMarxist-Leninist) is holding its seventh partyconvention 1-5 February in Janakpur, wherea contest is expected between Khadga P Oliand Madhav Nepal. The two have alreadysparred over making the party moredemocratic and transparent by scrapping thegeneral secretary post and replacing it with achairman. The two are neck-to-neck, althoughNepal is supposed to have the edge.

The party maygive itself an imagemakeover with a newflag and new name.However, membersseem reluctant togive up the hammer

and sickle, preferring to combine it withthe sun from the Nepali flag in thebackground. The sun is also the UML’selection symbol. The new flag woulddistinguish the party from a spectrum of

other communist splinter groups, includingthe deep-red CPN (Maoist). Some partystalwarts also want to take off “UML” tag andshorten the party name to simply:Communist Party of Nepal (CPN). Themove, they say, will enhance the party’sstanding as the main communist group inNepal and also reduce Western scepticismabout its democratic credentials.

“Our party is by far the most democraticparty as we hold elections from ward unitsright up to the party’s central leadership,”standing committee member, Amrit KumarBohara told us. While the party bosses arereceptive to changing the flag, there isreluctance to change the name. “It’s up tothe delegates to decide. We don’t want toimpose decisions from the top,” Bohara said.

of

Biking

bandhstimein the

I“Thanks to the royal visit, Biratnagar iscleaner than it has ever been, we have neverseen such denting-painting before,” oneenthusiastic shopkeeper said. Indeed,potholes have been filled overnight,electricity poles have been painted over,there are welcome arches, the city isfestooned with Nepali flags and even thestatue of King Mahendra is getting a face-lift (see pictures). The municipality has spentRs 6 million, and local Marwari business-men have contributed most of the moneyfor the rally.

Several thousand extra securitypersonnel have been deployed in the cityand along the main highways for Friday’sevent. Plainsclothes police will be travellingin buses to thwart attempts by Maoists tostop people attending the rally.

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2 EDITORIAL 33 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #1263 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126 NATION

STATE OF THE STATE by CK LALNepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd,Chief Editor: Kunda DixitDesign: Kiran Maharjaneditors@nepalitimes.com, www.nepalitimes.comAdvertising: Sunaina Shah advertising@himalmedia.comSubscription: Anil Karki subscription@himalmedia.comSales: Sudan Bista sales@himalmedia.comSanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, LalitpurGPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalTel: 01-543333-7, Fax: 01-521013Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hattiban: 01-547018/17

L E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R SL E T T E R S

MUSSARAFSHIPCK Lal’s “Musharrafship”(#124) delves into fundamentalconcept of human anddemocractic rights. Aredemocracy and human rightsuniversal? Who made themuniversal? This is a Westernconcept that is deeply rooted inindividualism and materialism ill-suited for traditional society likeNepal that still is rooted in“inner worldly” quests. Who isto say that one particularcivilisation, philosophy, race ornation is superior to another, egthe ardent belief in theuniversality of democracy,human rights and global

capitalism? These self-evidenttruths mask an ethicalsuperiority complex of theWest. All civilisations and theirsystem of thoughts are aproduct of that particularcivilisation’s experiences. Weneed to be aware of the“colonisation” of our thought-process. From the 1940s to the60s, people of the physicallycolonised world, threw off theyoke of tyranny. Now it's timeto be aware of an even morepotent danger, a colonisation ofthe mind...Nike, McDonalds,Coke, MTV, CNN…

Subarna Bhattachan,Lawrence, Kansas, USA

PRIVATISE, OR ELSEI appreciated Bhagirath Yogi’sarticle regarding privatisation ofgovernment-run enterprises(“Going to the dogs”, # 124). Myconcern is that the debate waslimited to the state’s (in)ability tosuccessfully carry outprivatisation and did not addresswhether we as citizens are betteroff with privatisation to beginwith. I am not opposed toprivatisation per se. It could workin the case of Bhaktapur Brick andTiles Factory since its efficacy isprimarily restricted to theKathmandu Valley and hascompetitors that prevent it fromgaining monopoly. From a

layman’s perspective, the samecould be true for the cementfactories and other industriesincluding the Janakpur CigaretteFactory (a despicable example ofgovernment ruining the health ofits citizens). However, thesituation is different for serviceentities like Nepal Bank, RastriyaBanijya Bank, RNAC and NTC. Ibelieve the primary objective ofthe two commercial banks was toprovide banking service to theNepali people. At a time whenthere are a dozen or so privatebanks, it may be difficult for theresidents of Kathmandu and otherurban centres to see therelevance of these two. But it’sworth considering that althoughprivate banks have been inoperation for the past 18 years,their services are restricted toabout 15 out of 75 districts. So,what’s there to ensure thatprivatisation of these two bankswill not essentially rob the majorityof the Nepalis (who happen to livein the other 60 districts) of anybanking facility?

The most egregious of all isthe proposal to privatise theDrinking Water Corporation(DWC). The very outlandishnotion that the state is willing to

privatise as fundamental a naturalresource as water, which isowned by its citizens, should fillus all with indignation. Even ifMelamchi is the only solution to thescarcity of drinking water inKathmandu, shouldn’t there beconcern regarding howprivatisation of DWC could affectaffordability of drinking water?By definition, private companiesare accountable to theirshareholders, not the generalpublic and their objective is profitmaking, not public interest. In ascenario like this, isn’t itconceivable that a significantproportion of the population maynot be able to afford drinkingwater? Are there other optionsfor those who can’t? In mostwestern countries including theUS, municipalities, not privatecompanies, regulate drinkingwater. Yet, we’re presentedwith two stark choices—privatise or perish—as if there’sno third option.

It should concern us that boththe government and the donorsare emphasising two solutions(privatisation and decentralisation)that are contradictory in numerousinstances. How can you developa place when you take away its

he constitution of Nepal is once morein crisis, and in its wake comes thepossibility of further chaos and

instability. One has to seriously ponder itsroot cause. Why are the constitutions insome countries in this region stable andfunctional despite their flaws? And why inothers does a constitution eulogised as “oneof the best” becomes irrelevant and fails tocommand support even from its framers?

Twelve years ago, Nepal faced anextraordinary crisis, which was bothinternal and external in nature. While wewere trying to become self-reliant from asecurity point of view, a neighbour imposedan extraordinary blockade with a declarationto bring Nepal “to its knees in three days”.Political leaders of that country were

by GANESH RAJ SHARMAOPINION

A constitutionalcrowninciting the Nepali people to revolt. Theseactivities disrupted an establishedconstitutional process and aggravatedpolitical instability.

The previous constitution could havebeen made fully democratic through someamendments. But it was completelyabrogated and replaced by a new one. Thisconstitution had gone through a rough-and-tumble 12 years. Now, there are indicationsthat forces are active to make thisconstitution also irrelevant. Unless weidentify and resolve the reasons why ourconstitutions are so crisis-prone, no futureconstitution, by whatever means it isprepared, will last even a year.

The royal move of 4 October wascompletely unexpected, and it was a flagrantviolation of the constitutional provisions.The king can exercise Article 127 only onadvice of the prime minister through Article35(2). It is quite illogical to expect theprime minister to recommend his owndismissal to the king. Article 27(3) imposesan obligation upon the king to protect andpreserve the constitution. It does not allowthe exercise of any power above theconstitution. Unfortunately, the constitutionis put into crisis not only byits enemies, but also by persons entrustedto preserve it.

The constitution is not the cause of thepresent political crisis, but it has become itsvictim. The failure of the politicalleadership, including the king and theleaders of the political parties, are mainly tobe blamed for this critical situation.

The king now has absolute authority todecide which way to go. If he has alreadydecided (however unpopular that decisionmay be) he might be able to gather externalas well as internal support for it. And the

country would have to give in to thecompromises and concessions that wouldentail. There are definitely forces within thecountry and outside, which want to fulfiltheir vested interests by aggravating theconflict between the king and the people.

But the king has not yet expressed hisdesire to produce an alternative to theprevailing political model as his father, lateKing Mahendra, had done after a drasticchange in 1960. As the king has been inconstant dialogue with the prominentleaders of the dissolved parliament, heseems to be in search of the solution withinthe framework of the present constitution.

It is up to Prime Minister Chand tofigure out what the king wants. Having servedthe crown before, he is capable and honest torender appropriate advice to get us out of thedeadlock. He could, for instance, decide on anappropriate date for holding general electionswithin a constitutionally visualised period ofsix months from the dates of the royal move of4 October. The constitutional process canreturn to normal soon after the electionis completed.

If elections can’t be held immediately andthe prime minister is convinced that it wouldnot be appropriate to continue a situationwithout parliament for more than theconstitutional limit of six months, he canrender a binding recommendation to the kingas per Article 35(2) to reinstate the dissolvedparliament for the rest of its previous tenure.

Any exercise of power by the kingunder Article 127 requires the consent andadvice of the prime minister and that clauseenables him to remove such obstacles. Theprime minister, and not the king, willtherefore be responsible for theconsequences. The parliament and thegovernment accountable to it, are the

monarchy’s shields. The monarchycommands enormous respect andundisputed allegiance of all sections ofNepalis. The prime minister can fulfil hishistoric role by making thisrecommendation.

Besides the king and the army, the otherdecisive force in Nepal’s politics is popularopinion, which is expressed and representedby the political parties through theparliamentary process. It is not logical toexpect them to recommend a leader or aprogram unanimously. Once the house isrevived, the process of choosing and removingleadership democratically will be reinstated.

There are two alternative proposals fromthe political parties: the largest party of thedissolved parliament is demanding therevival of the house and the mainopposition wants an all party government.In the absence of parliament, this kind ofgovernment may require extra-constitutional interventions by the king torun government. There will be problemswhen that government needs the legislativesupport. In the absence of the parliament,no new law can be promulgated, no annualbudget can be procured and the questionof the accountability of the government alsoremains uncertain. If the election cannot beheld for some years, this kind of all-partywill be unworkable.

If the parliament is revived, it willproduce a government that will have thenecessary mandate, have backing of alllegislative functions and all major problemsof the country will come underparliamentary purview and its scrutiny andit is possible to do this on advice of theprime minister to the king.

Some constitutions, like in Bangladeshand Sri Lanka, have express provisions for

the revival of a dissolved house. As ourconstitution is very precise in drafting, areasonable interpretation has to be found.The Supreme Court could not stand in theway if the king acts on the advice of theprime minister. And, it is high time forthem to decide.

Twelve years ago, Prime MinisterLokendra Bahadur Chand had helped theking to lead an extraordinary consensus infavour of multiparty democracy. Destinyhas put him in an almost identicalsituation. He could recommend to the kingthe revival of parliament, bring thedemocratic process back on track, and helpavoid a fatal confrontation between the kingand the political parties.

Since King Gyanendra’s coronation isexpected to be completed soon with fullVedic rituals, the restoration of a fullyfunctional constitutional process by thenwould only enhance His Majesty’s stature.That will be an occasion when a largenumber of heads of state as well asgovernments with a world wide mediacoverage will have an opportunity to see apopular king with a complete democracy.

It is known to all that the Nepali peoplehave pardoned politicians from time to timefor committing mistakes considering theirutility. The king’s dignity would beenhanced if the prime minister helps himwith correct advice.

The problem of violence, terrorism andlawlessness in the country will be thechallenges for a reinstated parliament andthe government accountable to it. What isneeded now is the courage, in proportion tothe stature of persons, to get rid ofcompulsions seen and unseen.

(Ganesh Raj Sharma is a senior advocatewho served as counsel for Sher BahadurDeuba during the Supreme Court debatefollowing his ouster. This column is atranslated version of the article thatappears in Himal Khabarpatrika.)

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A fully-functional executive, judiciary and parliament canwork as constitutional safeguards to the monarchy.

only financial institution and makeit further inaccessible? What’s toguarantee that most of thedistricts will still have basiccommunication services whenNTC is privatised? It’s true that anumber of state entities haveproblems that need immediateattention. However, proposingprivatisation as the only solutionin all cases is analogous to aphysician prescribing antibioticsto any and all ailments. Ifmismanagement, inefficiency andcorruption are grounds forprivatisation, then I’m afraid thecase is made for privatising theentire government machinery.

Kalyan Pande,University of Wisconsin,

Madison

WORST OF TIMESReading “The red windmill in thevalley of the gods” (#125) I reallyfelt like it is the best of times andthe worst of times in Nepal. Whenwill our heads work in unisonwith our hearts? Are we a nationof insensitive imbeciles that wedance the can-can here inKathmandu when the rest of thecountry is burning? Let’s have amoratorium on these tastelessfestivities, celebrations, and

donor-driven seminars till ourbasic problems and basic needsare addressed.

S D Gajraj, by email

SIR MICHAELI really appreciated the interviewof Sir Michael Jay (“Cross-partyapproach to conflict a must”,#122) with regard to the solutionof the Maoist problem in Nepal. Ofcourse, the solution throughnegotiation is a superb idea toavoid a longer and bloodierconflict. Military means as asolution cannot win the heartsand minds of the population. Forthis, the present governmentshould create a conduciveatmosphere to sit around thenegotiating table to revitalisepeace and security. In theinception of dialogue, the Maoists’demands might be higher, but afterthe talks begin, hopefully both willcome to a substantial agreementto find an honourable way out ofthis problem.

Name withheld,Royal Nepal Army

CRÈME DE LA CRÈMEPhudorjee Lama’s referral to thegraduates of BudhanilkanthaSchool as the cream of the

society in “A nation’s call” (#121)is not justified. Lama deservescredit for being specific inexplaining circumstances thatmost students who are abroadfor studies face. However, beinga product of BudhanilkanthaSchool myself, I fail to see whywe, or products of any otherschools in Kathmandu for thatmatter, should be called the“cream of our society”. Whathave we done that makes themdifferent from some MaBi inDadheldhura? Does sponsoringa few economically poorstudents from supposedlyremote areas of Nepal through aNationwide Scholarship Programfor their education make us thecream of our society? Or, canwe claim to be the best and thebrightest by simply counting theheads of Budhanilkanthaproducts in Ivy League and firsttier colleges in the US? True,Budhanilkantha School standsout from the rest of the schoolsin the country in that it providesscholarships to bright but needystudents from all over thecountry. However, how muchreturn the country gets from thatinvestment remains a mystery.

And unless we prove that

we have given back enough, weshould let society judge ourcontribution and not do thatourselves.

Name withheld on request

BOOZE AND BUTTSThanks to Hemlata Rai foremphasising that alcoholism is adisease that can be contained(“Nepal’s anonymous alcoholism”,#125). But the Nepali public is alsoseeing huge billboards enticingthem to identify unrealistically witha generation of high-fliers. Thealcohol and cigarette industrieshave latched on to youth interestsin sports and entertainment tolaunch tremendously successfulcampaigns that erroneously linkbooze and butts to success andachievement. I curse the dayuniversities started giving degreesin advertising. Joining the latestresearch in subliminal psychologywith marketing is unethicalbecause it uses information aboutunconscious recesses of themind to stimulate desire for aproduct. People don’t even knowthey’re being had. The consumeris turned into a captive customer.To make matters worse, donorfunding for recovery program isnon-existent. Whatever happened

to the right to choose betweenhard reduction or completeelimination?

Mike Krajniak, Kathmandu

As Hemlata Rai points out, thereare various factors that contributeto alcoholism here. But the biggestfactor is that it is cheap, verywidely available and sold toanyone. A 10-year-old could walkdown to the corner shop for abottle of vodka. But I am glad tosee that AA type of organisationsare now working to tackle theproblem. Prevention is better thancure, and we need to focus onunderage drinkers so they don’tbecome alcohol dependent infuture. The media also needs totarget youngster to stressalcoholism is an illness with fatalconsequences.

Dr A Thapa-Hamal, UK

PASHUPATI SJBReading Pashupati Shumshere JBRana’s interview (“I will work tobridge the gap between the kingand parties”, #125) reminded meof Prof Northcote Parkinson’sdilemma in selecting a suitableprime minister for the Republic ofRuritania in his book “Inlaws andOulaws”. Mr Rana meets all the

Jumla is not JaffnaAnd unlike the Tamils of Sri Lanka,

Nepali Maoists can’t count on the loyalty ofan influential diaspora. Quite the contrary,the “long distance nationalism” of manyoverseas Nepalis make them quite right-wing. Even the few non-resident Nepalisthat support Comrade Prachanda (like theaudience at the pro-Maoist meeting inAntwerp who applauded every time thevideo screen showed scenes of Mangalsen)do so as a matter of convenience rather thanany commitment to the revolution.

It is extremely unlikely that people likethe Washington-based Dr Chitra Tiwariwill be willing to lay down their lives forthe dictatorship of the proletariat in a basearea somewhere in the mid-western sector.More likely, they will readily denounce therevolution once their livelihoods are evenslightly threatened in their adopted land.

Come to think of it, most people didn’teven know what it was that Maoists werefighting for till 21 November 2002, the dayAgni Sapkota, Krishna Bahadur Mahara andCompany unilaterally walked away from thethird round of talks with the government.We now have their three main demands—aroundtable of all political forces, formationof an interim government, and elections fora constituent assembly. All very well,Comrade Prachanda, but please tell us—what is in it that couldn’t have beenachieved through a normal political process?

Perhaps finding an answer to thatquestion itself requires another round oftalks. Oslo offers some useful lessons in thetechnicalities of high-stakes negotiationsmediated by impartial facilitators. But morethan the public stance of the Maoistleadership, it’s the cross-border angle oftheir rebellion that is more worrying. Andthere is no way that straight negotiationsbetween two stakeholders can address theconcerns of an invisible third party.

There isn’t anything in the Maoistinsurgency that a political leadership withwill and determination can’t handle. Evenafter seven years and 7,000 deaths, hopestill lives in the hearts of commonNepalis.

there is bad blood between the Sinhalas andTamils in Sri Lanka. The Norwegians need towork harder the closer they get to the final goal.That there has been an effective ceasefire formore than a year is itself an achievement. TheSri Lankans and friends of Sri Lanka here hopethat the peace lasts, and peace in Serendib willpresage peace in Shangri La.

Hope is infectious. Buoyed by the SriLankan peace process, a section of Kathmanduhas started talking about replicating theexperience here in Nepal, complete withNorwegian facilitators. Had it not been for theinfluence that these people have on publicopinion, it would have been possible to ignoresuch noises as wishful thinking. But to preventanother false start in the name of talks betweenthe government and the Maoists, it’snecessary to emphasise the self-evident: thevery nature of struggle for territorial self-determination is different from class-warbeing fought for social justice.

In Jaffna, it’s a war of love—love for ahomeland. People are ready to die when theirsense of self is at risk. But the insurgency inJumla and Jajarkot is a class-war. TheMaoists are fighting their government to geta better deal for themselves, their goal isnothing more or less than appropriatingstate power to create a utopian society withinthe existing territorial boundary.

In plain terms, the “people’s war” is apolitical struggle, in which pressure-cooker

bombs have edged out ballot boxes. Butthe Maoists know more than

anyone else that they can’t everclaim political legitimacybecause: a. peaceful avenuesof political protest are stillavailable, b. the state isneither colonial, nordictatorial, even though it

has started on the latter courseafter October the Four, and c.

judicial redress is not denied forinstances of state repression. In fact, theonly similarity that Maoists share with theLTTE is their common strategy of whatis called “propaganda of the deed” interror discourse.

he less talk there is about talks with theMaoists, the more chance there is oftalks. Peace talks need political will and

discreteness to succeed. In Nepal, both seem tobe in short supply.

The lesson from Sri Lanka is that bothsides wanted peace, there was an honest brokerand they worked out of the media glare till theywere ready to announce progress.

The third round of peace negotiationsbetween the government of Sri Lanka and theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)ended on an optimistic note. No doubt, thewarring parties of the teardrop island havecome a lot closer to peace, but the chasm isstill too wide to be bridged with simplisticpolitical arrangements.

Despite the handshakes and hesitantsmiles, neither Sri Lankan Prime MinisterRanil Wickremasinghe nor the LTTE chiefnegotiator Anton Balasingham budged an inchfrom their publicly declared positions. PremierWickremasinghe is ready for devolution ofpower within a federal structure, but it’s aconfederation that Balasingham is insisting onbehalf of his boss, Prabhakaran.

Instead of goodwill,

The LTTE fought for an ethnic homeland, our Maoistsare fighting a class war. There is a difference.

criteria for premiership: great-grandson of Sri 3 Chandra,grandson of Mohan (“the last ofthe Mohicans”) and son-in-law ofthe Scindias (the role models forthe transition from princely stateto potential head of state),Oxford educated, etc.

Field Marshal Kaiser too hadthe same ambition of LordCurzon, one of them was tobecome the prime minister ofEngland. He brought a RollsRoyce on his way back fromLondon after his tenure asambassador in the Court of StJames. He hung it from the ceilingof his garage covered with amosquito net at Kaiser Mahal. Butafter 2007 BS, he moved aroundKathmandu in a Mahindra andMahindra jeep.

When Queen Elizabeth IIvisited Nepal in 1961, shewas inadvertently escorted in aMercedes Benz. To avoid

another faux pas when PanditNehru came visiting, the FieldMarshal offered his Rolls.When the car was taken to thePalace for a rehearsal, Kaiser’sdriver drove the Rolls, while hefollowed in his jeep. The carwas later sold to anEnglishman and was shippedback where it came from.

Kaiser himself wasconferred the title of FieldMarshal though he neveractually participated in anybattle. The reason forrecapping all this trivia is toremind Pashupati, the “NatiGeneral”, that history is makinga full circle and the analogyshould be quite clear to him.

Sushil Kumar, by email

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CARNIVAL TIMEmerging out of the morning fog at Tripureswor one morning this week wasan elephant in full regalia with mahout and pachuwa in attendance. Hoistedon three sides of a howdah atop the pachyderm were larger-than-life

pictures of Crown Prince Paras. The elephant was leading a parade of Nepaliathletes and sports people to wish His Royal Highness happy birthday.

We welcome public displays of affection and respect towards our royalfamily. Despite the tragedy of 2001 and the current triangular confrontationbetween the king and the political parties and the Maoists, Nepal’s monarchy androyal family is still a valuable symbol of our national unity, nationhood and their roleis embedded in our culture and traditions. The political parties currently confrontingthe king seem to have lost track of who their real enemy is.

This public support for monarchy may be hidden, but it is genuine and sponta-neous. It doesn’t have to be whipped up. In fact, it is counterproductive to try towhip it up. A rent-a-crowd rally doesn’t help the monarchy in these trying timeswhen it is under attack from politicians flirting with republicanism and Maoistsfighting for it.

Genuine supporters of the monarchy are nervous about these sterile ralliesthat lend an artificial flavour to a sensibility that is already wholesome andheartfelt. If there is a royal PR problem, this is not the way to address it. And wehave it on good authority that it is makingeven hardline monarchists squirm.

Once again, there is a strong senseof déjà vu. At least during the Panchayatyears we knew what was what—thesedays every time you listen to state radio ortelevision the treacly tributes and fanaticflattery from people who are more royal thanthe king make it all sound like a parody ofPanchayat times.

But times have changed. The Nepalipeople are much more sophisticated, andsee right through the rhetoric. Youshould hear whatis being said inthe tea shopsas peoplewatch thetelevisioncoverage ofthe prepara-tions inBiratnagar. Thesycophants whomasterminded theseevents may think that they aredrumming up support for the king, but they areachieving the opposite. The monarch needs to meet the people moreoften and more closely, but this is not the way to organise it, or cover it in themedia. Sycophancy only helps the enemies of monarchy. It is a tragedy of ourtimes that something as self-evident as this even needs to be said.

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4 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126 53 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126NATIONNATION

DOMESTIC BRIEFS

by DANIEL LAKHERE AND THERE

alendar pages flutter by at an accelerating rate, the older you get,the more pronounced this phenomenon. Years merge seamlesslyinto each other, however you measure the passage of time. Yet the

habit of using the New Year, Western, Nepali, Tibetan or other, tomeasure progress and predict the future dies hard. In fact, it staggersabout like a drunk on New Years Eve, refusing to go to bed or stopdrinking, despite the damage done to oneself or others. So here goes, forwhat it’s worth…

1) War in the Middle East will begin but not end this year.America’s high altitude electronic war gaming will renderkey bits of Iraqi infrastructure irreparable, but forunforeseen reasons—be they biological, chemical, nuclear,or conventional—the reconstruction effort will not beginin earnest over the next year. This will disappoint many,not least large construction companies in the United Statesand Europe, and sound-bite politicians in Western capitalswho will face growing public disquiet. The damage to theIraqi people will matter least.

2) Terrorists will attempt another spectacular strike, perhapssucceeding in part. It won’t be another World TradeCenter but it may be another Bali. Over the same period,there will be countless dire warnings from harassed lookingofficials, security and civil rights restrictions on easy targetslike the vast majority of honest, well-intentioned peoplewill continue to tighten. It won’t matter. Manyentrepreneurs will identify opportunities in the newparanoia that will continue to spread outward like cancer,from the killing fields of West Asia, to our own backyards.

The habit of using the new yearto measure progress andpredict the future dies hard.

Predicting the worst

script as the “conflict resolution” gravy train gets up a good head ofsteam. No relief from conflict will be provided by any of this butmany consultants will be amply rewarded for running workshopsand “building capacity”. Sadly, along the way, the significantnumber of truly committed and effective individuals working indevelopment here will leave–driven off by the cynicism of colleaguesor a collapse in funding.

6) Remittances from expatriate Nepalis in other lands will become evermore economically significant as tourists stay away and foreign aiddries up. Sadly, few in authority will do anything to assist those whoremit. Some will even hinder, or try to profit unjustly from it. Itwon’t matter. People will still go abroad to work.

7) The Nepali Times will continue to be a star but in an ever-wideninggalaxy of local media, newly emboldened to cover all manner ofwrongdoing, and to celebrate indigenous success when appropriate.Bring on the competition, it’s the best thing we have to lookforward to.

8) I’ve been wrong before, so let’s hope that I am about the more direpredictions.

3) The government and the Maoists in Nepal will continue to play wordgames with the notion of peace talks, terrorism, revolution andaccusations of atrocities. Some of the latter will be covered moreboldly than ever before in local media. Messengers will come underpressure while their message is ignored. It’s happening already inthe rape fiasco and it will happen again and again until some lessonsare learned here. Meanwhile, Nepal’s killing terraces will pass

through another season of death anddecline, until increasingly distantKathmandu finally starts to feelsome pain from insurgency.Whether this adds urgency toofficial efforts to resolve the crisisremains unpredictable.

4) There will continue to be talk ofholding “elections” in Nepal, and“constitutional reform”. Boththese crucial notions will bebludgeoned into further irrelevanceby the continuing mayhem andeconomic decline. Nepal’s valuableand hard-won institutions ofmodernity will continue to becheapened by a combination ofhypocrisy and design.

5) International agencies, bilateraland multilateral, will continue toread from the same mealy-mouthed

C

Sikkim’s formula for success isappropriate planning, goodgovernance, true devolution of powerand decision-making to electedgrassroots councils, and an idealisticand accountable leadership.

Sonam Tenzing gives full creditto his boss, Chief Minister PawanChamling. “It is the vision of one manwho believes in delegatingresponsibility but expects results.”

We are ushered into the ChiefMinister’s official residence on a ridgeoverlooking Gangtok, and PawanChamling speaks in colloquialpeoples’ Nepali, not the Sanskritisedofficialese one is used to hearing inKathmandu. He exudes theconfidence of a man who knowswhere he wants to go, and what todo to get there. (See interview, p5).

It has helped that this formermonarchy and Indian protectorate isone of ten special category states whichreceive central assistance from NewDelhi. But things haven’t been easyfor Chamling. After ousting hismentor, Nar Bahadur Bhandari in the

1994 state assembly elections, he hadto battle for political survival. Afterbeing nearly voted out himself, criticssay Chamling used the ethnic card todivide the opposition. This, they say,has irreversibly harmed Sikkim’scommunal harmony. But his criticsgrudgingly admit that Chamling’sstrategy worked, and he is now analmost unopposed leader. Today,Chamling’s SDF party has a virtualrun of the 33-member stateassembly, the lone opposition MLAis Bhandari himself.

Chamling exudes the down-to-earth charm of a self-made grassrootsleader. He never went to college, anda conversation with him does not gointo high-flying political theory ornebulous concepts of democracy. Itis about what is do-able, how longit will take to do it, and how muchit will cost.

“What the man has is a lot ofcommon sense,” says PD Rai, anengineer-turned-politician whomChamling convinced to headSIDICO, a one-stop shop to enticeinvestors to Sikkim so new jobs couldbe created. “He has a group of

managers who implement his vision,and he has deliberately staked hispolitical career on the promises hemade to the people.”

And what is this vision?Chamling counts them out on hisfingers: “Ethnic harmony, sustainabledevelopment, security andenvironmental protection.” The factthat the ethnic issue still looms large isan acknowledgement that thedivisiveness of the 1994 electionsbruised ethnic relations between theBhutia, Lepcha and Nepali-speakers,who are collectively known as “NBC”(Newar, Bahun, Chhetri).

Chamling’s long-termdevelopment goals are ambitious, butnot unrealisitic in a state with apopulation of only 500,000: universalliteracy, eradicating poverty andnear-zero unemployment by 2015.By that period, he wants Sikkim tobe a hydropower exporter and weanitself away from special subsidypackages from the federalgovernment in New Delhi.

Chamling has no illusions thatdevelopment is linked to security, andsays to his visitors: “Just look at Nepal.

The security problem is actually aresult of a failure of development, thelack of jobs and opportunities.”Chamling’s instruction to thebureaucracy is to implementdevelopment goals on a war footing.

Sikkim’s literacy is higher thanNepal (see table, p5), but like inNepal female literacy has laggedbehind. The government’s priority isgirls’ education and it has a uniqueprogram of financial incentives: thestate deposits Rs 2,500 into a bankaccount of every girl student every yearfrom the moment she enrolls in highschool. She gets a bonus Rs 2,500when she graduates. But she can onlytake out the money when she is 21,and only if she is still single at thatage. If she drops out of school or getsmarried, she forfeits the money.

“The idea is to keep girls inschool, and to delay the marriage age,and when she does decide to getmarried she already has some moneyof her own and is more independent,”explains the speaker of Sikkim’s statelegislature, Kalawati Subba. “Womendon’t need affirmative action, theyneed support to stand on their ownfeet and be treated equally,” she says,citing that nearly 40 percent of allelected village leaders in the last localelections were women.

Subba is convinced the demandfor development must come from thegrassroots, and says this is what thechief minister is trying to do with hispro-poor programs. “Politics mustcome from every household, everySikkimese must feel powerful enoughto demand these services and get themfrom the people they elected.”

When Chamling stood for re-election in 1999, his campaign sloganwas: “Janata ko raj ma janata nai raja”and “Afno gaun, aphai banaun.”(Speaking to visitors from Nepal,Chamling spontanously crafts a sloganfor Nepal’s own future: “Maharaja

euta, raja dui karod janata.”) Thisstrong emphasis on devolution andself-reliance may just have been aslogan elsewhere, but Chamling seemsto mean it. He called 2002 “The Yearof Implementation” in which allprojects were rushed to completion.

To outsiders, it appears as ifChamling is still on election-mode.PD Rai agrees: “As a matter of fact, heis already campaigning for the 2004elections, by proving to the people thathe has kept his promises to them.”The Chief Minister has been goingaround the state attending a series ofJanata Mela, development jamboreeswhere the people get a chance to asktheir elected representatives andbureaucrats about progress on health,education, roads, rural housing, ortheir old age pension. They can evengrill local officials where the money fordevelopment projects is going, or whya road project is still stuck.

To be sure, Chamling faces a lotof hurdles. Not the least of which areopposition politicians who think hehas an autocratic streak, has a historyof hanging out with questionablefigures including some NepaliMaoists and is someone who doesn’thesitate to use the ethnic card.Corruption is still said to be rife.

Admits one senior governmentofficial: “Our biggest bottleneck is thedelivery mechanism for development.The bureaucracy is still too laid back,and motivation levels are not as high aswe want them to be.”

Sikkim’s development has alwaysbeen driven by populist-mindedpoliticians with pork-barrel funds, andChamling came from that tradition.But he has tried to change course anddo it systematically by commissioningeconomists and sociologists to write theSikkim Human Development Reportreleased in 2002. JNU professorMahendra P Lama helped write thereport, which is now the state’s

development blueprint. “There wasvery poor understanding about theneeds of mountain people, and a beliefthat the same development model willwork everywhere” recalls Lama. “Thisreport is completely indigenous andlooks at baseline local parameters forthe first time and makesrecommendations.”

Lama concluded that pastsubsidies were used as governmenthandouts and had spoilt the people bykilling local initiative and traditionalself-help. The state is implementingLama’s recommendations, and is nowfocussing on loans forentrepreneurship, skills-building andmicrocredit for farmers.

In the village of Rong, three hoursfrom Gangtok, the roofs of Darjeelingcan be seen glinting on a ridge acrossthe valley. There is evidence that theplans are being translated into realdevelopment on the ground. Thesecondary school in Rong has a newbuilding, well-kept facilities, adrinking water system. A nearbyhealth post vaccinates all children andkeeps records, most basic medicinesare free. Children of poorer families goto a nearby day-care centre whichprovides a daily free meal, while theirparents work in the fields. Healthworker SB Gurung knows almost everychild by name, and tells us: “There isnothing more satisfying than workingin your own village to motivate people,and see the effect of your work.”

Back in Gangtok, TourismMinister, K T Gyaltsen says there arelessons for Sikkim in the way Nepalhas handled tourism—some worthemulating, others not. “We don’t wantto rush headlong into mass tourism,”says Gyaltsen. “We are satisfied withthe present level of traffic and we willlet it grow slowly.” Sikkim gets300,000 Indian tourists annually and50,000 international tourists forwhom it has relaxed the requirement of

interline permits. Many tourists inGangtok today are those whocancelled Nepal and came hereinstead. Many tourists in Gangtoktoday are those who can celledNepal and came here instead.

A new airport at Pakyong,expected to be completed in 2004,will handle ATRs and connect toCalcutta, Bagdogra and evenKathmandu. At present the onlyalternative to driving up from theplains is to take the daily Jetrangerferry from Bagdogra, and thehelicopters also operate mountainsight-seeing flights. But whilemountaineers can climb

Kangchendzonga from the northernNepal side, climbing the world’sthird-highest peak is banned from theSikkim side. Many holy mountainlakes are out of bounds for tourists,and the state is promoting ruraltourism by giving villagers loans toconvert parts of their homes intopensions for trekkers.

Sikkim’s location on the borderwith China and Nepal, and astridethe Chumbi Valley makes it an areaof great strategic importance toIndia, a fact that is evident in theheavy military presence along themountain highways which aremaintained by the army.

AT SIDICO’s office inGangtok, PD Rai’s staff is busyconducting courses for youngentrepreneurs (many of themwomen) keen on startingbusinesses through a project calledthe Chief Ministers’ Self-helpScheme. “New kids are coming intothe job market, and we need tocreate opportunities so they arekept busy,” he tells us. “Preferenceis given to women and familiesbelow the poverty line. So far therehasn’t been a single defaulter.”

A generation after itsannexation by India, Sikkim isbeing promoted as a model state.

SIKKIM NEPAL

Male Literacy 77% 66%

Female Literacy 61.5% 35.4%

Infant mortality 44 66

Under-5 mortality 71 91

Life expectancy at birth 66.3 59

Human Development Index .532 .466

Per capita income (Nepali Rs) 19,840 17,100

Doctors/100,000 population 40 5

from p1

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Metro Channel by JuneA new feature hasemerged on theKathmandu skyline: a72m television towerwithin Singha Darbar for anew NTV channel. TheChinese-aided project willbe completed in June nextyear. The Metro Channelfacility will have twostudios, two controlrooms in a four-storeybuilding. “Unlike thenational program of NTVbeing broadcast throughsatellites, Metro Channelwill be broadcastterrestrially to begin with,” Dipak Mani Dhital, chief at theengineering department of the NTV told us. The Chinesegrant came with OB vans and other technical equipment.

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Top it with peaceEverest has been climbed for many reasons—profit,adventure, records and because it’s there. Now we canadd peace to the list. Among the many climbers headedfor the top of Everest this spring, the 50th anniversary ofthe first ascent of the world’s highest peak, a group ofapostles representing the world’s major religions willalso attempt to summit the 8483m peak. While they’re atit, they’ll be praying for peace and tolerance. Thecommemorative climbing mission aims at promotingNepal’s image as a peaceful nation and has theblessings of the Nepal Tourism Board, NepalMountaineering Association, Asian Trekking, the EverestPeace Project and the Pacific Asia Travel Association. Tosymbolise tolerance, the climbers include an atheist.

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Safety at a costPillion riding in the Valley may become expensive for theunprepared. Anyone not wearing a helmet will getslapped with a up to Rs 200 fine by the Valley TrafficPolice Office who havemade helmets compulsory.

But this safety iscoming at a cost. Nepalhas about 230,000motorbikes. If 200,000 bikeowners were to spend Rs400 each for a new helmet,it would cost the country Rs80 million. Add the cost of astorage sidebox, ‘dickey’,and we are looking at Rs 200 million in imports. Everyyear an average of 50,000 Nepalis buy new motorbikes.Can we afford this, some are asking.

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Clean fuelNepal Oil Corporation is mulling a ban on petrol anddiesel vendors selling kerosene too. This is an effort tocut fuel adulteration, and will be implemented inconsultation with the Nepal Petroleum DealersAssociation. Several NGOs have been campaigning forthis move as a way to reduce the rampant adulteration ofpetrol and diesel with subsidised kerosene. Petrolcurrently sells at Rs 52 a litre and diesel at Rs 26.50 alitre, and kerosene is priced at Rs 17 a litre. Keroseneworth more than Rs 1 billion is mixed with petrol anddiesel every year in Nepal, according to a recentestimate.

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Conflict listingsThe National Defence Council Foundation of UnitedStates identified Nepal as one of the serious conflictzones of 2000 in a report released on 31 December2002. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are other SouthAsian countries on the list. The council has added 15new countries in 1999 and twelve have been delisted.

Conflict in 2000 was up to 68 from 65 in 1999—one ofthe highest in the history of the report. It claims the levelof conflict globally is far higher than at the end of the ColdWar, when the total was about 35. The report also saysthe distribution of conflicts around the world has stayedmostly stable. The most conflict-prone areas are in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, which togetheraccount for nearly half of all conflicts. The mostsignificant change in geographical distribution is the riseof conflict in South and Central Asia, which has gonefrom six in 1997 to 10 in 2000.

Nepali Times: Can democracy bring development, or is it an impediment?

Pawan Chamling: I can speak for Sikkim, I think we are developingbecause of democracy. Development doesn’t just happen, it has to benurtured. Sikkim will never develop if we depend on money from thecentral government. We have to invest in our own human resources,develop their capacity and knowledge. We’ve just had local (panchayat)elections, and I am glad to say that our party won. Now, it will be much

“We have a radical democracy”easier for us to implement our development programs from thegrassroots up. We will work on making people at the village level awareof their rights and responsibilities in a democracy. We want to turn theSikkimese people away from being a part of the consumer culture, tobecome productive citizens. Once we become more productive, therewill be more jobs for our unemployed youth.

Your programs have been criticised for being populist. Isnít thatjust a short cut to win popular support?You may call it populist, but just because some measures are populistdoesn’t mean they are not needed. Look, my priority is to meet the basicneeds of the Sikkimese people. Call me people-oriented, not populist.And we may be a small state in India, but we are the only state that iscarrying out such an effective pro-poor program.

We are the only state that has free education up to college level,free uniforms for school children, 17 percent of our budget goes toeducation. We are working on improving our doctor per population ratio.By 2015, we want to have a poverty-free state, 100 percent literacyand zero unemployment. We want to develop in a sustainable way, wewill never sacrifice our natural resources for short-term economicgrowth.

Isnít it easier for a small state like Sikkim to achieve theseresults?True, we have only 500,000 people, but our overheads are high: weneed a governor, high court, accountant general, like all big states. Also,the grants from the central government are pegged on per capita basis,so if you are smaller state you get less. But in the end it boils down toleadership. The reason some larger states like UP haven’t been able todevelop is not because they are large, but because they have aleadership problem. They say you have to drive livestock from behind,but people you have to lead from the front. We joined the Indian unionlate, but we are ahead in terms of development, environmentalprotection, and in peace and security.

Speaking of security, how is the insurgency in Nepal affectingSikkim? Are Nepali Maoists taking refuge here?There is talk of that, but so far we haven’t come across any. We arevigilant about this, and what happens in Nepal has an indirect effect onus. We look at what is happening in Nepal and feel sorry. But we have toask ourselves, why did the Maoist problem come up? Why aren’t thereany Maoists in Sikkim? That is because this is not very fertile territory forthem. There is little economic disparity, people have opportunities, theydon’t have to lead a hand-to-mouth existence, there is democracy andenough political space for every citizen. So I am learning from the Maoistproblems in Nepal and India. We want to create conditions so they’llnever come here. To do that I practice what I preach and we implementour brand of radical democracy.

Its rulers want to develop withoutthe separatist violence and securityproblems that plague othernortheastern states. “The only waySikkim can absorb the tensions ofmodernisation and a multi-ethnicsociety is by focussing on genuinehuman development in its ownunique way,” says Mahendra Lama.So far, it looks like there is a lot therest of India, too, can borrow fromthe way Sikkim has gone aboutensuring peace through development.That is why Chamling likes to say:“India is learning a lot from Sikkim.India is merging with Sikkim, not theother way round.”

Nepali Times spoke to Sikkim chief MinisterPawan Chamling recently about his vision fordevelopment and the Maoist problem. Excerpts:○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Chamling at a Janata Mela in western Sikkim in mid-December. Chamling’s election poster.

“In Sikkim we’re trying to do everything Nepal didn’tand what Nepal has done and shouldn’t have done.”

do and should have done,

j

6 NATION 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126

COMMENTARY by GOPAL SIWAKOTI CHINTAN

n 27 November the HighCourt of Justice inLondon delivered alandmark judgement in

favour of British Gurkha prisonersof war that had importantimplications for further Gurkhapay and pension cases pending inthe British courts as well as forthe judicial history of Englandand Wales.

The judgement awarded equalcompensation of £10,000 to allBritish Gurkha prisoners of war(POWs) held by the Japaneseduring the Second World War. InNovember 2000, the Britishgovernment had decided to awardsuch compensation to all membersof the British Army and colonialforces, including widows. But theGurkhas who fought for the BritishEmpire for about 200 years wereexcluded from this scheme. Therewere over 3,000 Gurkhas (3battalions) captured out of whichnearly half died in prisons inSingapore, according to PahalmanGurung, one of the claimants.There are an estimated 1,000survivors and widows in Nepal,India and Burma. Thecompensation scheme does notextend to their children.

In 2000, the official reason fordepriving the Gurkha survivors ofcompensation was that prior to the1947 Tri-Partite Agreement signedbetween the UK, Nepal and Indiaafter Indian independence therewere no Gurkha battalions. InAugust, when the Gurkha Army Ex-

The court victory that Gurkhaprisoners of war won for equalcompensation last year may have abearing on pensions and pay casesaffecting over 50,000 Gurkhas andtheir families that will be heard inLondon 18-21 February.

One victory at a time

Servicemen’s Organisation(GAESO) brought a case of racialdiscrimination against the BritishMinistry of Defence (MOD), theministry pleaded that the Gurkhaswere part of the colonial IndianArmy and the British Army had noresponsibility of any kind towardsthem. The MOD further claimedthat Indian Gurkhas, although theywere recruited from an independentcountry, Nepal, were trained,disciplined and discharged as perthe Indian Army Act as equal to thenative Indian Army.

For European white officers ornon-Asians serving in the British-Indian Army, the British applied a

separate UK Army Act. The MODhad discriminated against theGurkhas on the same grounds inawarding compensation in 1955upon the conclusion of a peacetreaty with Japan in 1951.

This time, history took adifferent turn. The London HighCourt of Justice gave priority to thecase of the POWs and held anurgent hearing on 31 October and 1November. Honourable JusticeMcCombe, after hearing fromNocholas Blake QC and AileenMcColgan of Matrix Chambers(where British Prime Minister’swife Cherie Booth QC is also asenior law partner, and as

instructed by Phil Shiner of PublicInterest Lawyers in Birmingham)for the claimants concluded thatthe there was racism in the way theGurkha compensation issue hadbeen handled.

Justice McCombe observed thatlaw and the government mustaccord every individual equalconcern and respect for theirwelfare and dignity. Everyone isentitled to equal protection of thelaw, which must be applied withoutfear or favour except wherecompellingly justified. Distinctionsmust never be made on the groundsof race, colour, belief, gender orother irrational ground. Individuals

are therefore comprehensivelyprotected from discrimination bythe principle of equality.

“The allocation to the Indiancode of discipline was based uponrace. No amount of semanticanalysis of the ancient acts canhide that fact,” the judgedeclared. “The Gurkhas wereexcluded on the basis of aconstitutional distinction whichwas in fact founded upon race.”

Effectively, this judgement hasnow abolished the status of theNepali Gurkhas serving in theBritish Army as mercenaries, ortheir subordinates. Once thesame criteria and the principle ofequality are applied in all otherpending cases of discrimination,then the Gurkhas are sure to winthe remaining cases as well. Theonly serious difficulty in somecases is unreasonable delay inbringing these cases before theMOD and/or the courts asspecified in the UK military lawand the Queen’s Regulations.

The British Gurkha Standing

Instructions (BGSI), a separateracist regulation applied by theBrigade of Gurkhas in private, isnot going to stand before the courtof law. The 1947 Tri-PartiteAgreement also had nothing to doin these cases since the court hasestablished that “discrimination is adiscrimination” no matter when,where or on whatever grounds.These other cases pay and pensionsaffecting over 50,000 Gurkhas andtheir families will be heard inLondon 18-21 February. TheGurkhas will be represented byCherie Booth QC and her team ofbarristers and solicitors.

If these cases are won, thesoldiers and their families willfinally be able to end a chapter inthe history of Gurkha recruitmentfrom Nepal and finish their battlefor equal treatment. The injusticeinherent in this colonial legacy willthen be finally rectified.

(Gopal Siwakoti Chintan isGAESO’s lawyer, and part of thelegal team in UK.)

O

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MANJUSHREE THAPAhe Royal Nepal Army and Amnesty International are on a collisioncourse over allegations of rape of two girls from Nepalganj inApril which are contained in the human rights group’s latest

report on Nepal.A National Human Rights Commission team visited Nepalganj this

week, and returned to Kathmandu Tuesday. It is expected to present areport shortly. But the family home of the victims is reported to be guarded,and the girls did not agree to talk to investigators from the commission.One of the girls’ father was also not allowed to speak privately to them.

A “public hearing” was also held at the Chief District Officer’s office onTuesday, in which the family including the cousins again refuted the rapecharges. Plainclothes soldiers were reported to be present in the crowd. TheRNA has set up its own internal inquiry into the matter.

A video tape screened at the RNA press conference last week was madepublic in a joint Nepal TV/Channel Nepal broadcast over the weekend. Itshows the 18-year-old girl allegedly raped at the Chisapani army campconfirming in her mother’spresence that nothing hadhappened to her or her 16year-old cousin in their threedays’ detention. Thisstatement, which witnessessay was made in thepresence of the allegedperpetrator, Captain RameshSwar and his superior MajorAjit Thapa, contradictscharges made in the Amnesty Report and a BBC report broadcast on 19December.

This week, Swar is said to have agreed to forgive the family’s Rs 11 lakhdebt if one of the girl’s father were to join his wife and daughter in refutingAI’s rape allegations. The father had been in hiding since March andreturned home on 29 December.

AI this week issued a publication appeal to pressure the primeminister and the Chief of Army Staff to “immediately suspend” thoseinvolved in intimidating the family, pending the findings of anindependent investigation.

“The first thing the army should have done is to arrest their officers onsuspicion of rape. By staging a show trial, the government is treading ondangerous territory,” said a senior Kathmandu-based diplomat.

National human rights groups too have deemed it “inappropriate” foralleged perpetrators to carry out investigations, and “unjust” for victims tohave to provide testimony before the armed forces. A delegation of ninemajor human rights organisations has met the Prime Minister, pressing foran independent investigation commission.

Army vs Amnesty

The standoff betweenRoyal Nepal Army andAmnesty Internationalcontinued this week overthe alleged rapes of twocousins in Nepalganj.

T

7ECONOMY 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126

BIZ NEWS by PRATIVA SUBEDICOMMENT

NEPAL IN THE FOREIGN PRESS

ormulating five-year-plans hasbecome something of a traditionin Nepal. And the recently

announced 10th Periodical Planapproved by the National PlanningCommission, follows in that grandtradition by harping on povertyalleviation just like previous plans.This time around, however, the newtwist is a stronger focus on “women’sempowerment and gendermainstreaming”.

Although women are consideredcentral to this plan, the programs tofulfill this objective do not live up tothe promise. Bringing women into themainstream should perhaps beginwith policy makers. The patriarchalbias of the plan’s male economists andplanners is rather obvious. It isimpossible to ask for gendermainstreaming if the sub-text ispatronising. From the grassroots tothe highest level of government,economic decisions are still out ofwomen’s reach. In a largely ruralsubsistence economy womencontribute monetarily but are notallowed a decision-making voice.

Let’s start with reproductivehealth. The fertility rate of women ispredicted to decrease from 4.1 percentto 3.5 percent thanks to female-targetted family planning. Thesecampaigns are bound to be ineffectivebecause the decision-makers forgot thatmost decisions inside the home, eventhat of bearing children, are still madeby male family members. Until shecan make those decisions both insidethe home as well as outside, fertilityrates will not change much.

The logical first step would be toencourage literacy among women.Only 37.4 percent of women areliterate. Like previous plans the newone aims to raise female literacy to 65percent. Educated girls becomeeducated citizens, capable ofshouldering responsibility and makingdecisions. Progress in this area has

“Men-streaming”women

been snail paced and has not beenhelped by the Maoist insurgency.

Since the last decade, women havebeen involved in group work, savings,credit and agricultural activities. Thesecould be ideal entry points to addressmany gender issues. Credit programswould need to widen their focus toincorporate health, education andawareness building. Vocationaltraining sessions that equip womenwith skills to merge in with theworking population should be set up.A credit program that exists inisolation will not work. Unfortunately,there is too little focus on these areas.Instead of building on and learningfrom past successes, policy makershave flitted impatiently to newprograms, increasing suspicions ofpolitical machinations.

The 10th Plan also admitted thatthe economic policies of liberalisationonly widened the gap between thehaves and have-nots. Financialinstitutions set under the banner ofliberalisation failed in itsresponsibility towards thedisadvantaged. The only assistanceavailable to them are high interestloans that straps them into afinancial straightjacket. According torecent international statistics, nearlyhalf of Nepalis live below thepoverty line. The commissionhowever, puts the figure at 38percent and plans to shave off 8percent in the next five years.

Besides the old vultures of

illiteracy, poverty andunemployment, new ones like warand violence have come to prey on ourcountry. The 10th Plan turns a blindeye to the links between violence andNepal’s socio-economic problems.There are no strategies, no plans—nothing in the new plan to indicatethe framers were aware of the newcrises. One would be hard pressedto guess the nation is undergoingdrastic changes at all, so similar is itto the umpteen plans before it.

The 10th Plan recognised poorhealth and education as two maincontributors to poverty. It wasdecided that poverty can be solvedby focusing on economic growth,distribution of resources, humanresource development, socialbalance, empowerment andgovernance. The five percent growthwe experienced in the first years after1990 now seems like a dream. Yet,the plan tells us to expect economicgrowth of 6.2 percent this year—ifall goes well, fingers crossed.

The bulk of our budget—60percent—still depends on foreignaid. The instability within thecountry means increasing the budgetfor security, which means in turnthe marginalisation of developmentalactivities, the very factor that couldturn things around in villages andrural communities.

(Prativa Subedi is a human rightsactivist, social worker and writer.)

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DAVID ROHDEBHIMSEN NAGAR, Nepal — His formerneighbors describe him as “kindhearted”and “generous.” His junior high teacherchanged his name to “Lotus Flower”because he was so gentle andhandsome. His father still shows offpictures of him as a grown man tenderlyplacing his hand on his mother’sforehead as she lay dying of leukemia.

“It was his habit to make people smile,”said his father, Mukti Ram Dahal, in a rareinterview with a foreign journalist. “He usedto do it with everybody.”

But to the rest of Nepal and to theoutside world, the man now known by thenom de guerre Prachanda, or “the fierceone,” is the leader of a violent Maoistinsurgency that has claimed more than7,000 lives since 1996. The United Stateshas grown so concerned that it isproviding $17 million in militaryequipment and sending Americansoldiers to train Nepal’s army, a movethat has Chinese officials worried aboutAmerican meddling in their backyard.

A post-Mao, quasi-capitalist Beijingdisowns the rebels and accuses them of“usurping the name of the leader of theChinese people”. Indian officials,meanwhile, fear a rising tide of refugeesand what a Maoist victory could do to re-energise sputtering insurgencies in theirown country.

Prachanda, 48, who has managed todeepen the support for his movement byportraying himself as a Nepali Robin Hoodfacing down corrupt and ineffectivegovernments. Brilliant and charismatic tohis followers, fanatical and opportunistic tohis enemies, Prachanda, the son of a poor

From Chhabilal Dahal to Prachandabut upper-caste farmer, demands theeradication of chronic rural poverty andabolition of Nepal’s constitutionalmonarchy, which he calls a “eunuchparliamentary monarchy”. His war hasexposed Nepal’s vast inequalities, self-interested elite and, to the surprise ofmany longtime Western residents,potential for savagery.

“Marxism-Leninism-Maoism isundefeatable because it is a system basedon truth,” Prachanda said in an interviewwith a Nepali newspaper in 1997, a yearafter he declared a “people’s war” on“imperialists” and “reactionaries.” “Marxismsays the reactionaries continue to createproblems until they are eliminated.”

Since then, the Maoists stand accusedof killing 800 civilians deemed “enemies ofthe revolution,” kidnapping, extortion,forced conscription and the use of childsoldiers. The Royal Nepal Army,dispatched a year ago to crush theinsurgents, has proven no kinder to itspeople, human rights groups say.

Chhabi Lal Dahal, as Prachanda wasknown then, was born in a mountain villagenear the town of Pokhara in central Nepalin December 1954, the eldest of eightchildren. The timing of his birth wasconsidered propitious; in Nepali astrology,having an eldest son in December signalsgood things to come.

When Prachanda was 6 or 7, the familymoved along with hundreds of thousands ofothers from the mountains of central andnorthern Nepal to the country’s fertilesouthern plains.

Balaram Bishwakarma, a lower-casteDalit recalled how Prachanda bounced himon his lap when they were both children.

“He treated every other kid as one of hisbrothers,” he said. Umanath Lamichhane, a60-year-old farmer, glowed when he spokeabout him. “He was such a kind-heartedman,” he said.

Neighbours recalled asking Prachandato settle petty disputes and seeing himmove dozens of landless families tovacant, government-owned grazing areas.His leadership abilities quickly emerged.“Everyone who met him would be veryquickly impressed, and would stand to listento hear what he had to say,” said a formerMaoist activist who attended a localagriculture college with him.

By the time Prachanda graduated in1978, he held a bachelor’s degree and aradical Maoist perspective. ChinkaliShrestha, headmaster of a high schoolwhere Prachanda later went to teachhorticulture, recalled being struck by hisabsolute confidence that Maoism wouldtriumph.

Prachanda and other Maoist leaderstook their hard-line Communist factionunderground in 1996, after winning only 9of the 205 seats in Parliament in earlierelections. Government officials initiallyscoffed at the group. But within months,Prachanda and other leaders had createda highly organised insurgency.

They overran isolated police posts toobtain weapons. They robbed banks toobtain money. They banned drinking,gambling, trafficking in women anddomestic violence. They staged plays thatdepicted caste and ethnic discrimination torecruit cadres. They soon became active inmore than half of the country’s 75 districts,forming shadow “people’s governments” in22 of them.

At first, civilian government officialscountered the insurgents with brutal policesweeps. The corruption, ineffectiveness andharsh methods of successive governmentsalso aided the insurgents’ cause. Overtime, the Maoists’ methods, too, grewmore brutal. Villagers were forced atgunpoint to join their cause and pay awar “tax.” Teachers and local activistswere kidnapped and murdered.Mainstream politicians were beheaded.

A recent poll found that if the Maoistswere to put down their arms today, theywould win at best 10 percent of the seats inParliament—double their showing before,but not enough to control the government.

While both Prachanda and governmentleaders frequently express a willingness totalk, negotiations have yet to materialise.Infighting between the country’s king,Gyanendra, and its mainstream political

parties has also hindered the peace effort.A recent photo captured by the army

shows Prachanda as a bearded, pot-belliedman who scarcely resembles the rail-thinfigure who cared for his dying mother.Critics joke that his belly symbolises his owncorruption. Prachanda’s son, PrakashDahal, who is in his 20’s and apparentlypart of the movement, stands a few feetaway from him.

Asked about how he felt about his son,Prachanda’s father said in the interview thathe feared for his son’s life but also that hewas proud that “this great revolutionaryleader is a son of mine.” He also added acaveat that echoed the sentiment of manyin Nepal as the death toll soars.

“I also would like some kind ofsettlement to this problem,” he said. “I’dalso like to see a situation where peoplefrom either side are not killed.”

The Tenth Plan is patronising towards women.

(Left to right) Prakash Dahal (son of Prachanda), Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Hisila Yami(Dr Bhattarai’s wife), Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Badal and Pushpa Kamal Dahalalias Prachanda.

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Tourist arrivals down 50 percentTourist arrivals to Nepal are down by more than half compared to two years ago. Nearly 460,000 touristsvisited Nepal in 2000, and the latest figures show that this figure plummeted to 216,000 in 2002. Never inthe past 20 years have tourist arrivals been so low.

According to the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB), a total of 215,922 tourists visited Nepal in 2002compared to 298,456 visitors in 2001. The only segment of the market that showed some improvementwas Indian tourists, who are up by just over two percent from last year. The biggest drops are inarrivals from the United States and Britain. The industry blames “alarmist” travel advisories from thosetwo countries for the downturn. Despite China listing Nepal as an outbound destination, tourists from ournorthern neighbour dropped by 20 percent. NTB, for its part, blames the decline in third country touristarrivals on the general slackness in international tourism and negativeinternational coverage of Nepal.

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Shangri-la is backShangri-la, the in-flight magazine of Royal Nepal Airlines has been revampedand re-launched. The new-look issue of the quarterly is on board RoyalNepal flights from 1 January. The magazine is now published by NepalTraveller Publications, edited by Shalini Wadhwa and her team. The firstedition features Temba Tsheri, the youngest person to climb MountEverest, and is printed in Nepal.

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SAFTA deadline put offThe seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to finalise thetreaty framework for a regional free trade area (SAFTA) within the given deadline. The 11th Summit ofthe SAARC in Kathmandu had set December-end 2002 as the deadline to finalise the framework. Themeeting of Committee of Experts ended here Sunday agreeing to finalise the framework draft only after“conducting an in-depth evaluation on implications of transition to free trade area from the existing SouthAsian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) among member countries”. The Sri Lanka-basedconsultant, Institute for Policy Studies, has been asked to submit the report by March-end 2003. Theissue of special and differential treatment for small and Least Developed Countries, including longerphase-in period, mechanism for compensation of revenue loss etc. would be addressed at the nextmeting, the SAARC secretariat said.

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Siddhartha Bank takes offKamaladi-based Siddhartha Bank Limited commenced operations from Kathmandu last week with theslogan: “Our business is to understand your business.” With an authorised capital of Rs 1 billion, issuedcapital of Rs 500 million and paid up capital of Rs 350 million, its chairman is MC Group head ChiranjilalAgrawal and senior banker DC Khanna is CEO. Khanna, who served as executive director of NabilBank for over seven years, says: “Siddhartha Bank believes in a lasting professional relationshipbetween clients and the bank. His views full conform to the Bank’s guiding principle,

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NIIT CATS CentreNIIT’s CATS (Center for Advanced Technology Studies) at Tripureswore in Kathmandu will be offeringORACLE Cetrified Courses for the first time in Nepal. The centre will also be equipped with AuthorizedPrometric Testing (APT) facility and will also allow testing skills and getting certification for Microsoft,Oracle and Lotus products. These certification are recognised globally and will provide an opportunityfor Nepali IT professionals to get international recognition, NIIT says. Since it launched its operations inKathmandu seven years back, NIIT Ltd has trained more than 2,000 Nepali computer graduates.

8 ADVENTURE

fter spending the lastfew months ridingwith views ofmajestic snow capped

peaks rising high up into thedeep blue skies of Tibet andNepal, I’ve been bitten by theclimbing bug. I have to summit amountain over 8,000m, just nottoday. It was the first day of abandh declared by the Maoistsand I was biking my way toPokhara. It felt great to be backon the road. Riding at lowerelevations with plenty of oxygenaccompanied by beautiful viewsis a pure pleasure.

To get out of KathmanduValley I had to bike over a smallpass—small in comparison to the

5,000m monsters on our wayfrom Lhasa to Kathmandu. Aftercresting Thankot I could see theroad winding all the way downthe other side. I was met with theastounding sight of not a singlevehicle on the road. This place isusually a snarled honking mass ofcars and buses. As I took the firstbend and started my descent, Ilooked to my right and saw someof the higher peaks jutting upfrom behind the shortermountains. Halos of cloudscircled their peaks. Even though Ihadn’t seen any traffic I was stillcautious when going around theturns but that caution decreasedas I sped faster and fasterdownhill. The rush of wind

against my face stretched my grinfrom ear to ear.

It seemed as if everybody wastaking advantage of the bandh—kids used the road like ablackboard drawing pictures withcoloured mud, others playedsoccer and street cricket whileadults strew hay across the entireroad, I’m not sure why. Morethan once I stopped to let herdsof cattle, goats, and buffalo pass.

Kids are always eager for a rideand as a Peace Pedaler, gettingthem to join me is part ofspreading a little joy. It was easyenough taking them where theywanted, usually short distancesdown the road. Twice I offeredold men rides but they either

didn’t know how to ride a bicycleor they jumped on for a free ride.When I noticed they weren’tpedalling, I’d stop, point at thepedals and make with a pedallingmotion with my arms. Not that itdid much good. In the end I hadto give them both the boot. I’mno rickshaw.

Around noon I got hungryand looked for a place to eat.After finding nothing in threedifferent small towns, I began tothink it wasn’t such a great ideato ride during a bandh day.Finally I found a place that serveddal-bhaat and despite having towait half an hour, the food wasnot too bad.

Thankfully I didn’t run intoany Maoists, but everytime I sawmen in camouflage with guns, myheart skipped a beat or two.Much of the fear stemmed fromrumours—someone always knewor had heard of someone who wasrobbed by the Maoists. We evenheard they gave receipts for itemstaken so the tourist could laterclaim insurance, or if by chancethey were to meet another groupof Maoists, prove they hadalready “given” to the cause. Thestory has been circulating longenough for there to be some truthin it. So I always kept my speedup and yelled a cheery “Namaste”as I rolled by. I was stopped atone checkpoint, but they werevery friendly and wanted to knowif I’d seen anything. Theydeclined a ride. At least I tried!

At 98 km I ran into someboys who took turns riding withme before taking me to a coupleof hotels because I had to stop forthe night. The first was a diveand wanted twice what I waspaying in Kathmandu. Thesecond was more of a resort andwould accept nothing less than$15, which seemed unreasonablebecause they had no guests andweren’t likely to overbook all of asudden. The third place was thecharm. I said my budget was Rs200, and the manager said that’dbe fine—a much wiserbusinessman than at the previous

resort; some money is better thannothing. One of the boys lookeddisappointed because he hadoffered to let me stay at his house.

As I walked up the resortsteps with three porters carryingmy bags, I noticed the gardenhad a surprisingly mix of cactiwith seasonal blooms. Myintention was to go to Pokharathe following day, but as I gotmore comfortable, I realised therewasn’t any reason for me to getthere before Jamie, my friend andfellow Peace Pedaler, who was toreach a day after me. I’d let thefood make the decision. Dinnerwas great. That was one decisiontaken care of. After dinner Ihashed out a few songs on mynew Martin Backpacker guitar,but the staff’s performance putmine to shame. The next day Idid little more than type in myjournal and bask in the sun witha spy novel. That night there wasa downpour but luckily the skiescleared by morning. After a bigbreakfast I set off with farewellsfrom the staff, a small bouquet offlowers and a Nepali ceremonialscarf tied around my seatpost.

It was a long day with someserious climbs. I was constantlyon the lookout for kids to recruitbecause they don’t weigh muchand have lots of energy. Theyalso have friends who want tohave a go, so you get fresh legsevery few kilometres. The bestpart is hearing them laugh andwatch them get excited whenthey see people they know aswe ride by—their few minutesof stardom.

Again, there was hardly anytraffic on the road. I saw a fewcars and buses in the last 15 km.Other than that, only twomilitary vehicles and oneambulance whizzed by. Thescenery from the resort toPokhara was even morespectacular. As I rounded a bend,I saw a waterfall spraying about10 feet like a waterslide into theriver below. Above it theHimalaya stretched across theentire skyline. I had to stop and

take it all in—the peace, the viewand the solitude.

After that somewhat spiritualinterlude, I had to attend to morebodily concerns like food.Unfortunately, every restaurantwas closed, like on the first day ofmy ride from Kathmandu. Isettled for some crackers from aroadside stall and a few bananasfrom an old man. I don’t think hereally wanted to sell them, but ayoung girl came up and made thetransaction with him looking onbewildered.

By the time I was within 25km of Pokhara my stomach wasreally empty and I felt tired. Mysaving grace was a pack of kids onbikes. They took turns helping topedal and some of them spokeenough English to hold a simpleconversation, which distracted mefrom my growling stomach. Amagnificent view of theAnnapurna range also helped tokeep hunger at bay. I wasfortunate enough to see nearly allthe peaks, that late in the day therange is usually shrouded in clouds.From the road they lookedmassive juxtaposed against lowerforested hills. Those mountainsare giants, marvels of tectonics.

Garryk reached Pokharawithout mishap but the realadventure for the Peace Pedalerswas to begin on their six day ridefrom from Pokhara to BardiaNational Park. They passedblown bridges, slept next toMaoist camps, ate breakfast astone’s throw from their campfireand even unwittingly picnickedon the very spot where two policeofficers had been killed.

(Garryk Hampton, is co-founder ofthe Peace Pedalers along withJamie Bianchin. They are on afive-year mission to ride throughmore than 100 countries and over80,000 km. They began on 13 April2002 from the US and havepedalled in Japan, Korea, China,Tibet and Nepal. India and SriLanka are next on their route.They tour on two tandem stylebikes, ideal for “guest riders”.www.peacepedalers.com)

A new WaveWave just got bigger and better. And grander, slicker, glossier, sleeker, brighter, smoother and full-colour. For hom

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himalm

edia.com3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES NEPALI TIMES NEPALI TIMES NEPALI TIMES NEPALI TIMES #126#126#126#126#126

ofBikingbandhstime

Biking right across Nepal fromKodari to Mahendranagar is a

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GARRYK HAMPTON

in the

A

10 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126WORLD

by JEFFREY D SACHSANALYSIS

resident Bush seems poised towreck America’s budget foryears to come. When Bush

came into office, the outlook was forbudget surpluses as far as the eyecould see. Today, through acombination of irresponsibleRepublican-led tax cuts, a slowingeconomy, the bursting of the stockmarket bubble, and a massive increasein defense spending, huge deficitsdominate the fiscal horizon.

Worse is coming, because theBush Administration and theRepublican-led Congress arepreparing to deepen the fiscal mess.The damage they will do will likelyweaken the US and add instability tothe world economy.

Traditionally, America’sRepublican Party stood for balancedbudgets. This changed with theReagan Administration, whenconservative Republicans favoured taxcuts even at the cost of large budgetdeficits. President Reagan told theAmerican people that they could enjoytax cuts, a military build-up, andcontinuation of their favouritespending programs all at the sametime. The result—no surprise—was aseries of vast budget deficits that tookyears to clean up.

Both President George Bush Sr

Will the rich walk away with more?

and Bill Clinton had to raise taxes toclean up the Reagan-era mess. Thosetax increases probably contributed toPresident Bush Sr’s defeat by BillClinton in 1992. Yet Clinton bravelydecided to complete the process ofrestoring fiscal balance, in part toprotect the long-term financing ofthe Social Security retirementprogram. When Clinton left officein 2000, the budget situation wasthe best in decades.

Then along came PresidentGeorge Bush Jr to replay Reagan: largetax cuts, a big increase in militaryspending, and continuation or evenexpansion of popular spendingprograms. The result was predictable.In January 2001, the cumulativebudget outcome for the years 2002-2011 was projected to be $5.6 trillionin surplus. By mid-2002, thoseprojected surpluses had vanished.

In view of these changed economicconditions, and the shadow of war inIraq, you might expect the BushAdministration and the Republican-led Congress to be cautious in

advocating new tax cuts. But no, theirhighest priority is to enact more taxcuts that will mainly benefit the rich.At the same time, the Administrationis calling for big increases in militaryspending. With the November 2004presidential election now coming intoview, you can be certain that nomeaningful cuts in non-militaryspending programs will be made.

So massive budget deficits seemhere to stay. If domestic spendingsimply stays constant as a fraction ofnational income, the cumulativebudget outcome for the next ten yearswill be a combined deficit of $1.5trillion. But this figure may beoptimistic, because it probablydoesn’t adequately factor in the costsof a possible war in Iraq, anotherround of tax cuts or the risk of higherinterest rates in the years ahead.

Why are Republicans sounconcerned about this mess? SomeRepublicans care more about tax cutsfor the rich than they do about almostanything else. Others believe thatdeficits will force major cuts indomestic government spending, thusshrinking the state, which is theirheart’s desire. The problem with thislatter view is that most taxpayers likedomestic programs, and will notreadily support major spending cuts.

A more intriguing question iswhy do Americans vote for suchpolicies, when they should know thattrouble would probably result. Oneanswer is that many voters do not seethe looming budget troubles. A betteranswer is that most Americans didnot actually vote for these policies.

Voter turnout in the 2002 electionwas only around 40 percent ofwhich around half went to theRepublicans, or around 20 percentof eligible voters.

Of course, the outlook need notbe so bleak. War in Iraq may beavoided. Proposed tax cuts may bewatered down or abandoned. But Ipredict large budget deficits for yearsto come, and a growing sense ofunease within the US and abroadabout America’s macroeconomicsituation. Foreign investors may decideto cut back financing America’s budgetand current account deficits onfavourable terms. The dollar mayweaken, and fears of inflation maybecome more pronounced.

All of this will make USpolicymakers less confident and lessflexible in their responses toeconomic shocks. The poor, bothinside the US and abroad, couldsuffer the most, as President Bushand the Congress tell the Americanpeople and the world that, due tothe large budget deficits, there is nomoney available to addressproblems of poverty, disease, andeducation. Unless ordinaryAmericans wake up to these fiscalrisks, the rich may walk away withanother multi-billion-dollar gift asthe country and the world bear theharsh consequences for years tocome. (© Project Syndicate)

(Jeffrey D Sachs is Professor ofeconomics and Director of theEarth Institute at ColumbiaUniversity.)

by ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKIOPINION

hose who desire to treat politics andmorals separately will neverunderstand anything of either.” So

wrote Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and I agree. Thepractice of politics can and must be reconciledwith the imperatives of honesty. But what ishonesty or dishonesty in a politician? Is itpossible for a politician to be honest at all?

The question goes to the heart of democracy.When voters write off politicians, anti-democratic movements thrive. All politiciansknow ambiguity and compromise tend to prevailover universal truths. Sometimes one mustchoose the lesser evil. Our ordinary standards ofdecency and righteousness cannot always beapplied—but not because cynicism andhypocrisy are all that matter in politics.

Political dishonesty takes different forms.One who is dishonest to begin with, will be adishonest leader, ideologue or diplomat in anycircumstance. Another type is the well-meaningdilettante. Clumsy and amateurish, he harmsthe interests he aims to advance. Political“gamblers” put competence to bad use. They areskilled, ruthless, lack humility and eschewreflection. A close kin is the political“troublemaker”, who pursues his soaring ambitions by any means, whatever therisks. The political “fanatic” is also dishonest, blinded by the conviction that he isalways right. The fanatic is a steamroller ready to flatten everything in his way.By contrast, the political “wheeler-dealer” is no less dishonest. He is spineless,lacks principle and retreats from responsibility.

There are more general political postures, led by cynical forms ofpragmatism. It is embodied in the principle that the end justifies the meanswhenever moral imperative conflicts with political interests. At the other extremeis a naive, utopian, and moralistic stance. It deplores the grit and relativism ofpolitics. History is not an idyll and politicians’ biographies do not read like thelives of the saints.

This does not mean that we cannot identify honest politicians. Immanuel

Honest politicsKant described two types. The political moralistwho wants to “hammer out morality” and themoral politician, who rejects cynical pragmatismbut does not succumb to naive moralising. Hewill not lose sight of higher objectives inpursuing even partial goals with patience andcompromise .

An honest politician pursues pragmatismbuilt on principles, on the courage to sayunpleasant things, but always with a constructiveattitude. Indeed, the eagerness to expose andpublicise a problem without proposing feasiblesolutions, is perhaps the most common form ofdishonesty in politics.

This is why actual governance is so often thebest test of political honesty. In democraticcountries, voters can and often do punish theirdishonesty at the ballot box. The toughest test ofan honest politician comes when defending ideasthat are unpopular but right. Not everyonepasses such a test, particularly when elections areapproaching. While the dishonest politicianequates politics only with popularity, the moralpolitician cannot succeed in ensuring thecommon good single-handedly. Only whenpoliticians support one another’s decency can

they rise above their political divisions.But political honesty is not the sole responsibility of politicians. Public

opinion must play a part. Honesty is more likely to take root in a society markedby a culture of tolerance, solidarity and the equal rights.

I am a political practitioner, first and foremost. So I know that no theory, noamount of analysis, can free a politician from bouts of soul-searching, fromtroubling his or her conscience with questions about what is and what is nothonest when confronting political choices. Above all else, the honest politicianwillingly shoulders this burden. (© Project Syndicate)

(Aleksander Kwasniewski is President of Poland. This text is based uponhis recent speech to Project Syndicate member editors in Vienna. )

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Scarf as symbolISTANBUL - When Turkey’s President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and hiswife, both staunch secularists, left for a recent overseas trip, theywere seen off at the airport by the speaker of Parliament andhis wife in what seemed like a routine exercise in protocol. Butthe country was in for a shock. Munevver Arinc, wife of thenew head of Parliament from the Islamic-rooted Justice andDevelopment Party (AKP), wore her headscarf, which isbanned at schools and public offices and often identified withreligious resistance to established secular values, if not asymbol of fundamentalism.

To many secularists Mrs Arinc’s headscarf was a sign thatAKP, despite disclaimers, was planning to undo Turkey’s staunchlysecular system. The ruling party said it sees wearing headscarvesas one element in increased freedoms. The headscarf issue hasalso haunted authorities in Europe. In France, wearingheadscarves in secondary schools led to a fierce debate. InGermany a court recently ruled that a Turkish woman waswrongly dismissed after her German employees fired her forwearing the scarf at work. The issue also ended up in court inDenmark and became a cause celebre in Spain. (IPS)

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Decriminalising drugsOTTOWA - The government of Prime Minister Jean Chretien isexamining the option of decriminalising possession of smallamounts of marijuana, while the city of Vancouver is leading thecountry in establishing safe injection sites for heroin addicts,despite pressure from the US to maintain its zero-tolerance federaldrug policy. Canadian courts have issued a series of rulings thatallow AIDS sufferers and those with chronic illnesses to smokemarijuana to alleviate their pain.

John Walters, the director of the US Office of National DrugPolicy, said a relaxation of Canada’s marijuana regulations wouldexpand the inflow into the US and worsen the US addiction. RobertMaginnis, a drug policy adviser to US President George Bush,warned that Canada/US border trade faced disruption if Ottawaamends its criminal code, even hinting at a possible boycott ofCanadian products.

But Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa lawyer and a co-founder ofthe Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, talked of a backlash ifthe US attempts a “war on drugs” ideology on Canadians, who areincreasingly sceptical of spending about $500 million a year toprosecute addicts and drug traffickers. (IPS)

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Going nuclearUNITED NATIONS - The United Nations appears unable or unwillingto react, caught in the middle of a new political showdownbetween the United States and North Korea over weapons ofmass destruction. North Korea openly defied the US last week bydeclaring its intention to revive its long dormant nuclear weaponsprogram. A UN spokesperson said there were no indications for aformal Council meeting to discuss the emerging crisis.

North Korea said that it was restarting its nuclear reactor forbadly needed electricity following a decision by the US and otherWestern nations to cut off oil shipments. The cut resulted afterreports that the country had been making secret efforts tocontinue its nuclear weapons program in violation of its 1994agreement with the US.

Unlike its stand against Iraq, the US has refused to threatenNorth Korea with military action because of a possible retaliationby Pyongyang against two close US allies: South Korea andJapan. Recently however, US Defence Secretary DonaldRumsfeld said the US was militarily capable of fighting and winningtwo wars simultaneously—one against Baghdad and the otheragainst Pyongyang. The US has about 37,000 soldiers on SouthKorean soil. (IPS)

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Disputed crownMEXICO CITY - For the last 15 years, Mexico has been demandingthe return of the headdress or “penacho” that belonged toMoctezuma Xocoyotzin (1466-1520), the last emperor of the Aztecdynasty, fromAustria. Austriaclaims to be the soleand legitimate ownerof the artefact.

The piece, madewith feathers of the“quetzal”, a birdnative to southernMexico and CentralAmerica, andcurrently in danger of extinction, was taken from Mexico during theSpanish Conquest, some 500 years ago. Austria purchased it in1880, and it has been on exhibit in Vienna since 1929.

Efforts to win the return of the historic headdress gatheredforce after anthropologists, biologists and other experts fromboth Mexico and Austria drew up a plan to determine whetherthe artefact is authentic and to assess the state of itspreservation. The Austrian Ministry of Education and Culturegave the scientists permission to study the piece only underglass because of its fragility.

Historians and indigenous organisations say its recoverywould be the beginning of efforts to win the return of dozensof valuable pre-Hispanic objects they say were taken illegallyfrom Mexico. (IPS)

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It goes to the heartof democracy.

Taxing the poor

11ASIA 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126

apan is sick, but once againpeople are becoming hopeful thatit may at long last recover, mostly

because a committed reformer namedHeizo Takenaka now seems to berunning the economic policy. Butwhat policymakers and pundits fail torecognise—or refuse to recognise—isthat economic policies per se will notreinvigorate Japan. Their crisis issystemic, not cyclical. The causesare a combination of institutionalsclerosis, social anomie andgerontocratic governance.

For several decades after WWIIthe Japanese system workedremarkably well, not only ingenerating growth, but in providinghigh levels of education, long lifeexpectancy, security and other welfarebenefits to its citizens. This systemrested a cohesive political-industrialestablishment, the mobilisation ofresources to achieve national economicends and America’s defensive shield.

Almost immediately after defeatin WWII, Japan metamorphosedfrom being America’s enemy into its

by JEAN-PIERRE LEHMANNANALYSIS

Can a new Japanese sensibility reneweconomic credibility in 2003?

Land of the setting sun?

pampered protégé. This was “realgeopolitik” in action. The Cold War,the rise of Maoist China and theKorean War all made Japanindispensable to America. The USprovided military protection and vasteconomic assistance, including massivetechnology transfers. Mostimportantly, it opened its market toJapanese exports while allowing Japanto protect its home market.

Japan developed an “outwardlooking protectionist” strategy andstructure. Select sectors of Japaneseindustry actively participated ininternational markets. Far rangingefforts were deployed to obtaintechnology transfers. The domesticmarket however was protected by acombination of industrial policy,cartels and a “Buy Japanese” mentality.It worked fantastically well.

By the mid-1980s Japan hadmore than caught up. The 1985 NewYork Plaza Hotel meeting of US,European, and Japan’s financeministers—a meeting where the yenwas considerably re-valued—should

have set in motion new policies inJapan. The problem lay in itscorresponding ideological orthodoxy.

Japan had developed a dirigisteclosed mercantilist nationalism.This was reflected in an aggressiveindustrial machismo and in variousforms of chauvinism, illustrated bythe book, The Japan That Can Say‘No’, (1988) co-authored bythe current Governor of Tokyo,Shintaro Ishihara, and Sonyfounder Akio Morita.

By the late 1980s the world waschanging fast, but Japan refused tochange. Institutions were archaic andpursued mistaken economic strategiesand structures. The illiberalnationalist ideological ethos brookedno genuine debate, let aloneheterodox positions. Indeed, amongJapan’s most moribund institutionsare its universities and media.

There was no new leadership andthe seniority system continued toprevail. This ossification was drivenby the rigid and conservative natureof governance. So even as the Japanesetidal wave appeared poised tooverwhelm the world economy in thelate 1980s the country was nearingcollapse at home.

Collapse it did, in 1991. Japanwasted a decade. Policymakers,business leaders, academics andjournalists did not recognize theircountry’s problems.

A day of reckoning came with theKobe earthquake on 17 January1995. As thousands died, thegovernment froze, proving itself

incapable of an efficient rescueoperation and refused the assistance ofthe US 7th Fleet.

Today’s deflation arises from thestate of anomie in which Japan wasplunged in the mid-1990s. TheJapanese have no confidence in thefuture because the establishment haslost credibility and legitimacy. Yet theestablishment remains entrenched inpower, its reforms little more thancosmetic: “re-arranging of deck chairson the Titanic-Maru.”

The Japanese tend to be patientand disciplined but when socialeruptions have occurred, they havealso been very violent. There is also astrong extremist political minorityand a not-too-difficult to tap latentnational chauvinism.

But a different scenario ispossible: a reinvigorated, open post-industrial, globally-oriented Japanesesociety can be established on liberalpolitical foundations. Such a scenariowill require thorough institutionalrenewal, rejuvenation of leadership atall levels, a radical change in national“mindset” and the opening up ofJapan’s economy and society toforeign influences and participation.There is a young generation ofJapanese who need everyencouragement. Today’s trends arefrightening for Japan, for Asia and forthe world. (© Project Syndicate)

(Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Professor ofInternational Political Economy,IMD, is a Founding Director of theEvian Group, Lausanne,Switzerland.)

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Economic woesJAKARTA - In the last four months, at least 19 foreigncompanies have pulled out of Indonesia, mainly for reasons ofsecurity and law, and relocated to places like Vietnam,China, Cambodia and Australia, signalling continuedeconomic headaches for the country. The ranks of theunemployed are presently 8.1 million and is expected toincrease to 9.7 million people in 2003. Unofficial figuressay the number is closer to 20 million.

Analysts say the creation of new jobs is an impossible taskfor the government of Indonesian President MegawatiSukarnoputri, which is desperately looking for financialsources other than loans from the IMF and the World Bank.Indonesia has been allocating 15 percent of its budget topay its foreign debt and 35 percent to maintain itscollapsing large companies.

Relocations by foreign investors greatly affects thegovernment’s ability to sustain its economic program,because most of these firms are export-oriented and helpbring much-needed revenue into Indonesia. Meanwhile,Indonesian industries have to compete with cheaper goodsfrom other South Asian countries. But despite the problems,Indonesia’s GDP grew by 3.39 percent in late 2002. (IPS)

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Replacing labourSINGAPORE - Nearly 27,000 foreigners have left therecession-hit island in the year up to June, affecting highlypaid financial sector and information technology professionalsbut hurting foreign domestic workers the most.

Singapore employs an estimated 140,000 foreigndomestic workers, most of them from the Philippines,Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Burma. They earn between $112-196a month and the employer pay a government levy of $194 amonth for every foreign domestic worker he or she has. Now thegovernment is trying to wean residents off their reliance on foreigndomestic help.

An official suggestion to increase the domestic worker levyto encourage employment of locals in domestic jobs was metwith protests by the population. The government needs to findjobs for some 100,000 locals who have been left unemployed.Many of them are former factory hands who have no formaleducational qualifications. The National Trade Union Council(NTUC) Income’s chief executive officer Tan Kin Lian believesthat many unemployed Singaporeans could be trained to dothe work done by foreign domestic workers if locals arepersuaded it is ‘respectable’. (IPS)

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True globalisationNEW DELHI - Peace and security as factors to counter neo-liberal globalisation will dominate the Asian Social Forum(ASF) to be held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad thisweek, as a prelude to the World Social Forum (WSF) in Brazillater in January. The ASF has emerged as the rallying point forthose opposed to globalisation and the ‘WashingtonConsensus’ on economic liberalisation.

This six-day conference will include leading human rightsactivists such as Asma Jehangir from Pakistan, Walden Bello,commentator on globalisation from the Philippines and SamirAmin, the France-based authority on western imperialism.There will be testimonies from Nora de Cortinas of theArgentinean group Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Sahar Sabaof the Revolutionary Association of the Women in Afghanistan(RAWA). Former Indian president K R Narayanan, NouriAbdula Razzak Hussain and Francisco Whitaker arescheduled to speak at the conference.

Jeevan Reddy, chairman of the WSF, said the meet is a“true globalisation of people”. More than 10,000 delegatesfrom over 300 organisations will participate in an open forumstructured into eight major conferences, smaller seminars,workshops and discussions. (IPS)

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Under scrutinyBANGKOK - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s third year inoffice is going to come under severe scrutiny in the new year. Anetwork of 50 NGOs plans to host a “people’s parliament” at auniversity here in March 2003 to give the Thai public a venue tocriticise the kind of development that the Thaksin administrationhas pursued in its two years in office—one that sceptics say doesnot heed the voices of affected communities.

Activists recently launched a campaign to collect 50,000signatures in order to oust Thaksin from office, a movesanctioned by Thailand’s 1997 constitution. The signatures insupport of dismissal have to be submitted with a petition to theSenate to institute an inquiry. These actions by activists weretriggered by his government’s stance on two controversialprojects—the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline in southernThailand and the Pak Mun dam.

But Thaksin may have little reason to panic. Hisadministration has seen an economic growth this year of morethan 5 percent and there continues to be wide support forsome of his universal health care scheme and povertyreduction program for villagers. Most significantly, Thaksincommands an unprecedented majority in parliament. (IPS)

orth Korea’s decision to expel UN atomicenergy inspectors is but another reason toview Roh Moo Hyun’s election as South

Korea’s president as a watershed. The beginning ofhis term coincides with one of the most dangerousepisodes on the Korean peninsula in decades andwill test South Korea’s relations with the US to adegree that has not been seen for many years.

Roh’s victory over Lee Hoi Chang signifies agenerational shift in Korean politics, with theyoung determined to gain a freer hand in Korea.Indeed, generational differences were the decidingfactor in the race, replacing the regional sentimentsthat dominated every presidential race before thisone. According to one report, over 60 percent ofpeople in the 20-30 age group voted for Roh toproduce a margin of 2.3 percent in this first two-man, head-to-head presidential race in 31 years.

Roh’s populist and nationalist stance will beswiftly and sorely tested by reality when heassumes power in February. But couple thegenerational changeover that put him in office witha strong popular desire for continued engagementwith North Korea—not withstanding NorthKorea’s growing nuclear brinkmanship—and therecipe is complete for disputes with the US.

Roh, a self-made man who passed a bar examination without going to collegeand law school, succeeded in convincing voters that he would usher in a newbrand of politics reflecting South Korea’s growing wealth and middle classsentiments, thereby sweeping away insider-dominated politics, regional bickering,and factional struggles. His style and rhetoric projected the fresh (for Korea!)image of a common man committed to eliminating the ossified networks ofcronyism and corruption.

For the first time in modern Korean history, the presidential campaigndebated central issues rather than focussing on parties and personalities.Candidate Roh called for a new relationship between South Korea and the US, onebased on the principle of independence and equality. He said he would not kow-tow to the US. He also promised to continue President Kim Dae Jung’s “sunshinepolicy” of engagement with the North.

Remarkably, Roh won the election despite North Korea’s decision to reactivatenuclear reactors that had been frozen since 1994. That he overcame this obstacle

by BYUNG-JOON AHNCOMMENT

Can President Roh walk thetightrope of maintaining security on

the peninsula, keeping Americaengaged, and retaining the support

of the voters whoelected him?

The North’s nukeswithout changing his stance on engaging NorthKorea means that times have radically changed. Ayearning for change is now the overriding concern ofordinary Koreans.

Roh’s campaign also took advantage of a risinganti-US tide. The acquittal by a US military court oftwo American soldiers who accidentally killed twoKorean schoolgirls with their armored car last Junetriggered street demonstrations across the country.Demands continue for changing the Status of ForceAgreement (SOFA) that governs the legal treatmentof US troops stationed in South Korea. OrdinaryKoreans insist US soldiers who commit crimesshould be tried in Korean courts.

This expression of wounded national pride wasenabled by South Korea’s tremendous performancein the World Cup football tournament lastsummer, which helped convince ordinary Koreansthey might be able to stand without the presence of37,000 US troops. Indeed, many ordinary peoplenow view the US presence, and not North Korea’scommunist regime, as the biggest obstacle tounification. According to a recent poll, 31.7 percentoppose the stationing of US troops in the country.

These sentiments will test Roh’s presidencyfrom the start, for he must re-engineer relations with

America at the same time that the Bush administration is fretting about NorthKorea’s nuclear ambitions. For now, Korean voters—apparently impervious to theNorth Korean nuclear threat—support Roh’s policy of maintaining dialogue andeconomic exchange with the North.

Under President Roh, South Korea’s domestic politics and relations with theUS and North Korea will require an almost total overhaul. Can he walk thetightrope of maintaining security on the peninsula, keeping America engaged, andretaining the support of the voters who elected him? Reconciling those goals wouldtest even the most experienced and cynical of politicians, so it is anyone’s guess asto whether President Roh can succeed. Failure, however, offers such a horrificprospect that no one can possibly hope for it. (© Project Syndicate)

(Byung-joon Ahn is Visiting Professor of International Relations at theNational Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Tokyo and a Member of theKorean National Academy of Sciences.)

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12 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126FROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The king can be publicly felicitated for his work at the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation andfor his contributions to the industrial sector. His hotel is operating well and the employees there receivegood salaries and benefits. But he cannot be felicitated for what happened on 4 October.

- Comrade Swanam, leader – NCP (Ekatakendra- Masal)

Wow, how smart! They’ve already bought helmets. Okay, let’s go.

Nepal Samacharpatra, 1 January, 2003.

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Elections in AprilDipak Bhattarai in Space Time,30 December

By April 2003 the government ispreparing to hold elections forlocal bodies in areas that are notextremely affected by the Maoistinsurgency. The government isexpected to present its proposal inan all-party meeting likely to beconvened by Prime MinisterLokendra Bahadur Chand soon.Official sources said in the firstphase elections for local bodiescould be held in 30 out of 75districts in the country. Theformer Deuba government hadauthorised government employeesto run local bodies after the tenureof the popularly electedrepresentatives expired in mid-July2002. His government had alsoexpressed its commitment to holdelections within last year. Variousdonor agencies have agreed toprovide Nepal a grant worth Rs 13billion over the next decade afterthe elections.

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King’s moveYubaraj Ghimire in Kantipur30 December

A public felicitation is just aformality. Before going into anysuch exercise it is necessary towork towards buildingconfidence between the king andthe public. Neither Badri PrasadMandal nor the palacesecretariat are in a position tobuild that trust because theyeither don’t have a feel for thepulse of the people, or thepeople simply don’t believethem.

That is why His Majestyhimself must analyse the prosand cons of participating in thepublic felicitation program [inBiratnagar on Friday]. Even if itis to save one person whose lifemay be in danger because of hisor her participation at the event,

Deshantar, 29 December

The strongest message to come out of a six-month research conducted by the Centre for Economic andSocial Development (CESOD) is people across the country are terrified but are still holding onto their faith ina democratic system. A whopping 72.36 percent of the respondents side squarely with a democratic systemand a constitutional monarchy. The research, conducted between February and July 2002, does notincorporate opinions regarding the royal move in October. About 11 percent favour a Panchayat era single-party political system, while only 9.4 percent of respondents support a people’s republic proposed by theunderground Maoist party.

why shouldn’t His Majesty makean effort? It is important to castaside the legal and constitutionalquestions and ask: who wants tomobilise the crowds in the nameof the king, and why? Are theydoing it for the protection andcontinuity of the monarchy, orfor their own short-term gain?

Given the limited time, onlythe king can analyse this. Analoof palace secretariat that isdivorced from the will of thepeople cannot do this. Theurgent necessity now is to bridgethe gap between the king and thepolitical parties, since only thatwill bolster the strength of theconstitutional forces and in turngive legitimacy to futurenegotiations with the Maoists.Such an alliance of constitutionalforces will also convert theMaoists’ current modus operandiinto an imperative for talks. Ifthe king, can in the next two orthree days, take the necessarysteps to defuse the situation,then there will be spontaneouspublic felicitations for him allover the country.

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Make peaceBaburam Bhattarai via email inSaanghu, 30 December

Our party strongly believes thatthere is no alternative to a jointpeople’s movement comprising allthe leftist and non-leftistdemocratic forces. Only such anationwide movement can makebourgeoisie democracy complete. Ifthe present ruling forces agree tomake the people sovereign and finda permanent solution to theproblem through peaceful talksthen we are ready to take part insuch a dialogue. We have alreadyformed a dialogue committee forthis purpose.

We hope that our immediatedemands—including holding aroundtable conference, formationof an interim government andelections to the constituentassembly—are acceptable to all

three forces in the country,namely the monarchy,parliamentary and proletariatrevolutionary, to find a way out.We have constantly said we areready to carry out either talks ormilitary actions to this end. Theother sides have not been able tointernalise our demands that weput forward in a very responsibleway considering the sensitive geo-political situation and presentpower balance in the country. Weare not talking about carrying outa “New Democratic Revolution”but are only raising the issue ofcompleting bourgeoisiedemocracy. It is very unfortunateand paradoxical that parliamentaryforces failed to respond to ourproposal in a manner we expected.

If the elections to theconstituent assembly are held, the‘state authority’ and ‘sovereignty’said to be inherent in themonarchy will be formallytransferred to the people. It willalso facilitate the movement ofparliamentary and proletariatforces. This may, in turn, resolveproblems that have plagued usin the past.

As far as the issue ofinvolvement of internationalforces is concerned, we want ourdomestic conflict resolvedinternally without theintervention of foreign forces. Ifthe situation demandsotherwise, we will have toaccept a genuinely true,independent and impartial forceor an institution in the role of afacilitator or mediator.

Of the people

Himal Khabarpatrika, 31 December-14 January

“Father was eating when they came and dragged him out and killed him.”“Our father had gone to teach, he didn’t come back.”

This is the horror that children like Sangita and Sarala have to live with. Sangita’s father, Sohan Yadav, afarmer from Banke was beaten to death with clubs by the Maoists. Security forces killed Sarala’s father, ateacher also from Banke. Both the girls now live in a children’s home established by Sahara Samuha inNepalganj for the rehabilitation of children who are victims of the insurgency. The group, which startedoperating from 17 November, has enough room for 50 children.

Eight children now live at the home. Six of them had no one left to support them, two of the childrenwere left homeless by the security forces. Balkrishna Joshi, secretary of Sahara Samuha says, “It doesn’tmatter whether the children have been rendered helpless by the Maoists, the police or anyone. We treatthem the same.”

The home is run on Rs 350,000 donated by locals and needs more money since there are so many whoneed help. Supporting one child for a month is estimated at Rs 1,200. Says President Chandra PrasadTimilsina, “There’s a danger of those affected by violence to seek revenge. The children’s home wants to helpthem avoid the violent path, and to work towards peace.”

Elements destabilising the country %

Maoist insurgency 26.41Corruption 21.18Unaccountability 12.82Insecurity 11.74Weak government 6.18Unemployment 3.43Illiteracy 2.73Poverty 2.30Lack of unity among parties 2.11Democracy (for Maoists) 1.65Inequality (for Maoists) 1.64Non-Communist institutions (for Maoists) 0.51International interference (for Maoists) 0.24Dowry (in Terai) 0.02

What can mitigate the effects of theinsurgency and improve living standards? %

Infrastructure development 45.32Improve peace and security 21.88Employment 13.33Cottage industry 5.20Education 4.12Fulfillment of basic needs 3.87Establish skill-training centres 1.48Good governance 1.46Others 7.00

Political system of choice %

Multiparty system with constitutionalmonarchy 72.36Single party system 11.27Communism (the Maoist brand) 9.41Military rule 2.94Don’t know 4.02

Reasons for joining insurgency %

Poverty, unemployment 26.75Unaccountability 19.09Social discrimination 16.27Crisis of governance 15.19Injustice 13.61Violence 8.59Don’t know 0.45Corruption 0.05

Situation of the village men (in percent) women (in percent)

Terrifying 70 67Easeful 6 5Don’t know 15 28

Source of terror %

Maoists 26.4Government institutions 4.8Both 60.2Others 3.7Don’t know 4.9

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133 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126HISTORY AND CULTURE

by NAYANTARA KAKSHAPATIFICTION

To: mstoles@earthlink.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: InterviewDate: 5 July 2002

Dear Dr Stoles,I believe Mrs Khatri from The Valley Times mentioned to you on the phoneyesterday that I wished to interview you. I would very much appreciate half anhour of your time, at your convenience next week. I am a Journalism student atthe University of Bhaktapur and an intern at The Valley Times. I am doing someresearch on for the cover story on the drainage system in the city. I read yourbook, Urban Planning or the Lack of it in Kathmandu. It always fascinates mehow people like yourself, come to Nepal from oceans away, and manage to learnand publish more about Nepal, than us who live and work here all our lives. Ihope to further this line of thought with you in person soon.

Sincerely,Pareli Shrestha

Intern JournalistThe Valley Times

To: subeerthapa@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: Greeeeen! Eeks!Date: 5 July 2002

Subeer,The page 14 ad DID come out horrible. And after all those hours I spent withDeepak ji on the computer! How our dandy “creative director” can be so colourblind is beyond me. And how the Boss is so nonchalant about the appearance ofhis product, well that I suppose is none of my concern. Like he so eloquently putit the other day, I am but an intern here. Sigh. The charms of wanting to be thePrincess of the Print world are slowly fading I’m afraid.

The not-so-Princessy Pareli

To: deepakojha@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: pages 2-6Date: 6 July 2002

Deepak ji,Please keep pages 3 and 4 open for the Dr Stoles interview. And yes I needpages 2,5 and 6 too. It’s the cover story Deepak ji, of course I will need space.

Thank you,Pareli

To: shrestha@multigains.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: Pick up- sorryDate: 8 July 2002

Hi Ma,The tests are clear! Bhaguwaan be praised! Now that all your medical worries aretaken care of, try and have a good relaxing holiday okay? Give Ba my love.Take lots of pictures! I am looking after Maya. Don’t worry we are not fighting.You guys just have a good time and give Mama and Maiju our love.

Oh and Ma, I have an important interview for the cover story scheduled for11 on Tuesday. If it isn’t over on time, Maya will pick you up at the airport. It’sthe first time they have agreed to give me a chance to work on anything biggerthan two columns Ma and I want to be as thorough as possible and prove it tothem that a young female Nepali CAN be an effective journalist.

See you soon and have a safe flight back.Love,Chori

To: mstoles@earthlink.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: Thank youDate: 11 July 2002

Dear Dr Stoles,Thank you so much for your time on Tuesday. I had a truly inspirational 45minutes. After our discussion, some research on my own, and walking down myflooded stretch of pot-holed street for the sixth time today, I am convinced it isabout time the Kathmandu Municipality begin to review the current state ofthe city drainage system and some public indignation be expresses in themedia. Your interview will be printed as part of the cover story for Friday’sissue. I hope the dual timing of your recommendations and the freshmemory of daily downpours will result in some substantial public reaction. Ihope to compile a concrete collection of public opinions for the followingweek. Let us hope we can keep this discussion heated for at least two if notthree weeks in a row, and then submit it to the government. Something willcome out of this. I send you a copy of the proof and once again, a load ofgratitude for all your help.

Pareli Shrestha

To: subeerthatp@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: party-sorryDate: 12 July 2002

Subeer,I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the party last night. I was up till 3 reading letterswe received in response to the drainage system piece. Please congratulate yoursister and Bhenaju and little Subeerab (why do I sense the new uncle is allpuffed up with pride?) for me. As for your sister’s curiosity with regard to whenI’m ‘catching a man’, I’ll definitely let her know when I’m open for business. Forall PhD wisdom, she can be very one tracked. No offense.See you at work on Monday.

Pareli

To: shrestha@multigains.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: PujaDate: 13 July 2002

Hi Ma,Do I absolutely HAVE to go to that puja? And please don’t say young girls todayare losing every moral and religious morsel they ever possessed. I had to fightvery hard to make this appointment with the Mayor and I cannot shift it to anothertime. The Major does not have time to “entertain student writers” I was told. PleaseMa, go on without me tomorrow. And do pray for me.

Chori

To: deepkaojha@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: pages 6-7Date: 13 July 2002

Deepak ji,Please keep pages 6 and 7 open for the mayor’s interview. And no I won’t needpage 5 for a full colour picture of him! Thanks for your generosity with the pagesthough. It really comes through at times of need.

Pareli

To: subeerthapa@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: Gai Jatra 1PM?Date: 13 July 2002

Subeer,Are you free at 2 tomorrow? The Mayor’s office called and informed me that all“student writers” need an official escort. I can only fume in indignation and ask youto kindly “escort” me. Actually, would it be possible to leave at 1? It’s Gai Jatratomorrow and I don’t want to risk getting stuck in traffic and you know howfrustrating that can get. You’re my knight in shining armour!

Your feeble female colleague,Pareli

To: mstoles@earthlink.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: Task forceDate: 14 July 2002

Dear Dr Stoles,I am pleased that you thought the article was good. I have you to thank. I realisethere is more to this issue than what went down in print. I met with the Mayoryesterday and he has agreed to appoint a special taskforce to look into the matter.I ventured into suggesting that in addition to the expertise of his own office, thetask force be comprised of residents from at least eight local wards and an UrbanDevelopment expert. I took the liberty of suggesting your name Dr Stoles. And Isuspect in an attempt to spite my cheek, Mr Mayor suggested that I oversee thisdaunting task as coordinator. I take it as an honour, whatever the intentions mayhave been! So I write to ask you for your time and energy in helping me. I don’tthink it is often that the Mayor’s office, willingly or unwillingly, agrees to involve"outsiders" in municipal matters and I aim to make the most of this unexpectedopening in their defenses.

Please say yes! Gratefully yours,

Pareli Shrestha

To: subeerthapa@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: names-urgent!Date: 19 July 2002

Subeer,I need the names and addresses of those people urgently! If we do not submit thecandidates profiles for the task force by 5PM, they might scrap the whole idea. I’veput too much into this project to let it slip by. Please hurry! I owe you big timebuddy.

Pareli

One month later

To: shrestha@multigains.netFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: pujaDate: 20 August 2002

Dear Ma,How is Maiju feeling now? Better after physical therapy I hope. We all miss you athome. The task force has finally been approved! The Mayor’s office made theannouncement today and have confirmed that I am to coordinate. Dr Stoles agreedtoo. Things are finally looking up. Ma, please tell Ba not to speak to the Boss. He isdifficult to work with but I will deal with it in good time, in my own way. It will lookbeneath Ba to “talk” to him about his bad manners.

ChoriEight months later

To: subeerthapa@vtimes.comFrom: parelishrestha@vtimes.comSubject: phew!Date: 15 April 2003

Dear Subeer,I hope you are liking New Zealand and the new job. We, I mostly, miss you here atthe office. Thanks for all the praise but I assure you, half of it is totallyunwarranted. Onto the good news; the task force recommendations and ourproposed budget has been ratified. The Boss actually made note of mycontributions, ahem, that too a staff meeting today! I’m hoping they will work fastso when you get back in August, your streets will not be flooded, your brother’sbike not sputter at every turn and your sister’s (God bless her soul, she haspresented me with three promising candidates for my matrimonial perusal thismonth alone!) brand new Persian carpet is not ruined by seepage. Dr Stoles, highlyimpressed by my ruthlessness with the government officials has offered me ascholarship to do my Masters in Urban Development at the Institution for UrbanDevelopment Studies in Geneva! I am to begin in Spring. Hurry and come homeSubeer, things seem to be working out too well, I need one of those reality checksyou so adeptly administer.

Pareli

Up the drains of KathmanduThird in the British Council Short Story Competition (18-35)

EASYEASYEASYEASYEASY TIMESTIMESTIMESTIMESTIMES

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aving steadily put Losar, 1 Baisakh and Bhintuna behind us, we havenow arrived at the last new years of the year—and let us hope it marks achange in our fortunes; for the past year, by any calendar’s mark, has

been singularly destructive.Shailendra Sakar’s poems have the emotional gravity and intellectual

weight—as well as elegance—to make us feel by turns unstrung and incensedabout the rush of time that leaves us all behind. The first poem below matchestoday’s mood, though it was, like the poem that follows it, published in 1990in Sakar’s poetry collection Sarpaharu Geet Gaundainan.

NEW YEARThis new year too in those same eyesthe same stamp of theatricalityI wanted to learn and I’m going to seeeach moment of time passing by a unit of timeI wanted to understand and I’m going to hold ontothe melting snow mountain of lifespanHow will the sun place its strange footstepsin people’s eyesHow will it recall its own presence?

I wanted to touch each face of time as it passedI truly felt greedy to see the face of the coming dayroom wall street fetid alleywaysin the papers in shops the premonition of coming dayseager to learn who’s hammering relentlessly at the granite of timeShattering shattering will it then emergein a whole new form?

Who’s shaking the tree of time to drop the bodhi seedsNew years

Ripping up and tossing away those same days opening those same peelsunclosing those same pupa breaking those same mirrorsstanding at the door wiping those same mouths—aspirations on loanthe butterfly comes in season books in time night and day in timethe butterfly comes in season casting off pupa

A new day has come through the back door—a new yearWithout my knowledge its sunlight has reached my bedEven as I close the windowas I go on strike as I refusewithout my knowledge someone’s opened the back door ofthe room of unawareness of the semi-awareness wrapped over the brainthe day has entered like a thief like a wrongdoerI’m not ready to accept it

How greedy am I how eager?Still, somehow, suddenly they keep arriving—each new year being forced upon us

The second poem is a simpler meditation on the same theme: our inabilityto control roguish time.

TIMEHanging an x-ray of a friend’s fractured handlike a frame in the center of a room’s clean wallI look at it and see an illusion—It’s a carved lattice windowIt’s possible to see the open sky through itIf I examine the x-ray against bright lightsI’ll see in it broken, bent and shattered bonesscattered so that they can’t be joinedOtherwise, glancing quickly—It’s a design for an attractive window

Like this x-ray time is hangingall over the clean wall of my life

Meditating upon impermanence—or just feeling it acutely—is said tomotivate us to make the most of every moment of our short time on earth.Perhaps our decision-makers should read Sakar’s poems in the originalNepali? …And allow us to have a constructive new year.

by MANJUSHREE THAPANEPALITERATURE

TIME IS PASSINGShailendra Sakar

H

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James Bond’s 20th cinematic outing, Die An-other Day, keeps things fresh. Bond is leaner,meaner and edgier, especially when MI6 stripshim of his double-O status after his imprison-ment in a North Korean prison. Pierce Brosnan’sfourth movie as the super suave spy has morethan the usual signature action chases, requi-site gorgeous co-stars, snappy one liners andexotic locales. Judi Dench (M) and John Cleese(Q) return in this sequel, joined by Halle Berry(Jinx), Rosamund Pike (Miranda Frost) and acameo appearance by Maddona, who also singsthe title track. Die Another Day will silence crit-ics who said the Bond series should’ve beenburied years ago.

That one sprang out of nowhere, as you can see from thissequence of satellite pictures of the subcontinent. Whatwas a small low pressure area over the Arabian Seasuddenly swelled into a major circulation that engulfednorthern India and Nepal with rain on New Years’ Eve.This was welcome rain for the winter crops, and the firstwesterly front of the season dumped up to 35 cm of snowin Humla, Mugu, Manang and Khumbu. The rain hasdissolved the dust and smog haze over the Indian plains,look forward to partly cloudy skies but the sun should bebright and warm when it shines thorugh. Foggy morningswith front in Kathmandu.

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The Brick and the Bull: An account of Handigaun, the ancient capital of NepalSudarshan Raj TiwariHimal Books, 2002Rs 1,150Handigaun, the earliest known urban settlement of Kathmandu Valley, was the site of thegreat Kirat and Lichchhavi palaces and served as the capital of the Valley for more than amillenium. Tiwari, an architect and cultural historian, weaves a fascinating past with thepower places and public spaces still in use.

Halfway to the mountain: the Jirels of Eastern Nepal H Sidky, J Subedi, J Hall,S Williams-Blangero

Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, 2002Rs 1,500

The Jirel people of Dolakha display a mixture of diverse cultural elements from Hinduism,Buddhism and Shamanistic traditions that they have adapted to unique ways. The authors

emphasise the extraordinary Jirel sociocultural and religious traditions located halfwaybetween the lowlands and the lofty mountains.

Date Conversion Chart: Bikram to Christian Era Tri Ratna Manandhar (ed)Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University, 2002Rs 115A handy guide for those who have to switch from AD to BS and vice-versa. This slim bookwill be invaluable to researchers, historians and students. The conversion chart begins in1752 and ends in 1906 when the Nepal calendar was transformed from the lunar to a solarbased system.

SUN MON

TUE WED

FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSFESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSFESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSFESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSFESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSCard design exhibition by Dewendra Pandey, Nepal Art Council,Babarmahal. 10AM-4PM, till 6 January. 220735Paintings by Stina Haldorsen at Siddhartha Art Gallery. 11AM-6PM from10-19 January. 411122

Snow and other adventures: “Poems in Frames” by Mark Wyatt at LazimpatGallery Café, Lazimpat.Woodturning in Kathmandu by Dan Hogan, and Unspoken Words: newTibetan Calligraphy by Dhumakhang at Indigo Gallery, Kathmandu. 8AM-6PM till14 January. 413580 New Road Street Festival Free 3-4 January, Kathmandu

E V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T SE V E N T SWinter Day Camp ECCA for students (Class 4-9) 29 December-14 January. ECCA,Thapathali, Kathmandu. 268297,268328 email: ecca@mos.com.npFree Aura-Diagnosis: Andreas Lohmann gives aura advice.11AM-4PM on 4 JanuaryEncounter Kali free entrance. 5PM, 4 January. Aura-Seminar Learn to perceive aura, heal andlisten to your inner guidance by Andreas and Kali Ma: Rs 2000, 10AM-6PM on 5 January. All at the KTMCentre of Healing, Maharajgunj. 425946 New Road

MUSICMUSICMUSICMUSICMUSICLive music by Catch 22, Friday nights at the 40,000 ½ ft Bar, Rum Doodle Restaurant, Thamel.414336

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Ranagasla,Kathamndu on 4-5 January

DRINKSDRINKSDRINKSDRINKSDRINKSFriday Indulgence Irish music from An Fainne, tasting with 12 Scottish single malts, Rs 999. ThePiano Lounge, Hotel Yak & Yeti. 248999Paddy Foley’s Irish Pub A wide range of drinks and food. Live music on Wednesday, Thursday andSunday nights. 416096.

FOODFOODFOODFOODFOODThe greenest patch Weekend lunches in the oldest and largest garden in Nagarkot at The FortResort, fort@mos.com.np. 226799Wood fired pizzas, cocktails and coffee at the Roadhouse Café, Thamel.Sekuwa Saanjh with Rusty Nails at Dwarika’s Hotel. Rs 555 plus tax per person with free beer orsoft drink. 479488 extn: 432.Patan Museum Café Mixed menu, garden seating. Lunch only, 11AM-2PM. 25 percent off withSummit Card. 526271Vegetarian specialties and clay oven pizza at Stupa ViewRestaurant & Terrace, Boudha. 480262Taste of Beijing Roast duck and other Chinese meat, fish andvegetarian delicacies. Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, BirendraInternational Convention Centre. 468589Newari Bhoj Traditional snacks, drinks and meals, outdoors or indoor, ina restaurant designed by Bhaktapur artisans. Lajana Restaurant. Lazimpat. 413874Traditional Newari and Nepali Cuisine 6 to 20 course meals at Krishnarpan Restaurant. Lunch anddinner. Reservations recommended. 479488 extn: 230Tukche Thakali Kitchen Buckwheat, barley, bean, and dried meat specialties. Also brunch withporridge and pancakes, all raw material from Tukche village. Darbar Marg.

GETAWAYSGETAWAYSGETAWAYSGETAWAYSGETAWAYSTea House Combo Room, breakfast, Nepali thali dinner, swimming, jacuzzi. Rs 700 per head on twinsharing for Nepalis and expats, Tea House Inn, Nagarkot. 410432Birdwatching, short hikes at Bandipur. Rs 1,850 per person with dinner and breakfast, Rs 925 perchild 5-14 years Shivapuri Heights Cottage, info@escapes2nepal.com, 370616The Great Godavari Getaway Special weekend packages including room with breakfast anddinner, 25 percent discount on health club facilities. Godavari Village Resort. 560675Writing Retreat Full board package. Aesthetic living, innovative thinking, creative writing and natureat Park Village Resort, Budhanilkantha. 375280Bardia Bonkers Freshwater dolphins, giant tigers, elephants, safaris, rafting, evening cocktails,traditional food. junglebasecamp@yahoo.com.Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge Rs 2750 per person per night (Tax included) for accommodation,meals, arrival and departure transfers from Bijaypur, walks, bar snacks and swimming. 01-361500

153 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126ARCHITECTURE

MOHEINDU AMIRAN○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

CHEMJONGt’s fitting to find the perfectmarriage of traditionalarchitecture and modern living inBhaktapur, the Valley’s best-

preserved town.A few blocks off the Dattatreya

Temple in this ancient town isRabindra Puri’s house, and you couldbe excused for walking right past it: sowell does this 150-year-old Newari-style townhouse blend with thesurroundings. But once you enter it,

you will realise how cleverly itcombines old with new. Rabindra’sattachment to the house is almostemotional: when he was a boy,Rabindra saw an old and familiarhouse being torn down. The lossaffected him deeply, and although hehas a degree in development policyfrom Germany’s Bremen University,architecture has always been hishobby. After working for the Germanaid group, GTZ and Patan Museum,33-year-old Rabindra is nowdesigning a nature club in Dhapasi

and helping build an ashram inDolalghat.

After selecting this house inBhaktapur, Rabindra remodelled itand did the interiors himself. Afterpassing through a pagoda-style gatewayyou see the exterior of the house withits subdued elegance and impeccableworkmanship of brick and wood.

At the entrance stands woodenbeams, made from original, antiquewood. In the foreground of the lobbyare two exquisite windows inlatticework (tikijhyal).

The houseRabindra builtthatHow to combine

old and new, andblend it with the

medievalurbanscape of

Bhaktapur.

The living room has a pleasingambience. The architect has been alittle audacious by introducing afireplace, alien to traditional Nepalihouses.The floor is laid with bakedclay bricks (tilya eit) and accented byAfghani rugs. The lounge leads to twobeautiful adjacent rooms which serveas resplendent reading rooms.

The overall impression is of space.The lounge on the third floor isparticularly beautiful with a woodenthreshold and pillars that support themain ceiling (dalin). The pillars areembellished with elaboratetraditional carvings. The floor has asimple, all-purpose straw mat(sukul). The play of the light is anexcellent architectural addition,highlighting specific spacesand objects.

The mood in the no-nonsensestudy is tranquil. The computer tableis low and the keyboard is just theright height to sit cross-legged. Apassage off the study leads to a simple,elegant and sophisticated bathroom.The bath is softly contoured to lendgrace. The blue and white colouredtiles add a contemporary dash to abrass washbasin.

This floor opens up into a Rana stylebalcony (bardali) adorned with a lamp(sukunda) and an Israeli hammock,which somehow doesn’t look odd.

The kitchen is in the attic and it’smix of modern appliances with brassutensils symbolises the balance ofancient and modern sensibilities in thisremarkable house.

“My house is an interpretation ofhow upper-middle class families cancombine comfort and at the same timepreserve our traditional architecturewhich holds the secret to our diversecultural past,” says Puri. “Hopefully itwill impress and influence others.”

MO

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IND

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16 3 - 9 JANUARY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #126

CDO Regd No. 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No. 04/058/59

by Kunda Dixit

Under My Hat

NEPALI SOCIETY

s you may have noticed, 2003 is off to a flyingstart with the daily papers carrying a slew ofpositively-angled news items designed to warm

our cockles. The best piece of news to hit us in thenew year is the actual one reproduced here thatannounces plans by the Royal Society for Humourand Satire (Rebellious) to establish Nepal as anInternational Humour Centre.

Further details are awaited. But, iftrue, what this means is that besidesbeing known as the abode ofPashupatinath, the venue of theSAARCASM Secretariat and the BandhCapital of the Eastern Hemisphere,Kathmandu is also going to be turnedinto a seriously funny place. About time,too, since things were starting to get abit out of hand around here.

According to well-placed sourcesquoted by RSS, the Nepal Chapter ofHumorous International will workclosely with the Nepal Tourism Bored topromote humour tourism, and to kickthis off it has already declared 2004“Amusing Nepal Year”, launching it byhosting the XVII International Congresson Good Humour which will beinaugurated jointly by the Ministers ofFun and Games of all participatingcountries.

The Chairman of the Amusing NepalOrganising Main Committee told newspersons at asolemn press conference: “It is of great nationalpride for Nepal to be chosen as the venue for thisconference. You there near the window, what’s sofunny? This is no laughing matter, we are takingthis development very seriously indeed. We will notallow our country to be made a laughing-stock.”

Besides the plenary, the convention will haveseveral working groups to deliberate on issues like“Good Governance and Humour”, “The Role ofCourt Jesters in Conflict Resolution”, “IsDemocracy a Joke?” during which delegates from allover the world will present their research findingsfor peer review.

We may laugh about it, but the main duty ofany government is to protect its citizens. That iswhy we are glad to see this news item in the press:

Some more news itemswe’d like to see in 2003

Helmets mandatory for pedestriansKATHMANDU – The Kathmandu Valley TrafficPolice Office has announced that helmets andprotective suits will be mandatory for all pedestriansin the capital from 1 April 2003.

Citing the increasing numbers of speedingKathmanduites who collide with parked vehicles

everyday, commuters who get sideswipedby motorcyclists on zebra crossings,vendors in Asan who get gored every sooften by bulls and those who fall intopotholes while attending to calls of natureon the sidewalk, the police has decidedthat pedestrians will be required to wearprotective gear while going about theirdaily business.

“It is our duty to make it safe forpeople to walk on the streets,” said thehead of the police’s new Safety First andLast Task Force. “We will not rest easyuntil every life and limb of every streetwalker in Kathmandu is accounted for.”

The mandatory gear that everyKathmanduite will be required to wearwhile walking on the streets will include a

Grade 50 Thermex Crash Helmet withNeck Brace and Visor, industrial strengthfacial mask with a 1,000 litre oxygencylinder, elbow and knee guards, teflon-coated shin pads, crampons, carabiners and

jumar rope to rappel out of potholes.“Anyone found walking about without this gear

will be fined Rs 250,” police said. “The public hasto realise that we are doing it for their own safetyand protection.”

Girija threatens to spill beansBIRATNAGAR – Former ex-prime minister GirijaKoirala today threatened to “tell all” about whomasterminded the 1914 assassination of ArchdukeFerdinand in Sarajevo that plunged Europe intoconflict 90 years ago.

“So far, I have refrained from the urge to speakout for fear that it may trigger World War III, butone day at an opportunistic time, I will bringout the truth,” he told a motorcycle rallyof pillion-riding party cadre, all of whom werewearing helmets.

A

llen Findlay had just returned toPokhara from a rural health camp inwestern Nepal on New Years’ Eve

when she got a call from the Britishambassador in Kathmandu.“Congratulations,” the ambassador toldher, “you have made it to the Queen’s NewYear’s Honours List.”

The 60-year-old Scottish nursethought he was joking. But it was true:Ellen Findlay had just been made aMember of the British Empire (MBE) inrecognition for more than three decades ofselfless work in the Nepal. A midwife bytraining, Ellen first came to Nepal in 1970,treating everything from leprosy tomaternity cases in and around Pokhara.Since 1994, she has been coordinator ofthe International Nepal Fellowship (INF)which organises mobile rural health clinics

throughout western Nepal.Ellen says she has

seen great

Ellen Findlay, MBEimprovements in Nepal’s urban health caresystem, but rural health care is still toothinly spread. In remote districts likeBaitadi and Mugu, patients walk for a weekor more to seek medical help, usually forinfections and gynaecological problems.

There has been a slight decrease inpatients visiting these camps after theinsurgency accelerated in western Nepal,but there are still a lot of sick people. Theinsurgency hasn’t affected Ellen’s work,although there was a firefight close to agynaecological camp in Baitadi last year.“But the patients stood in line through itall, some waiting up to 12 hours for theirturn,” she recalls.

“The thing that keeps me going is theextraordinary strength of the Nepali peopleto smile even through the most difficultsituations,” she says. “There istremendous sense of personal fulfillment,and now it is great to see the work I enjoydoing being honoured.” Looks like someonewho belongs in our honour list too.

E

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