#406 27 June - 3 July 2008 16 pages Rs 30 Weekly Internet Poll # 407. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Q. My plans for the future: 1. Emigrate 2. Stay in Nepal Weekly Internet Poll # 406 Q. What do you predict will happen if the parties keep squabbling like this? Total votes: 4,140 Karuna he political stalemate that had prevented the formation of a new government eased somewhat with the seven-party agreement on Wednesday. The 21-point deal is now in the Constituent Assembly as a fifth amendment bill, and members are trying to expedite the process to have a vote by Sunday. After that the Assembly can elect a president, vice-president and chairman by a simple majority. Although Prime Minister Koirala has said he will hand over to a new president: who that president will be and when s/he will be installed is still up in the air. The political parties compromised after more than a month of hard-bargaining on issues ranging from the constitutional amendment, demilitarisation of the YCL, PLA integration and other matters. The two intractable points: selection of the president and the opposition membership in the National Security Council were deferred to an assembly vote. The UML-Maoist alliance, however, may not be as smooth as earlier believed. Although the UML seems to think the appointment of Madhab Nepal is a cut and dry deal, Maoist leaders have kept everyone guessing. This is making some in the UML nervous that they have been taken for a ride. One Maoist leader said privately that his party would never agree to Nepal as president, and that was just a ploy to get the UML on board. This is creating a serious rift within the UML between those who have serious misgivings about Maoist intentions, and the party leadership of Jhalanath Khanal which sees internal advantages from the alliance. “Everything is still pretty much up in the air, don’t be surprised if it is Sahana Pradhan, or Ram Raja’s name coming back as frontrunners,” said one UML leader. Now that the politics is being finally sorted out, Nepal’s private sector is hoping that the next government will get right down to business. In a Nepali Times forum this week (see p4), leading industrialists, bankers and investors said the new government had an opportunity to make a clean break from the failed policies of the past and bring about a “paradigm shift” on the economy. They were unanimous in calling for a clear strategy to take advantage of agriculture, hydropower, manpower and tourism in which Nepal has a competitive advantage. They said a common minimum understanding between the parties was necessary so politics doesn’t spill out into the streets and drag down business. With the politics finally getting sorted out, time to focus on the economy T EDITORIAL It’s the economy, silly p2 BUDGET 2008 p4 STRICTLY BUSINESS Umpire or player? p5 Now, the people GETTING ACROSS: Women in Sunsari cross the Kosi last week to buy cooking oil, salt and kerosene from a market on the other side. Nepalis have been hit hard by soaring food prices, and look to the new rulers in Kathmandu for relief. MOHAN MAINALI Kunda Dixit
Transcript
#406 27 June - 3 July 2008 16 pages Rs 30
Weekly Internet Poll # 407. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.comQ. My plans for the future: 1. Emigrate 2. Stay in Nepal
Weekly Internet Poll # 406
Q. What do you predict will happen ifthe parties keep squabbling like this?
Total votes: 4,140
Karuna
he political stalematethat had prevented theformation of a new
government eased somewhatwith the seven-party agreementon Wednesday.
The 21-point deal is now inthe Constituent Assembly as afifth amendment bill, andmembers are trying to expeditethe process to have a vote bySunday. After that theAssembly can elect a president,vice-president and chairman bya simple majority.
Although Prime MinisterKoirala has said he will handover to a new president: whothat president will be andwhen s/he will be installed isstill up in the air.
The political partiescompromised after more than amonth of hard-bargaining on
issues ranging from theconstitutional amendment,demilitarisation of the YCL,PLA integration and othermatters. The two intractablepoints: selection of thepresident and the oppositionmembership in the NationalSecurity Council were deferredto an assembly vote.
The UML-Maoist alliance,however, may not be as smoothas earlier believed. Although theUML seems to think theappointment of Madhab Nepal isa cut and dry deal, Maoistleaders have kept everyoneguessing. This is making somein the UML nervous that theyhave been taken for a ride.
One Maoist leader saidprivately that his party wouldnever agree to Nepal aspresident, and that was just a
ploy to get the UML on board.This is creating a serious riftwithin the UML between thosewho have serious misgivingsabout Maoist intentions, and theparty leadership of JhalanathKhanal which sees internaladvantages from the alliance.
“Everything is still prettymuch up in the air, don’t besurprised if it is SahanaPradhan, or Ram Raja’s namecoming back as frontrunners,”said one UML leader.
Now that the politics is beingfinally sorted out, Nepal’sprivate sector is hoping that thenext government will get rightdown to business. In a NepaliTimes forum this week (see p4),leading industrialists, bankersand investors said the newgovernment had an opportunityto make a clean break from the
failed policies of the past andbring about a “paradigm shift” onthe economy.
They were unanimous incalling for a clear strategy to takeadvantage of agriculture,hydropower, manpower andtourism in which Nepal has a
competitive advantage. They saida common minimumunderstanding between theparties was necessary so politicsdoesn’t spill out into the streetsand drag down business.
With the politics finally getting sorted out, time to focus on the economy
T
EDITORIALIt’s the economy, silly p2
BUDGET 2008 p4
STRICTLY BUSINESSUmpire or player? p5
Now, the people
GETTING ACROSS: Women in Sunsari cross theKosi last week to buy cooking oil, salt and
kerosene from a market on the other side. Nepalishave been hit hard by soaring food prices, andlook to the new rulers in Kathmandu for relief.
MOHAN MAINALI
Kunda Dixit
2 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406EDITORIAL
Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda DixitCEO: Ashutosh Tiwari Design: Kiran MaharjanDirector Sales and Marketing: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Manager: Sambhu GuragainAsst Managers: Deepak Sangraula, Subhash Kumar, Tanka SitaulaSubscriptions: Nawaraj Guragain Tel: 5542535/5542525
IT’S THE ECONOMY, SILLYThere isn’t much left to say about the political disarray that wehaven’t already said in the past two years. Dispensing advice fromthis pulpit is a pretty futile exercise. In the end, it looks likewhatever anyone says, the political parties will always beobsessed with their game of musical chairs.
This week, student wings of the main parties were at theforefront of street anarchy over bus fare discounts. Are thehooligans who harassed commuters and vandalised vehiclesunder the control of their parent parties or not? Is this what we aregoing to see for the next two years? At last count, there were eightother agitations going on simultaneously this week, including bytransport owners, gas station owners, tanker drivers, civil serviceunions and finally the four microscopic parties that enforced astrike by vandalising vehicles on Thursday morning. Politicianswere too busy with their parlour games to care.
Touch wood, there will finally be an agreement on a presidentso we can move ahead and form a government to focus on themain agenda: the economy. The first order of business is to tacklethe statelessness, and consequent lawlessness, spreading acrossthe land. High school students, agitated at the delay in gettingtextbooks, bring the nation’s highway artery to a standstill fordays. A minor traffic accident paralyses the entire tarai. A greedy,high-handed transport cartel in Pokhara stones and damagestourists buses (with tourists in them) and the police blames thebus owners. There is a mutiny in an Armed Police base.
The new government must stop this nonsense. It mustimmediately move to exert its presence and restore the rule of law.There must be an urgent and strict moratorium on highwaychukka-jams, hartals, bandhs and gheraos. (Incidentally, these areall words that we have borrowed from south of the border, alongwith the political culture that they represent.)
At a Himalmedia Roundtable on Sunday captains of industrylaid out priorities that should guide the economic policy of the nextgovernment (p 4). There is apprehension that Nepal’s regimechange also represents an ideological shift,and there will be a temptation to flirt withutopian undertakings and showcasepopulism.
Actually, the country’s economy is insuch a precarious state because of pastabuse. It will need a dose of realism in theshort-term, hard-nosed determination in themedium-term and visionary pragmatism inthe long-term.
The private sector is clear about what isneeded to immediately start creating jobs:unleashing investment in areas of corenational competencies like agriculture,hydropower, manpower and tourism. Thebudget drafters better get cracking. Nomatter who comes to power, out ofenlightened self-interest if nothingelse, please keep your dirty politics out ofthe economy.
DHANUSHA—For the pastmonth the NC and itscheerleaders in the media havebeen telling the Maoists: “acceptGPK as president or prove yourmajority.” But the Maoists haveoutsmarted them yet again bywinning over the UML and
showing they can play thenumbers game better than theothers. The Kathmandu knot isslowly untangling.
Both the importance andfutility of Baluwatar andBaneswor politics can be feltmost acutely here in the Dalitbasti of Lohana, just 10km fromJanakpur in Dhanusha district.There is hope that a newgovernment will bring change,but there is futility because of therealisation it will not.
First, the good news:untouchability is not as blatanthere anymore, especially with theDusahad and Musaharcommunities. Brahmans andYadavs still do not eat with
them, and intermarriage is out ofthe question, but notions ofpurity and impurity are graduallychanging, especially amongyounger people.
Life is tough. Most peoplelive on a meal a day. Children donot go to school becausetextbooks are too expensive. Alandless labourer earns 6 kg ofrice a day, but in the off seasonhe can earn Rs 100 a day as aconstruction workers and thewomen get half that. A few Dalitfamilies have some land, but theydo not always have the money forfertiliser and seeds.
They haven’t benefited fromforeign employment because theyjust can’t afford the recruiters’fees. It is the intermediate castes,Muslims, and increasingly uppercastes who are going out toMalaysia and the Gulf. Thepoorest have to make do withwork in Janakpur, or Punjab.Subsistence is all they canaspire to.
Talk to the Dalits of Lohanaor a poor rickshaw-puller inRupani in Saptari district, go to ameeting of the landless in Dhalkeor spend time with a womanvegetable-seller in Sarlahi’s
Lalbandi, and twothemes immediatelyemerge.
The first is themultiple claims beingmade on a weak anddysfunctional state.Diverse voices look toKathmandu todemand their share ofthe pie: we want freeeducation; we want afunctioning healthpost; we want land. Atleast give us thepublic land lyingfallow, we wanthousing and food.
The Nepali poor
also envy India’s poor. There is asense that the Indian state treatsits citizens a lot better. Themarginal farmer in the Tarai oftenlooks to the other side and seesration cards, a fertiliser subsidy,government housing and schoolmidday meals. “When will oursarkar do this for us?” asks a millworker in Biratnagar.
This may be a romanticvision of the Indian situation,for such schemes mostly existonly on paper. But the judgementis valid to an extent. MohammedRiaz, a Jogbani rickshaw-pullersays: “Our children go toschool and get khichdi to eat, wehave houses under the IndiraAwas Yojana.”
In Champanagar village inIndia’s Purnea district, about100km from Biratnagar, mostDalits and Santhals have rationcards meant for families livingbelow the poverty line. Theseallow them to buy up to 20kg ofrice at IRs2/kg from the localgovernment shop. Even withleakage and corruption, they canget a portion at subsidised rates.
Champanagar, population10,000, receives Rs 3-4 millionper year for development work.Roads are in relatively goodshape and children of poorfamilies, across all castes, studyin school together. Houses havetin roofs, and agriculture appearsmore profitable: maize iscultivated along with paddyand wheat during the year, andthe government guaranteesminimum prices.
Bihar is synonymous withinefficiency, corruption androtten governance, but the Biharipoor are better off than the Nepalipoor because India still has asemblance of a welfare state. Thatshould tell the new governmentin Kathmandu where itspriorities must lie.
Bihar’s poor are better off than Nepal’s poor
he high drama at Shamsherganj APFbarracks ended this week whenHome Ministry officials surrendered
to mutineers. The government did succeedin securing the release of 17 officers takenhostage by their own jawans, but it had tosign a humiliating agreement with therebellious policemen. This has set aprecedence too dangerous even tocontemplate.
Residents of Sisdole have beenblackmailing the Kathmandu municipalityfor more and more concessions for theprivilege of hosting our garbage. Every fewmonths dump trucks carrying trash to thelandfill site are obstructed, Kathmandu isforced to wallow in its own waste. A newset of demand is put forth, and thegovernment relents yet again.
Students blocked highways and stonedvehicles the whole month because textbooks hadn’t reached them in time. Anotherset of student unions took to the streets todemand hefty discounts in bus fares.Hoodlums of the bus cartel brought Nepalto a standstill because the government wasnot allowing them to fleece customers atwill. A patient died when protesters stoneda car ferrying him to hospital. Severaltourists were injured when buses bringingthem back to Kathmandu were vandalisedin Pokhara.
Suddenly, there are no Maoists to blamefor these excesses. The YCL is nowhere to beseen. The APF voted overwhelmingly UML.Sisdole is a UML stronghold. Studentsaffiliated to the UML were at the forefrontof the textbook protests, ironically after theUML education minister resigned.
The transportation cartel is dominatedby UML-friendly entrepreneurs and studentunions protesting the rise in bus fares wereled by the student wing of UML.
The Maoists may be masters in the gameof manipulating the rural masses, but whenit comes to stoking the fires of urbanunrest, agent-provocateurs of the BalkhuPalace have no equals.
There were a few spontaneous bandasduring the People’s Movement of 1990. Butbandas in their present form (involuntaryclosures strictly enforced by organisedgroups of trained vandals) was invented bythe UML in 1991 to compel the majoritygovernment of Girija Prasad Koirala toresign.
The month-long protests in July 2001,which laid the groundwork for thesuspension of 1990 constitution, was alsothe handiwork of Balkhu strategists. TheUML’s intentions back then were quiteclear: it wanted to defame and de-legitimise the NC. But what do they wantnow by resorting to tactics that threaten toweaken the state itself? Does the UML’s leftarm know what its left palm is doing?
Anarchists want to abolish the state, by
persuasion if possible and by force ifnecessary. Marxists would let it wither awayas the state is gradually replaced by thecommunity through a combination ofrevolution and evolution. In the Leninistinterpretation of Engels’ prescriptions, theproletariat ‘puts an end to the state as thestate’ by assuming all state powers. In theMaoist scheme of things, sabotage ofeverything is justified in order toprepare the ground for the emergence of aNew Helmsman.
Who is using whom in the UML-Maoistalliance? Is it the former Secretary Generalof Jhapali Naxals, Jhalnath Khanal, or is itthe present Chairman of the Maoists, PKDahal? The private duel that their publiccamaraderie hides will probably createmore problems in the coming days. Themarginalisation of Koirala, the personthe urban intelligentsia love to hate themost, will leave the stage open for thetwo left parties to try to outmaneuvreeach other.
Absolute anarchyDoes the UML’s left arm know what its left palm is doing?
T
Less miserable
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARAYA
STATE OF THE STATEC K Lal
327 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406
LLLLL E T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R S
CORRECTION:Due to a layout error, the results of the NepaliTimes Internet Poll in #404 got mixed up withthe previous week’s. The correct results are:
How do you think the government handledthe king’s departure from Naryanhiti?Smoothly 40.3%As expected 24.8%Botched 34.9 %Total votes: 3943
WARNINGBrave and well-argued editorial (‘Prime MinisterDahal’, #404). Our politicians must start planningfor economic development otherwise evenLord Pashupatinath won’t be able to help ourfuture rulers. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Megh Gurung, Pokhara
It is ridiculous to see the so-called civilsociety of Kathmandu pursuing the single agendaof humiliating the royal family even after its hastyderecognition (‘Same old Nepal’, #404). Thehandful of ultra-revolutionary socialitesseem to need an enemy and have chosen themother and grandmother ofthe ex-monarch. It’s a sheerdisgrace that civil society isnot more concerned aboutthe people’s woes: thepetroleum crisis, thetransportation stoppage,soaring food prices,deforestation, lack of booksin schools. Come on, thecivil elites pay attention tothe statelessness otherwiseyou will be seen as ‘uncivilsociety’.
P Sharma, Mumbai
Well I guess getting rid ofthe monarchy didn’t solve allthe problems did it? What awaste of effort. Other than squabbling overposition and power, nothing will change. Sameold faces, leading thousands of sheep down apath of destruction as always. But let’s not blameanyone, we voted these people in, we areaccountable.
A Bhandari, Sydney
ENGLISH MEDIUMAfter reading ‘Reading, writing, arithmetic,revolution’(#404) it struck me that English shouldbe the medium of instruction in all governmentschools. It would certainly be a large scaleoperation but i think it would be worth it. AllNepali high school graduates, and even somedropouts would be able to speak some Englishand it would certainly go a long way in improvingjob prospects of Nepalis in the Gulf, Malaysiaand the rest of the world. I work in Qatar and seeNepalis toiling in the desert heat for meagresalaries while their Filipino counterparts work
inside air conditioned offices. It goes withoutsaying the latter get paid much more. Newpolitical parties may claim they will solve all ofNepal’s woes in 10-40 years but what do we do tillthen? Making Nepalis competent communicatorsin English would help compete in higher educationand the overseas job market.
Manohar Budhathoki, email
RURAL HEALTHAs a medical officer in Dhulikhel I was movedafter reading ‘Stopping the haemorrhage’ (#403).In a developing country like ours, the rural areasis where health care is needed most. Nepal now
produces a lot of doctors, andevery year more are returningfrom Bangladesh and China.How do we get them to servein the districts? After readingthe article, I felt glad that I amserving Nepal where myservices are most required.
Name withheld, email
RULE OF LAWA much needed piece (‘Workin progress’, #404) to opendiscussion on this topic. As alegal practitioner, my take isthat among a host of otherfactors, two critical elementsin establishing rule of laware missing in Nepal i)
dearth of impartial/neutral trial of cases ii) lack ofenforcement mechanisms So even if we write themost comprehensive, substantive and procedurallaw for our country, rule of law will keep evadingour society as long as judges are biased andtainted and as long as our enforcement apparatusremains tenuous.
Chanda Thapa, email
4 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406BUSINESS
he people have very high expectations of the newgovernment, but it faces immediate challenges ofresolving the food and fuel crisis. Participants
from the business community at a Budget Roundtableorganised by Himal Khabarpatrika and Nepali Times onSunday said the coming budget should bring about aparadigm shift in governance and developmentpriorities and spur investment. Excerpts from thediscussions:
BINOD CHAUDHARY(Chaudhary Group)Preparations for the budgetare happening at a time whenno one knows who will takeownership of it. The FinanceMinistry’s Budget Division isworking with very littlepolitical guidance. But thisbudget provides an opportunityfor new ideas to take shape.The question is, will a new
government be formed in time for the budget?This time, there are multiple crises: inflation is in
the double digits, neither the consumers nor the dealersare happy with the fuel price increase, there is a foodcrisis, Nepal’s exports to India are plummeting and thisyear alone we sold dollars to buy INR 200 billion tofinance imports, export of vegetable oil to India hasstagnated and industries are being closed down. Thiswinter, there will be a crippling electricity shortage.
Meanwhile, the government-in-waiting plans toemploy 1 million youth in 4,000 villages and increasegrants to local governments to Rs 2.5 million. Butgovernance capacity has gone down and only half theRs 30 billion for development in the last budget hasbeen spent. Rapid growth requires investment: both ininfrastructure, manufacturing and services. But to have20 percent economic growth, we need to spend Rs 500billion a year. It’s not just a question of getting andsetting aside the money, can we spend it?
There are ways to immediately raise livingstandards: by training 50,000 workers so instead ofearning $150 a month they earn $300. That alone willdouble remittances. The bill to allow private sector intothe petroleum sector has been pending for two years.There are applications in the ministry for 28,000MWworth of energy, yet there is a power crisis.
ANIL SHAH (Nabil Bank)As a nation we have gonethrough revolutionary change,people’s expectations arevery high. The new budgetmust try to meet some of theseexpectations, and it shouldreflect the economicphilosophy of a Nepal. Thequestion is, will it do so bymaking the rich poor and bringeveryone down to the lowest
common denominator, or by making the poor richer?The priority now is to restore business confidence,
reassure people that private wealth is safe so as to stopcapital flight. Then you have to try to bring that capitalback. Only in the third stage do you start trying toencourage FDI.
Our economic vision should concentrate on ourcore strengths: agriculture, tourism, services sectorand infrastructure. Agriculture productivity can beenhanced not by redistribution, but consolidation offarms. In tourism, visitor numbers are not enough, whatis the yield? The services sector, IT and banking havegreat potential, but banks can’t be penalised for goodperformance by further raising taxes. Then, for doubledigit growth there must be investment in cement andhydropower. Nepal is now the 39th most populouscountry in the world, manpower should be seen as anasset not a liability, and we must try to increase theearning potential of our migrant workers throughvocational education.
Whoever comes to power, they have a two year
window to deliver, otherwise the moderates will bereplaced by radicals. The Maoists are the largest party,let’s give them a chance to prove themselves. We have totherefore completely change the way we do business,business as usual is the path to ruin. Perhaps one way isto set up an independent economic thinktank to come outwith implementation strategies to advise the government.
RAJENDRA KHETAN(Khetan Group)What were the aspirations of thepeople during the Jana Andolan ofApril 2006? They wanted peace,development, end ofdiscrimination, jobs, rule of law?They felt an election to aConstituent Assembly was thepath to achieve these. But today,they are already starting to getdisillusioned. The rich aren’t so
badly affected by the crisis, and their wealth is growing,but the poor are getting poorer and this is an untenablesituation.
The future government must try to meet the people’saspirations with the new budget by encouraging businessso jobs are created. Cost of doing business here isalready too high, we aren’t competitive because of the sizeof economy and transportation complications. It’s not justcapital that is leaving the country, so are people.
On the positive side, a solution will likely be reachedand we will have a new government. Now there has to be acommon minimum understanding on economic policies sothat businesses can be assured of a certain level ofstability and increase their confidence level. We muststart planning for post-WTO and attract investment inareas of comparative advantage to create jobs.
The government should stop taxing the sectors thatare doing well, and bring those not in the tax bracketwithin it. For economic growth, it should trigger a paradigmshift by agreeing on a common minimum program tosupport investment, keep the government out of business,lower the chain of command to give a free hand to theprivate sector. And stop thinking that only FDI isinvestment, there are also domestic investors.
KUMUD DUGAR(KL Dugar Group)The country is a mess, and onlymultinationals with a market inIndia are doing well. WithinNepal, we suffered 180 days ofshutdowns in the past year, some90 percent of manufacturingindustries have closed. The onlyreason some of us have survivedis because the prices of someproducts have gone up.
Hydropower has long been gestating, tourism dependson stability. For immediate impact, we have no alternativebut to address agriculture, on which 80 percent of thepopulation depends. We must stop the fragmentation oflandholdings and go for large-scale farming through landreform and mass production in agro-based industries. Wemust encourage value-added products. For example, thesame farmer with the same land and same labourcost earns five times more if he switches from coarse riceto basmati. This way, farmers will benefit from the rise infood prices.
Our parties have only talked, there are no results. It isgetting late for the politicians to deliver. They should thinkof high impact programs for short-term, medium-term andlong-term impact. Business shouldn’t be regarded withsuspicion. I could take my business to India where thereare better incentives, but I am here because I am a Nepali.Our transit cost is very high, we can improve itimmediately by turning the Birgunj dry port into a full portand use the Bombay port for export and import at lowercosts.
For immediate double digit growth, investment inagriculture can change the scenario, for the medium termwe have to focus on hydropower and in the longterm,investment in infrastructure. We need a ’Vision 2020'.
”If you plan for theworst, then you do wellif things get better.”BUDGET 2008
T KAMRAN BAKR (Unilever)We must figure out where wewant the economy to move? If wego the service route, we have toremember that we need bettereducation. We have to move upthe value chain, throughvocational training. It is aglobalised world economy and tocompete with countries in theregion we must have a modelthat takes people to the next
level of experience. Nepal borders the fastest growingcountries in the world, in every budget in India and Chinathere are new tax incentives for industries. In Nepal,budgets only add to the tax burden. Why should theinvestors come here if they can get a tax holiday andother incentives elsewhere? We seem to be waiting forthings to happen, but things will not happen on their own.If you want to promote manufacturing, you need to seeincentives for manufacturing in the budget.
It will be foolhardy to expect things to changeovernight, but we can start the process of recoverythrough a package of incentives for investors. We are ata very critical juncture, and the private sector must beseen as a partner in growth and job creation.
SANJIB RAJ BHANDARI(Mercantile)The next budget will be seen asa political documentirrespective of whichgovernment announces it.Therefore it will be closelywatched by businesses withinand outside the country. Peoplevote with their wallets: will therebe capital flight and humanflight? Will the new government
treat the private sector as a class enemy or as a partner?We have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that even if
there is peace in this country there won’t be stability inthe foreseeable future. You don’t need a great deal ofstability for growth, but ours is a unique country both inpolitics and economy. Energy producing countries aroundthe world are predominantly unstable. So instability alonewill not deter investors in the energy sector. People arewilling to risk it because the rewards are so high.Manufacturing tends not to do very well in periods ofinstability, but as long as there is no state of war we canstill progress. Even tourism flourishes in instability aslong as there is no violence. This and subsequentbudgets should plan for several years of instability. If youplan for the worst, then you’ll do damn well if things getbetter.
DIWAKAR GOLCHHA(Golchha Group)You can’t expect one budget towork miracles overnight. Thisbudget has to meet theexpectations of the people for adramatic improvement in theirlives. But the budget will becoming at a time of crises. Thenew ideology has beenpromising the world, now theywill have to deliver on those
promises. Snatching land and doing some showcaseredistribution will not work. We need a clear economicroadmap for the next 10-15 years and we will have towork in an environment where politics will dominatediscourse and there will be hung parliaments.
The reforms after 1990 were private-sector led, butthe deterioration after that can’t just be blamed on theMaoist war, the politicians and ministers had a rent-seeking mentality and forgot that they were elected toserve the people. One legacy of that is the currentelectricity crisis.Sri Lanka had an insurgency, but investors still flockedin. People are not investing in Nepal primarily because ofgovernment indecisiveness.
PICS: MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
520 - 26 JUNE 2008 #405BUSINESS
arly this week, Nepali Times andHimal Khabarpatrika, organised adiscussion session on the
upcoming national budget with leadingbusinessmen (yes, they were all men).The session turned out not so muchabout the budget as about what thebusinessmen want the government to doand be (see p 4). They want it to make
and enforce rules in a transparent andpredictable manner. They want it to be anumpire in the competitive game ofbusiness. They do not want it to be boththe umpire and a player as it often isin Nepal.
The rest, the businessmen said, theycan do themselves: whether it’s findingnew business opportunities, or lining upfinances, or offering competitive servicesto urban and rural customers, orpartnering with international firms tooffer better products domestically andglobally.
Should the new government, whichis about to be formed in a few days by theMaoists, pay attention to what thebusinessmen want? Yes, as these threeexamples amply show.
Exhibit 1: In the late 1980s, Indiawas not the country that enjoyed overeight per cent growth per year that weknow of today. All business-relatedchanges required bureaucrats’ approvals,and India’s then leading businessmenspent more time visiting politicians thancustomers. There was no such thing asthe great Indian IT industry. By contrast,with guidance from foreign managers,Nepal-based IT programmers were alreadymaking and selling software abroad. In1992, some of them introduced emailtechnologies, which they started sellingcommercially, even before Indianbusinessmen did the same in India. Andin 1995, The Kathmandu Post becamethe first newspaper in Asia to upload itscontents everyday for distribution on theworldwide web.
The dispersion and the use of thesecomputer-enabled communicationtechnologies grew in Nepal not because ofdirectives from the Ministry ofCommunications but due to the
ingenuity of Nepali businessmen whosought profits by offering new services thatcustomers bought.
Fast-forward to 2008. The governmentcontrols all the licensing processes that gointo the development of Internet-relatedinfrastructure. What’s more, to sellInternet-services, it competes for customerswith private-sector players. No wonderwith the government’s playing the role ofboth the controller and a player withadvantages, its attention is diluted, and itspet project, the so-called IT Park, growsgrass, not software, in Banepa. Today, thevast gulf between the achievements of theIndian and the Nepali IT industries isplain for all to see. As we all know, thegovernment mostly stayed away from beinga player in the IT industry.
Looking back, if only our governmenthad limited its involvement in the ITsector to the role of an umpire, who knowswhat further innovations our competitivebusinessmen could have brought faster tospread the use of IT all across Nepal ataffordable rates?
Exhibit 2: Whenever Nepalinewspapers talk about the blacklist of bankdefaulters, they neglect to mention that thedefaulters owed money primarily togovernment-run banks. Privately-run banksare better at collecting dues, and doingmore with less, simply because theyare answerable to specific owners whowant profits.
By contrast, every time the PrimeMinister shuffled his cabinet, a new set ofmasters was thrust upon government-runbanks, which, over time, learnt to give outloans based on which borrower knewwhich higher-ups. Is it any wonder thatwonder that the government has kept twoof its flagship banks into receivership forthe past several years? Again, there was thisconfusion about the government’s role. Inthe name of providing banking services tothe poor, should it remain a player in thebanking sector? Or, would it have beenbetter off putting state-run banks in privatehands so that the government couldconcentrate on ways to make it easier forfinancial institutions to provide new andbetter services to more people? After all, itremains that half a century after banks wereintroduced in Nepal, only 33 per cent ofthe population makes use of some form offormal financial services.
Exhibit 3: Recently students at state-
run schools across Nepal have turnedinto rioters. Their complaint is that theydid not receive textbooks in time to startclasses and to prepare for exams. Thestudents know that passing exams andgetting through school are twoconditions for success in today’s world.But their anger was not directed attextbook stores or schools but at thegovernment which monopolises thebusiness of printing and distributingtextbooks.
It’s sad when young students have togo on a rampage and block highways todemand to buy textbooks. Thegovernment’s not so agile that it couldeven think about putting the textbooksonline or speeding up the distributionprocess through other channels. But thisis what happens when it refuses to focuson the big picture (i.e. making sure thatNepali students know their threeR’s well), and gets caught up in theminutiae that could easily be handled byprivate firms.
The businessmen at the Himamediadiscussion session were all veterans ofthe Nepali industry. They have dealtwith governments of all eras of Nepal’srecent 50-year history: pre-Panchayat,Panchayat, post-1990, former kingGyanendra’s absolute rule, and thepresent interim one of post-Jana Andolan2. In all cases, with varying degrees, theyfound the government of the day havinga narrow worldview of the world ofbusiness—seeing businessmen as eitherexploiters or cows that could be milkedendlessly. Despite paying lip service tosatisfy reform-pushing donors, nogovernment has accepted the businesssector as the engine of growth and asource to generate employment.
On the eve of the Maoists’ takeover ofthe Nepali government through thestrength they showed at the ballot box,it’s worth highlighting the collectedwisdom of businessmen: for the growthof New Nepal’s economy, let us learnfrom the mistakes of the past. And thebest way to do that is to let thegovernment be clear about its limitedand transparent role as an enforcer ofrules or as an umpire. Let it not meddleinto the game of business as a player.Else, to play on an old joke, ‘Nepal is acountry full of potential, and it willalways remain so.’
STRICTLY BUSINESSAshutosh Tiwari
Umpire or player?E
The government can’t be both
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
NEW PRODUCTS
Sun lightThe solar tuki light and solar dryer projectswon an award, on behalf of the centre forrenewable energy (CRE), from the WorldBank-funded lau na aba ta kehi garauninitiative along with 24 other proposals at afunction in Kathmandu on 24 June. Theaward was worth Rs.1.5 million.
Connect2earthwww.connect2earth.org, launched jointly byWWF and IUCN and supported by Nokia, isa site where young people have their say on
the environment byuploading videos,pictures andcomments. Users
vote for a monthly winner of a Nokia mobilephone and the overall winner will get thechance to participate in the IUCN WorldConservation Congress in Barcelona thisOctober and present his or her ideas topolitical, environmental and businessleaders from around the world.
Real winnerWinners of the Real fruit juice‘Guess the Real flavour of theweek’ competition received theirawards at a prize ceremony atthe Soaltee Crowne PlazaHotel. The Mega Bumper winnerof the Star Cruise vacation wasAnjali Rajopadhyaya.
New steelIndia’s Kamdhenu Ispat and Nepal’s Maruti
Nandan RollingMills recentlybegan a joint-venture toproduce TMT
steel bars. Khamdhenu will provide MarutiNandan with world-class techniques tomanufacture high-quality steel.
FLAME: TVS recently launched its Flame125 in Nepal with the promotional scheme“Ride the Flame” offering the chance to wincolour tvs and gift hampers with each testride. The bike flaunts sporty DeltaEdgestyling and is priced at Rs 1,35,487 (diskbrake) or Rs 1,30,428 (drum brake).
RINGS: Are a fun snack in anew shape that carries thefreshness of cheese. Theproduct was recently launchedby Chaudhary group.
SCOOTER: The Kinetic Flyte, produced incollaboration between India’s KineticMotors and Taiwan’s SYM, was recentlylaunched in Nepal. This gearless scooterfeatures easy front-fuelling, an anti-theftmagnetic key, and a 125cc four-strokeengine with eight bhp power output. Theintroductory price has been set atRs1,24,900.
FORESTER: Vijay Motors recentlylaunched the new Subaru Forester 2009
model, a stylishnew design withmore interiorspace andincreased fuelefficiency.
6 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406FROM THE NEPALI PRESS
Cycle cityGunaraj Luintel inKantipur, 24 June
Restricting public transport savesthe government Rs 150 millionand about 100,000 litres of petroland diesel per day. The moneysaved could instead be utilised toconstruct cycle paths.
Today, the world price for oilhas risen to a whopping $140 perbarrel. Yet, consumers arecompelled to purchase thisexpensive but necessary product,making their difficulties greaterthan ever. Modern marketingregards the consumer as all-powerful. But here, businessesrule. They can arbitrarily closedown the roads, and thelayperson is forced to either ditchtheir car and take to the roads orpay the high prices for publictransport. Either way, the publicloses out. The only way that thepublic interest is served is if thegovernment puts a stop topetroleum-powered vehicles. Inaddition, electrically-poweredvehicles should replace publictransport.
Even when transport serviceswere closed down by transportentrepreneurs, the governmentfailed to take action. If we hadn’tdone away with government-runpublic transportation in the firstplace, the entrepreneurs wouldn’thave the power to work their will.Consumers suffer not only at thehands of businesses but also ofthese transport syndicates. There
Om Gurung in Himal Khabarpatrika, 15-29 June
The people have made clear their desire for change by electingoriginal inhabitants, women, Madhesis, dalits and oppressedgroups and communities. Now that the first CA meeting hasapproved of Nepal as a Federal People’s Republic, the countryneeds to move from centralised monarchical rule to an inclusiveand secular state.
The CA polls have provided a positive result for the ethniccommunities. Out of the 240 seats in the direct election,79 ethnic candidates (32.9 per cent) have won seats. Similarly,out of 335 candidates in the PR, 120 (35.8 per cent) of thoseelected belong to various ethnic groups. Over all, ethniccandidates have won 199 seats, which makes 34 per cent of thetotal number of seats. A few more candidates are expected to benominated by the prime minister for the 26 remaining seats.
A good number of ethnic candidates have represented eachparty, including 93 from the CPN-M, 37 from the NC, 36 from theUML and 7 from the MJF. In the CA elections, 191 women (33per cent), 117 Madhesis (20 per cent), 49 Dalits (9 per cent) and16 Muslims (3 per cent) have been elected. The representation ofthe Brahmin-Chettri has come down to 34 per cent whereas therepresentation of women, dalits and oppressed groups has goneup. This can be seen as a historical turn in Nepali politics.
The various ethnicities have taken the CA elections as themost democratic way of building a new state structure. Theypressured the government to adopt a proportional representationsystem but the parties disagreed about using this on the basis ofethnic population. The government and the original inhabitantsmade a 20-point agreement to adopt representational candidatesin the direct elections, make the PR system representative in thetruest sense, and allow for at least one candidate from eachethnic group in the elections. As a result, in the FPTP system,the NC had 21 per cent, the UML 24 per cent and the Maoists 30per cent, whereas in the PR the NC had 30 per cent, the UML 34
Ethnic representation
per cent and the Maoists 36 per cent ethic representation among theircandidates. But the party with the largest ethnic representation wasCPN-United which had 42 per cent in the FPTP and 41 per cent in thePR system.
While the figures look good in percentage terms, the actual ethnicrepresentation is yet to be inclusive and proportional. Of the 59 listedethnic groups, 33 have been represented in the assembly. Althoughthis is a positive development, there are still 26 ethnic groups thatneed to be represented. The third amendment to the interimconstitution agrees to have at least one representative from each of thelisted ethnic groups. After conducting various rounds of talks thegovernment and the parties agreed to include at least 10, or at the most13, of the remaining ethic groups in the 26 seats reserved fornominated candidates. But now the political parties have broken theirpledge and distributed the 26 seats among themselves. This leaveslittle or no room for some of the ethnic groups to have a say in themaking of a new constitution.
The struggle for representation in the CA has almost ended and thefight for ensuring individual and group rights in the new statemanagement has begun. We demand that the elected ethnicrepresentatives have a role to play in all processes, including themaking of the laws and policies. The government has already agreed toconstruct federal states on the basis of ethnicity and region. The newconstitution should ensure federalism according to the agreement.
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
727 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406FROM THE NEPALI PRESS
Interview with UML Minister for Tourism Prithbi Subba Gurung inNepal, 29 June
It has already been two months sincethe UML quit government but yourresignation hasn’t been accepted yet.Do you think you made a mistake byresigning?The prime minister hasn’t accepted ourresignations yet. He says thegovernment hasn’t finished its‘mission’ yet and even told us toreconsider our resignation. Yes, I thinkit was a mistake to resign. The pollsmay have been a success but theprocess of bringing about a properrepublic is still going on. That is whywe shouldn’t have resigned after thepolls just because of our loss. Theparty made the decision, and to keepup with my party, I resigned too.
Do you still go to the ministry?Since resigning, I don’t go to the ministry. On my way to theparliamentary party office, I sometimes go in but as a commonerand not as a minister.
How are you doing the ministry’s work then?If there is urgent ministerial work then I do it. I can’t even say I’mnot a minister anymore because our resignation hasn’t beenaccepted. I untangle the problems.
Instead of working from home, why not just go to the ministry?I have not been taking my office file home to do the work. WheneverI am there, I do the work.
Why haven’t you also resigned your quarters, car or guard?I have already lost Rs 16,000. Immediately after resigning, I rentedan apartment at Nakkhu chok, costing Rs 8,000 a month. I evenmoved some of my things. But without my resignation beingaccepted, it seems I cannot let the guard go. I could have let go ofthe car but it would be difficult to take my guard to my new quarters.The owner of that apartment keeps asking when I will move. I am ina difficult situation now.
Your resignation hasn’t been refused either, and at a time when theresignation should have been effective as soon as it was tendered,isn’t all the work you’ve done illegal?This is not a time when the work I did as minister can bediscredited. That is why we have handed in our resignations to ourparty only.
It seems the country can even run without ministers?Even half the ministers can run the country it seems. I told ourleaders that either our resignations should be accepted or asituation should be created where we can go back to work. Rightnow, our situation is like that of a person hanging over a cliff.
is nothing more ironic thanclosing public transport toincrease fares. Instead, increasingthe quality of service wouldautomatically justify a higher fare.
The people of Kathmandu canreject petroleum-powered vehiclesby themselves. There’s no reasonwe should accept being crammedtogether like cattle. Instead, weshould take control and make useof Kathmandu’s breezy weatherand scenic beauty—which areperfect for cycling.
Flee to India?Ghatana ra Bichar, June 25- July 1
In the midst of expectations thathe would flee the country,Gyanendra made a bold decisionto stay in Nepal as a normalNepali citizen, shocking the entireworld. Experts had predicted thatas soon as the monarchy wasabolished, Gyanendra would runaway to India for good, fretting forhis security.
It was assumed thatGyanendra would follow in thefootsteps of Tribhuban, who tookrefuge from the Rana regime inIndia, and BP who did the samein 1960 when Mahendra led acoup. In times of political
Resignation
upheaval or threat most seem totake off for India. Maoist leaderstook to the security of Indiaduring the war and the CPN wasactually created in Kolkata. WhyGyanendra on the other handchose a jungle in Nagarjun overthe security of New Delhiremains a mystery. Experts aretorn between two possibleexplanations: either Gyanendraharbours hostility against theinvolvement of India inoverthrowing the monarchy andbringing about a republic inNepal, or he is skeptical ofIndia’s intentions of using himagainst Nepal in the future. Hispride may have been hurtduring and after his powerswere completely withdrawn,when India refused several ofhis attempts to tour the country.
Despite those refusals, Indiahinted, especially throughtelevised media, that it wouldreadily give Gyanendra refuge.He remains one of the few majorpolitical figures to have resistedand stayed in Nepal in times ofthreat to his security. Theex-king’s gesture has even beenlikened to that of bravado andsome of his critics say theyfear they might turn pro-monarchial.
DAMBER K SHRESTHA
8
o bridge the gulfbetween the plainsand hills of Nepal,the first step would
be to familiarise Madhesijournalists about the Pahad,and Pahadi journalists aboutthe Madhes. And that isexactly what 20 journalistshave been doing for the pastmonth.
Ten journalists fromSaptari, Sunsari and Sirahahave been touring Ilam,Sankhuwasabha and Terathumand vice versa in a uniquejournalist exchange thatparticipants say have revealedthings they never knew abouteach other’s regions.
Mechi police
superindendent, Bigyan Sharma,recognised Rajbiraj journalistJitendra Kharga whom he knewfrom a former posting, and calledout to him: ”Oh-ho, Jitendraji,when did you get there?” Beforehe could answer, ten otherMadhesi journalists came out ofa tea shop. The superindententwas so shocked he wasspeechless for a while.
The Madhesi journalists werefull of admiration for the famedindustriousness of the people ofIlam. Not an inch of land liesfallow, there is paddy,cardamom on landslide proneareas, tea bushes everywhere. When he found out onecouple in Jil village makes Rs200,000 a year just sellingcoriander leaves,one Madhesireporter marveled: “Money justgrows out of the ground here.”
Other journalists from theplains were so impressed withIlam’s cool climate that they sawits great potential as a hillstation. “In one hour, you can getfrom the heat of the Madhes to anair-conditioned Ilam,” saidanother reporter from Lahan, “ifthere were better lodgings, many
Uniting the hills and plains
Madhesis would come here justto cool off.”
Then it was off to therhododendron wonderland ofTinjure and Milke.Suryanarayan Yadav fromSunsari is more used to walkingon flat land, and was havingtrouble with the climb. But
even he was amazed by thescenery when the group got tothe ridge. “It was hard, but itwas worth it, I can’t imaginethere are places like this so closeto the Tarai,” he said.
In Terathum, Madhesijournalists visited the DistrictDevelopment Council which
A unique journalists’ exchange bridges the gap between Madhes and Pahad
NATION
MOHAN MAINALI in ILAM
TBRIDGING THE GAP: Ilam reporter Roshan Sawa (left) interviews villagers from the Mushahar community inLahan while Saptari reporter Hem Shanker Singh interviews herb traders in Khandhari.
PICS: MOHAN MAINALI
LINING UP: A journalist from Ilam takespictures of the morning assembly at acommunity-run madrasa in Siraha.
927 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406
has decreed that priority mustbe given to helping the poorestof the poor. The neediest in thecommunity don’t have to payfor health care, education, oreven pay tax while buying landor getting a passport.
Madhesi journalists alsoexperienced the difficulty ofgetting around the mountainsand how inaccessibility makeseverything expensive. There isno road linking Terathum toSankhuwasabha so the grouphad to drive back down toBiratnagar from where they hadto fly to Tumlingtar.
Then it was the turn of thePahadi journalists to visit theMadhes, and to shed their ownmisconceptions and stereotypesabout the plains. The journalistsvisited madrasas in Sunsari andsaw how everybody, rich orpoor, donated a proportion oftheir income for communityschools. The money pays for theeducation of underprivilegedchildren.
Siraha’s Lahan is a town thatmost journalists have onlypassed through at night whiletraveling in long-distance buses.They are surprised to visitLahan’s Sagarmatha ChaudharyEye Hospital that performs55,000 eye surgeries a year, morethan any other hospital in theworld. Eighty percent of thepatients are from India, andthey help subsidise theoperations of Nepali patients.
However, the reporters learnthat the hospital has seen a dropin patients since the MadhesUprising last year. “The hospitalwas forced to close 136 days lastyear because strikes blockedhighways, and this reduced thenumber of surgeries by 17,000,”the hospital’s Sudhir Thakurtold reporters who scribbled thestatistics in their notebooks.
The violence has not onlyaffected the hospital but allaspects of life in Siraha,especially business. And crimeis a sensitive subject. “We can’ttell you what is going on here,and you can’t report it,” CDOBal Krishna Panthi told startledreporters. Siraha journalistRajesh Verma nodded his headsilently.
Names created confusion.Many thought reporter JitendraKharga from Rajbiraj wasactually a Khadka from thehills. Both Madhesi and Pahadihad difficulty pronouncingRamala Singak’s last name.Madhesis had trouble withTerathum’s Aoyakjung andKhamlalung.
“The aim of this programwas to promote tolerance andunderstanding between the two geographic regions of thecountry to promote betterunderstanding,” explainedHasta Gurung of the Nepal PressInstitute which organised theprogram.
At least for two Madhesijournalists, the trip was aninspiration for further travel.Said Saptari journalist RajeshJha: “Jitendra and I were reallyexcited to get to places we hadheard about but never seen, weare going back to Terathum thefirst chance we get for somereporting.”
10 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406NATION
A cross Nepal, when you ask people in a tea shop, office, or outon the road about health care, almost everyone replies: “Whatwe really need in our town is a doctor.” What they should
actually be saying is: “We really need an MDGP doctor.”Many young people all over the world want to become doctors.
Nepal will soon be producing over 1,000 new doctors every year. Butwhat kind of doctors does Nepal really need?
In Nepal a young doctor earns an MBBS degree, and follows thatwith a 3-5 year post-graduate specialisation to become a surgeon,pediatrician, obstetrician, internist, pathologist or radiologist.Specialised doctors are fine in their field, but aren’t very competentoutside their area.
MDGP doctors are specialists, but with a difference: they’re all-rounders trained to be competent in each of the main medical fields.
After a three-year course, theyknow how to care for children,deliver babies, perform essentialoperations, take care of sickadults with a variety of medicalproblems. MDGPs are the
frontline primary care doctors in the cities and in the districts theyare the life-savers.
General practice (or MDGP) training began at the Institute ofMedicine in 1982, and was the country’s first post-graduate doctortraining. In the last six years, the BP Koirala Institute of HealthSciences and the National Academy of Medical Science (NAMS)have started MDGP training.
Nepal’s MDGP program is a leader in South Asia, and even theChristian Medical College of Vellore gets academic accreditation forits GP program from Nepal’s Institute of Medicine. Compared togeneral practice (or family medicine) doctors in the US or UK,Nepal’s GP doctors are more skilled in surgical procedures, such ascaesarean sections.
Because one MDGP doctors can cover a range of medical areas,they are the most appropriate for district hospitals across Nepal. Inlate 2007, when there was a hospital crisis in Dadeldhura the HealthMinistry promptly transferred two MDGP doctors there. A dusty, oldhospital, which was under-used for years, immediately picked up andstarted doing 40 deliveries and 30 operations a month.
Baglung used be a lonely government hospital that patientsignored, preferring to go to Pokhara for treatment. That was untilTarun Paudel arrived in 1999. This MDGP doctor helped transformBaglung into a model district training hospital where 800 babies aredelivered every year and caesarean sections and other operationsare regularly conducted.
Two years ago, the Sindhupalchok district hospital in Chautarawas severely damaged in a fierce battle. The resident MDGP, NandaLal Sikarmi, survived the attack by hiding under a bed all night andstayed on to rebuild the hospital (see: 'Nepal's unsung heroes') andadd new services.
In 2000, UNICEF adopted the Panchthar district hospital hopingto provide better care for mothers and children. It worked, and themain reason for the success was the dedicated work of one MDGP,Gunaraj Lohani.
Compare this to government hospitals where MBBS doctors areposted. Most cannot perform operations, conduct difficult deliveries,and they have to learn as they go.
Considering the medical needs of remote communities and thesuccess of MDGP doctors one would expect that there would behundreds of MDGPs all across the country by now. But there aren’t,and the main reason is lack of recognition by the public and by theHealth Ministry itself.
For most people in Nepal a doctor is a doctor, they haven’t yetlearnt what sets an MDGP apart. A community survey in rural Nepalshowed that less than one percent of people had any idea what anMDGP doctor was. Only after a town actually has an MDGP comeand work there do people realise the difference.
Harder to understand is why the government doesn’t yet seem tosee the need for MDGPs. The Ministry of Health and Population hasa goal of providing emergency delivery services in all 75 districts.Today, while city hospitals regularly conduct lifesaving caesariansections, less than 20 percent of the district hospitals do. Onereason is the lack of MDGP doctors available to do this operation.
Another reason is that the Health Ministry still has no post forMDGPs and they are treated the same as basic MBBS doctors. As aresult, fewer doctors want to enter this specialty. Government healthservices are like a three-legged stool: one leg preventive, one legpromotive, and one leg curative. In Nepal, the first two legs arereasonably strong. It is the third, curative leg of the stool that isweak, and without it patients in rural areas suffer.
Over the years, I have met and become friends with manydoctors in Nepal. They range across all specialties and I knowexcellent doctors in many fields. Many are famous and admiredthroughout the country. But I have come to see that one real medicalhero of Nepal has not yet been recognized: the MDGP doctor.
Mark Zimmerman is Director of the Nick Simons Institute in Kathmandu.
o you think you’re anoutgoing, curious personwith an interesting life story,
do you? And perhaps you’vesometimes wondered how lifewould be if you’d been born on thesame day but somewhere else—let’s say Belgium? And you wantto be a TV star too?
Answer a confident "yes" tothese three questions and thepeople at Woestijnvis, a Belgiantelevision production company,would love to hear from you. Butonly if your birthday matches thelist below—and you can prove it!
The idea for this 'birthdaytwins' project came from SteveVerhaeghe and Dirk Van denHoute, two Belgians who wantedto compare the lives of people ofidentical age all around the world.Woestijnvis liked the concept andselected 22 Belgians to take part.
Now the company is on aworldwide trawl to find interested
ore than a decade ago,Kul Bahadur Sapkotabegan to suffer from
uncontrollable fits almost daily.When the seizures became morefrequent four years ago, heretreated to his bed, toodistrustful of the local districthospital to seek treatment thereand too poor to travel toKathmandu.
But when 36-year-old Sapkotatook his daughter toSindhupalchok District Hospitaltwo months ago, he told thehospital’s general practitioner,Nanda Lal Sikarmi, about hissymptoms. Sikarmi did sometests and diagnosed epilepsy. Hegave Sapkota some medicine tocontrol the seizures, and he hasn’thad a fit since.
“GPs need to knoweverything—we have to be able todiagnose all kinds of diseases,”
Not justany doctor
To upgrade ruralhealthcare, Nepal needsgeneral practitioners
Nepal’s unsung
explains Sikarmi. “Our work isquite multidisciplinary.”
Sikarmi’s day at the hospitalin Chautara starts with hisroutine early morning rounds ofthe 17-bed general ward, which isalmost always full. Theoutpatients department typicallyhandles about 80 cases each day.A team of 12 medical officers,paramedics and nurses deals withboth emergencies and minorsurgery at the hospital, and isalso responsible for dozens ofhealth posts and clinics aroundthe district.
“The day goes by so fast thatusually we don’t even have timeto get lunch,” says Sikarmi, whohas been at the hospital for morethan seven years, four of themalone with no other medicalsupport. He was there two yearsago when the hospital wasvirtually destroyed in fightingbetween the army and Maoists,but decided to stay on to help
rebuild it.Now, with the war over,
Sikarmi still sees a future forhimself at Chautara. “There’s nopoint looking back when there isso much we still need to rebuild,”he says. “I got my medical degreein Nepal and I don’t feel like Ineed to recoup the money I spentgetting the degree. I was inChautara when no other doctorwas around—I’m attached tothis place.”
He says there is an urgentneed for more GPs, especially inrural areas, where many peoplecannot afford to go to the townsto seek specialised treatment. It isobvious, seeing Sikarmi’sdedication and his all-rounder
MALLIKA ARYAL
M
Desperately seeking people of the same sex who wereborn on the same dates. Theyhave chosen 120 people fromabout 40 countries so far, and arehoping to find a few in Nepal.
"We are looking for Nepaliswho would be interested inlearning about Belgian customsand traditions," says Annelore deDonder at Woestijnvis.
Belgian reality TV show wants tohear from Nepali 'birthday twins'
BAREFOOT DOCTORS: Nanda LalSikarmi, chief doctor of theSindhupalchok District Hospital(above right) counsels a patient inChautara, where the wards weredestroyed in a battle in April 2006.
S
For women, the dates are:April 5 1943May 2 1950July 20 1963March 24 1964March 26 1975December 27 1979July 24 1982
SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT: (l-r)Marie Jacqmin, Cemil Belek, Chiu-lingKuo, Annelore De Donder and TessUytterhoeven are members ofWoestijnvis’ research team scoping theworld for the Birthday Twins Project.
COMMENTMark Zimmerman
1127 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406NATION
s a child, Audrey Hepburn suffered from hunger andmalnutrition. She was traumatised by war, and abandoned by
her father. She suffered from anemia and whooping cough, and had anear death experience when she was six weeks old. As an adult, shehad three painful miscarriages, just like so many mothers today indeveloping countries.
Deep inside, Audrey Hepburn was sad: sad about the plight ofchildren in the world, which she could empathise with having
experienced a traumaticchildhood herself.
Perhaps because I camefrom a small village in themountains of Nepal, wherethere was no road, no school,
no post office, no radio or television, no telephone, where illiteracywas near universal, and modern health service was non-existent,and I was myself a malnourished child, and I too had a near deathexperience, I feel a special connection with Audrey.
Jim Grant, my former boss at UNICEF, used to say that there hasbeen more progress forchildren in the last 50years than perhaps in theprevious 500 years.Consider these examples:
Twenty millionchildren used to die in theworld annually in the1960s. Although worldpopulation has doubledsince then, the number ofchild deaths has beenhalved to less than 10million per year.
In Nepal the childdeath rate has beenreduced by half in the lastdecade in spite of a war.
Smallpox used to kill 5 million people a year, it has now beencompletely eradicated. Polio which used to cripple millions is on thebrink of eradication.
There are more children in school today than ever before, andgender disparity is rapidly declining at the primary school level.
Over a billion people have been lifted out of poverty in Asiaalone in the past half century.
Overall, children and their rights are much higher on the world’spolitical agenda.
But much of this progress has bypassed the bottom billion people inthe world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of South Asia.The recent dramatic rise in food and petroleum prices is bound tofurther impoverish the already poor, and as usual, children are likelyto be its main victims.
Because children bear the heaviest burden of poverty, all effortsto combat poverty must give the highest priority to children. Thedamage caused by malnutrition, infection and poor childcare in earlychildhood often lasts for an entire lifetime, and cannot be easilyreversed later.
Now, some say that poverty has always been with us, and it willnever be completely eliminated. That maybe true in the case ofrelative poverty, but we simply cannot and should not accept theindignity of absolute poverty as the unavoidable fate of humanity inthis world of incredible wealth and prosperity.
At this time of unprecedented global prosperity, in whichsomeone new becomes a billionaire every second day, nearly 1billion people live on less than $1 a day, 800 million people go to bedhungry every night, and 1 billion people without access to cleandrinking water. We now have a global plan of action to fight povertyin the form of the Millennium Development Goals. It will takemassive efforts by developing countries to achieve, and needs anadditional investment of about $50 billion a year in external aid.
That isn’t a lot of money considering taxpayers in US, Europeand Japan pay $1 billion per day in farm subsidies to protect theirfarmers against (guess what?) competition from poor farmers indeveloping countries. It is not that the world does not haveenough resources to fight child poverty, it is more likely that worldleaders and us citizens do not give enough priority to combatingsuch poverty.
Children of the world need peace as much as they need food andwater, health and education, love and a caring touch. So much of thepoverty, injustice and even the consequences of natural disastersthat haunt children are really man-made tragedies, for which there isonly one man-made solution: peace.
Based on a speech at the ceremony in Atlanta last week inwhich Kul Chandra Gautam was conferred the 2008 AudreyHepburn Humanitarian Award. Gautam is the former AssistantSecretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy ExecutiveDirector of UNICEF.
Minister for Health and Population Girija Mani Pokhrel, an MP from Janamorcha Nepal, may not behealth minister for much longer, but his work while in office for the past two years hasbeen recognised by the Ministers’ Initiative for Global Health.
Pokhrel was in Geneva this month to attend the annual meeting of WHO, andwas cited for his ministry’s proposal to bring health services within the reachof very poor Nepalis. The trust, which was established with support from BillGates, analyses the proposals made by health ministers of developingcountries and awards the five best ideas.
The trust then funds the selected proposals. The othercountries that received the award were Senegal, Ethiopia, Mali,and Syria. Pokhrel says, “I am really happy that our proposal totake health services to the 28 percent of the country’s poorpopulation who don’t get it now was deemed worthy.”
The prime ministers of Britain and Norway and the WorldBank have also pledged to help Pokhrel’s plan through theInternational Health Partnership. “It would be really good ifothers also learnt from this initiative of the health ministry,”says DfID’s Nepal representative, Bella Bird.
Under Pokhrel, the Health Ministry has made it free healthservices to the poor possible in various health centres around thecountry, although it may take time for it to go nationwide. And itwill also depend on who becomes the next health minister.
health heros
Great idea
NEPALI PANKul Chandra Gautam
Highest priority
Children bear the heaviestburden of poverty
doppelgängersEach Belgian participant will
have three birthday twins fromdifferent countries, whom they willvisit in turn to compare theirdifferent lives, cultures andenvironments. They will be able tosee how their lives could havebeen totally different had they beenborn elsewhere. At the end, theywill pick 10 Belgians with the mostfascinating set of twins. Every visitwill be filmed and the results willbe broadcast in Belgium in thesecond half of 2009.
The production company willprovide a Nepali-Dutch translator,so don’t worry about your foreignlanguage skills. But don’t expect tobe told too much about yourBelgian twin in advance.
"We’d like the twins to becurious about each other and findout about their lives themselves,"De Donder says.Srishti Adhikari
If you are interested and your birthdaymatches, send an email totwins(at)docfish.be orcall on +32 2 303 35 88.
skills that Nepal’s healthsituation would be much better ifthere were more doctors like him.And that is the challenge: how dowe make more Sikarmis?
The good news is that agrowing number of young doctorsare showing an interest inbecoming GPs, says UrmilaBharati, who is one herself andhas worked in the Myagdi districthospital. She believes incentivesfrom the government wouldencourage more GPs to work inremote rural hospitals where theirservices are most required.
She also says the governmentshould send more than one GP toeach district to lighten the workload. A doctor often ends updoing the administrative work ofthe District Health Officer,coordinating the health posts anddealing with emergencies, as wellas doing their own medical work.
Adds Bharati: “GPs are used tomultitasking, but reducing theadmin load will help us devotemore time to the overwhelminghealth needs of the people.”
KUNDA DIXIT
A
SAM KANG LI
12 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406NATION
ichuan quake highlights vulnerability of schools around theworld. The enormous loss of life in collapsed schools aroundChina’s quake-stricken Sichuan Province could have been
significantly reduced using known methods for designing orretrofitting structures in earthquake zones.
But China is just one of many countries with known earthquakevulnerability that has been slow to transform schools frompotential deathtraps into havens. Hundreds of students are thoughtto have perished in schools in the May earthquake, among morethan 70,000. Experts on earthquake dangers have warned for years thattens of millions of students in thousands of schools, from Asia to theAmericas, face similar risks, yet programs to reinforce existingschools or require that new ones be built to extra-sturdy standardsare inconsistent, slow and inadequately financed.
While earthquakes can sometimes exact a far wider toll on otherpublic buildings, school collapses are particularly wrenchingbecause students are often what propel a struggling nation frompoverty to prosperity.
In 2004, the 30-nation Organization for Economic Cooperationand Development released a study, ‘Keeping Schools Safe inEarthquakes’, concluding that schools ‘routinely’ collapsed inearthquakes around the world because of avoidable design orconstruction errors, or because existing laws and building codeswere not enforced.
The risks are growing, experts say, as populations in poorregions continue to rise and the world, rich and poor, shifts evermore towards urban centers, many with well-charted seismicthreats. In recent years, there have been deadly school collapsesafter earthquakes in Italy, Algeria, Morocco and Turkey. Mostnotably, in Pakistan on 8 October, 2005, at least 17,000 childrendied as more than 7,000 schools collapsed after a powerful joltshook Kashmir. More than 80 percent of schools in Pakistan arestill unprotected from earthquakes.
In 2006, Brian E Tucker, an earthquake expert who runs aprivate group, GeoHazards International, presented a study onschools to the Economic Cooperation Organization, a group of 10countries in Europe and Asia. The analysis found that 180 millionpeople, including 40 million school-age children, faced anearthquake risk equal to that of northern Pakistan.
“Delays in addressing such threats sometimes result less fromfinancing and engineering than from societal inertia, givencompeting problems and the unpredictable nature of earthquakes”,said Ben Wisner of the California State University and a founder ofthe Coalition for Global School Safety. “Often, money andtechnology are not the issue”, he said, “so much as access to basicinformation about risks and simple ways to bolster buildings”.
There have been some successful efforts to reinforce schools,in places including Kathmandu, Nepal, and parts of Turkey, he said.Progress often is a result of persistent pressure by a particularengineer or safety campaigner.
“The successes are far outnumbered by places that still facecalamity on the scale of that seen in Sichuan”, he and others said.And the risks are not limited to poor countries. “In some countriesand cultures, inaction is shaped by a fatalism that somewhatindemnifies governments from responsibility for what are seen as‘celestial acts”, said Thomas Parsons, a geophysicist with theUnited States Geological Survey.
“It’s so disappointing to see these things happening again andagain, little kids caught in a collapsed school building,” Parsonssaid. “As always, in the short term we are balancing the probableevent against real, right-now problems. But in the long term,probable becomes inevitable.” Andrew C Revkin, NYT
he death of so manystudents in the recentearthquake in China
highlighted the tragicconsequences of corruption andshoddy school constructionmethods there. Is the situationany different here in Nepal?
“About one third of schoolsacross the country are earthquakeresistant now,” says Yub RajPaudyal, an engineer at theDepartment of Education, whohas been working for the past 20years to reinforce old schools andconstruct new classrooms toearthquake-resistant standards.
Nepal lies in a highly activeseismic zone. The last bigearthquake in August 1988 killedmore than 700 people anddestroyed 1,200 schools in easternNepal. Seismologists believeNepal is overdue for anotherearthquake of similar magnitude.
After the 1988 earthquake, thegovernment launched itsEarthquake Affected AreaReconstruction andRehabilitation Project, and in2003 enacted a national buildingcode for public buildings
including schools.The Department of
Education’s records indicate that52,000 classrooms have been builtsince 1988, but a further 41,000are needed just to serve currentstudent numbers, and anadditional 10,000 will be requiredby 2012 to meet the demand ofthe government’s Education ForAll (EFA) program.
The department’s budget hasbeen increased to allow thebuilding of 6,000 new classrooms
this year, up from 2,000 per year.Schools can choose from a rangeof designs, including two-roomblocks and multi-storey designs,according to their localrequirements. If they draw uptheir own designs these must beapproved to ensure they meet thestandards of the nationalbuilding code.
The designs are not guaranteedto be earthquake-proof, saysAmod Mani Dixit, of the NationalSociety for Earthquake
Learning fromclassroom collapsesS
Could it happen
Model schoolMangal Dvip School buildings in Bouddha were built in 1980 withoutconsidering precaution against natural hazards like earthquake andfire. After the 1988 earthquake, the classrooms remained intact, butit forced the school to plan for bigger future disasters.
“We sent our teachers to participate in safety and first aid drillswhich they pass on to our students later,” says Khenpo ChonyiRangdrol, principal of the school. The school then started retrofittingthe buildings, which was completed last year. Retrofitting is done byadding external columns, jacketing beams and columns to bear theload during quakes. Drills are held three times a year.
Yub Raj Paudyal, engineer at the DoE, says most privateschools in the capital are located in buildings that were originallyfamily residences. The classrooms are overcrowded and not quake-resistant—a recipe for disaster.
Says Paudyal: “We can reduce the risk by retrofitting.”
DEWAN RAI
TMIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
The writing’s on the wall for earthquake-prone schoolsBUILT TO WITHSTAND:Locals of Chaling village,outside Bhaktapur collectedmoney from the villagers tobuild Nateswari PrimarySchool, which usesearthquake resistantarchitecture.
27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406 13
“Salsa is not just a dance but a lifestyle, auniversal culture, liberal and open to influencesfrom all genres of music,” claims Indian danceguru Lourd Vijay. A world-renowned salsainstructor and a remarkable dancer, Vijay talkseagerly about the art form to which he hasdedicated his life.
He began dancingfor fun while at schoolbut, blessed with theright physique, hequickly discovered hisoverwhelming passionfor this sensuous artform. He also lovedperforming in front ofothers, experiencing onstage an adrenalin rushso addictive itinspired him to push himself further each time.
His big break came when he choreographedthe hugely successful theatre production of DirtyDancing. Since then he has established dancestudios throughout India and opened workshopsacross the world—though not without problemsalong the way.
His biggest difficulty was in overcoming thereluctance of Indians to try his “foreign” dancestyles. Most of his first students needed a lot ofconvincing that Indian dance was not justKathak, and that they were capable of masteringthe Latin dance moves. What made himpersevere was the standing ovations he received
here? Lourd of the danceIndian salsa king shows Nepalis the way
after his performances.After winning international competitions
and the Asian open dance championship, he hasnow reached a level where he is able tocontribute new ideas to bring change into theworld of salsa. His experimental Indian SalsaSutra marks the start of his dream to infuse
Indian classical dancewith Latino Salsa.
His aim is topromote and expandthe influence of Latindancing throughoutthe world. He intendsto open an academyfor performing arts inIndia, to provide anopening at home fortalented up-and-
coming Indian dancers without them having togo abroad for expensive training.
“Not everyone wants to be a professionaldancer, but everyone has a need to perform,”Vijay believes—which is why he thinks there isgreat potential even in Nepal for people tobecome interested in salsa.
Not only is it fun, but it is a great stressreliever and helps people become fitter. And itsvery simplicity means anyone can do it—even,claims Vijay, those with two left feet. A stepforward, a step back, a slight hip sway and youare on your way. Shradha Basnyat
Technology-Nepal (NSET). Theyare intended to reduce loss of lifeby giving people time to escapefrom the building before itcollapses.
Nepal has no medical responsecapacity to deal with a disaster onthe scale of the recent Sichuanearthquake. “Earthquakes don’tkill people, bad buildings do,”says Dixit. “They are not naturaldisasters, they are manmade, andthere are solutions to reduce risk.”
The reality is that Nepal iswoefully unprepared. Nepal is the11thmost vulnerable country toearthquakes, and Kathmandu isthe world’s most vulnerable cityin terms of its lack ofpreparedness.
NSET says it is largely a myththat earthquake-resistanttechnology is expensive, andargues that good design ratherthan expensive materials is thekey to making a house safer. Yet,86 percent of new houses are builtwithout engineering oversight.
NSET, with support frominternational NGOs, has trainedmasons in building techniques,advised teachers on how toorganise evacuation drills atschools, and built modelearthquake-resistant schools
in 26 districts.Sonam Wangchuk, an
education adviser with theDanish group, MS Nepal, hasbuilt a school in Bardiya districtthat is both earthquake-resistantand suitable for different climaticconditions—naturally cool in thehot Tarai but also solar-heated forthe mountains.
“Rich nations spend a lot ofmoney and artificial energy intomaking their schoolscomfortable,” Wangchuk says.“Countries like Nepal and Indiacan neither afford to nor need to.”
MS Nepal has been looking atways to make schools that are safeyet cheap to build and maintain,and use local materials andlabour. Their design usescompressed, stabilised earth-blocks for the walls and thincement sheets reinforced withchicken-wire for the roof. Theground floor lies three feet belowthe surface.
This not just insulates themfrom heat and cold, but also areless risky in an earthquake.“Nepal is setting out to build50,000 new classrooms under theEFA programme in the next fiveyears, it would be a good idea totest prototypes using differentmethods before plunging into justone,” Wangchuk says.
At a time when thesubcontinent is crying out forgood school design, if Nepal isable to come up with an effectivedesign it could become a modelfor the whole region.
NATION
14 27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406CITY
KATHMANDU VALLEY
ABOUT TOWN
WEEKEND WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL
As the monsoon moves into its fourth week, we would expect theheavy downpours to become more frequent. Satellite pictures onThursday morning show a huge cloud mass entering central Nepalfrom Bihar. A deep low-pressure trough along the foothills is set toproduce heavy rains from this cloud. Some of the moisture willadvance over the mid-hills where moderate but continuous rain islikely to occur throughout the weekend. Valley dwellers shouldprepare for a weekend of warm, sticky days and rainy nights.
Call 4442220 for show timings at Jai Nepalwww.jainepal.com
In The Incredible Hulk, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) scoursthe planet for an antidote. But the warmongers, who dream of abusinghis powers, won't leave him alone. When he returns to civilisation, thedoctor is ruthlessly pursued by The Abomination (Tim Roth)-anightmarish beast of pure adrenaline and aggression whose powersmatch the Hulk's own. A fight of comic-book proportions ensues asBanner must call upon the hero within to rescue New York City fromtotal destruction. Bruce needs to make a choice: accept a peaceful lifeas Bruce Banner or the creature he could permanently become: theincredible hulk.
Fri Sat Sun
30-20 30-20 27-19
For inclusion in the listing send information to editors(at)nepalitimes.com
EXHIB IT IONSFrom Harm to Home photo exhibition by the International RescueCommittee at Indigo Gallery, Mike’s Breakfast until 29 June.MaterialScapes solo collage painting exhibition by GauravShrestha, until 30 June 10AM-6PM at Gallery 32 at Dent Inn,Heritage Plaza, Kamaladi. 4241942Nepalscapes exhibition of paintings by Jolanda Aucott andGyanmani Ray, until 9 July at Siddhartha Art Gallery, BabarMahal Revisited, 11AM-6PM, daily. 4218048.Tattva multimedia and collage exhibition by Chirag Bangdel until18 July, 5.30 PM at Bakery Café, Pulchok.
E V E N T SGhanchakkar staging of a play based on Sanjeev Uprety’s novel,at the Rimal Theatre, Gurukul, 5.30 PM daily until 29 June.Change fundraiser concert with performances by Kutumba,Indira Lachhimasyu, Indira Joshi and Himali Dixit at Rimal Hall,Gurukul, New Baneswor, on 12 July, Rs 350, 985103477Summer Cult Film Festival with Reservoir Dogs, The Proposition,The Thing, starts 13 July at the Lazimpat Gallery Café.Tantric Dance of Nepal presented by Kalamandapa, everyTuesday 7PM at Hotel Vajra and every Saturday 11AM atPatan Museum.Toastmasters a communication and leadership program,organised by Kathmandu Toastmasters Club every Wednesday6PM at Industrial Enterprise Development Institute (IEDI)building, Tripureswor. 4288847
MUSICThe Yale Whiffenpoofsperforming classical jazz,folk songs and Motownhits, 1 July at the HotelYak and Yeti, Rs 1,499 net.4248999Make Monsoon Music at the Jazzabell Café, Patan everyWednesday and Friday, 6.30 PM with a live music jam.Live karaoke with special Thai cuisine, every Wednesday atHoliday Karaoke Restaurant and Bar, Lazimpat. 4445731Rudra night fusion and classical Nepali music by Shyam Nepaliand friends, every Friday, 7PM at Le Meridien, Gokarna. 4451212Sufi music by Hemanta Rana, every Friday at 7.30 PM at DhabaRestaurant and Bar, Thapathali.Yankey and friends live acoustic music every Friday at theBourbon room Restro-bar, Lal Darbar.Anil Shahi every Wednesday and Rashmi Singh every Friday,live at the Absolute Bar, Hotel Narayani Complex, 8PM. 5521408
D I N I N GSixth Annual Wine Festival with 15 wine choices for all ofJune/July at Kilroy’s, Jyatha. 425044030/30 Enhanced Buffet 30% discount on entire bill for a group offour or more for the month of June at The Fun Café, RadissionHotel. 12.30-2.30 PM and 6.30-10.30 PM, Rs. 800. 4411818Lajawab tandoori and kabab festival, 7-10 PM every Friday at theHotel Himalaya, Rs 550.Japanese lunch set , Rs 445 at Shogun, Japanese restaurant,Babar Mahal Revisited. 4263720Chinese and more at Chopsticks Restaurant and Bar, Teku,4104503Home made pasta at Alfresco, Soaltee Crowne Plaza. 4273999Hot summer spicy food at the Jalan Jalan Restaurant, KupondoleHeights. 5544872The Kaiser Café open now at the Garden of Dreams, operated byDwarika’s Group of Hotels, open from 9AM-10PM. 4425341Mango étagère mango delicacies 4.30-6.30 PM at the Lounge,Hyatt Regency. 4491234Steak escape with Kathmandu’s premier steaks available forlunch and dinner at the Olive Bar and Bistro, Hotel Radisson.4411818Bourbon Room Restro-bar now open for lunch and dinner withover a 100 cocktails, Lal Darbar.Cocktails and grooves with jazz by Inner Groove at Fusion-thebar at Dwarika’s, every Wednesday, at Dwarika’s Hotel.Cocktails, mocktails and liqueurs at the Asahi Lounge, openinghours 1-10PM, above Himalayan Java, Thamel.Continental and Chinese cuisine and complimentary fresh brewedcoffee after every meal a Zest Restaurant and Bar, Pulchok.Illy espresso coffee at the Galleria cafe, every Friday espressococktails.International buffet at the Sunrise Café, and Russian specialtiesat Chimney, Hotel Yak and Yeti. 4248999Local Drinks Cocktail selection of favorite cocktails with localflavors while watching EURO 2008 on the big screen at Rox Bar,Hyatt Regency. 4489361Jazz in Patan with coffee, food, drinks and dessert at the NewOrleans Cafe, Jawalakhel. 8.30 AM-10PM. 5522708Saturday special barbeque, sekuwa, momos, dal-bhat at The TeaHouse Inn, Windy Hills, Nagarkot every Saturday. 9841250848.Scrumptious wood fired pizzas, cocktails and more at Roadhouse,Bhatbateni 4426587, Pulchok 5521755 and Thamel 4260187.Retro Brunch Barbeque with live acoustic music by SoundChemistry, every Saturday, 12-3PM at LeMeritien-Kathmandu,Gokarna. 4451212Dhamaka a Nepali style barbeque with a pan-Indian fusion at theSplash Bar and Grill, Hotel Radisson, Rs. 1399 with 60ml RoyalStag or a complimentary a bottle of coke, 7PM, every Friday.4411818Starry night barbecue at Hotel Shangri-la with Live performanceby Ciney Gurung, Rs. 666.00 net. per person, at the ShambalaGarden, every Friday 7PM onwards. 4412999
27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #406 15HAPPENINGS
DOG DAYS: Canine denizens of the Constituent Assembly parking lotenjoy the peace and quiet as the capital came to a halt yet again onThursday because of a strike called by four minor parties to protestinflation. Towards the afternoon, the dogs had to make way for the arrivalof the assembly members.
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
EDUCATION BLUES: Uniformed students burned tyres and vandalisedvehicles on Monday as they protested high bus fares outside theEducation Ministry. The nearby western gate of the former royal palace,which used to be out of bounds for rallies, was also affected.
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
REPUBLIC OF GARBAGE: Garbage piles up in Patan as Sisdoleresidents once more blocked the landfill site for Kathmandu trash.
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
Mercantile
ww
w.n
epal
itim
es.c
omIS
SN 1
814-
2613
CDO Regd No 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No 04/058/59
27 JUNE - 3 JULY 2008 #40616 BACKSIDE
W ith the monsoon setting in, the load-shedding schedule hasgone haywire. Lights that were supposed to go off at 7:00 PMare now going of at 7:15 PM. Is NEA already on Indian
Standard Time, or what? After the Brits and Ozzies, it is the Swiss who have now movedvisa procedures for Nepalis to Delhi. The Swiss embassy website:‘Visa applications for residents of North India, Bhutan and Nepal whowish to travel to Switzerland should be submitted to the Visa ApplicationCentre at New Delhi.’ When he becomes PM, Awesome should just askall embassies which don’t have visa sections to pack up and go. Thatway maybe we can really be Switzerland in 20 years.
As the Maoists go around dangling the presidential carrot in front ofeveryone they meet, the list of ‘Almost Presidents’ is growing by theday. Makunay took the bait, and his suit is already pressed for theswearing in, so what if the UML is now going to be a vassal party of theCPN-M? Makes one wonder what Comrade JN is getting out of all this,and if he has any fears of being swallowed up by the Stalinists. Maybethat is why he has set up his own Youth Force and even got some YCLsto defect to the UML Testosterone Brigade. Methinks he vastlyunderestimates the Jugends.
Can the Comrades take their armed bodyguards into foreign embassiesor not? This better be cleared up before there is another majordiplomatic incident like the one at Lainchour the other night whenComrade Laldhoj tried to smuggle in a sidekick bearing a firearm toan embassy dinner with Comrade Shahid. A Fourth Anglo-Nepal Warwas averted, but only just. Kudos to Andrewji for sticking to his guns,as it were.
Is it just this asinine columnist, or do you out there also tune off at newstime these days? Who wants to hear a talking head bad mouthinganother talking head on tv news while a strategically-located MrDhamala lurks at the edge of the frame? The Constituent Ass-emblyshould declare a moratorium on all pronouncements on camera. Half ourpolitical problems could be resolved if the tv channels jointly decidednot to give any air time to politicians’ soundbites. Whatever the baddiesdo in private, if they are never seen on the evening news calling thekangresis running dogs, the kangresis will never be provoked intoretaliating in kind and 90 percent of our problems would be resolved.
News about Toiletgate may be dropping off the media radar, but theMatrika Yadav Shrink Fund has, as of press time, brought in Rs750.That may only pay for one couch session, but every minute ofcounseling counts for Matrikababu. One hears the politburo is alsogetting fed up with their bête noire.
The circus that ensued after Gyanji left his press conference atNarayanhiti earlier this month earned the media well-deservedbrickbats. Some hacks climbed on sofas with their shoes on to interviewfellow hacks, they queued up to take pictures sitting on kingji’s chairwhile it still radiated royal warmth. Some journos got so excited theytried to cart away the stuffed tiger as souvenir. The Press Council isnow thinking of making an appeal to the journalism fraternity to return amissing ass-tray and three whiskers which were plucked from thetiger’s cheeks. Give ‘em back, they are now museum pieces.
And now the moment that all of you have been waiting for, the winners ofthis week’s New Name Contest. The runner up is Subhas fromSorakhutte for his new name for Kanti Path: Kranti Path. Andthis week’s winner is (a round of applause ladies andgentlemen) Sanju from Narayan Gopal Chok for his entry:change the name of Durbar Marg to Museum Marg.
