#525 29 October - 4 November 2010 16 pages Rs 30 hen more attention is paid to who flies where and for what reason than the two prime ministerial elections that were scheduled this week, you know something’s not quite right. The northern skies were particularly crowded, with PLA commanders and Maoist Chairman Dahal himself popping over the border to China. President Ram Baran Yadav’s visit, to cap the week, put a more official gloss on proceedings. But apart from reiterating China’s stance on Nepal (“sort out your relationship with India”) and Nepal’s stance on China (“One China”), little transpired that helped clear up matters back home. If only the political skies were as clear as what trekkers in Pokhara would have woken up to recently. For the time being, we remain hopeful that the High Level Task Force, which had its mandate extended, will come up with some answers. Take to the skies Bihari Krishna Shrestha highlights what’s gone right in Nepal’s development Damakant Jayshi cocks a snook at the Nepal Army and the Maoists KIRAN PANDAY p3 p6 W
Transcript
#525 29 October - 4 November 2010 16 pages Rs 30
hen more attention is paid to who flies where and forwhat reason than the two prime ministerial electionsthat were scheduled this week, you know something’s
not quite right. The northern skies were particularly crowded,with PLA commanders and Maoist Chairman Dahal himselfpopping over the border to China. President Ram Baran Yadav’svisit, to cap the week, put a more official gloss on proceedings.
But apart from reiterating China’s stance on Nepal (“sort outyour relationship with India”) and Nepal’s stance on China(“One China”), little transpired that helped clear up matters backhome. If only the political skies were as clear as what trekkers inPokhara would have woken up to recently. For the time being, weremain hopeful that the High Level Task Force, which had itsmandate extended, will come up with some answers.
Take to the skiesBihari Krishna Shresthahighlights what’s gone rightin Nepal’s development
Damakant Jayshi cocks asnook at the Nepal Armyand the Maoists
KIRAN PANDAY
p3
p6
W
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
Publisher: Kunda Dixit | Editor: Rabi ThapaPublished by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Chief Operating Officer: Sunim Tamang | Hattiban, Godavari Road, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu
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2|EDITORIAL
ON THE WEBwww.nepalitimes.com
ila Mani Poudel, Secretary to thePrime Minister’s Office, has hada torrid Dasain. It all began last
year when, travelling home to Gulmi,he noted with shock the state of thePrithvi Highway leading out of theKathmandu Valley. Overloaded tippertrucks carrying wet sand and rocksexcavated from river beds had sunkdeep ruts into the highway. Upon hisreturn to work, Poudel instructed thetransport management departrment toprohibit overloading. The reports thatlanded on his desk suggested progresswas being made.
To his horror, Poudel discoveredthe road was in far worse shape whenhe travelled home this Dasain. “Theytricked me,” he lamented in a front-page editorial in Nagarik last weekalongside a photo of a section of theruined highway between Naubise andNagdhunga. Those in the excavationbusiness have always claimed theywere providing employment and payinghefty taxes. Indeed, they may havelined the pockets of the relevantauthorities with millions. It has beenestimated repairs will cost upwards ofa billion and a half rupees.
Poudel’s travel travails were far from over. Heobserved that at several points along the highway, eitherpolice or apparently unauthorised men were collecting feesfrom public transport vehicles, including the microbus hewas travelling in. This was taking place under variouspretexts, with or without receipts. Poudel called the policechief of Chitwan to complain, en route. The incident led tothe suspension of four police personnel. They subsequentlyaccused Poudel of using his position to interfere with alegitimate fine they were imposing on the driver.
Lila Mani Poudel’s run-ins with two separate rackets
CORRUPTION, INC.
illustrate the extent to which corruption has permeatedNepali society and the state. The long-suffering Nepalipublic, of course, is well-habituated to both directcorruption (through extortion of ‘taxes’ by public officials)and indirect corruption (whereby abuse of publicresources such as highways is swept under the tarmac,so to speak). The average Nepali is also largely helplessin the face of such criminality.
But what does it say to us when a high-ranking officialat the Prime Minister’s Office is as helpless in the face ofcorruption? It may surprise us in the first instance thatsomeone might attempt to command back the tide of
Q. What budget should the caretakergovt present?
Weekly Internet Poll # 525
Q. Do you think the High Level Task Forcewill succeed?
Weekly Internet Poll # 526. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com
Total votes: 1,600
MONKEY BUSINESSHurling shoes at the IndianAmbassador by the Maoists in Solu isan example of a monkey displayinghis bottom to show it is redder than theother monkey’s to gain favour from hisfemale mate (‘Propaganda war’, CKLal, #524). The Maoists are trying toprove they are close to the Chineseand that they are very much againstthe Indians.
gole
Why has Dr. Lal not mentionedthat the Maobadis were created by theRoyal Nepal Army to counterparliamentary parties? The Indiansmerely took them away and used theMaoists against the king and his army.This is something in Hindi that theycall ‘using the shoe of the wearer tobeat him’.
pdekaji
An accurate and refreshing articlefrom CK Lal. Contrary to sayingnothing, this article pinpoints the factthat the Indian media is willing to writeanything at the South Block’s bidding. I find it incredible how frequently‘Indian news’ is nothing but pro-Indian essays at the cost of all ofBharat’s neighbours who, in the eyesof Indians, appear to be nothing morethan enemies, terrorists, andobstructionists. The only exceptionwould be the Commonwealth Gameswhere the Indian media skewered theadministrators of that fiasco.
hange
DIRTY BUSINESSInstead of building a ‘Turd World GoldenGate’ they should have spent the 20million rupees on improving the sanitaryconditions at the airport or made aseparate exit gate (‘Once is not enough’,Ass, #524). Tourists don’t come to see anairport gate. DG
MORE MONKEYSThe Constituent Assembly has become,as a famous Nepali saying goes,‘bandarko hatma nariwal’: a coconut in amonkey’s hands (‘The value ofdeadwood’, Damakant Jayshi, #524). Isn’tthe current political quagmire an outcomeof the combination of ‘runche rajniti’(crybaby politics) of Nepali Congress andUML, and the ‘makhedau’ (opportunism)of the Maoists? Believe me, both Marxand Gandhi would be surprised to findwhat kind of PUNDITS practice politics inNepal. What a terrific place, whereneither ‘satyagraha’ nor ‘dialectics’work!! It is not a surprise why the adagesays that Nepal is ruled by the Lord of theAnimals (Pashupati). How long will theNepali people have to endure sufferingand humiliation, once ruled by the Ranas,then by the Shahs, and now by a bunch ofBahuns, being treated as a herd of silentcattle and sheep? Tell me who is going tobenefit from the ongoing limbo! Anonymous
TIBETAN COOLThis was a touching story (‘Tale of twogombas’, Rabi Thapa, #524). Exempliesthe glamour of Tibet with the visitors and
L
relative lack of PR for our own ancientvanishing assets.
nepktIMPASSEIt is very true that we don’t have anychoice than to wait for the politicalwrangling caused by the absurdity ofPoudel’s candidacy and the ignorance ofarrogant Maoists (‘Forcing tasks’,Editorial, #524). Besides these twoissues, all other issues seeminsignificant.
To date, the biggest hurdle is theMaoists’ abomination towards dismantlingof their armed groups. They know thatwithout force they can’t achieve their goalof a totalitarian regime. This is because atthe core of their philosophy lies theirbelief that parliament is a tool throughwhich revolution can’t be achieved and toachieve their goal they need anauthoritarian system in the guise of apresidential system.
However, the reality is also that theMaoists have gone through tremendoustransformations in philosophy, tactics,programs and policies: maybe not asdemocratic as we would like but still farmore positive than the Maoists whosigned the 12-point agreement. In thataspect Dahal’s appointment should beconsidered positive. He is the onlypersonality in the Maoists who can cometo agreements with others. So let us hopethat Dahal will bring some positive resultsto the table.
Kamal Kishor
“If the representatives of the Nepali peoplecannot decide on certain issues that
matter to our future, then perhaps, aswas suggested last week, the peoplethemselves can decide through a seriesof referenda?”
Now you’re talking! This is easily thefirst sensible stance NT has taken up onthe nation’s politics in the last 5-6years (I don’t remember NT eversupporting referenda before this issue!)Finally begun to see the light? Or is itjust the final reckoning that you can’tkeep selling your LIES anymore?
If Nepal’s media outlets, like NT, hadenough sense, honesty and integrityearlier, it would surely have saved thecountry and its people a whole lot oftrouble. But better late than never, asthey say, and rooting for referenda is thebest that media houses of Nepal can doto salvage the situation (and make up fortheir mistakes).
Satya Nepali
corruption in Nepal; get beyond that, and we begin tounderstand that even a well-meaning, well-placedindividual is largely ineffective in the face of a wholenetwork of corrupt individuals.
Sadly, this week’s headlines have already confirmedthe truth of this. According to TransparencyInternational’s Corruption Perception Index, Nepal is nowranked 146 among 180 countries. Perhaps we shouldtake solace in the fact that people like Poudel still exist,and are expressing their opinions loud and clear. If awhole network of Nepalis began to say ‘No!’ to corruption,the tide might actually begin to retreat.
DIPESH SHRESTHA
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525 OP-ED|3
t first glance, Nepal’snumbers don’t lookgood. The country
remains one of the poorest in theworld. Even though 70 per centof the workforce is in farming,agriculture has stagnated. There islarge-scale transfer of labour tourban areas and abroad.
Since most rural families donot have sufficient work on theirown farms, they migrate to dodirty, dangerous and difficultjobs abroad. This is tragic becauseour demographic dividend isbeing enjoyed by other countriesthat had no hand in nurturingour youth.
But there is a brighter side.Where authority has beenentrusted to the peoplethemselves, Nepalis have comeup with world-class successstories. In a couple of decades,Nepal’s forests were not justrestored, but made moreproductive than in the past.
The catalyst was the conceptof user groups that was derivedfrom the Decentralization Act of1982. Today, there are over 15,000forest user groups across thecountry managing their owncommons. The concept of usergroups is indigenous to Nepal.For centuries, the people ofJumla have used localcommittees to manage andmaintain irrigation canals. As ayoung civil servant in the 1980s,I adapted this traditional conceptof the local management ofcommons into the governmentpolicy on local development thateventually went on to become thecenterpiece of thedecentralisation legislation.
The distinguishing feature ofuser groups is that everyone, richor poor, high caste or low, men orwomen, participates in decision-making that makes itsmanagement transparent and itsleadership accountable. Forestryis not the only area wheredevolution of decision-makinghas resulted in progress. Of the72 developing countries, onlyseven, including Nepal, are
Devolvingpower to
local usergroups
ensuresparticipation,transparency,accountability
anddevelopment
We know what works
projected to meet theMillennium Development Goalsin child and maternal survivalby 2015.
Again, among the mainfactors behind this success arelocal Mothers’ Groups andFemale Community HealthVolunteers (FCHV), which wereconceptualised and set up in1988. All women above 15 areorganised into mothers’ groups.Each group selects one memberas a FCHV, who is then trainedby the government. Like in forestuser groups, the principlesinvolved are the same:participation, transparency,accountability.
These successful localinitiatives prove that given theopportunity, Nepali villagers canorganise themselves for theirown betterment. When nationaland external resources aredeployed in conjunction withlocal organisational capabilities,the results are dramatic, like theprogress in maternal and childhealth.
However, our nationalmalaise has been that we haven’tlearnt from these successes andhaven’t replicated them in otherareas like education, agricultureand local job creation.
Our successes are now beingchallenged by second-generationproblems.
Community forests could noteffectively address equity issues,and are now being plundered,reportedly by the minister andhis local henchmen. What iseven more disturbing is that theNC, UML and the Maoists havenot raised their voices against theunravelling of past gains. Despitesuccesses in child and maternalhealth, 60 newborns and 6mothers continue to die everyday across the nation. Half ofNepal’s under-five children areundernourished.
The paradox of Nepal’sdevelopment is that while wehave the proven methodology foraccelerated poverty reductionand national development, the
country’s poverty rate has beenre-estimated upwards, at 65 percent. The institutionalfoundation for progress inforestry and maternal and childhealth were laid during themuch-vilified Panchayat years.As an insider in those days, Imust add that politicians thenwere not paragons of integrity or
GUEST COLUMN Bihari K Shrestha
A
nepalitimes.com
democratic virtues, either. ButKing Birendra overrode theobjection of politicians withvested interests and authorisedthe implementation of thedecentralisation act, whichchanged the face of Nepal.
Unfortunately, given thestructure under which the DDCsand VDCs function today, they
are governed by the same rules ofthe political game as at the centre.Devolution, to be meaningful tothe people, has to go all the waydown to the roots, to thestakeholders themselves, not totheir representatives at higherlevels. If donor agencies want tobe professionally honest tothemselves and improve delivery,they must learn from Nepal’shome-grown successes and buildon them.
A vast proportion of ourpeople continue to live inunacceptable destitution. But, assomeone intimately involvedwith introducing the concept oflocal user groups in the forestryand health sectors, we haveshown that with just a few rightpolicies, we can turn thingsaround quickly.
Bihari Krishna Shrestha was withthe National PlanningCommission, and the ministriesof health and physical planningand local development.
This article is based on hisaddress at the Madan PuraskarAward Ceremony on 10 October.A longer version of his speech isavailable
JEERAWAT NA THALANG
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #5254|REVIEW
n Nepal, politics has alwaystaken the front seat whileissues of economic
development have been dealtwith as an afterthought. It hasbeen four months since caretakerPrime Minister Madhav KumarNepal resigned, but the newgovernment is yet to take shape.This political stalemate hasdaunting effects on all sectors ofthe economy, but the foremostconcern is the delay in thepresentation of the budget. Thespecial budget of Rs 110 billionwill soon run out; unless a full-fledged budget is announcedimmediately, the governmentwill not even be able to paysalaries to civil servants, letalone finance developmentactivities. This pressing concernis strongly underlined in thethird issue of nefport, aquarterly overview of theeconomy produced by NepalEconomic Forum. The reportalso highlights significantdevelopments across the main
track to achieve targets by 2015.GDP may not grow at thetargeted 5.5 per cent but can beexpected to grow at 3.5 per cent.
On the internationalbusiness front, Nepal’s tradedeficit was recorded at over Rs216 billion as imports shot upby 33.2 per cent, with a 9.7 percent fall in exports. Thesurprising fact is thatpetroleum, vehicles and goldconstitute the biggest imports ina developing country like ours.
However, according to anADB report, Nepal ranks secondin Southasia in terms ofproduct upgrading anddiversifying exports. Thismeans that Nepal has significantopportunity to reverse itsnegative export growth; we have
a comparative advantage in over100 products. nefport recognisesthat investments have to bemade to set up industries forthese products. What is worryingis the lack of political stabilityand a conducive environment toencourage investors. The deficitcould also improve if thegovernment cut back on importsof goods that are alreadyproduced in Nepal.
Meanwhile, Nepal’s balanceof payments has been kept afloatby remittances and foreign aid.The global economic crisis hadlimited impact on earnings fromremittances, with Nepali workerssending back Rs 231.7 million.The growth rate of remittancesmay have decreased, relative tothe increase in labour migration,but countries like Malaysia andKorea still favour Nepaliworkers. During the first eightmonths of FY 2009/10 Nepalexperienced a 60 per centincrease in aid commitmentsamounting to Rs 76.7 billion.The task is to tap into this fordevelopment activities.
Agriculture continues to beone of the most important
PAAVAN MATHEMA
The economy, at a snapshotThe third issue of nefport isa vital contribution towardsunderstanding andhighlighting the economy
economic sectors of the country.According to the report, the
World Economic Forum’s latestGlobal Competitiveness Reportlists 15 problematic factors toconsider while doing businessin Nepal. Governmentinstability/coup ranks as themost problematic, and Nepalslipped five positions in theGlobal Competitive Index for2009/10. Despite this, we havemade significant progress inmeeting the MillenniumDevelopment Goals and are on
sectors for the country with73.9 per cent of the populationengaged in it, contributing33.03 per cent to the nationalGDP. But this sector has seenlittle growth due to the late,erratic monsoon and the lack offertilisers. Things look good sofar for Nepal Tourism Year 2011,with total visitors already up by19 per cent compared to lastyear.
Another important sector forNepal is the banking sector. Theliquidity crunch has eased andlending has opened up. NRB’sregulations for the real estatemarket have been helpful inmonitoring the risk ofinvestments in the sector. Thereal estate sector, unsurprisingly,witnessed a 25 per cent declinein transactions. nefport alsolooks into the strides made inthe fields of education, health,media, energy and infrastructure.
While the report is anencouraging step towardsanalysis of the country’seconomic status, it would bemore valuable if the significanceof the numbers cited wereexplained in more depth.Considering that nefport claimsto cater to private sectorperspectives, one would hopefor more linkages betweenmacro-economic issues and theprivate sector, as well as coverageof public-private partnerships.Nevertheless, it constitutes anessential update on thecountry’s economy.
iem Reap (Cambodia): Afterthe horrendous ordeal ofsending couriers back and
forth over three weeks to get aSouth African visa recently, itwas a pleasant surprise to applyfor a Cambodian visa online andget it within 24 hours. Cambodiaopened up again to the outsideworld just a decade and a halfago, but seems to have got thispart of it right and now attractstwo million visitors a year. Herein Nepal, we are still thinking ofthe magic number of one million,with Nepal Tourism Year justround the corner. If we are to easeour visitors’ experiences atImmigration, it might be worthconsidering electronic visasystems like that of Cambodia.
You get nostalgic for theNepal-India border while
ECONOMIC SENSEArtha Beed
Looking east
crossing over from Thailand toCambodia. Those who think thatNepal and India should shutdown the open border andimplement a visa regime at theborder should take a tour of thisborder point. Middlemen cash inby filling in Thai immigrationforms and the customs folksdon’t complain as there is a lot oftea money to be made. Thai goodsflow into Cambodia while peopleflow into Thailand in search ofjobs. It is fascinating that thereare nine casinos in theCambodian border town of PoiPet just for the Thais to come andgamble. Casinos are not permittedin Thailand and like in Nepal,Cambodian locals, as per law,cannot gamble. It would beinteresting to see a similarlyregulated border between Nepaland India. Would Nepalis lineup to cross over and gamble awaytheir savings in Indian casinos?The contrast between the ease ofe-visas and the actual chaos at the‘regulated’ border once more
tuk-tuk driver spoke goodEnglish and spent his eveningsdoing management courses.While he was waiting for us inbetween trips, he was reading aKotler marketing book with adictionary on the side.Thailand’s beaches and sexindustry may not be overlyconcerned about what’s lost intranslation, but there’s no doubtthe nation as a whole makeslittle effort to embrace Englishfor the sake of non-Thais.Nepalis, like Cambodians, can’tafford to neglect English,especially in the service sector.Not only does it serviceinternational clients better, but aworld of global information andjob markets open up.
The spectacular sights ofAngkor, next to Siem Reap, drawpeople from round the world,and will continue to do so foryears to come. We could do thesame with Lumbini, which hasthe potential to attract millionsof Buddhists. Such projectswould be able to absorb theunemployed local populationand open up avenues for public-private partnerships.
Cambodia also provides hopefor the future of conflict-affectedcountries. A country battered byviolence, little seen andunderstood in other parts of theworld, has been able to rebuildquickly. Over a hundred hotelshave been built in Siem Reap,which edges out Phnom Penh interms of the pace of construction.They buy expensive electricityfrom Thailand, but as long asthey can recover the cost fromcustomers they are happy. Nepalhas not gone through anythingclose to what Cambodiaexperienced in violence and classelimination. For all thedoomsayers who see Nepal as afailed state, if a country thatwent through so much can berebuilt, then there is surely abetter future in store for Nepal.www.arthabeed.com
Cambodia has lessons to offer for Nepal’s tourism
highlights the advantage of openborders.
In Cambodia, the US dollaris the preferred currency in useand the local currency, whichstands at 4000 Riel to the dollar,is used only for change. Withmore transactions being basedon plastic cards and mobilephones, what will be the futureof paper money or the currency?If the Nepal-India currency pegis here to stay, maybe it is timefor Nepal to consider making theIndian Rupee also legal tenderhere. Informal money exchangeswill go out of business; informalmoney transfers will becomeformal. And if Indian touristsand investments are going to bedominant in Nepal, such anarrangement could beadvantageous.
Cambodia has figured outthe importance of English and,unlike its neighbour Thailand,believes that English is thelanguage best suited to ridingthe wave of globalisation. Our
S
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High reachNcell has launched its high-speed internet service inKhumbu valley, below MountEverest.
“We are very proud toannounce the world’s highestmobile data service,” saidLars Nyberg, President andCEO of TeliaSonera, themajority owner of Ncell.Located at an altitude of 5,200metres, the new 3G basestation enables locals,
climbers and trekkers to surfthe web, send video clips ande-mails, as well as to callfriends and family back home.Ncell says the rates arecheaper than that of anaverage satellitephone. TeliaSonera hasdecided to invest over 100million dollars during 2011 tocover all 75 districts in Nepal.
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Lucky scratchMorang Auto Works, the soledistributor of Yamahamotorbikes, has launched‘Yamaha Note Chhapau Offer’which will entitle buyers ofYamaha SS125, YBR 125,Yamaha Enticer and YamahaAlba YBR 110 to a scratchcard. The cards offer a chanceto win between Rs 5,000 andRs 1 million.
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Goodwill grows
Goodwill Finance opened itsfifth branch at Indrachok,Kathmandu. The new branchwill provide ABBS facility,remittance, fund transfer,locker and cheque transferservices.
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Colourful winSeventeen winners of BergerPaint’s ‘Berger Rangey-haatoffer’ were presented with theirprizes. The scheme is stillrunning but already a diamondnecklace, eight Sony LCDTVs and 8 microwave ovenshave been won.
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New showroomMorang Auto Works, a dealerfor JCB India’s constructionequipment, has opened a new
showroom for JCB products inSanepa, Lalitpur. Theshowroom provides sales,servicing and genuine JCBparts.
RABI THAPA
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #5256|OP-ED
MY TAKEDamakant Jayshi
wo recent events news items, oneon 23 October and the other on 27October, are indicative of the
government’s and the Maoists’ totaldisrespect for the rule of law and theneed to address human rights abuses.Yet again.
The first piece of news was aboutalleged human rights violator ColonelRaju Basnet of the Nepal Army. On20 October the cabinet, on therecommendation of the Ministry ofDefence (which in turn acted at thebehest of Army Headquarters), handedCol. Basnet a two-year extension.
The second news item referred to theMaoist Party’s ‘taking action’ against oneof its Central Committee members, KaliBahadur Kham. The latter, also one of thedeputy commanders of the PLA, standsaccused of murder and there is an arrestwarrant out for him.
Basnet has earned a level of notorietythat few others in the Nepal Army canrival. He is implicated in the allegedarbitrary detention, torture anddisappearance of 49 suspected Maoists atthe Maharajganj barracks under theBhairabnath Battalion between 2003 and
2004. The battalion was then led byBasnet, a lieutenant colonel at the time.Both the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC) and the UN’s humanrights body in Nepal, OHCHR, haverecommended investigations againstBasnet and a suspension until theinvestigations are completed.
The extension Basnet has just beengranted is distasteful from whicheverangle you look at it. Basnet should befacing a civilian court, not getting anextension. An ad hoc court of enquiry thatthe army formed under Brig. Gen. SharadNeupane in 2006 actually found Lt. Col.Basnet guilty and ordered his detention.This much is known. What followed therecommendation is not.
The Maoists, on the other hand, havecarried on with the farcical pretense thatthey are punishing Kham. The party has
so far shielded him and prevented thepolice from arresting him. Kham, alongwith three other Maoist combatants,allegedly tortured a Kathmandu-basedbusinessman, Ram Hari Shrestha, inShaktikhor cantonment in Chitwan in2008. Shrestha succumbed to his injuries.
In this case too, NHRC and OHCHRhave called for an investigation. A courthas ordered Kham’s arrest. What did theparty do in response? It gave him aberth in their expanded CentralCommittee. Now the party is talking of‘punishing’ him.
While the army’s and the Maoists’actions are nothing new (after all, theyhave prevented civilian court trials forthe most heinous crimes), Prime MinisterMadhav Kumar Nepal’s remarks onBasnet have been the unkindest cut of all.
According to news reports, PM Nepalhas already passed his verdict on ColBasnet: the officer is innocent. Nepal saidthat unless a Truth and ReconciliationCommission (TRC) rules Basnet to beotherwise, he is innocent. This is a joke.
The formation of the TRC is uncertainand given the mood in the Nepal Armyand the Maoist Party, it is unlikely to seethe light of day very soon. Even if it isformed, it will be ineffectual. A previousattempt to set up the commission failedin 2007 because both the government andthe Maoists had agreed on a very weakcommission. The terms of reference hadeffectively exonerated all accused of grossviolations even before the commissioncame into existence.
Perhaps the prime minister meant theofficer is innocent until proven guilty.However, by giving an extension to anarmy officer accused of the murder ofnearly 50 people, the government hasdemonstrated its insensitivity. It wasalso the Nepal-led cabinet thatannounced the awarding of medals tosenior police officers to mark DemocracyDay early this year, officers who hadimplemented a shoot-to-kill policy whilefacing off with pro-democracydemonstrators in 2006. When a primeminister speaks the way Nepal has done,you know that justice for conflict-eravictims will continue to be delayed.
The least the government and thearmy can do now is immediatelywithdraw the extension and hand Basnetover to the civilian authorities forinvestigation. The Maoists should do thesame with [email protected]
Cocking a snook
THIS WEEK
It’s no surprise that the Maoistsand the Nepal Army defend theirown, but PM Nepal’s commentsare the unkindest cut of all
T
Futile electionParliament sat through another roundof voting for the prime minister’s poston Tuesday. This was the 13th roundof PM elections and the lonecandidate, NC’s Ram Chandra Poudel,was again unable to obtain a simplemajority in his favour. In the election,144 votes were cast, with 98
lawmakers in favour of Poudel, twoagainst him, and 44 staying neutral.The majority of CA members,belonging to UCPN (Maoist), CPN-UML and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum,did not take part in the voting.Following the vote, a meeting of theBusiness Advisory Committee of theLegislature-Parliament decided to holdthe 14th round of voting on 29 October.
Deadline extendedThe High-level Taskforce hasextended its deadline by 11 days as itfailed to complete its assigned taskswithin the scheduled time. An all-partymeeting on Sunday agreed to give thetaskforce more time to resolvecontentious issues among the politicalparties that have hindered theconstitution-drafting process. Twohundred and twenty issues have beenidentified so far in 8 of the 11 thematicCA reports.
Foreign visitPresident Ram Baran Yadav left forChina to attend the closing ceremonyof Shanghai Expo 2010 on Tuesday.He is leading a 17-member delegationthat includes the tourism minister,foreign ministry officials and thepresident’s advisors and aides. Yadavwill also meet top Chinese leadersincluding Premier Wen Jiabao duringthe visit. Meanwhile, UCPN (Maoist)Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, whohad gone to China last week to attend
the same program, returned onTuesday evening. He also met topChinese officials and leaders of theChinese Communist Party. Dahalorganised a press meet at the airportupon his arrival and said he asked theChinese officials to hold talks with theIndian Government in the presence ofNepali representatives to formstrategies on Nepal.
Going up...in corruptionNepal has been ranked 146 in theCorruption Perception Index 2010released on Tuesday by TransparencyInternational. With an index score of2.2 out of 10, Nepal falls in the groupof ‘highly corrupt’ countries with Iran,Yemen, Libya, Cameroon, Haiti,Paraguay, and Ivory Coast. Resultsfrom 2009 and 2010 indicate thatNepal is Southasia’s second mostcorrupt country. Afghanistan is theregion’s most corrupt, ranked at 176,whereas Pakistan is seen as lesscorrupt than Nepal, ranking 143.
KIRAN PANDAY
729 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525LIFE TIMES
“King Mahendra informed me thatthere were no galleries here,” saysSyyed Iqbal Geoffrey, recountingthe royal response to his letter of1962, in which he expressed adesire to visit Nepal. “But he said Icould exhibit in the palace. Alas, Ihad other commitments at the time.I’m so glad to have finally madeit here.”
The monarchy is now defunct,and the palace itself may be amuseum, but there’s no shortage ofgalleries in Kathmandu these days.This week, Siddhartha Gallery isfeaturing an exhibition of‘supracollages’ from the Indic artistGeoffrey, The Seven Henry Series:In Search of an Ideal Landscape.
Geoffrey made his mark early,snagging the Paris Biennale awardin 1965 at the tender age of 25. Butwhile he enjoyed the acclaim thatfollowed, unprecedented for anartist of Asian origin (he was bornin Chiniot, now in Pakistan), hewas not content to wallow inbohemia. Fuelled by a highlydeveloped sense of injustice,
RABI THAPA
I want to cook acake that no onewants to eat
The artist as an old manHe takes pride in citing an art critic’sappraisal of him as “not catering tothe needs of society but rathercreating them”. But in the nextbreath, he ridicules the same critic:“I suggested that I would burn myworks outside the Pasadena ArtMuseum in California, let theclouds of smoke move to themuseum, and that would be myexhibition. He took it seriously –he wrote a whole article about it!”
With the passage of time,Geoffrey may have come torecognise the limits of what he canlay claim to. This does not dampenhis spirit. “People call me a has-been,” he concedes, before fixingme with an earnest gaze. “And I tellthem: at least I have been a has-been!”
The Seven Henry Series: In Searchof an Ideal Landscape, runs from28 October to 17 November,Siddhartha Art Gallery, BabarMahal Revisited, Gallery hours:11am to 6pm, 12pm to 4pm onSaturdays, 4218048
Geoffrey took up a degree in law,graduating with honours fromHarvard. Both art and lawdovetailed into his pursuit of thetruth, and he made a living out ofsubverting everyday expectations(particularly of the elite).
Decades later, Geoffrey seems ascombative as he ever was, as an artistand lawyer. In the 1990s, he earnedsome notoriety for defending AimalKasi, a Pakistani who waseventually executed for the murderof two CIA employees in the US.Then in 2005, he sued the HaywardGallery in London for 65 millionpounds for the loss and damage of300 of his works (the gallery hadoffered him compensation of 65,000pounds).
Geoffrey did not win either ofthese cases, but they do illuminatehis approach towards the world.More, perhaps, than anybackground research on him does.What he represents as an artist isby no means clearer after a sessionof googling. In person, Geoffreydoes little to dispel the idea that
he is either an unrivalled geniusor a supremely egotistical self-promoter, albeit a distinguished,personable one. He peppers theconversation with asides that Ihave no means of verifying,mirroring what he has proclaimedonline: “I refused an invitation tobe elevated to the Supreme Courtof Pakistan”; “My work…was awatershed in twentieth-centuryart”; and so on.
He isn’t particularly forthrightabout his own art, either,photographic reproductions ofwhich sprawl on the table betweenus. I ask him to explain the thrustof his work, and the mechanics ofone of his playfully thoughtfulcollages to illustrate this, but hesuggests that to give me anexplanation in words would negatethe need for ideation throughhis art.
Geoffrey does explain that heconsiders the process of creatinghis ‘pain-things’ more importantthan the endpoint. He is constantlyat work, even on works he may
have begun a quarter of a centuryago, and carries his ‘artammunition’ wherever he goes (hedraws out a stick of glue and somepens from his jacket, smilingmischieviously).
He has plenty of advice foryoung artists struggling to make amark in a society that too oftenundervalues art, or values the morecommercial aspects of it. “I admireartists who don’t bother too muchabout commercial acceptance,” hedeclares, before adding in a softertone: “But one may have tocompromise to survive. I would tellyoung artists to evolve a strategywhich is unique to their specialcircumstances, perhaps even usingdifferent identities, like Jekyll andHyde…there is no harm in doing abit of commercial work, if the artistcan devote the major portion of hislife to what he really believes in.”
Certainly no suchconsiderations appear to havestopped Syyed Iqbal Geoffrey fromdoing what he likes, making fun ofthe establishment the whole time.
“”
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYA
8|LIFE TIMES 29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
The Seven Henry Series: InSearch of an Ideal Landscape, anexhibition of supracollages by theacclaimed Indic artist Syyed IqbalGeoffrey. Starts 28 October,5.30pm, till 17 November,Siddhartha Art Gallery, BabarMahal Revisited, Gallery hours:11am to 6pm, 12pm to 4pm onSaturdays, 4218048
Planet Nepal Contemporary ArtExhibition, installation art andexhibition by various artists.2 November-10 November,5.30pm, Kathmandu ContemporaryArts Centre, Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur,Gallery Hours: 11am to 6pm,Saturdays closed, 5521120
Hope: An International Schools’Art Exhibition, an exhibition bystudents of international schoolsin Kathmandu to help the floodsurvivors of Pakistan. 29 October,from 5pm to 7pm and 30 October,10am to 3pm, Yalamaya Kendra,Patan Dhoka
A People War Exhibition, Nepal’sconflict history in pictures. Everyday except Tuesdays, 11am-4pm,Patan Dhoka. For school visits,call 5549948,www.apeoplewar.com
Boudha Stupa Restaurant & Cafe,enjoy wood-fired pizza with asuperb view of Boudha stupa andfree wifi, candlelight dinneroptions are also available for theromantics every full moon night.Boudha, 2130681
Waffles promotion at The Loungefrom 12.30pm to 4.00pm every day,Vegetarian Buffet at The Cafeevery Tuesday from 6.30pm, andArabian Nights at The Cafe everyFriday from 6.30pm at HyattRegency, Boudha, Kathmandu,4491234, 4489362
Singma Food Court, for the bestSingaporean and Malaysiancuisine in town. Pulchok, 5009092and Bhatbhateni, 4411078,[email protected],www.singma.foodcourt.com
Ghangri Café, a quiet place withcomfortable sofas and a lovelycourtyard, perfect for those sunnyafternoons. Although famous fortheir open sui mai, they offer afew other great dishes as well.Pulchok
Roadhouse Café, serves pizzascooked to perfection in wood-fired ovens. Jhamel, 5521755
Ramalaya Tea Room, now openfor dinner, experience ChefMohit’s creations from Cider-brined Pork Chops to GuavaCheese, also 10% discount onevening dinners to all NepaliTimes readers when theymention this ad. Pani Pokhari,near Japanese Embassy,for bookings call 4006589,4006589, www.rde.com.np/index.phph/tea-room
Organic Café and Salad Bar,hearty breakfasts and healthysalads while you catch up withyour reading or emails in theheart of Thamel. ChakshibariRoad, Thamel, 4215726
Aqua Java Zing, soar high on alow budget, buy one cocktail, getone free, buy two hookahs, getone free, only during happy hoursfrom 2pm to 6pm. Ganesh ManSingh Road, Thamel
Dhokaima Cafe has a new menu,try the Blackened NorwegianSalmon and Grilled Shrimp Ajillo.Patan Dhoka, 5522113
EVENTS
DINING
Kakori at Soaltee Crowne Plaza,Kebabs, curries and more, enjoyIndian food at its best. Everyday7pm to 10.45 pm for dinner,Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Tahachal,call 4273999 for reservations
The Kaiser Cafe Restaurant & Bar,enjoy a pleasant BBQ lunch in theambient settings of The Garden ofDreams. Every Sunday, 12pm to3pm, Kaiser Mahal, Thamel, Rs1200 per person, 4425341
Jazzmandu, a week-long jazzfestival with performances fromartists around the world:
Valley Jams at Upstairs Jazz Bar(Lazimpat), Moksh (Jhamsikhel),and House of Music (Thamel).
Performances by Simak Dialog,Alukomarai and others. 29October, 7.30pm to 9.30pm,Rs 400
Gokarna Jazz Bazaar at GokarnaForest Resort. Live music by AriHoenig, Cadenza Collective,Kutumba and others. 30 October,2.30pm to 10pm, Rs 699
Jazz for the Next Generation atKathmandu Jazz Conservatory,Jhamsikhel. 31 October, 2.30pmto 4.30pm, free
Jazzmandu Master Class atKathmandu Jazz Conservatory,Jhamsikhel. 1 November, 4.30pmto 5.30pm, free
Jazz at Patan at Patan MuseumSquare, Ari Hoenig trio, Cadenzaand Friends. 2 November,4.30pm to 5.30pm, Rs 1199
All Star Fever at ShambalaGarden, Hotel Shangri-La,Lazimpat. Individual setsfollowed by a final jam.3 November, 6.30pm to 10pm,Rs 799
MUSIC
Udaan is Vikramaditya Motwane’s directorial debut andhe makes a fine start by telling a story of a rebelliousteenager forced to live by his father’s rules. After beingabandoned for eight years in a boarding school, Rohan(Rajat Barmecha) returns home to his abusive andmilitary-strict father Bhairab (Ronit Roy) and a six-year-old step brother, Arjun, who he didn’t even know existed.
Bhairab is less of a parent and more of a boss whodemands to be addressed as ‘sir’ instead of ‘papa’. Rohanwants to be a poet and is a skillful storyteller but hisaspirations hold no meaning for his father. Instead he iscompelled to enrol in an engineering college and work athis father’s factory every morning. Rohan resents his
I am not a fan of sports movies,let alone baseball movies. There’ssomething about the predictabletrajectory of a hero who‘overcomes all odds’ that justmakes me cringe. So it was withsome reluctance that I slotted inthe only choice left to me theother night: Sugar, the story of abaseball player from theDominican Republic whostruggles to make it to the majorleague in the United States. Let’sjust say there was somethingabout the typo-laden blurb at theback that convinced me to take asecond look.
I didn’t regret it. From thevery beginning, Sugar radiates a
A flight of freedom father, his life and the half-brother who has taken overhis room. But his relationship with Arjun slowly changesas Rohan realises that the little one is also a victim oftheir father’s wrath.
Udaan is the story of Rohan’s courage, and hisdetermination to break free. Some might find it a bit slow-paced but its pauses are beautifully filled by Rohan’slyrical poems and the soothing soundtrack. The smallcast has been well chosen and Barmecha shines as thequiet, determined Rohan.PM
gritty authenticity. Whether it’sin the sports academy whereMiguel ‘Sugar’ Santos (AlgenisPerez Soto) is honing his skills,or the run-down, livelyneighbourhood outside SanPedro where he dreams of makingthe big time with his family, it’sclear directors Anna Boden andRyan Fleck have done theirresearch (it helps that most of thedialogue here is in Spanish!).
Of course, Sugar gets hisbreak and moves to the US. Buthe soon finds out it’s not goodenough to be just good in theproduction line of minor leaguebaseball players, when one injurycan deny you the one shot you
may have of making it. Add tothis the cultural shock of movingin with a host family in themidst of the cornfields of Iowa,and Sugar soon becomes a veryconfused, if perenniallycharming, young man. For arefreshing take on the genre ofsports flicks that will appeal toanyone who has ever emigrated,Sugar’s one sweet hit.RT
Sugar (2008)Runtime: 120 minutesCast: Algenis Perez Soto, KarlBury, Michael GastonDirectors: Anna Boden and RyanFleck
Sugar
LIFE TIMES|929 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
Friday, 29 OctoberPatan Museum
11am-5pm: discussions on the environment with ENPHO andICIMOD, documentary screening of Ushuaïa (Nicolas Hulot, Nepaliversion) and Home (Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Nepali version, above pic)
Patan Darbar Square
5.30pm : Official opening5.55pm : Conceptual Light design/Installation by Karl Knapp6pm : Kutumba in concert, Nepali folk instrumental ensemble6.30pm : Performance Installation Fusion by Karl
Knapp and Salil Subedi7pm : Lo’Jo Trio in concert (below pic), French world band
Saturday, 30 OctoberPatan Museum
11am-4pm: roundtables on the environment with ENPHO andICIMOD, documentary screening of Ushuaïa - A la recherche desHommes – Nature (Nicolas Hulot, French version)
Patan Darbar Square
11am : Start of an all-day performance by students fromKathmandu University Centre for Art and Design &Lalit Kala Campus
12pm : Exposition of the ‘Rickshaw Project’ and meeting withthe artists
3pm : Performance by Salil Subedi & EarthBeat ‘Looking forEco’ with live audience interaction
4pm : Lo’jo Trio in concert, French World Band7pm : Tryo in concert, French Reggae Band
Sunday, 31 OctoberPatan Museum
11am-5pm: roundtables on the environment with ENPHO, ICIMOD,and Fairplaylist (‘Music industry and the Environment’), withscreening of Home (Yann-Arthus Bertrand, English version) and Pani(Water, in Nepali with English subtitles), followed by a discussionwith director Sushma Joshi
Patan Darbar Square
3pm : Performance by Salil Subedi & EarthBeat: ‘Lookingfor Eco’, with live audience interaction
4pm : Tryo in concert, French reggae band7pm : Planet Nepal concert with Kutumba, Nirnaya
Da’NSK and Rock Sitar
Planet Nepal
10|HAPPENINGS
PILGRIMS PROGRESS: Devotees from the Muslim community wait atTribhuvan International Airport to travel to Mecca and Medina in SaudiArabia as part of the hajj pilgrimage.
XINHUA
TOUR TIME: President Ram Baran Yadav visited Famen Temple in Xi’an,in China’s Shaanxi Province. He is scheduled to take part in theconcluding ceremony of Shanghai Expo 2010, and will meet the ChinesePremier Wen Jiabao during his week-long visit to China.
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
KIRAN PANDAY
PICTURES SPEAK: UNFPA and the Forum for Women, Law andDevelopment marked the 10th year of UN Resolution 1325, on women'sroles in maintaining peace and security, at the Nepal Art Council,Thursday.
WEEKEND WEATHERby NGAMINDRA DAHAL
FRI SAT S U N
26-15 25-14 25-15
KATHMANDU
WEEKEND WEATHERby NGAMINDRA DAHAL
KATHMANDU
Except for a high pressure systembuilding over northern India, no majordisturbances are on the horizon. Thepressure gradient in this system hasbrought the wind in from the west,which means there are much clearerskies and colder air. The temperatureis dropping at 1 degree Celsius aweek. Expect sunny autumn days andclear nights in the coming week.Inversion induced smog and mist willmark the skies of the KathmanduValley.
GREEN SCENE
hree decades ago,Dr Mirgendra Raj Pandeyand his team showed that
indoor pollution from openhearths was a major cause of illhealth in Nepal. This promptedthe construction of betterchimneys and smokeless ‘chulos’to help people breathe better. Butthe problem persists, as womencontinue to cook on open hearths;nearly 2 million people in thedeveloping world have diedprematurely due to indoorpollution.
Recently, Hillary Clinton tookup this cause by helping
Smoky homeshigh prevalence of COPD and thehours spent cooking withfirewood and cow dung pattiesin soot-filled kitchens.
Besides COPD, a host of otherproblems are caused by smokyhomes and open fireplaces: eyeproblems, heart problems, lungcancer, pneumonia, and burninjuries, especially to childrenwho play around open hearths.Burn injuries are particularlytroublesome, given that even if achild survives being burnt by afire, the initial injury may leadto burn contractures of thesurrounding skin. This requires‘release’ operations, which maynot be feasible in a village inNepal.
Despite these dangers,villagers are reluctant to changetheir cooking habits, as for them,smoke provides warmth duringwinter and prevents termitesfrom eating away their roofs. It isapparent that villagers are notinformed of the dangers of theopen hearth, or do notunderstand its effects yet. Thislack of education lies at the rootof the prevalence of COPD.Disseminating information andensuring its understanding willbe as important as installing anew stove or chimney. Withoutit, programs such as the oneinitiated by Clinton are bound tofail, regardless of their goodintentions.
F
T
DHANVANTARIBuddha Basnyat, MD
ibre and cotton bags will experience asecond coming at Bhatbhateni Supermarketand Departmental Store for Tihar this year.
The store will begin by supplying 1,200 attractive,fibre bags at Rs 15 apiece, and 300 cotton bags atRs 30 apiece, and hopes to go through this stockduring the Tihar shopping season. The cottonbags carry the slogan "Use Cloth Shopping Bagsand Save the Environment!" and the fibre bagslook good for this season, coming in a shapely,bright orange design.
The campaign received a lukewarm responselast year, compelling the store to revert back toplastic bags. But store managers are optimisticabout favourable consumer behaviour for thefestive season. “A lot of customers asked for fibrebags during the Dasain shopping week – theyseemed not to mind spending an extra Rs 15, asthey were already spending a lot for Dasain,” saysPushkar Rai, HR manager at Bhatbhateni. The
Bags to grab
introduce more efficient,inexpensive and user-friendlystoves in village homes in thedeveloping world. A program is tobe headed by the United NationsFoundation, which is a charity.Despite the existence of suchprograms, one of the mostcommon problems seen inhospitals in Nepal today,especially in the winter time, ischronic obstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD).
An important finding from DrPandey’s early works in Jumla,rural Kathmandu and the Taraiwas that women suffered muchmore from COPD, leading to earlyheart failure and death, regardlessof the fact that they smoked muchfewer cigarettes, bidis, andtamakhu than men. There was anobvious correlation between the
MIN RATNA BAJRACHARYAstore has placed a Rs 1 charge on polythene bagsas an incentive for customers to use eco-friendlybags instead.
Funds collected will go towards improving theThirvam Road, which runs from Bhagwati Bahal tothe police headquarters in Maharajganj. TheThirvum Sadak Sudhar Samiti (Thirvum RoadImprovement Committee) has been given theresponsibility for repairs while Bhatbhateni itselfintends to plant trees along it. Building a greenparking lot in front of the Nepal Rastra Bank inBaluwatar is on the agenda as well, as long asenough revenue is generated by the campaign.
Plastic bags may be handy garbage bags, orgreat for endless packaging and storing of fooditems, but they are an unmitigated disasterotherwise. It’s enough to cast your eye over urbanstreets (and rural trails) across the country torealise that once discarded, plastic bags areliterally forever. They choke drains, host mosquitolarvae and may even leach out chemicals such ascadmium and other neurotoxins into food productsstored in them.
Fibre and cotton bags cause no such problems.Fibre bags are weaker than those made of cloth,but are waterproof and a safer alternative topolythene. Cotton bags are worth their price, forthey last longer. An occasional wash and the bagis as good as new (and bacteria-free), and the nexttime you head to the supermarket you just take italong with you. At Rs 15 and Rs 30 respectively,the fibre and cotton bags selling at Bhatbhateni area steal.Shahani Singh
SOCIETY|1129 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
he grand festival of Dasainis finally over. What’schanged and what’s not in
the way we celebrate such anevent tells us something aboutthe way we ourselves areadapting to life that is morecommercialised, westernised,and reflective of thedevelopments of the last fewyears.
The general trajectory of thisseason of festivals has longremained the same. Once themonsoon begins to clear, we allstart preparing, mentally andmaterially, for the workingholidays to come (for work it isfor many of us, whether it’sshopping for the family, hostingparties, or making social visits).Judging by the proliferation ofmalls and Dasain offers in theKathmandu Valley, shopping isan altogether more fraught affairthese days. But clearly there arepeople lining up to buymotorbikes (get a free camera!),cameras (win a motorbike!), andfalling for the usual sales.
Dasain is meant to be aboutmeeting, eating, drinking andgambling with family andfriends. There are plenty whochoose to take advantage of otheroffers to up and leave thecountry altogether these days,but for most Nepalis thefundamental joy of catching upwith one’s extended family isundiminished. Yes, people
KALAMRabi Thapa
Dasain is still the grand old man of Nepali festivals
Festive fervour
complain that they have to spendhot days (and a couple of rainyones this year) trooping acrosscountry and city to receive tikafrom people they may not see forthe rest of the year, but I’d like tothink they don’t really mind. Atleast once a year, a circle iscompleted of one’s bloodrelations, and this grounds anindividual within the mostancient part of his or her society.And if you can’t quite travel topharen to be with all your lovedones, you can at least, throughwire and web, see just how theyare celebrating little Dasains, inBoston, in Doha, in Pune.
For those who imagine Dasainhas less significance in a moresecular and fragmented society,the sight of determined familyunits pounding the streets withbig red tikas on their foreheads isrebuttal enough. Does customcompel those who can ill afford itto spend time and money beyondtheir means every Dasain?Perhaps. Has Dasain, for thisreason, become “a dasha (illomen) for the mass of thepeople”, as the fun-lovingin-charge of the Cultural Divisionof the UCPN(Maoist), NinuChapagain, put it last year? Notlikely, if his solution is to
“promote local festivals” thatpresumably also demandexpenditure. To his credit,Chapagain himself arguedagainst the hypocrisy of thosecommunists who speak outagainst Hindu culture, but useits festivals, Tihar in particular,to collect money for their‘parties’. In doing so, heconcedes that political ideologytoo often loses out against thejuggernaut of culture. Cuepictures of Chinese visitors tothe Nepal Pavilion at this year’sShanghai Expo, makingofferings to every statue ofBuddha they came across.
T
In a charming reversal, Dasainmanifests itself best in theblessed emptiness of Kathmanduonce hundreds upon thousandsevacuate the valley for homesteadsacross Nepal. The exodus is moredramatic with each passing year,and serves to underline themeaning this festival holds for somany of us, regardless ofeconomics, ethnicity, or the timesthat be changing. The more thingschange, the more they stay thesame.
NEW DELHI – Barack Obama, thesixth American president to visitIndia since it gained independence,arrives at a trying time, both for theUnited States and for India. Someof Obama’s closest advisers have justresigned, opening an awkward gapon national security and theeconomy – the focus of his meetingswith India’s government.
For India, the issues on theagenda for Obama’s visit areimmense and complex, and theoptions for resolving them areextremely limited. Those related tosecurity in Afghanistan andPakistan are as treacherous as theyhave ever been. Bilateral economic,trade, and currency disagreementsmay not be as bitter as they arebetween the US and China, but theyare thorny, and lack of resolution ismaking them more intractable.
Nuclear non-proliferationremains one of Obama’s priorities,as does the sale of US civiliannuclear technology to India, forwhich former President George W.Bush cleared the way. And Obamawill be keen to know what helpIndia can provide with Iran, acountry with which India hassmooth relations, owing to theirshared worries over Afghanistanand Pakistan.
Given this potent list ofchallenges, what are the prospectsfor Obama’s passage to India? Someyears ago, I was queried by then USDeputy Secretary of State StrobeTalbott, who was helping to preparePresident Bill Clinton’s visit. AsIndia’s foreign minister at the time,I told him: “Why make the visitdestinational? Be content with thedirectional,” or some such words.
That response retains its flavourtoday: as new directions in India-US relations are set, newdestinations will follow.
All state visits are overloadedwith lofty, superfluous rhetoric.US-India summits are particularlyprone to this hubris: the GreatRepublic meets the World’s LargestDemocracy. It would be better forboth countries to shed some of thesemarigold garlands of cloyingadjectives.
Another feature of suchsummits – the trading of lists of‘must do’ and ‘can do’ items – alsoshould be retired. It is bothdemeaning and tedious to treat anarriving US president as a stars-and-stripes Santa Claus, to be presentedwith lengthy wish lists. Likewise,despite America’s pinchedeconomic circumstances, Obamawould do well not to use his visitto peddle US wares. Although tradeis an effective lubricant of goodrelations, these sorts of talks are for
the ‘sherpas’, not Obama and PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh, tohandle.
These two great countries,‘natural allies’ in the words offormer Prime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee, should reflect on whatthey have accomplished togethersince 1998, in order to map whatlies ahead. Theirs is now arelationship of equals, so theirnational interests need to bereconciled on everything fromPakistan to climate change.
Indeed, Obama is placed in aunique position for an Americanpresident, a position that heappears to comprehend, though hisopponents in the US do not. Powertoday begins in the acceptance ofthe limits upon it. This is also trueof an India that is only now comingto recognise its new status in theworld, in which the country’slimits and responsibilities haveexpanded mightily.
Ours is an unstable
neighbourhood, one that Americahas entered without fullyunderstanding the consequences –for India and for theneighbourhood. India must askObama hard questions about howsecurity is to be assured, but, beforedoing so, it needs to ask the samequestions of itself.
India must make clear – and theUS must recognise – that asubcontinental country of a billion-plus people cannot be kept withinthe categorical confines of ‘SouthAsia’. The US must accept andcandidly discuss the damagingconsequences of its military,diplomatic, and political overreach– of a ‘war too far’ that has broughtthe region to its current uglyimpasse.
What can the two countries do,separately and together? Bothleaders must accept that history isdestiny, and that the irrefutablelogic of geography is a determinantof it. This is the only relevant and
JASWANT SINGH
Obama in India reliable guide in meeting the region’scomplex challenges.
The constraints on US options,the veto of circumstances, offerslittle room for diplomaticimprovisation. Here the greatestconstraint is America’s difficult andworsening relationship withPakistan. India must understandthis troubled partnership, intowhich America entered with its eyeswide open, though it would help ifthe US accepted that India has paid– and continues to pay – a very highprice on this account. Only throughsuch acceptance can the twocountries chart a common future.
Likewise, it would be unwisefor the US gratuitously to offerChina a role in the affairs of a regionthat includes India itself –something that Obama appeared todo during his visit to China earlierthis year, when he mentioned Chinaas having a role to play in Kashmir.The US should also stopquestioning India’s relationshipwith Iran, a neighbour with whichIndia is linked by many centuriesof economic, cultural, and evencivilisational ties.
Two great peoples andcountries, although now locked ina ‘strategic alliance’, mayoccasionally fall out of step withone another, as India and the UShave – for example, over globalclimate negotiations. But, at suchmoments, Obama might do well torecall Vajpayee’s words duringClinton’s visit, when he quotedWalt Whitman’s poem ‘Passage toIndia’:
“Sail forth – steer for the deepwaters only,
Reckless O soul, exploring, Iwith thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where marinerhas not yet dared to go.”
Jaswant Singh, a former foreignminister, finance minister, anddefense minister of India, is amember of the opposition in India’sparliament. www.project-syndicate.org
29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525 BUSINESS|13
wenty-year-old Pushpa Basnet was on a college field trip to awomen’s jail in Kalimati when she met Kanchi, daughter of one ofthe inmates. Basnet, unaware that when parents are imprisoned
their homeless children often stay with them, was surprised to see a childthere. “At that moment I knew I had to do something to make the lives ofthese children better,” says Pushpa. That was when she opened the EarlyChildhood Development Centre.
Now, seven years later, Pushpa is sheltering and educating 35 childrenwhose parents are in jail. She also runs a day care centre for children whoare too young to be away from their mothers. But though she collectedmoney from friends and family to support the centre, she was all too awareof the need to become self-sufficient.
Help arrived in the form of Change Fusion Nepal, set up in 2008 as partof Change Fusion Thailand. Pushpa entered the organisation’s Nepal YoungSocial Entrepreneurs Competition in 2009, and was among the five youngsocial entrepreneurs selected for interest-free loans, technical assistanceand mentoring. With the support of Change Fusion Nepal (CFN), Pushpahas been able to train mothers in jail to make handicrafts and textiles. Theproducts they make have found a lucrative market not just in Nepal but inAmerica, Europe and Asia.
“We were not just looking for innovative ideas but people who had thecommitment to work for it,” says Luna Shrestha Thakur, founding directorof CFN. “It was important for the business ideas to not just be profit orientedbut also to have a positive impact on the community.” Prospectiveentrepreneurs had to be between the ages of 20-35.
CFN received 60 applications for the competition. The selectedindividuals attended a capacity-building workshop and received continuousmentoring from CFN. “While the numbers of youth going abroad are on therise, just the interest that the competition generated shows that there areyoung motivated individuals who see entrepreneurial opportunities inNepal’s problems,” says Thakur.
One such entrepreneur, selected alongside Pushpa, was RanjitKushwaha of Bara. He sought a solution to the problems of poor rickshawpullers in Bara, who paid the bulk of their daily earnings to rickshawowners. With seed money from CFN, Ranjit and his team of 17 volunteersset up a cooperative that allows rickshaw pullers to purchase a rickshawon an installment basis. Sumina Shrestha, Urmila Malakar and SambhuPoudel were the other three individuals selected by CFN, to implementprojects related to potato farming, Newari handicrafts and olive farming.
Now that CFN is getting returns on its first phase of investment, it hasbegun planning for a second phase. A CFN team will visit six districts –Parsa, Tanahu, Bhojpur, Mustang, Dang and Kailali – starting December tointeract with local youths about the possibility of locally feasible andenvironmentally sustainable social enterprises. Then, Change Fusion Nepalwill once again call for project proposals. This time, it will select 25 projects.
“It's not that we don’t have people or ideas,” says Ashutosh Tiwari ofEntrepreneurs for Nepal, who also mentors the projects involved withCFN. “But organisations like CFN band such people together, giving themaccess not just to funds but also to a support system for expert advice, andhelp them develop their own networks.”Paavan Mathemawww.nepal.changefusion.org
Empoweringyoung
entrepreneurs
Change Fusion Nepal helps transformjob seekers into job providers
T
C F N
nepalitimes.comProfile of CFN supported projects
14|FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
Bhusan Yadav in Birgunj, Himal Khabarpatrika, 2 October-1 November
Shyambadan Yadav, a software engineer left his fancy job in thecity to become a dairy farmer in his village. He knew it was a hugerisk, but he overcame his doubts and mortgaged his family land toset up a dairy plant in his village with an investment of Rs 10.7million. “The poor have always remained poor, and they haven’thad a way out. I decided to take the risk to improve theirlivelihood,” he says.
Today, Yadav’s plant has changed the lives of 1,500 localfarmer families. “With work opportunities available in the village,the number of people migrating to India for work has gone downand the lifestyles of villagers have changed for the better,” notesSadhu Yadav of Parshurampur. Sadhu, who worked in Punjab forseven years, now raises cows in his village and delivers milk toShyambadan’s dairy every morning.
Shyambadan Yadav was earning a salary of Rs 50,000 at theBhagwati Steel Company in Birgunj when he decided to ventureinto dairy farming. “My job only paid for my family, this industrysupports hundreds of others,” he says. The one-time engineer nowwakes up at five in the morning and does all the farm work:
cutting grass, feeding cows, and cleaning their waste. He raises10 cows on his farm and buys 1,800 litres of milk from thefarmers every day.
Yadav has also invested in 40 buffaloes for poor families fromnearby villages without taking collateral as surety for the loans,which can be paid back with the milk they sell in the dairy overan extended period of time. Work is already underway to invest in300 buffaloes for other poor families. “I want families without anyland of their own to be able to pay for their children’s education,”Yadav says.
Yashoda Timsina in Nepal, 31 October
The government has announced next year as NepalTourism Year and is planning to bring in onemillion tourists to the country. The campaign willformally start in four months, but given the sorrystate of the country’s only international airport,the ambitious goal sounds like a big joke. I was inthe airport recently on my way to Bangkok. In thecheck-in wing, a tourist came out of the toilet,
Editorial in Janadisha, 26 October
By saying that the system favoured bythe Maoists resembles that of KingMahendra’s panchayat system, NepaliCongress’s Ram Chandra Poudel hasproved his character. By equating
Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal with KingMahendra, he has mocked the country’ssovereignty and freedom. When theCongress leaders were working hand-in-hand with the monarchy, Chairman Dahalwas already leading the People’s War toabolish it. At a time when NC and UMLleaders did not even want to hear about a
constitutional assembly, Chairman Dahalwas unifying the people for its sake. WhenChairman Dahal refused to bow down toforeign powers and gave up the primeminister’s chair, NC and UML leaders werecalling on them for favours. The Maoistsand their chairman have played aprogressive role in the country’s social,economic and political sector. Comparingthe party and its chairman with thepanchayat system and Mahendra not onlyshows Poudel’s political bankruptcy butthe extreme nature of his mindset.
Poudel earned less than half the votesthat Dahal received and lost more than 12times. Yet he has been contesting theelections for the prime minister’s post as alone candidate. Not only Nepal but thewhole world knows how democratic he is.Poudel himself has been playing a rolesimilar to Mahendra by sacrificing issues of
national benefit and letting the countrybe captive to foreign commands. Thetotalitarian panchayat system andMahendra’s reign were a part of India’sgrand design and in the hope that hisprime ministership will also bepossible through India’s designs,Poudel has created an impasse in thecountry. Regardless of the politicalsystem, Nepali leaders have alwaysset their hopes on the ruling partyin India.
If NC’s leader Ram Chandra Poudelsays that the Maoist proposal to changethe present system of governance andimplement a progressive structure issimilar to Mahendra’s panchayatsystem, is the system he wants anydifferent? He has to answer thisquestion or be ready to face theconsequences of being a foreign agent.
Blame game
The cow herder
KIRAN PANDAY
BHUSAN YADAV
Deplorable airportcursing. There was no water or toilet paper in therestroom. I wondered if government officials areaware of the deplorable condition of these toilets.But apparently, high-ranking officials only passthrough the VVIP room and use the toilet there.They are clearly not aware of the inhospitableconditions passengers and tourists have to tolerate.Without regulation and monitoring, things arebound to be unbearable once the expected touristscome in. Is this how Nepal Tourism Yearwill succeed?
AHMAD ISKANDAR
Why are you asking how his Dasain was? He’s an MP, every day is Dasain for him.
Robin Sayami in Nagarik, 25 October
FROM THE NEPALI PRESS|1529 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER 2010 #525
Kantipur, 25 October
Sankhuwasabha: Maoists in the district have started commercialfarming to support their activists and pay off party loans. They havebeen raising pigs on a piece of land they have leased in Ramche andhave also started vegetable and fish farming. The land has been leasedfor Rs 22,000 a year and the Maoists hope to start earning income frompig farming in six months.
Party secretary Dewan says that they took up farming because theparty did not have a sustainable source of income. A local NGO helpedthe Maoists start commercial farming. A Janjagaran group has beenformed among the conflict victims in the party and they are beingsupported to take up farming. Vice chairman of the group, Lal BahadurTamang, says that improved breeds of pigs will soon be made availableto poor farmers.
The party needs about Rs 200,000 every month for the livingexpenses of its activists, says Dibya Baral, member of the party’sdistrict secretariat. An additional Rs 150,000 is needed every month forthe treatment of some three dozen Maoist activists who were injuredduring the war.
Lila Mani Poudel in Nagarik, 24 October
I received an unusual number of calls from early inthe morning on 22 October, inquiring about thesuspension of four police personnel in Chitwan.The suspended personnel were not the sons ofpoliticians, administrators or millionaires. I don’tthink they had amassed a fortune by penalisingpublic vehicles plying on the highway, to bedeposited in foreign banks. And Idon’t believe punishing those whoextract money from public vehicleswill curb the prevailing corruption.
The reality is high officials inNepal amass a huge amountthrough their juniors, like thesesuspended personnel deployed inthe field. This is how they ensure aregular income for themselveswhile appearing clean before thelaw. The juniors readily accept thedeal as it is an opportunity for themto earn extra money under theprotection of their seniors. This ishow corruption expands andestablishes itself as a culture.Corruption in the workplace willprevail as long as junior officials submit themselvesto their seniors and agree to be their pawns.
I have sympathy for those suspendedpersonnel. But there is no place for sympathy orconsideration in running an administration. It shouldbe guided by law and justice, in the absence ofwhich we face lawlessness.
I am one of the few secretaries who use publictransporation to travel outside the valley, in thiscase to my ancestral home in Gulmi. Thegovernment bus fare between Kathmandu and Gulmiis fixed at Rs 750. But people were charged Rs1,150 for the route. Since all tickets to Gulmi weresold out in Dasain, six families hired a microbus.
When I saw police personnel collecting moneyfrom public vehicles at different places on the
Bishnu Poudel in Nayapatrika, 22 October
Four traffic police personnel stationed in Chitwan,including a sub-inspector, have been suspendedfor penalising the vehicle in which the Secretaryof the Prime Minister’s Office was travelling.
Secretary Lila Mani Poudel, along with hisfamily, was heading to Kathmandu fromRupandehi in a reserved microbus when he wasstopped by traffic police for a regular check inRamnagar, Chitwan. The traffic police penalisedthe vehicle Rs 100 for plying on the highwaywithout a route permit. According to the police onduty, they also issued a receipt, No.5054.But Poudel reprimanded them for penalisinghis vehicle.
Police personnel Dipak Puri, Bikram Bhusal,Tirtha Raj Thakuri and Sub-Inspector Hari Chhetriwere subsequently suspended.
highway, I called the police chief and chief districtofficer of Chitwan district to inform them aboutthe incident. Having overheard my phoneconversation, our microbus driver requested menot to take the issue any further. He feared thatpolice would harass him later on the same route.
After I called the police chief, an SP of Chitwandistrict called me to inform me that the trafficpolice had given our vehicle a receipt for the feecollected. I told him I needed no explanation of
the incident, as I had witnessedwhat had happened myself. Heasked for our vehicle number andkept calling to ask us where wewere. It became apparent later thathe would produce receipts fromthe receipt book he had with himto cover up the money we paid atdifferent places.
On entering Gulmi in RidhiBajar, our vehicle was levied Rs100 as vehicle tax. When I toldthe collector that was the rate forbuses, he looked at me angrily,banged on our vehicle and leftwithout a word while police stoodby as mere spectators. We feltinsecure and left quietly. There
were many other such incidents along the routeof arbitrary fees being collected with or withoutreceipts.
I have a government Toyota car . I can drive.But I often take a public bus to go back to myvillage. I am shocked by police behaviour inChitwan district, and am concerned about justhow the general public can respond to policemisdemeanours when even someone who hasaccess to the police chief is helpless beforecorrupt officials.
I hope the incident and subsequentsuspensions will encourage honest policepersonnel across the force.
The author is Secretary at the PrimeMinister’s Office.
Corruption at the core
“Secretary Poudel did an injustice to usby exercising his power,” complained one ofthe suspended personnel. “Poudel talked overthe phone for half an hour and scolded us,”he told Nayapatrika, “We told him that hemight be a big person but the charge was as perthe law.”
The suspended personnel said they hadnever thought action would be taken againstthem for enforcing the law.
The Regional Traffic Police Office,Hetauda, sent a letter on Thursday informingthe four policemen of their suspension. “Youare suspended for illegally extracting moneyfrom vehicles”, states the letter, but there isno mention of the penalty the police claim tohave applied.
Nayapatrika could not reach Poudel or SSPNawaraj Dhakal at the Regional Police Office,Hetauda, for comment.
Traffic in a jam
Khukuris toploughshares
Nagarik, 25 October
The overseas employment sector and related businesses have generatedthousands of jobs in the country, a report by the Nepal Institute ofDevelopment Studies says. According to the report, 344,000 people areemployed in services related to overseas employment in the country while
more than 250,000 people go abroadfor employment every year.
About 18,000 people areemployed in health examinationcentres, orientation centres,advertising agencies, photo studios,restaurants and other services thatcater to the overseas business. Fivethousand people are employed invarious manpower agencies and321,000 people are working asmanpower agents, the report says.The private sector earns about Rs
81.2 million every day from the overseas employment sector.Chairperson of the Association of Foreign Employment Agencies,
Somnath Bataju, says that almost 75 per cent of all workers have goneabroad while 20 per cent cannot afford to seek foreign employment. Themajority of those going for foreign employment are people from Dalit andethnic communities, he says.
Forty-four per cent of households in Nepal have at least one memberwho has gone abroad for work.
Employmentin employment
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T he Ass was determined this week to boycott all news on theUmpteenth Prime Minister Election (UMPE), but is forced toreact to a rival donkey who conjured up the headline: ‘Poudel
Misses Lady Luck in 13th Attempt’. Since when did this haveanything to do with luck, ladylike or otherwise? Can’t say we don’thave our hearts in the right place, tho. All we can add is: “Better lucknext time in the 14th attempt. Over ‘n’ out.”
I know. We all had our uh-oh moment when it transpired that thecholera outbreak in Haiti possibly has a Nepal connection. The UN isinvestigating if the sewage overflowing from the septic tanks of theNepali contingent of MINUSTAH into a nearby river has cholera. And ifit turns out the bacilli in question are indeed the Vibrio cholera 01Ogawa biotype El Tor then we are literally up shit creek. Besides warcrimes, selling M-16s to Hizbollah, and corruption in APCprocurement, cholera is one more black mark for Nepali Blue Helmetpeacekeepers. However, it is a little hard to understand all the mediahoo-hah about Haiti. Cholera is our national disease, we haveoutbreaks in Nepal all the time and no one in the international mediaever gave a hoot.
The other matter that made headlines this week was the TransparencyInternational report card that was interpreted differently by differentpapers, with some saying ‘Nepal Most Corrupt Country in the World’and another that said ‘Nepal Most Corrupt in South Asia’. Let’s makeup our minds, folks. But one paper put the best spin on our uttercorruptibility as a nation by using the banner headline: ‘Nepal StillStrong in Corruption’. In fact, the country seems to be going fromstrength to strength as far as malfeasance is concerned, if you takeanother report in the papers this week that revealed that villagers arehaving to be bribed Rs 1 to use a newly built public toilet as a specialpromo. When there is so much palm greasing going on, and people arebeing ripped off left and right, at least one lodge in Ghandruk hasdecided to set itself apart by highlighting its integrity (pictured).
Narayan Man, the president of Bhaktapur, hit the nail on the headwhen he simplified Chairman Awe-struck’s visit to China in simplelayman’s language. “He went there just to irritate India,” quothBijukchhe. That said, it looks like the Chinese let it be known that theyare rather miffed that their country’s good name has been dragged intothe mud with the Maharagate Tape. Beijing wants Nepal to be stableand predictable, not volatile and jumpy, which is more and more theway PKD is behaving as he finds the prime ministership slippingfurther away from his grasp. No senior Chinese leader met ChairmanAwful, which was a message in itself, and the main instructions fromthe party’s foreign relations dept was: “Sort it out with India and don’tkeep bothering us, we’re busy.” And that’s not all, the Chinese alsoinstructed the Maoist delegation to go back to Nepal and tell everyonethat was the message they got. Dutifully carried out by PKD at hisarrival press con, as well as Fire-breathing Sapkota in his interviewwith John.
Com Fearsome tried to put a brave face on it and said that heproposed to the Chinese a tripartite strategic alliance between India-Nepal-China. But he failed to convincingly explain what this proposedTrans-Himalayan Axis is meant to do.
Meanwhile, back home businesses are facing post-Dasain extortion aslocal baddies raise money for the Extended Assembly in Palungtar nextmonth. In Gorkha, every family is required to donate one mattress, orelse. Tourist buses are being fleeced from Sarangkot to Charikot (Medalof Honour for the American tourists who reported the extortion topolice in Dolakha; the ten grand was returned to them).
Anyone worried about the Maoist obstruction to the budget can resteasy. The budget will get a green light as soon asPKD’s own allowance and the CA members’salaries and cantonment transfers dry up.ass(at)nepalitimes.com
