12 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 6 - 12 SEPTEMBER NEPALI 2002 TIMES CULTURE AND SOCIETY 6 - 12 SEPTEMBER NEPALI 2002 TIMES 13 RNAC’s debtors ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ “We can also start a movement.”Dristi, 3 September Back at Sundarijal >18 The Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation has sent a four-page list of its debtors to the Commission for the Investigation of Jana Aastha, 28 August Abuse of Authority. The letter, signed by acting RNAC Excerpts of an interview with Jhalaknath chair Ramagya Chaturvedi, says that Singha Darbar owes Subedi, former assistant minister from Jajarkotclose to Rs 5.25 million, while the palace owes RNAC over “The ball is in the king’s court.” On the possibility of holding electionsRs in 400,000. The list of debtors includes prominent Political parties are the platform through which the his district embassies, and organisations such as USAID and the World public can collectively express its dissatisfaction. They are The situation is so grim that the first personBank. Meanwhile, RNAC has drawn a Rs 220 million expected to represent the people’s voice when democracy is 9 Feburary read. The day is cold. It started with hopes of being sunny and warm, who steps out to vote will be targeted by theoverdraft by placing its jet as a deposit in order to service its in crisis, but political parties are losing strength. Civil but towards evening the day was overcast with clouds and cold wind Maoists. Let me tell you what happened inforeign the debts. society has turned out to be a disappointment—they Sundarijal: I am greatly disturbed since yesterday when we got the blowing. 1997 elections. Jajarkot is one of those engage in self-censorship, and have failed to give voice to impression from the captain that writing paper wouldn’t be available to districts where in 10 of 30 VDCs, electionsWho owes what? us. I am anxious at the thought that we may be totally deprived of the people’s concerns. It will likely take a couple of years intellectual activities. Even if there are no books I could write my had to be held a year later. One of those 10Prime Minister’s Office: Over Rs 5.2 million 10 February was Jhapra VDC. A day before the elections for the first protests to erupt even if the Panchayati system biography or the history of Nepal’s democratic struggle in which I have the Maoists came to the village and said, “Let’sMinistry of Finance: Over Rs 12.4 million were imposed again. very actively and at times centrally participated. Then I could Myjot down mental tension continues, but it is not as high as it was yesterday see who will vote first. We will be watching.”Ministry of Commerce: Rs 945,464.05 stray thoughts, take down notes from books (we have six second-ratebecause the major told me that he had not understood me when I said The people went to the voting centre the nextMinistry of Local Development: Rs 81,760.08 Dr Mahesh Maskey, books) write stories or even attempt a novel on contemporaryI wanted socio- six quires of paper. He thought I wanted six sheets. But that day, but none stood in the line, no one wantedMinistry of Transport: Rs 222,595.94 community health expert political developments in Nepal. If paper is not supplied to us, wasand that,if we he said, indicating by implication that the misunderstanding to be the first to vote so there were no Ministry of Defence: Rs 47,215 We need to analyse what we can’t contact our people for it or bring it ourselves—we had askedwould the be closed and 6 quires of paper would be supplied to us. I also elections. The situation has worsened since.Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Rs 119,292.07 have achieved and where we officer here to get writing paper from the market from our money,left it whenat that. But GM (Ganesh Man Singh) thinks that he made that …The elections are to be held on 13 Home Ministry: Rs 81,343.25 when we received that kind of information—then my life will reallystatement be just to be pleasant. And that he had referred our demand failed in the last 12 years. extremely unbearable. It is most frustrating. I have started cuttingfor paper out to a “higher authority” which had not yet sanctioned it. GM November; it is now late August. There is noDepartment of Postal Services: Close to Rs 13 million way for those of us who will contest the There aren’t many points on the blank margins from the two daily newspapers (Gorkhapatrasays and we should conserve paper and not be misled by expectation of elections to go to the district. There are noDepartment of Civil Aviation: Rs 144,344.75 which we can be assured that Rising Nepal) to save as writing material. Since I have to conserverelaxation in the matter. Today too they didn’t send us the doctor. I flights there, and we do not have surfaceMinistry of Foreign Affairs: Over Rs 2.5 million this political system is better paper, I have started writing small letters so that they may notbecame take nervous and thought we would be deprived of medical transport. The government has been unableMinistry to of Tourism: Over Rs 1.3 million for the public than the The stress of incarceration is beginning to tellbigger space in the paper. I have three refills for my dot pen. Iattention. have a My present worry is that I don’t get sound sleep and my assure security, so the airport remains closed.Royal Nepal Army Air Service: Rs 205,200 Panchayat was. The present small bottle of ink and this pen which I am writing with. I don’thead know is constantly heavy with a buzzing sound. Telecommunications have been shut downVVIP flights: Rs 313,176.05 constitution guarantees multiparty democracy and the on BP Koirala in these pages from his diary. how long the ink will last. I brought this pen just fortuitously whenA I carpenterwas came to repair some of our windows. They supplied a for the past 10-11 months. The Maoists haveDeputy Prime Minister’s Office: Rs 13,572 sovereignty of the people, but has no provision that The fear of losing his supply of writing paper issorting out my things at Patna on the eve of our departure to thisbucket place. and mug for GM’s bathroom. Ever since our arrival in this Another cause of worry is that the doctor does not visit us althoughcamp, i.e. since last 40 days GM had been asking for a bucket for his attacked me twice, they may attack me again. How do you expect me to go there on foot? I might go ifMinistry of Tourism Rs 361,292.34 guarantees the people’s right to hold a referendum for self- security is assured… otherwise, I am not interested. more worrying than not getting books to read.we have been asking for him. I am not feeling all right with giddinessbathroom. It arrived only today. Ministry of Health: Rs 75,440 determination. Compounded with this, BP is getting and heaviness in the head, buzzing sound and pulse in the ears andDuring tea we talked about Nepal’s politics and the imperatives of On living in Kathmandu Ministry of Water Resources: Rs 21,870 In the economic arena, the interim government increasingly worried about his health and bleeding from the nose. Regular visits from a medical man wouldour inspirereturn to Nepal. GM is firmly convinced that we have saved I am not here GAUNLE SHIVA because it is difficult for me to live in my village. I am here because it is impossible to even go formed following the restoration of the multiparty system confidence that at least when we are ill we will be in safe hands.ourselves, our party and, if the response from the other side is there. Tell meThe how bridge I can go? between People Rukumof the Baneswor and Jajarkot Congress [Sher Bahadur Deuba’s faction] have Embassies and Organisations tried to reduce the royal family’s budget allocation a little worries that the jailers have not sent a doctor Washed some clothes, didn’t bathe, with this mental state equallyI couldn’t informed with statesmanship, then the country [too] by this been going in and out on police helicopters, I belong to the Teku Congress [the Girija Prasad Koirala American Embassy, Delhi: Rs 97,215.86 bit, but no other government since has tried anything like to check him up. He discusses politics with jail- decision to return to Nepal. Now the ball is in the king’s court. faction] and don’t have access to those facilities. I have heard that the prime minister has instructed theCanadian High Commission, Delhi: Rs 26,492.33 that. This fiscal year Rs 380 million has been allocated for mate Ganesh Man Singh and concludes that it police not to allow people from the Teku Congress to go to the districts. So how can I go back? … It’s Chinese Embassy, Kathmandu: Rs 208,756.46 the royal family, and an additional Rs 230 million has is now up to King Birendra to make his move. been 17-18 months since I have been back to my district. Earlier I used to travel between here and theEgyptian Embassy: Rs 10,911.95 been earmarked for the “development” of the royal palace. district, but it has also been eight or nine months since the airport closed. Korean Embassy: Rs 13,259.82 …Little has changed in the security situation even after the emergency. The emergency has been That puts the budget going to the royal family at Rs 610 effective only in Kathmandu; maybe you as journalists have also been affected. No one cares about thePakistani Embassy: Rs 35,926.82 million. emergency in the districts. The curfews are the only new changes; apart from that, no one in my districtRussian Embassy: Rs 13,044.91 The state is in a massive crisis. Its anti-people is even aware of the emergency. There we have been living through the emergency imposed by the High Commission of Canada: Rs 39,052.97 characteristics are being revealed, and it is trying to protect Maoists. The Maoists let people travel to the district headquarters for only two days in a month. If thereICAO: is Rs 23,541.60 itself. The state is not being supported by the parties that no movement of people to and from the district headquarters, what elections will you have? Indian Embassy, Rangoon: Rs 27,453.60 say they have taken a firm stand against reactionary forces. CD REVIEW by MARK TURIN …I have been living on what I earned from selling my little ancestral property. I do not have cash toK- bird Project: Rs 47,566.60 The government now has a choice: keep misusing power, spend and have been managing by selling some gold ornaments we had. I know life cannot go on in thisPost Master General, Hong Kong: Rs 425,885.16 or try to gain people’s confidence through the elections. manner. I hope there will come a day when I can return to the district and do agriculture. Postal Department, Dhaka: Rs 124,333.50 On the tree dispute USAID: Rs 67,886.45 Dr Krishna Khanal, Do you think we will keep quiet if the Election Commission does not recognise us as the official CongressWorld Bank: Rs 69,918.04 political analyst Party? How can we? What would happen to our party? Where can we go? How can we express Rastriya Banijya Bank, Kathmandu: Rs 16,971.70 I would say that the present Learning Nepali the Klingon way dissent? Maybe a similar situation to this one led the Samyukta Jana Morcha to begin revolting in early Rastriya Beema Sansthan, Kathmandu: Rs 11,114 crisis is the by-product of 1996. Sher Bahadur Deuba was prime minister then, look at where we have come now because theirDepartment 42 of Telecommunications: Rs 23,259.45 our failure. This crisis will onsumers learning European demands were not given a fair hearing then. Tribhuvan University: Rs 85,471.40 leave no space for the kind of …We also have a large number of supporters and party workers nationwide. If we are barred from languages are increasingly faced A new CD-ROM teaches you to ask in Nepali where the beach is. National Trading Ltd: Rs 64,036.93 participatory democracy we ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ legitimately contesting elections, what options would we have left, other than launching a movement? But with a choice of instructional US Embassy, Delhi: Rs 9,613.77 want. The Maoists now seem C a movement does not have to be violent. We will join the type of movement the party decides to take up… materials, ranging from traditional British Embassy, Kathmandu: Rs 422,304.56 to be in the mood to pocket-sized Berlitz travel companions type of stratification, if well imple- Royal Mail London: Over Rs 1.4 million compromise, the government to interactive CD-ROMs. The latter mented, might enhance the EuroTalk American Embassy, Delhi: Rs 179,344.20 is getting more militant, the have the advantage of being designed CD-ROM and be less off-putting to Indian Embassy: Rs 299,716.42 other progressive powers are heading towards compromise. as personalisable linguistic resources On double-clicking the more adult learners. Defence Ministry, UK: Rs 59,999.55 We need to watch out for the kind of ‘progressiveness’ this speech variation and linguistic that hold the learner’s attention. For promising ‘Learn Nepali’ icon, the Two features ofLearn the Nepali Royal Palace: Rs 406,503.20 conflict is engendering. choice. Tapes which accompany the most part, only commercially user is requiredsubha din to (Good personalise Day), the is CD-ROM warrant special praise. Nepal Food Corporation: Over Rs 6 million The progressive powers that had the potential to instructional materials may contain viable language learning courses have theninterface heard followed by typing by a name.a loud A very First, it is possible to study Nepali Nepal Rastra Bank: Rs 334,776 improve things are more feeble than they have been in the role plays and vocabulary lists, but been made interactive (such as Americanpleasant shouting (if uncommon) “Good Afternoon”. Nepali voice through the medium of a language Nepali Congress: Rs 5,340 past 50 years. The debates on democracy have weakened, rarely can the user hear the same Spanish, German and Russian) whileWhilegreeting, the top left of the home screen other than English. At any point in the PATA: Rs 85,249.36 and not just because of the emergency. The mindset of the words or phrases being repeated by minority languages materials, into is dominated by administrative course, the user may choose to alter the UNDP: Rs 195,425.86 rulers, Nepali Congress or CPN-UML, has not changed speakers of the opposite sex. Users of which category Nepali certainly falls, features, including purchasing other ‘help’ language (the language of French Embassy: Rs 75,937.29 after 1990. That stagnation is the root cause of the present the EuroTalk CD-ROM stand a offer at best an audio tape of sample EuroTalk CDs, the prominent graphic instruction) from American English Royal Nepalese Embassy, Delhi: Rs 112,249.60 crisis, as is the failure to make changes. better chance of understanding, and conversations alongside a printed of a CD in the middle of the screen (the default) to British English, People have started calling this constitution a of being understood, if and when course book. labelled ‘Learn Nepali’ is strangely Hindi, Icelandic, Tibetan or any of 70 compromise between the king, the Nepali Congress and they finally communicate in Nepali It was thus with some surprise not clickable. The user is instead others. This is a powerful facility that the left front—the prime minister says that the three simply on account of having heard QUOTE OF THE WEEK that I came across required to click a small start arrow, will significantly increase the overall different accents and idiolects from powers drafted the constitution, and it cannot be amended once again enter a name, and then user base of the package, and is a without their agreement. The king and the Nepali the outset. It is extremely irresponsible of the prime minister to say that the king, the army, and the police are in tive’s the same enthusiastic American voice feature not readily incorporated into Congress are there, but the left front does not exist EuroTalk Interac- While the linguistic content of favour of him. The prime minister’s deposit for the elections should be retained for this unconstitu- Talk Now! series of CD-ROMs,says “Welcome to Euro-Talk”, the other language learning tools. There this beginners’ CD-ROM is anymore. We do not have faith in the system we created, irony of which is all too apparent are some limitations, as one would tional, undemocratic, and anti-public statement. Prime Minister Deuba and his group should be we failed in not developing ownership for it. offering multimedia instruction in acceptable, it is marred by an barred from knocking on the doors of the people. lesser-known languages such as when starting to learn a South Asian expect: some languages offer voiceover overarching cultural uniformity. Assamese, Farsi, Kannada, Manx language. tracks while others are strictly textual EuroTalk Nepali is an exercise in Dr Pitamber Sharma, The content of the CD-ROM is (for example, the written Zulu word geographer and…Nepali. I ordered the course unreconstructed ethnocentrism, —Subash Nemwang, central member, CPN (UML),Dristi in , 3 September Failure entitled ‘Learn Nepali: Essential words housed within a subdivided roulette for ‘blue’ is offered when listening to underpinned by the assumption that ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Our biggest failure has been and phrases for absolute beginners’ andwheel of clickable segments, including the pronunciation of the Nepali word each and every culture (and thus by Mulyankan, 15 August-14 September in not decentralising economic ‘First Words’, ‘Countries’, ‘Num- cha? (rel steshan kahà and administrative power, was rather bemused by the contents. extension, its language) has similar bers’, ‘Phrases’ and ‘Food’. The patterns of social, cultural and ) and ‘where is the beach?’ Nepal is ruined economically. The political confusion has without which participatory After double-clicking the rainbow subdivisions are sensible and useful, nilo ‘blue’). Scrolling down the list, I economic interaction. Sapir and (samudrâ kinâr katâ cha?). While the encouraged forces waiting to emerge again and the activities of democracy is not possible. It coloured the train station’ course is compromised by the and navigation through the different noted that Nepali is also available, Whorf would turn in their graveslatter if example is of little use foreign powers. The Maoists have a stranglehold over half the took 12 years for a decentrali- Talk-Now! icon on the problems outlined above. The sections is likewise intuitive. In each meaning that Nepali could be they knew what was being peddledanywhere in the Nepali-speaking country, and the government has not taken initiatives that sation act to be enacted, and it desktop, the user is taken to a seamless integration and slick subsection, the user must choose an learned through Nepali, a somewhat in the name of language pedagogy.world, the former may at least be of would help end the insurgency. Analysts and academics was bypassed the day it was secondary folder. While the natural interactivity of the CD-ROM, approach fitting his or her needs: word unconventional way of achieving The lack of cultural tuning issome utility in Darjeeling or speak out. enacted, a sign of how insensitive our political system is choice would be to click the icon combined with the lack of cultural practice, speaking practice, an easy monolingual language instruction. best illustrated with examples, andSikkim. Generally speaking, in fact, towards development issues. labelled ‘Learn Nepali’, my eye was Nepaliapplicability, CD-ROM: Essential make it awords triumph of game or a more challenging one. The Star Trek is ever present in the is particularly apparent in the the content of the course is more In poor countries such as ours, the government’s drawn instead to a folder underneath and phrasesform over for content.absolute beginners which reads, in rather small and overarching structure is heavily menu structure, however, as the sectionsFirst Wordsand Phrases. suited for use in the Nepali- Learn Krishna Hachhethu, main objective should be to guide the rich and provide dependent on graphics rather than The list of First Words starts out, assistance to the poor. Instead, since the interim govern- blocky Devanâgarî, language listed as ‘Nepali’ in Roman speaking regions of India than EuroTalk interactive’s Talk Now! political analyst klingon siknuhos. text, and success is measured by naturally enough, with ‘Yes’ and . ment was created, we adopted a market economy. Our script is written as anywhere in Nepal itself. The budget allocation for the This I can only interpret to mean passing tests. This approach will ‘No’, but then, third in the list we 2000. London. ISBN 1-8662- governments have displayed more faith in a market klingon in My suspicion is that every CD- palace affairs has been increased ‘learn Klingon’, the language spoken appeal to younger learners, but are offered ‘telephone’ (pronounced 21088-8. [System requirements: economy than even The World Bank or the IMF. That Devanâgarî. ROM within the to Rs 380 million from Rs 110 by the race immortalised in Star Trek. university students, researchers, Windows 95/98/NT/2000 or Mac created confusion about the role of the government in A second useful feature is the teliphon), soon thereafter ‘wine’ Talk Now!series million last year, a good More surprising still, in ways that I healthcare or development profession- OS 7 or above. Computer must have development attempts. For instance, the government option of a female Nepali speaker (rendered as wain) and finally near has an identical database structure indicator of the direction the will describe later, is that the Klingon als who are hoping to learn Nepali as colour display, sound, 16 MB of free totally neglected the public schools where 95 percent of instead of, or alongside, a male one. the bottom which includes exactly the same country is taking. Second, the leitmotif pervades the whole CD- part of their vocational preparation , kredit kâr? (credit card). memory, CD-ROM drive and children study, and concentrated on privatising the The language course is presented by words, phrases and examples. The palace and the army are gaining ROM. Clicking on the icon labelled may find the interface childish and In their defence, these are all now preferably a microphone]. price: education sector, which put the underprivileged two animated guides, a Caucasian result is a single product with an upper hand in politics, as Klingon sadly leads nowhere and the frustrating. Many educational CD- available in Nepal (though I’m £24.99. Can be ordered from children at a disadvantage. man and an equally white woman. voiceovers in different languages, even the prime minister has user is left with the feeling that a ROMs offer level or aptitude switch- pretty sure they weren’t when the www.eurotalk.co.uk The government failed to be accountable to the On hearing a word, the user can opt but marketed as 75 different admitted. Third, the interference of donor countries has Devanagari-literate computer ing: the lower level being visually rich CD-ROM was created), and visitors people. The local bodies can play a vital role in making for a Nepali woman’s voice instead language courses. increased as they monitor their investments, a sign that they programmer is having a laugh at and structured around guided tours, to the country may indeed be in (Mark Turin is with the the government accountable to the people, but of a Nepali man’s simply by need of wine, but including these NepaliEuroTalk Interactive’s have lost faith in Nepal. someone’s expense, in this case tests and games, while the higher levelclicking on the relevant torso. The Learn Department of Social The constitution and laws are misinterpreted and misused. political parties are not committed. Regardless of items in a list of probably the company’s (EuroTalk). concentrates more on in depth importance of this feature has less to First Words seems CD-ROM is a mixed bag.Anthropology, University of The constitution allows the term of parliament to be extended by their ideologies, party manifestoes ignore the idea of After all, it is likely that neither the language use and rich content. This do with sexual politics, since a little far-fetched. Likewise, the While the interface is effective, theCambridge. An earlier version a year in extraordinary circumstances. A state of emergency is accountability. Civil society can contribute a lot, but It was just a bomb explosion. I thought it was something really bad! managerial staff of EuroTalk nor users women’s voices are just as often games and tasks engaging (if of this review was published in atypical, but parliament was dissolved. The constitution has also we neglected the people, we failed to make commit- Phrases section is indicative of this of the CD-ROM read Devanâgarî featured in language learning tools as childish) and the choice of both volume 28 of the IIAS been manipulated with regard to local bodies. ments to empower them. globalised approach. The learner is Rajdhani, 4 September script. men’s, and rather more to do with male and female Nepali voice Newsletter, Leiden, The encouraged to repeat and commit to Netherlands.) memory sentences such as ‘where is commendable, the utility of the