#68 16 - 22 November 2001 20 pages Rs 20 Disaster on Lake Rara 5,195,195,19

FAREWELL TO A PRINCESS

10-1110-1110-11 DHULIKHEL

BINOD BHATTARAI ○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ he government is looking beyond the peace talks at a massive hearts-and- Tminds programme to accelerate development in Maoist-affected districts, but is running into serious donor reluctance to back it. The Integrated Security and Development Programme (ISDP) is patterned after a post- Development Programme was fence-sitting. PeaceHowever, the United States Agency for dividend Vietnam counter-insurgency strategy, but its price tag of $114 million for three years is wayInternational Development (USAID), the The government is finding it hard to win donor hearts and minds. beyond the government’s own capacity. Last British Department for International ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ week, the National Planning Commission Development (DfID) and the Norwegian (NPC) presented what appears to be a Development Agency NORAD were for it. meeting for ISDP is said to have come up hurriedly-prepared 13-page proposal to a “Few of us disagreed with its goals and theafter a group of Western ambassadors met consortium of donors, most of whom were intense service delivery the government wants Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba a sceptical about the government’s ability to to make,” one donor source told us. “But the month ago. The diplomats reportedly implement it. political and security aspects made many warned Deuba he would have to produce Among the donors, Japan, Germany, uncomfortable.” Those that said no were results to make a difference, to which the Canada, Finland and Denmark as well as reportedly polite, but the message seems to beprime minister is said to have hinted that if the World Bank and the Asian Develop- that donor support is not going to be easy. there was money to back the new defence ment Bank appear to have serious doubts Added our source: “It will be a waste of time and development plan, he could do it. about the ISDP, while the United Nations for the NPC if it still thinks it could get broad- Donors keen to back the ISDP had their based support for the program.” reasons. DfID, for instance, felt an efficiently million and wants donors to help with the The ISDP was launched earlier this yearimplemented ISDP could be critical in NPC officials played down the importancerest, including purchase of communications in seven districts and this year the govern- delivering basic services and infrastructure to and rescue equipment—not guns—for of the meeting. Ligal told us: “It was not a ment allocated Rs 600 million for it, but districts where development has come to a security agencies. pledging meeting but one to update donors on Weekly Internet Poll # 8 much of this was budgeted with the standstill because of the insurgency. USAID, the ISDP, its rationale, how it works, which Patterned after the US government’s Q. Do you agree with the Maoists demand for a new expectation that the donors would come on the other hand, is said to prefer a more programs we were taking forward and the Integrated Defence and Development constitution ? through. The ISDP is being implemented incautious “transitional” approach, first testing overall status.” He added that last week’s (IDAD), the ultimate goal is to win the seven districts—Gorkha, Rukum, Rolpa, out the programme in reasonably safe areas. meeting was the first round, and that Nepal people away from the insurgents, ensuring Kalikot, Jajarkot, Salyan and Pyuthan—andThe Norwegians, for their part, appear could go to donors formally if it needed stability so that further development can take the government would like to extend it to convinced that conflict resolution has to go assistance, through the finance ministry. place. Security is to be provided by the police, six more as soon as possible: Dolakha, hand-in-hand with development. The government plans to spend Rs10 the new paramilitary and the Royal Nepal Ramechhap, Surkhet, Dailekh, Dang and Among the multilaterals, the World Army under a co-ordinated chain of command. million in each Village Development Lamjung. Prithivi Raj Legal and his team atBank and the Asian Development Bank, The prime minister heads the ISDP the NPC also told donors that the situationwho have their own performance criteria Committee under the ISDP to achieve noble goals, such as 100 percent literacy implementation team, which includes a was getting so bad that it may ultimately and are generally against doles, had no fresh number of ministers and the Chief of Army have to extend the ISDP to another 30 of commitments. Other bilateral donors told theand school enrolment. It also wants to speed up infrastructure building, and launchStaff. The program has four sub-committees: Nepal’s 75 districts. government it may be wiser to use the money political, publicity, programs and security. The idea for the donor fund-raising already in the pipeline better, while some saidincome-generation activities. The govern- the government could change priorities ratherment says it will chip in half the Rs10 than seek new commitments. Selected responses on p. 8 Total votes: 1009

The world’s most reliable UPS for PCs Recommended by Microsoft, IBM, NEC and Novell Nyu daya bhintunaalready in use in1122 Nepal.” worship themselves” quips Ukesh Bhuju, Over the years, Nepal Sambat and its president of the Nepal Heritage Society. KEDAR SHARMA unique blend of folk culture and religion ○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○ The worship is conducted by the female has come to symbolise Newari identity in head of the household and the parapherna- hile the rest of the country was Nepal’s multi-ethnic tapestry. celebrating Tihar by worshipping lia is full of symbolism: walnuts for strength, crows, dogs and cows this week, the There would be a certain historical W symmetry to making Nepal Sambat the Back-UPS 500 Nepal’s Newari population marked its new year by worshipping, yes, the self. bimiro citrus for purity, makhamalithe official calendar since the name Nepal • Compact design with surge protected itself came from the Newari word for Depending on which astrologer you blossom for longevity. Satyamohan Joshi, outlet for Laser printers historian and expert on Nepali folk culture,Kathmandu Valley after Gurkha unifica- • Three battery back-up outlets follow, either 15 or 16 November is the thinks the word tion of the kingdom in the late 18 • Lightning and surge suppression start of the 1122 mha could be an acknowl- • EMI/RFI filters for noise filtration nd year of the Newari edgement of the connections between • Communication interface port (auto calendar and Kathmandu Valley’s consciousness and the physical being. th shutdown for all major desktop OS) indigenous people celebrate mhait with “Nepal Sambat” as the Newari calendarcentury. “The Bikram calendar is a vestige Quickswap™ battery replacement stop by Shankhwa’s house on the way back. • puja—worshipping the self for righteous- is known, is more than 1000 years behindof dictatorial Rana rule, we need to bring • Quick Recharge after power outages Shankhwa is said to have wined and dined ness and good health. The calendar Nepal’s official Bikram calendar which backis our own calendar,” says Kul Lal • Save battery power with user the porters, and slyly replaced the goldinto with its 2058 Dongol of the Jyapu Samaj, Patan. adjustable option switches marks the deeds of Shankadar Shankhwa,sand using it to free the people of the th year. Although younger, there the mythical hero who freed the Newari Others oppose the move to replace • Industry approval (safe & reliable) Valley from their debts. is a growing feeling that if Nepal needs a people from indebtedness. the Bikram calendar, saying it would open “ non-Gregorian calendar, the Nepal Sambat ®®® a can of worms. Says Basanta Thapa, Legend has it that the sands on the is better suited than the present one named SM columnist at Legendary Reliability banks of the Bishnumati were to turn into after the Indian Emperor Bikramaditya. Authorized Distributor gold on an auspicious day and only the Mha Puja is now a part of Newari folkSays Padma Ratna Tuladhar of the Nepal Himal Khabarpatrika: “If the ruler of Bhaktapur and his chief astrologerculture and is one ritual where there isMankakhala: no “The Bikram calendar is officialnot calendar is to be changed in this need for priests to dictate the proceedings, Computerland Building, New Plaza, Ramshahpath, Kathmandu knew about it. The king sent his porters to even recognised in India. Nepal Sambatage is of economic globalisation, then Tel: 430858, 430859, 431199, 431746 Fax: 430641 collect the gold and they happened tomaybe everyone felt so light-hearted afterbased on the lunar calendar, which is Nepal may as well join the rest of the E-mail: [email protected] being freed from debt that they decided to world and adopt the Gregorian calendar.” The Total Solutions Company

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For details please contact your nearest travel agent or call us at 410089, e-mail:[email protected] Northwest / KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Lekhnath Marg, Kathmandu. *Fare prices are subject to change 222 EDITORIAL 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES INTERVIEW 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 333 Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor:Kunda Dixit Editor:Anagha Neelakantan Design:Swosti Rajbhandari, Kiran Maharjan health services, rural roads. At the same time there is a tendency to expand [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com government by creating new institutions and jobs. I resist that. Look at the public Advertising:Sunaina Shah, Anup Adhikary [email protected] corporations, they are a big drain on the economy, they are incurring huge losses Subscription:Anil Karki [email protected] Sales:Sudan Bista [email protected] of taxpayers’ money. Their productivity is poor, but still employees are demand- Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur ing more benefits and perks. GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 01-543333-7, Fax: 01-521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press: 01-521393 “Peace is the pre-requisite…” Even if the talks with the Maoists is successful, we need to create In recent speeches you have gone out of your way to highlight new jobs, otherwise they will go back to their guns. To create the positive side of Nepal’s development in the past 12 years. Do those jobs, you need to generate investment. Do you have a plan? NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS you really believe that? Before the outbreak of Maoist violence six years ago, our economy had been There is a tendency to belittle our country’s achievements after democracy. We expanding. Millions of jobs were created. Look at the service sector in Kathmandu It has become a cliché to begin editorials by saying no news is good suffer from negative thinking. We see negatives every where. There is a lot of Valley, people are spending more, there is more income. The market has news. But that does not make it any less true. When daily newspapers expanded, which would not have been possible without jobs. But after the lead with news of a minister giving an innocuous speech somewhere negativism that the donor community has also started. This has spread cynicism. Let us not forget that there has been economic, social and political progress too. Maoist violence started, and with their on-going extortion, people are closing about the importance of democracy for development you know “nothing down factories. Now there is almost a stop in new investment. So if we are to happened”. No disasters, no massacres, no abductions, no major We’ve had about a five percent growth rate on average throughout. Our exports have been increasing by more than 20 percent each year. Foreign exchange create more jobs, Maoist violence has to stop. It is a serious setback on the accidents. economy. At the same time, the government should concentrate on social And that is the problem with the news business: it is incapable of reserves are sound. Our net worth has nearly doubled from about Rs 7,000 million to around Rs 15,000 million. Look at the social indicators: there are services—education, health, rural development, infrastructure, policy making and reporting the ordinary, the everyday. News by definition has to be nega- more schools, health services have improved, we had one medical college 12 years policy support—and leave the other things to the private sector. That way jobs can tive, it has to be nearby, and it has to happen suddenly. A tanker truck be created, but the prerequisite is peace and a business-friendly environment. that reaches its destination safe and sound is not news, it is the one ago, now even I have lost count. that falls into the Marsyangdi that makes it. Do you mean we should wait for peace, and then start creating UNICEF’s former director, Jim Grant, used to talk about the silent Right, but how come we don’t see all this making a difference to the quality of life? new jobs? emergency that stalks our land. Some 500 children die every day of Maybe because the media has a tendency to highlight only the negatives. True, No, we need to do job creation simultaneously. And we are already trying to causes that are preventable, but that is not news. Now, suppose those 500 children were travelling in two jets that crashed simultaneously. we have also failed on many fronts. Governance capability, for instance, has create business confidence with easier policies. In the last budget I tried to Would that be news? Yes, because it fulfils the main criteria of news: a weakened. In general, we have succeeded in areas where we have deregulated, make the overall environment more business-friendly. The government is in sudden, spectacular disaster. Nepali children are dying quietly, slowly, where we have allowed more space for the private sector. Look at our tourism dialogue with the Maoists to ensure peace and stability. The Maoists have not PANCHO/ LEMONDE one by one, in homes throughout the country. The grief of their parents industry, it is now the best run in South Asia. Exports have done very well, non- stopped their activities completely, but the law and order situation has is private, isolated and scattered. It is not a loud emergency like a agriculture sector performance is around seven percent, because we have given a improved and this has given some hope for the economy. landslide that buries a village. And yet the reasons many of them are major say to the private sector. Civil society has expanded. Areas where govern- dying—criminal neglect, corruption and inequality in the delivery of the ment has less control have flourished. How would you rate the economy today? services that are supposed to save their lives—should make banner Where we have failed is in the regulatory function of government. We have headlines everyday. But they don’t. Not very good because of various national and international reasons. We have failed, for example, to control the aberrations in private sector education and declining exports, revenue from distilleries have been hit. The tourism industry Last year this time, policemen were being butchered every other private sector health delivery. Similarly, despite investment, the capacity to has suffered. There is increasing demand for more security expenses. We are not STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL week. We in the media couldn’t keep up with the carnage, and our deliver services in rural areas remains poor. In other words, there is leakage, in a very happy situation. But our fundamentals are okay. We have managed our reporting made people numb. It’s like slowly increasing the intake of corruption. The quality of roads has gone down despite increase in investment. economy relatively better than many other countries. Even the IMF and the poison until you can take a lethal dose without dying. We got so used to The cost of services has gone up because of mismanagement. World Bank have complimented our economic management. The Vice President the bad news, that 70 people slaughtered overnight didn’t shock us of the Bank was here recently and her only advice was that we maintain fiscal anymore. Human beings have this capability of being inured to bad And as one nation tries to turn grief into You must have a ringside view of the get-rich-quick mentality in news. Oh, say, can you see prudence. government. As an insider, how bad is the corruption you see? revenge, the air is thick with hypocrisy and MIN BAJRACHARYA And they get used to good news as well. This year, we have got used double standards. It has exposed the Although it is sometimes frustrating and disorienting, you cannot give up. You Are you also considering bailout plans for the tourism sector post- to the ceasefire, we have stopped noticing that there are no front page historical wrongs unleashed by America cannot generalise on the get-rich-quick mania. This is a phenomenon you see Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat has made no 11 September? pictures of widows sobbing over husbands blown apart by pressure around the world in its strategic and business everywhere, not just among politicians. There are politicians, but not all of thembones about his objection to a cabinet expansion, andYes. But tourism was suffering even before 11 September. The package announced cooker bombs in some remote and forgotten police post. The Osamamedia is and Omar? The CIA pushed Afghanistan down the interest: for oil, for sea lanes, for minerals, have become rich overnight. It is a tendency also in the private sector, and the has voiced concerns about a governance crisis. But,in the budget is for the whole industrial sector, including tourism. It is a sort of a incapable of reporting an outbreak of peace, so the public takes peace public sector, among bureaucrats. for granted. precipice of civil war twenty years ago after theeven for banana and pineapple plantations. Ofin course. this I chat am sure with withcooperation Nepali Times of all sections before of society leaving this drive for willNew yieldrescue package because they cannot bear the present costs—the cost of capital, the My Voluntary Tax Declaration Scheme (VDIS) is an effort to control servicing of their liabilities vis-à-vis the financial institutions, debt restructuring, May we live in uninteresting times. This Tihar, we wish you no news. Soviet invasion, now the Americans cannot All this was done in the name of freedom and results.York The scheme for the also UNis admission General of the Assembly, fact that we cannot he was achieve still results America has to choosestomach a Vietnam-type between quagmire insecuritydemocracy, and but by backing revenge. tin pot dictators, corruption. We have also prepared new financial regulations to tighten up thingsonlyoptimistic through administrative about the enforcement. economy, You mayand sue says somebody peace but wouldit may takedebt re-scheduling, freezing liabilities and even writing off part of their obliga- Afghanistan to fight a ghost of an enemy. Thatmilitary juntas and tyrants who suppressed and make spending more transparent in order to ensure proper accountability.years for the result,it economy and it may not aeven chance be positive. to perk This has up. happened with tions, stopping the capitalisation of their interests, etc. It is aimed at essentially t has now been more than a month sinceis why they are looking down at that godfor- their own peoples athome in that cynical We are also trying to empower enforcement agencies to control corruption. corruption cases. Just how many cases have resulted in real punishment, or reducing their financial obligations. George W declared war on Afghanistan,saken country from space and bombing it fromimplementation of the Kirkpatrick Democracy is rule by law and everything should be done in accordance with material fines to add to the treasury? Practically zero. So we are using the tax Ibut he is no nearer “smoking out” 35,000 ft, and letting proxy Afghans battle it Doctrine. Bush told the UN this week established norms and rules, which is what we are doing. method to unearth unaccounted money and bring it to the treasury. Looking forward to 2002-2003, what do you see? Osama bin Laden than he was on the day out on the ground. that terrorism can never be justified, even If we are able to restore peace I see hope, although the global environment is not Your VDIS is also backed by a law that gives it more teeth. But very favourable. We can manage the economy despite international constraints. he swore to the world he’d do so. The Al Qaeda is a concept, howsoever to avenge past injustices. Oh, really? Who Government spending has soared, revenue collection is down. fugitive from American justice continues to will it go after the crooks in high places? How are you going to make ends meet? You are even said to haveBut if there is no peace here, then the economy will suffer, our exports, industrial abhorrent, it is not a country. Just as the is really responsible for making the Everybody has to declare unaccounted wealth. Politicians have been excessively production, tourism will all suffer. That will be the worst case scenario. Peace is mock his pursuers with cameo performances Taliban and the al-Qaeda the monsters differed with the prime minister on cabinet expansion. TIPPED OFF BYMADRAS on Al Jazeera in Doha and Taliban is a bunch of fanatics, not a nation. targeted. The problem is much more serious elsewhere. People see politicians Cabinet expansion is the privilege of the prime minister. I can give advice, butthe prerequisite. Dawnin They can’t be obliterated with daisy cutters. they are? Answer: the CIA, the Saudi because they are very visible. royals, and the ISI’s Peshawar post. And if cannot contradict him. On the whole, I am against the expansion of government Is one man’s tourism another man’s terrorism? Why is it that justKarachi. when Meanwhile, Americans continue toThe big bombs will just create more refugees, institutions, I am against unproductive expenditure. There is a tendency bin Laden and Mullah Omar are now Nepal’s tourism shows any sign of picking up, we hit the headlinespound the Hindukush with their deadly more misery and incubate more terrorists. It all But is it going to help you take out the bad apples? everywhere to ask for more money—by ministries, or elected representatives. We again for all the wrong reasons. We were recovering from the daisyhijacking cutters, cluster bombs and cruise looks so elementary, how could the fellows at terrorists, then what does that make the I don’t deny that there are bad elements in political life also. I can’t deny that,just cannot afford this. A finance minister’s job is very difficult and always last year when Hrithik Roshan riots rent the streets. The Indians had Langley miss it? Perhaps that explains CIA, the Saudis and the ISI? but the problem is more serious elsewhere. just started trickling back this summer when the royal massacremissiles. Besides pulverising the rubble what thankless. There are priorities elsewhere, more need for teachers, drinking water, exactly is it they are hitting? everything, terrorism is not even a peripheral Here at home, Prime Minister Sher spooked them off again. And just when things were beginning to go So heads are going to roll? right, came a flurry of news last week linking Nepal with the War onAll the Americans have done is transform concern of America’s war in Afghanistan. Bahadur Deuba’s hasty backing of a war— Terror. A Nepali nearly gets away trying to take his entire knife thecollection persona of Osama bin Laden into an even Could it be that the sole goal of the “war even though Nepal’s is an entirely on board a flight leaving Chicago. Four Nepalis get arrested in moreManila heroic figure in the Muslim world. Untilon terrorism” is to terrorise the world into symbolic support—is legally untenable, for taking pictures of the US Embassy in the Philippine capital. aAnd few months then ago, he was a fanatic pariah submission? Is it being waged to defend what morally questionable, and fundamentally Madras airport outscoops everyone by uncovering a plot to hijack a propagating such fundamentalism that even Noam Chomsky calls the “Fifth Freedom”: flawed. The best that Deuba could have Singaporean airliner from Kathmandu airport and crashing it into a Very “The freedom to rob, to exploit and dominate,done is done nothing and kept quiet. The Importance Place in Delhi. the arch-conservative Wahabi rulers of Saudi to undertake any course of action to ensure summit of SAARC Heads of States and And how does Madras pass on this information with potentiallyArabia could not tolerate him. But once the father, put all crooks in jail. West turned him into the bulls-eye of their that existing privilege is protected and Heads of Governments belatedly sched- now forget and disregard Paras’ catastrophic implications to our civil aviation authorities? Does it use dartboard, he became an icon for much of theadvanced.” And in that aim, Americans have uled for January could be an opportunity past criminal activities. His LETTERS a chord in the hearts of Nepalis, the SITA telex? Does the chief police honcho in Chennai pick up the been astoundingly successful. So successful, into make amends. Member countries of argument is that there is a positive not only in Nepal but all over the phone? Nope. They send the information in a handwritten noterest on of a the world. If it were not for the GIVE PEACE A CHANCE fact, that 11 September was a terroristic SAARC have as much interest in a post- relation between penning poetry world. We may pretend not to piece of paper without a letterhead by association of his name with the excesses of Your editorial “After the and the enhancement of a Who does Kunda Dixit think heNO ANTHRAX notice the obvious, but we cannot Sanjog Rai military-industrial complex of the United backlash against that dominance. And AmericaTaliban Afghanistan as US oil multina- honeymoon” (#67) was tionals on whose behalf the Pentagon is person’s character. is, giving advice on how Nepal’sI was surprised at the panic ignore it forever. Dixit deserves Pulchowk States, Osama could have never become the is reacting the only way it knows how: by using commedable. Whatever his royal family should choose thecaused in Kathmandu over thekudos for his guts and Nepal poster-boy of Naxalites in Bihar and the brute force. waging this war. weaknesses, Prime Minister successor to the throne? The recent “anthrax” scare. I am needs more writers like him to snail mail to Kathmandu! It’s a Deuba has still done Nepal a lot MOCKING OURSELVES ulemas of Bahrain alike. The world has been forced to bow in front The people of Afghanistan have been illustrious Shah dynasty is a certain that this is no more thanmake a us take a fresh look at what miracle that letter even got here. of good by stemming the symbol of Nepali nationalism rumour, and that the young manis in wrong and right in our country.“More ministers the merrier” The bombing and propaganda barrage of the most powerful man in the planet: victims of the fundamentalist fascism of violence. He should be given (Under My Hat, #56) was Now, wire services are in the Osama and Omar because those two Jeevan Satyaland unity, how the successionBaglung was either staging hisBrickbats and bouquets are an George W Bush. He may have become some more time because he is question is addressed is up to faint for sensationalist purposesaccepted part of a journalist’s hilarious.life. Tragically, it also have made Osama look much larger than life. by email business of exporting news. SoHe was an American creation during the war president by the peculiarities of a system that hyenas have been let loose upon the trying to bring a negotiated age-old traditions of the royal or ill due to some other reason.What is important, however, isreflects how many Nepalis feel you can’t really blame them for debated the difference between a dimpled chadAfghans by the United States. Afghanistan settlement to the Maoist palace. Media and politicians Fainting upon momentary expo-whether journalists through theirabout Nepal in these days. We against the Soviets, this time Washington has Insurgency. We cannot have have to face so much gloomy sending out immediate flashesmagnified him into an even more powerful and hanging chad, but he calls the shots. Poorneeds to be rescued and rehabilitated, not I appreciate the balanced way shouldyou keep out of it. sure to anthrax is not a symptomwritings can make a profound bombed to smithereens. Our hope is that another military confrontationhave reported on Paras Shah of anthrax. Anthrax begins withimpact on society, a particular news that the only way to stay when they heard of it. Datelinefigure. For the Americans it is a case of tails Tony Blair is a State Department consultant, when peace seems to be in sane is by looking at it with a saner elements in United States will being made Crown Prince. One minor flu-like symptoms and community, or a nation itself. In this Kathmandu: al-Qaeda opera-they win, heads we lose. If they manage to killand doing a pretty good job. But for the first sight. Nepalis do not want any humorous twist. We end up prevail, just as they did during Vietnam. thing I cannot understand is why eventually culminates in difficultycase, I believe, Dixit has done all. tives in Nepal! Hijacked planeOsama, he becomes a martyr and death will time there are signs that the Anglo-American more violence. So Girija Prasad“responsible” politicians and Lalit Thapa in breathing. Because of the mocking ourselves for all the confer upon him an even greater aura. If he alliance is fraying over strategy. Revenge is notBill Clinton’s introspective address to his Koirala and his cronies shouldjournalists are trying to create a Dubai incident, my brother-in-law is faults that we have, because to be rammed into Delhi! stop their efforts to plunge the viewing everything in a serious lives, it will prove his invincibility. Poor Bush,going to bring America security against alma mater lastweek is an indication of state of confusion in the country. scared to go to the post office to Security alert in Kathmandu! country into further instability.If we accept the constitution we pick up our letters. We live in light just makes us realise how terrorism, it is going to make it more insecure.such a soul-searching going on among at least If Nero is believed to have he tries hard but he just cannot win this They have done enough harm,have no other option but to accept America and are not at all afraid plainly stupid some things are. CNN, Star News, Zee a section of responsible Americans. The fear played the flute while Rome propaganda war. And even while he was Michael Parenti, an independent media now give peace a chance. Paras as crown prince. Paras of our mail. I kindly ask people in We have become a nation of News, Channel News Asia burnt, what is so strange in delivering the tirade against terrorism at the analyst, laments, “The US Congress granted is that if the cowboys in the Pentagon have may not be an ideal crown prince, Nepal and around the world not to Nabin Raiparody and Kunda Dixit, know- pick up the wires, and their way, it may be too late. Paras Shah ingly or otherwise, reflects that. UN General Assembly last Saturday, his wordsBush the power to initiate military action but he is the only possible cause panic by spreading by email make frantic calls to their had a hollow ring. His argument that one against any nation, organisation, or individual This Tihar, let us pray that the human candidate under the present writing rumours and fear. This will only stringers in Kathmandu. man’s terrorist is another man’s terrorist of his choosing, without ever having to proffermisery unleashed in our neighbourhood will constitutional framework. Let’s poetry that give the terrorists satisfaction. hope time will make him a respon- PRO-PANCHAYAT be replaced by peace, so millions of homeless it has to If there were a sounded hypocritical because the question evidence to justify the attack. Such an Sajju Khatiwadasible royal. The monarchy is the CK Lal is as usual abusive in his Afghans can return to their homes. be latest column (“Memories of the competition here to in everyone’s mind was: what of the USA’s unlimited grant of arbitrary power—in Pennsylvania, USAsymbol of Nepali unity, so politi- Diwakar Thapa covert ‘wars’? violation of international law, the UN charter, cians and journalists should think re- future” #57). Why does Lal have to judge who should get Palo Alto, California twice before raising controversy curse the Panchayat system for the Grand Mediocrity The Pentagon too seems unable to make and the US Constitution—transforms the ported? CROWN PRINCE and creating a negative reputation everything? The king’s rule was a almost-elected president into an absolute It’s not CORRECTIONS Prize for this latest much headway in a hugely unequal contest Kunda Dixit in (“Is Crown Princeabout our future king. Lisa Tomsonthousand time better than the monarch who can exercise life-and-death Paras mending his ways?”, that Nepali Congress’ rule. Even theDue to a reporting error, “security alert”, the jurywith Mullah Omar and his Taliban. Whatever by email the talking head defence analysts on the payrollpower over any quarter of the world.” #57) has tried to ingratiate worst Panchas were better thanGobinda Das Rajkarnikar’s would have a difficult Nepalis of the Big Four (CNBC, CNN, CBS and that himself in King Gyanendra’s have best Congressis and Communists.name was incorrectly identified time choosing favour by making a farcical MORE ON BAHUNS Today’s leaders are all crooks andin Nepali Society, “Gobinda’s appropriately named Murdoch mouthpiece, doubts about his between the authori- correlation between Paras’ The very fact that Kanak Mani none of them is sincere like sweet tooth” #67. FOX) may say, the fact is that a war against poetry and the positive transfor- writing ability, but what awes Dixit dared to write “Bahuns andKhadga Bahadur Singh and Nav The Friends of the Bagmati ties at Madras the Taliban is unwinnable simply because “Aam Nepali”us is that his being a poet has mation of a person’s character. the Nepali state” (#65) and youRaj Subedi. For Nepal to developworkshop was held at the Teen airport, our civil these are people who have nothing left to lose. He has applied this new theory by email to be known to us after he is dared to publish it, and that therelike other countries, King declared crown prince. Dewal Mandir in Teku and not aviation people, or AFP, to validate his point (hidden was such an overwhelming Gyanendra should become like athis the Ram Mandir as stated in which seems to think Singapore Airlines flies agenda?) that people should Is Kunda Dixit a royalchamcha ? response both for and against Happenings, #66. -Ed proves that the article has struck to Kathmandu via Madras. Jivan Singh Pranika Koyu by email by email 444 NATION 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES NATION 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 555 “The princess had asked the pilot to circle Rara for a better view...”

In rural Nepal, health is about more than the- Dr Rishi Khatri body There’s plenty wrong with rural 1991 visualises a wide and The Ecuriel helicopter of Fishtail Air had just taken off from Gamgadhi army base on the shores of Lake Rara at health care in Nepal—lack of efficient rural network that 11.25AM. It circled to gain altitude, and suddenly plunged takes health care to the ward down into the icy waters. Within less than a minute, accord- political will, a stifling bureaucracy, level in villages by carrying out ing to eyewitness accounts, it had sunk. and poor awareness. Then again, Gaun Ghar, or community Dr Rishi Khatri, who was sitting at the back of the helicop- some things are going well. clinics. While district and city ter with Princess Prekshya, Sharada Singh and Iswor hospitals stress curative Basnet, was flung out of the craft. Despite an injured leg, he services, the network of 137 managed to swim to shore. It took the army personnel nearly 45 minutes to row out to the crash site that was 1 km away. primary health care centres There, amidst the debris of floating seats and pieces of the headed by doctors, the 745 cockpit, they found Sharada Singh. health posts and 3,185 sub Incredibly, she was alive despite having severe head health posts, each staffed by an injuries and being unconscious. Both Sharada Singh and Dr auxiliary health worker and a Rishi Khatri were airlifted to Nepalgunj and are now in female maternal and child hospital in Kathmandu. health worker, provide preven- According to rescuers, the body of Princess Prekshya tive and essential clinical care, also floated to the surface a while later and was retrieved. as well as counselling and The helicopter went down near the north-eastern corner of awareness-raising services. Rara where the lake is an estimated 200 m deep. The “The structure is extremely remote and scenic lake is itself situated at over 2,700 m. well-developed,” says Dr Laxmi Army personnel who resumed rescue operations on Tues- 1:100,000) and a poor rural road Raj Pathak, director of the day couldn’t even see the wreckage. and their friends raised about network, health stations like this Family Health Division, the “Rabin Kadaria was a very experienced pilot, he has done $100,000 for the centre. The one in Bolde play an important focal point for the reproductive very difficult missions at high altitude,” retired Major Bikash couple are from near Munich, complete with a pharmacy, a role in taking care to the Nepali health programmes of govern- western Nepal, Uprety came Rana of Fishtail Air told us. “The helicopter was not over- Germany, where there is one lab, a consultation room, and an countryside, and compliment the ment and non-government that health care, especially for across 1,600 women, close to loaded, there doesn’t seem to have been a malfunction.” doctor for every 300 patients. towels to catch falling dust. operation room. The centre government’s own network of organisations. “But not all of women and children, is not one-quarter of whom suffered Rana says special diving equipment is being flown in later Today, the post is empty, serves 30,000 people from as far On average Nepal has only rural health facilities. improving fast enough, is a lack offrom prolapse of the uterus this week to retrieve the other three bodies and as much of Villagers (l & r) wait their turn to be examined by a medical team in the components are functional.” The health centre in Bolde. the wreckage as possible. overshadowed by this spanking away as the neighbouring one doctor for 20,000 people (in Nepal’s New Health Policy Nepal’s health care sector is political and bureaucratic will mostly caused by too many Common cases of gastroenteritis, districts of Ramechhap and remoteBolde Pheriche. areas it can be as much as babies, and heavy workloads. Khatri has been quoted by visitors at his hospital as ALL PHOTOS: SAPANA SAKYA SAPANA ALL PHOTOS: new health centre built with constrained by several factors. high maternal mortality rate and which, in its turn, has more fractures, inflammation and fever Sindhuli, nearly two-day’s saying that Princess Prekshya had asked the pilot to circle RAMYATA LIMBU help from Friends of Bolde, a According to a 2000 World safe motherhood. They should socially-rooted causes. Most health analysts ac- are treated on the spot, while walk away. over Rara so she could get a better view of the lake when the IN BOLDE PHERICHE team of German well-wishers. Bank Study ( actually do something if, as they Argues Uprety, “This is not knowledge the role of an esti- ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ more complicated cases are sent craft dropped down into the lake while turning. “The medicines at the health mated 48,000 Female Community t is the light that draws them to the referral hospital in Dr Makaju was instrumental say, it is a priority after family only about hospitals, doctors, and post in my village are not Health Volunteers at the fore- to Bolde Pheriche, a village Dhulikhel. In a room adjoining in setting up the Dhulikhel planning,” says Pathak. medicines. It is more about effective, so I come here,” says Nepal:Operational front of the battle to slash the perched high on a hill here in the crowded consultation Hospital, the closest thing to a Nepal’s demographics reveal recognising women as humans, I 72-year-old Bhim Lal Pant. A Issues and Prioritisation of high child and maternal mortality quarters, free operations take community hospital in Nepal, the poor state of health in the about gender equality, good Cenral Nepal, a two-hour Resources in the Health place in quick succession with and its four satellite health weak and sickly Pant walked country: the fertility rate is 4.6, nutrition, sanitation, and aware- levels in the countryside. walk above the banks of the two hours uphill to see the Sector), public sector spending, ness.” On a ten-day visit to far- Saptakosi river. the medical team breaking stations in Kavre and Dhading. the infant mortality rate is 79 briefly for lunch. Now self-sustaining, run by doctors. Villagers, mostly including donor expenditure, on per 1,000 live births, and The solar-powered lights, a women, walked up the same health care is a mere $3.10 per “Operating here is much efficient medical staff on land maternal mortality is about 5.4 beacon in the darkness that donated by the people of route while the health station person per year—far less than stretches for miles around, tells more convenient now,” says Dr One such volunteer, Kumari, distributes oral rehydration salts per thousand live births, one of Dhulikhel and with infrastruc- was being constructed. They to villagers and explains how to use these in a medical the $12 (1993 prices) needed to the worst statistics in the world. them that the doctors from Ram Kantha Makaju, as he each regularly carried 50 kg bags provide a basic package of removes a tumour bigger than a ture built with the help of emergency. Women, men, and children come to her usually Half the children under five Dhulikhel have arrived. “The European well-wishers, 16,000 of cement for six hours while seeking medicine for a fever, upset stomachs, or first aid for health care services in a lights are kept on all night long sotennis ball from a patient’s back. suffer from malnutrition, life operations have taken place at others broke rocks to make the injuries. Kumari also often assists mothers in childbirth. developing country. The result, expectancy at birth is a mere 57 people from the surrounding Next he operates on a hydrocele, natural stone wall. After that, she sits down with them to tell them about healthy the report says, are gross a collection of watery fluid in Dhulikhel and 135,000 patients years , and just 29 percent of the area can see them. Even in the have been treated in the past “It’s good to see people food for themselves and their families and the schedule they inadequacies in terms of the scrotum, and a hernia. Next need to follow for immunisation and Vitamin A drops for their population of child bearing age A Fishtail Air Ecuriel helicopter of the type that crashed in villages across the river,” says five years. getting health care,” says Horst infrastructure, human resources, Kanchi Tamang. is a vasectomy. The facilities are babies. uses contraceptives. Rara on Sunday. Today, its health outreach Schmel who with his wife Ursula and service delivery. Kanchi is one of hundreds of much better now. Two years ago It isn’t always easy, though. Seated on the mud floor of a Even under relatively centre in Bolde is a compact The situation has worsened villagers who have turned up at visiting surgeons operated inside small hut, Kumari’s counterpart Bimala alternately coaxes optimistic scenarios, says the the crumbling premises of the stone and cement building and threatens Sukmaya to take her son for immunisation because of a one-pill-fits-all Bank’s report, Nepal’s popula- Maoists and marijuana the health centre here. She is ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ shots at the government’s free vaccination camp in the approach. “Dolpa and waiting to be examined by a team government sub-health post tion is likely to grow at about 2 while staff held torches and village. Sukmaya, who has already lost two infants, is not Pathaliya, two vastly different percent annually in the Living under Maoist rule has brought at least one benefit to of young doctors and nurses sure it will help. She’d rather go to a faith healer. areas—one in the mountains, the villagers living in the north-western parts of Makwanpur struggling to keep up with the forseeable future. This would district. Since the Maoist “people’s government” was de- the other in the tarai—get the double the population in 35 lengthening line of patients. same supply of drugs,” says Dr clared there—meaning there is no police presence—farmers years, putting enormous pressure in the dozen or so Village Development Committees have Aruna Uprety, a health and on the country’s already meagre turned their attention to nurturing their preferred cash crop: reproductive rights activist. health services. Infectious marijuana. Previously, police carried out frequent raids and In addition, most health diseases, maternal and prenatal burnt marijuana harvests. The Maoists, who had earlier HERE AND THERE by DANIEL LAK facilities lack personnel and are ailments, and nutritional declared the area a “marijuana free zone” by continuing the perpetually short of essential police practice, appear to have changed their minds. Appar- deficiencies are the major causes ently, they’re happy to turn a blind eye as long as they too, like drugs and supplies. “Extreme of sickness and death in Nepal, other local protectors, including mainstream politicians and poverty and lack of health accounting for 50 percent of all some men in uniform, get their cut of the profits from the sale education both discourage deaths and 69 percent of disease. of the narcotic across the border in India. By one report, last Two months after people from seeking health care, The Bank report suggests year police got their hands on 8,000 kg of marijuana and but the country’s rugged terrain what many health care profes- destroyed the crop in 74.5 hectares. The Americans aren’t angels, but they are accountable to also limits access to health sionals have been saying all the press, Congress, human rights activists, the facilities,” adds Uprety. along—that programs are simply t is far too easy, when things are so grim, to invent demons, or to In the recent budget the not well managed or coordinated exaggerate wrongdoing and ill-intent. Few of us have the comprehen-opposition, sceptics like Noam Chomsky and Edward Said. government committed itself to with each other, that their roles Isive reference points needed to make sense of what is going on at the○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ adding three more beds for are ill-defined, and that there is maternity care in each electoral not enough decentralisation at No salt moment. American racist militiamen or the twisted and alienated rich kids who ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ area. But so far, there are no any level, whether budgeting or Ideology, blind faith, cynicism—none of these really help. The only honest joined the Baader Meinhof gang in Germany in the 1970s. They hate, and There’s a sugar shortage in Kathmandu and residents are signs of that happening. monitoring the operation of approach to the current crisis is to reinvent your feelings about it on a regular they act on that hatred. angry that they may not be able to prepare sweets during “Everyone from the planning health posts. basis. We need to read, watch TV, listen to radio and above all else, talk. I defy anyone who has espoused the cause of the Palestinians or the Tihar. But in Dolpa, the situation is a little different. Residents commission to the government But the more basic reason So we sit in Nepal, or Pakistan, or London or America and stay up far there are worried about a more basic commodity, salt. With downtrodden anywhere else in the world to find common ground with the has been going on about the supplies from the Salt Trading Corporation (STC) nowhere in too late, agonising, laughing and crying. Anyone who hasn’t changed his or perpetrators of the acts of 11 September. Have the Americans done sight and salt from Tibet not there yet, most Dolpa residents her mind many, many times during the past weeks isn’t to be trusted. The anything similar to anyone else? No, they haven’t. They have backed a don’t have the salt they need. The reason for the shortage is sheer horror of the attacks on the United States have yet to really hit home catalogue of villains around the world, they have leapt in and out of the inability of STC contractors to transport salt. The corpora- for most of us. What I can’t yet come to terms with is that how little troubled, complex situations usually to the detriment of all concerned. But tion has set aside nearly 700 quintals of salt for the remote convergence there has been between worldviews. they haven’t flown planeloads of innocents into buildings. They are not district. But, says the District Development Committee, none I have long felt, with the intensity of religious faith, that the “clash of angels—far from it. But they are accountable, eventually, and not just of that is getting there, depriving people in two dozen Village Development Committees of one of the necessities of life. civilisations” was a gross oversimplification that overlooked the role of before their version of God. The press, Congress, human rights activists, In a hamlet in Makwanpur, FCHV Chinimaya Rumba, in her early fifties, can neither read nor write. But on vaccination money, development, modernisation and circumstance. Yet 11 September the opposition, sceptics like Chomsky and Said, all hold the powers-that- be in America to account. Eventually. Who, save Rumsfeld, Bush and days, she gets the teacher to record the names of the was a powerfully direct challenge to that view. children who have taken shots. Rumba knows all the village As I watched the World Trade Centre towers collapse in Delhi, I was others are holding al-Qaeda to account? children by name. She knows who has missed a shot and surrounded by people I thought I knew very well. I was devastated to hear some No, I still don’t think it’s right to bomb Afghanistan further into the who needs to be cajoled to come. It’s difficult work, and of them say, even as the buildings went down and thousands died, that the oppression of the Palestinians, American swaggering and ineptitude in Stone Age. I still feel politics should have been given more time to topple Rumba says that “it can be pain.” She sometimes feels the Americans deserved it, that faulty foreign policy in Washington somehow world affairs—things external and perversely rational. But no, I think not.the ghastly Taliban regime, that money, dollars, should rain down on urge to just quit. And she isn’t alone. Quite a few women health workers stop after a few years. justified what was happening in New York. Middle class people who work forAs much I’d love to see Ariel Sharon on trial for the war crimes of SabraAfghanistan and every other hellhole that spawns hatred. They—the organisations espousing Western values—Westoxicated, in the words of Indianand Shatila, as much as I have long felt that Israel’s behaviour towards theAmericans—need to wrap up this somewhat pointless military campaign Rumba is constantly on call, works odd hours, and has sociologist Dipankar Gupta—were somehow gaining satisfaction from the Palestinians is cruel and—ultimately—against it’s own self interest, that’ssometime soon and this time, spend as freely on schools, roads and quite a job persuading stubborn mothers. And she doesn’t actions of intensely violent men who assume the right to maim and murder fornot what is behind the attacks on America. irrigation as they did on Tomahawks. get paid either. But what keeps her going, says Rumba, is But they need to defeat Al Qaeda and every other group that thinks the thought that she has come to mean so much to the political reasons—terrorists, by the classic definition of the word. Nor is American affluence, arrogance or ignorance to blame, not at all. village. The sentiments, no doubt, of many of these women Friends in Turkey, Brazil and elsewhere in the developing world On the contrary, a picture is emerging of horrible clarity—the men at theit’s right to kill the innocent. And we—the people—need to build who are the backbone of rural health care in Nepal. reported similar reactions, within themselves as well as without. I felt thecontrols of planeloads of screaming passengers, the planners and back roomconsensus on that point around the world. We could start by behaving western liberals’ version of that. I wanted to blame Israel, Ariel Sharon, theboys who laid the groundwork, perhaps even Osama bin Laden in his cavewith logic, generosity and justice, everywhere and at all times. in Afghanistan, these people pulse with hatred in the same way as North 666 NATION 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES NATION 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 777 VILAGE VOICE by DR MILAN PIYA SOMEWHERE IN NEPAL by PUSKAR BHUSAL

the institute decides what to do with the internship program. But the fact is, that none of us is terribly the sudden shifts in Maoist tactics with enthusiastic about going back and Prachanda comes alive How much is too much? every turn of events. In the last six risking another beating. It sounds months alone, the policy has moved harsh, but I can’t help thinking that A newspaper down south gives us some insights intobecoming a full-time politician. (Is Dad, too, has been living with from “undeclared operational unity” the services given to Inaruwa's that where he discovered that “colonial-his own share of grief. (“I’m pained with the palace to institutionalising hospital by the BP Koirala institute ism, feudalism, imperialism, the private life of The Man Who Can’tMaoists areBe operating Fathomed. outside of the when I hear that people are being the post-1 June embryonic republic. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○ capitalism and revisionism are all should be suspended, at least constitution. But this fact doesn’t free killed on my son’s orders.”) He The last we heard from Prachanda, temporarily, so the people there bad?” Just a thought.) Although it’s hasn’t seen Pushpa Kamal since the Maoists have decided not to o Pushpa Kamal Dahal is adorned our newspapers and the government from its responsibilityunclear whether he chose his nom de realise that they have as much to addicted to buffalo milk. For magazines and they must have made to uphold the people’s right to 1995 and doesn’t know where his press their demand for a People’s gain from the internship program as guerre after the “Prachanda Gorkha”, wife and children live. That’s no Republic of Nepal in peace talks Ssomeone who religiously many wonder what the man was information on The Fierce One. I’ve the underground political group we do, if not more. And they need small sacrifice, especially when manywith the government. despises the opium of the masses, the actually like. UML leader Madhav heard rumours of frequent Prachanda- busted by the Ranas in 1931, the to understand that we are not choice of stimulants to advance the Kumar Nepal, who joined other key sightings in the capital. Actually, I’ve people probably can’t stop staring at This shift seems to be guided as experimenting on them or playing Maoist chieftain seems to have him—either out of awe or antipa- much by the writing on the wall cause must have been limited indeed. Leftist leaders at a meeting with the come across a couple of people who drawn lessons from the movement with their lives, but merely working Comrade Prachanda is said to gulp Maoist leader in the Indian city of bear striking similarities to the facial thy—every time he takes a walk around Tri-Chandra Campus as by under the guidance of our seniors on the need to maintain strict through the neighbourhood. the post-11 September international down two large glasses of fresh milk— Siliguri several weeks ago, refused to features we’ve seen in those grainy operational secrecy. while gaining experience. After all, unboiled and without sugar—each answer a reporter’s questions on newspaper pictures. But I never could Prachanda, who insists on using security environment. All this The man the government holds similar internship programs are morning before turning on his radio whether Prachanda really looked liked make out for sure since none of those the royal plural in his interviews and sounds like genuine realpolitik. But running smoothly in the Dhankuta for the latest news from Nepal, India what he does in those pictures. Nepal, men raised a clenched fist as I passed responsible for the deaths of up to statements, asserts that his soldiers are Prachanda still believes the Maoist and Morang District Hospitals and the rest of the Milky Way galaxy. who surfaced from his own under- by. We now understand how deeply 2,000 people—most of them his own preparing themselves to fight the revolution will be completed very supporters—is not heartless, after all. without problems. We were offered these and other ground den after the restoration of the Maoist leader detests moderates, Indian Army, which he believes will soon, and not in the remote future. Prachanda’s biggest regret in life is that It is hard to understand the rare insights into the private life of multiparty democracy, laughed off the who he calls “opportunist dogs”. eventually come to the rescue of the It’s this kind of obfuscation that he was not by his mother’s side when government in Kathmandu. “[I]t will obscures the insurgents’ real antagonism to Nepal’s rebel-in-chief last week in a query as if an answer would have But he wags his tail at a lot of represented a breach of comradely she died. When she was diagnosed be a very good thing because we will intentions. I probably haven’t read newspaper profile published down things. He is a passionate fan of with blood cancer in 1995, Pushpa south. The piece served to shed much- confidentiality. Karisma Manandhar and is said to capture lots of guns from them. It will enough about the Long March and There are simply not enough doctors Prachanda may be one of the Kamal and his brother got her be our national war of independ- the Great Leap Forward to under- needed light on a soul that has cast a travel miles to see her movies. Pushpa admitted to Bir Hospital. He spent a in rural Nepal. But one lucky district long shadow on Nepali politics from world’s most secretive leaders, but Kamal actually describes himself in the ence.” So the Dunai and Rukumkot stand the true significance of such along with consultants from two month with her in the hospital, but assaults were just trial runs for the pussyfooting. But I do know that the dark. Variations of only two even shadowy characters live lives that profile as an easy-going, fun-loving had to vanish after somebody tipped departments. They help run the hospital doesn’t value those it has. interest the public. Granted, the big one. That kind of self-possessiontwo glasses of frothy buffalo milk are photographs of Prachanda have so far schoolboy who sang and danced and off the police. “I think it is the biggest hospital and provide emergency ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ is laudable in a leader, but the very rich in fat content. Comrade, BOTH PICS: SAPANA SAKYA SAPANA BOTH PICS: doctors posted there by the played football, volleyball, and personal sacrifice I have ever made,” he services at any time of day or night While I’m at it, I would also sikarudoctors all over, problem is that it sounds more like just make sure you keep your Ministry of Health, the hospital has says. Did this sense of forfeiture in any under the supervision of the consult- like to take the air out of the a cordial invitation to the Bharatiya cholesterol levels under control. INARUWA, SUNSARI-Itis been adopted as a teaching centre for the people of Inaruwa, who have especially in Inaruwa. After all, no one way fortify Prachanda’s desire to use jawans to come marching in through ants and the doctors in government widespread belief that tying a very common knowledge that there aren’t by the BP Koirala Institute of beaten up DHOs on several is a great cardiologist or ace neurosur- death and destruction as instruments the back door. service posted there. tight tourniquet to treat snake bite enough doctors in Nepal, especially in Health Sciences (BPKIHS) in occasions before, and even a nurse geon from the womb. I suppose some to achieve political ends? Such concerns are magnified by rural areas. Kathmandu Valley itself is Dharan. And for the last seven Well, by Nepali standards, this just a few months ago. I was presentis helpful. A torniquet should be of this has to do with the local quacks kabaddi. It turns out that he had full of doctors and so are maybe a few years, many have been provided is a lot of doctors. So I guess some at the scene and after reading the tied leaving one finger-width worth of and unlicensed pharmacists who worked briefly for the US Agency for here, to improve the quality of people think a few can be spared. article in extra room, so that the blood supply isabound in rural areas. As for me, I International Development before other towns. But there simply aren’t Kantipur, felt the need to enough doctors in most district health care and also expose the Those of you who read not hampered, but lymphatic drainageintend to remain a trainee all my life, hospitals, and some are even running doctors of tomorrow to the set the record straight. is blocked. This is because 90 and keep myself open to all there is to in the absence of a single doctor. The conditions in a not-too well- The article mentioned two percent—if not more—of the snakes know. It is interesting, though, how never forgot. It changed the course of my life.” status of health services in most parts equipped hospital. Now, consult- ‘sikarudoctors’ trying to treat a most of us encounter are not people tend to forget that doctors are of Nepal is pathetic, and that is why ants (specialist doctors) from woman who had been bitten by a poisonous. If you tie a very tight also human. And that all people, Despite his Leftist leanings, after graduation Prachanda worked the government is opening so many various departments at the BP Kantipur snake. According to the report, tourniquet, you stop the venom from whether one’s near and dear or for USAID for a few months, before plunging full-time into politics. new medical colleges. Koirala institute go with students these doctors released the tourni- entering the bloodstream, but with doctors themselves, eventually die. But long before that, he married Sita Paudal. Nobody knows where may have noticed a small item Prachanda’s wife and children live. Not even Muktiram. But I was surprised to find out three times a week to provide tucked away in the inside pages in quet from herlegand reapplied it the blood supply cut off, the part Doctors aren’t god. OWER PLAY specialist care in Inaruwa’s out patient below the tourniquet is sure to P The battle-hardened Prachanda’s biggest regret is that he that the Sunsari District Hospital the edition of 17 October. The It disappointed me that people incorrectly, letting the poison develop gangrene. Whether the snake was not by his mother’s side when she died. “She had blood in Inaruwa has quite a few doctors. department (OPD). And for the past report said that the people of through her body. They then are we were treating and serving had no An Indian journalist’s account of meeting three years, about half-a-dozen newly was poisonous or not, this part of the cancer and in 1995 we admitted her to the Bir Hospital, the best In fact, for the people of Inaruwa, Inaruwa had beaten up the doctor said to have called the DHO, who clue what we were doing there after “the world’s most secretive leader.” in Kathmandu. My brother and I spent a month with her in the there seem to be too many. If you graduated interns have been posted in charge of the district hospital body will turn black and be com- immediately referred the patient to pletely useless soon. Meanwhile, even ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ hospital. But somebody tipped off the police and I had to vanish are from Inaruwa and feel other- there 24 hours a day, seven days a (the District Health Officer, or the BP Koirala institute in Dharan. ROBIN SAYAMI before they nabbed me. I think it is the biggest personal sacrifice wise, I apologise. The hospital thereweek and 365 days a year in rotation, DHO), a few other members of the a not-too-tighttourniquet will seven years. It wasn’t the physical I have ever made.” And, since the patient died on the SNM ABDI ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ Army. And it will be a very good thing because we will capture a has never been short of trained hospital staff, and two ‘ way, an angry mob beat up all theseretard the absorption of the poison.beating—I was only hit by two But the uncompromising fighter conceded that he has a sikaru This is why doctors remove badminton rackets, which I blocked rachanda, or The Powerful One, is addicted to buffalolot milk. of gunsHe from them. It will be our national war of independ- medical professionals. Besides the people at the hospital. The gist of ence.” His logic is that New Delhi will, sooner or later,sweet come tooth. He is also a passionate fan of Karisma Manandhar, doctors, referring, I guess, to us the article seemed to be that the tourniquets and tie them again off and broke—but the attitude of the gulps down two big glasses of fresh, frothy milk—unboiled the Madhuri Dixit of Nepal, and is known to travel miles to see themselves, loosely, as they people that got me all riled up. In any and without sugar—at the crack of dawn before switchingto the on rescue of the Nepal government tottering under heavy interns. Not a totally new concept interns were responsible for the P Maoist assault. her new releases. However, for Prachanda, the cause is all- death of the woman and that the should be. I see no error on the case, I am thankful that when the the small Sony radio for the latest news from Nepal, India and consuming. “Maoism today is spreading faster than yesterday,” around the world. Station-surfing over, he sits down to read andAccording to Prachanda, colonialism, feudalism, imperial- beating administered by the mob part of any of the doctors in mob rushed towards our hostel, at the he maintains firmly. Inaruwa in this case. doorway they ran into me—6 ft tall write, often dictating to a confidante. The morning routine neverism, capitalism and revisionism are all bad. All peasants are was somehow justified. good. And politicians are bad. But thanks to the ‘brave’ young and 75 kg—and not a woman doctor. changes. Neither does the security cover for one of South Asia’s Well, the snake had bitten the She would have met the same fate as most wanted men—16 bodyguards with AK-47s—a human Heshield entered Leftist politics in 1971 through a faction of the (The Sunday Times of India) patient on the men from Inaruwa, there won’t be that the enemies of Nepal’s Fidel Castro have not dared to test. too many doctors there, at least for the nurse who was badly beaten up Communist Party, moving on to more radical groups, eventually Pushpan ( ending up at the top of the Maoist faction in the mid-1990s. handand not on the the time being. One of the doctors and kicked by Inaruwa’s bravest a few leg,and there was a physician from was officially transferred to a months ago. I feel bad for the next sic) Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda rules one-thirdBorn on 11 December, 1954, in Dhikurpokhri village of Kaski our institute who supervised the different hospital a few days before doctor on government service who of Nepal after a six-year-old civil war that has claimed 2,000district lives in the Himalayan foothills, Prachanda was christened whole treatment from start to the incident, leaving only one will be posted here. in the once-peaceful Himalayan kingdom. Even KathmanduChabilal by his father Muktiram Dahal, who worked as a farm This Dasain I prayed for the admits that its writ doesn’t run anymore in 25 out of 73 hand.( When he was seven, the family migrated to Shivnagar in finish. And he, after discussing it doctor there on government service. sic) southern Nepal. At the Narayani High School, he apparently with the DHO, referred the patientSince he was beaten up, my guess is people of Inaruwa. May the lord give districts where the Reds run a parallel government—collectingimpressed his teachers so much with his intelligence and to Dharan because the Sunsari the remaining doctor will get them good health—and the good taxes, running schools, hospitals post offices, buses andconduct that they rechristened him Pushpan Kamal after the District Hospital did not have himself transferred out or simply sense to realise that there aren’t dispensing justice. And the goal of the revolutionary armylotus, of thea symbol of purity and beauty. “As a child, he never lied equipment for artificial respiration, quit. And for now, us interns have Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) fighters, led by the orcharis- fought with other children. In fact, he was called to mediate which she would probably require been posted back to Dharan, while that matic Comrade Prachanda, is to quickly capture the otherand two- resolve disputes,” says Muktiram, who hasn’t seen his soon. The DHO and an intern manydoctors in Nepal. thirds still ruled by Nepal’s constitutional monarch, Kingson since 1995. telephoned the emergency depart- Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, and Prime Minister SherAfter school, Prachanda enrolled at the Rampur Agricultural Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress Party. ment in Dharan to inform them (Dr Milan Piya is an intern with College, a 30-minute bicycle-ride from Shivnagar. “Students that this patient was on the way. the BP Koirala Institute of Health “The Maoist revolution will be completed very soon, notstaretd in the coming to our house. I learned that he was dabbling in Sciences.) remote future,” says the shadowy rebel boss who movespolitics. from I told him—we are poor, we can’t afford politics, politics bunker to bunker. He is one of the most secretive masscan leaders destroy us. Even today, I’m pained when I hear that people in the world, with only two photographs of him known toare exist. being killed on my son’s orders.” The Nepali media—newspapers and TV channels—carry Prachandathe describes himself as an easy-going, fun-loving same pictures day after day. But his hardline views are well- schoolboy who sang and danced and played football, volleyball known. “All moderates are opportunist hogs, I detest them. and There is no alternative to people’s war and the gun is the best tool for social transformation.” Prachanda, who underwent military training while at univer- sity, adds gleefully, “Ultimately we will have to fight the Indian kabaddi. “But one day I saw a moneylender insulting my father. My father fell at the moneylender’s feet. But the money- lender kicked him. It lit a fire inside me. 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Japan E-mail: [email protected] Tel/Fax: 03-52473585 888 NEPALI ECONOMY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES ECONOMY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 999 BIZ NEWS ECONOMIC SENSE by ARTHA BEED Spending rules ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ The government has announced new expenditure regulations to tighten spending on projects. Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat says this is to eliminate one of the “loopholes” in development administration, which has been a hotbed of corruption. The rule makes cost escalations beyond 15 percent throughSilly variation season orders—changing designs and specifications mid-way into construction—illegal. One example of how From below sea level to the specifications change is the Kali Gandaki hydroelectric project, which is expected to cost as much as 50 percent over the original budget by the time construction is over and the project comes on line sometime in everything, this Beed felt a frisson of early 2002. The new rules also simplify bidding for construction contracts, and specify that differentThis officials Tihar, think about doing business the next festive season. are to do the cost estimates prior to bidding than those who eventually evaluate bids. delight at seeing the bright lights and all the hustle and bustle, a nice epal undeniably needs a good change from the deserted streets and kick in the pants to spur highest mountain empty shops one has come to expect Neconomic growth. And at this time of year. Normally, during Nepal Lever profits down obviously taking a month off is the ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Dasain and Tihar women have been Nepal Lever, a subsidiary of Hindustan Lever, has reported a roughly 50 percent drop in net profitsway to doin it.the Dasain and Tihar are homebound, attending to the Nepal and the Netherlands are an unlikely, but fiscal year that ended mid-July 2001. Profits fell from about Rs 120.5 million in July 2000 to wonderfulRs 68 million festivals, a time to reaffirm demands of the men in their lives this year, according to a company statement. The lower takings were largely due to a 27 percentone’s drop commitment in to family, society and feeding all and sundry. With the curiously compatible couple. 12,883 in 1999. In other words, export turnover compared to the year before. Lever’s toothpaste exports stopped in March whenand India so forth through the copious growth in nuclear families, and more there was a doubling of visitors in changed the duty regime, charging it on the Manufacturer’s Retail Price (MRP) and not transaction value. just two years, and these figures The revenue from falling toothpaste sales was about Rs 50 million. Nepali exports were also madeswilling uncompeti- of liquor, eating of goat and women working, people are tive by India’s Central VAT deductions on raw material and packing duties available to Indiangambling producers. of life Still, savings. celebrating festivals differently, too. don’t include the number of Dutch Lever’s domestic sales rose by 21 percent to Rs 704.3 million. But, the Beed, ever the clear- This has happened all over the nationals who get their Nepali visa at the Chinese or Indian borders, or eyed killjoy also sees it as a month they don’t remember a festival time inworld, and is always accompanied by at the Tribhuvan Intenrational during which productivity is at a recent years when there have been the lament that so-and-so traditional Airport. To what can we attribute disgraceful low, and many offices such few tourists. festival has become a money-spinner this sharp increase? Probably not to Mind our business take on the appearance of ghost Tihar, this Beed was thinking, is for such-and-such. Well, I ask, ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ the ingenious marketing strategies of towns. It is autumn, and most of actually the best time to assess the what’s wrong with that. People are the The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) invited Prime Ministerthe population, Sher sensing the end of state of the economy, based on the getting out of their houses and it is Bahadur Deuba over to tell him how bad things were for business. Deuba said he was willing to help and that he’d amend labour laws. But the FNCCI’s 22-point list is more wide-ranging and asks that government:the warm season, unthinkingly money that changes hands. Gambling the beholden duty of any self- • Guarantee industrial security makes merry and, like the grasshop-is as much part of our national psyche respecting businessperson to lure • Ban strikes, bandhs and other disruptions per, regrets it through the winter. as are drinking and the daura-suruwal,them in. We should have carnivals Visit Nepal 1998initiative. The • Give the FNCCI the power to hire and fire workers, and make other changes in labour law This year, while the garment and since the festival legitimises revolving around religious or cultural answer comes in the unlikely form of • End extortion and forceful donations (by Maoists and other political parties) betting day and night, we raise the • Hurry up with help for sick industries importers operating out of tax havens themes—that is one way to boost the Dutch airline, Transavia. Cas F de Stoppelaar helped bring • Reduce visa fees and introduce multiple entry permits in Indra Chowk and its by-lanes may stakes pretty high and a mind- domestic as well as international Transavia is a daughter Transavia to Nepal. 220-seater aircraft a week to • Get banks to reschedule loans and interest repayments argue that there has been a visible boggling amount of cash is exchanged. tourism. These events could be in company of KLM, the Dutch flag- Kathmandu for 35 weeks of the • Implement the duty-drawback re-payment scheme announced in the budget It is always rude to ask people the any part of Nepal. Increasing recession, retailers nevertheless did carrier, and has its own fleet of 25 back, one thing led to another and Kathmandu, something on the orderyear, transporting up to 15,400 • Promptly refund the Value Added Tax owed to garment exporters source of their income, and never mobility, better roads and air • Provide special security to distilleries and breweries frenzied business during the festivals. planes. Already a well-established in January 1997, Crown Prince of 150 seats a week. The search ran people to Nepal and back. The more so than during Tihar, neverthe- connections should be leveraged to • Exclude old bank loans from the central bank’s loan recovery directives A good monsoon is always a good charter airline in the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander of the Nether- into administrative obstacles—therepsychological importance of being • Provide immunity to old borrowers. prelude to a good Dasain, and less, there ought to be something that encourage people to travel. the bulk of Transavia’s traditional was no Air Service Agreement able to fly directly from one’s own can be done when in one night lands made an official visit to agricultural prosperity has been on the Entrepreneurs in the tourism business was built around trans- Nepal. Received, in line with between the Netherlands and country and, moreover, with a up this year. The dim, but noticeable, businessmen bet amounts that and hospitality industries, together porting Dutch holiday-makers to Nepal. Such an agreement is a trusted ‘home’ airline cannot be officially they have earned over three expected protocol, by then Crown rays of hope emanated by the peace with business associations, should try beach destinations like Ibiza and Prince Dipendra, Willem-Alexander prerequisite for direct flights to underestimated. By filling this niche talks between the government and theyears, and government employees play this out next year. Think about it as Mallorca in the summer holidays. commence between any two in the market, the Transavia service more than their life-time earnings. extended an ‘open invitation’ at the Maoists have also fuelled some you have what I hope is a happy and So adding Kathmandu as a seasonal end of his stay for his host to pay a nations. On 10 June 1998, when to Kathmandu has quite literally Sanitary ware optimism in villages. Cities like One may be censorious of the ○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ prosperous Tihar! destination from September to return visit. the late Crown Prince Dipendra wasplaced Nepal on the map of Pokhara and Dharan, which have bacchanalian lunacy that descends on India’s Hindware has begun marketing its bathroom fittings and April dovetailed nicely with the 1998 was a year of growing in the Netherlands, an agreement possibility for a class of older, tiles in Nepal. The products are to be retailed through eight historically been happy to buy, buy, the Nepali nation in the festive supply and demand of their staff Dutch interest in Nepal, particu- was signed between Transavia and wealthier, non-backpacking Dutch outlets in Kathmandu Valley, and gradually more all over buy, saw their brisk Dasain business season, but that does not blind one to and fleet, which are fully occupied larly due to the press coverage RNAC, allowing them to fly to eachtourists who might previously have Nepal. If you are planning to redo your bathroom, this may be spill over into Tihar. But still, Thamelsome rather interesting sociological in the summer months, but less so other’s capitals. gone to Bali for a beach holiday. the time to do it, since the company has special opening offers surrounding the IMAX Everest film, and freebies. Bajra & Bajracharya Enterprises also distribute isn’t doing too well, and retailers, changes in the making. For instance, in the northern winter. The first Transavia flight to And it’s not just the Dutch. The hoteliers and restaurateurs there say it was quite something to be out on and the news that Nepal’s crown products from Somany Floor & Wall tiles, Nova Industries and And how Transavia came to fly prince would be visiting. De Kathmandu took off on 23 number of Belgian tourists coming Hindware (Hindustan Sanitaryware Industries P Ltd). the streets during Dasain. Despite to Kathmandu is a story in its own Stoppelaar, together with the September, 1998. In the cockpit— to Nepal has jumped 15 percent this year compared to last year— Readers can post their views at right. The unexpected catalysts influential Dutch travel agency though not at the controls—was de the only nationality to register an [email protected]. were the crown princes of both OAD (which owns Stoppelaar, himself a holder of a MARK TURININ AMSTERDAM ○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ both countries share. Nepal wants kingdoms, though they surely did pilot’s licence and a long-time increase. side from being two small tourists and the Dutch are tourists. not know things would turn out Nepal Reizen), aircraft enthusiast. Weekly Internet Poll #8 www.nepalnews.com constitutional monarchies Whichever country in the world this way. In 1967, King Mahendra had been approaching airlines with At present Transavia flies two A that sit alphabetically next you care to visit, you are bound to was on an official visit to the the idea of opening up a direct to each other at United Nations find a Dutchie. Most are just Netherlands. Unfortunately, the route between Amsterdam and conferences, the Netherlands and travelling, but others settle down evening of the royal banquet did Do you agree with the Maoists demand for a newNepal appear constitution to have little else in and turn to good old-fashioned ?not go as planned. The palace was a common. The Netherlands is a Calvinist Dutch entrepreneurship. little frazzled, and Queen Juliana post-industrial country with wide- From beaches in Thailand to was absent—she was giving birth to No, I don’t agree. First of all who are the Maoists to demand it? ministersNo rather than loyal policemen. There is no point makingtowards other improving the quality of life of all citizens. Without a democraticreaching infrastructure, virtually no outposts in Alaska, there are the future crown prince of the government in the world can succumb to terrorist threats. Second,laws, they because are laws are written to be broken. political framework in place, the alternative is the danger of totalitarian- remaining unmanipulated nature Netherlanders running bars, Netherlands, Willem-Alexander. not the people’s representatives, they point guns at innocent people to ism, authoritarianism, anarchy, civil war, and fragmentation of the restaurants and businesses. Nepal is agree with their rhetoric. Third, our constitution has the provision to Dambar Khanal, Delhisovereign Nepal as we know and love so dearly today. and startlingly high income tax. Almost thirty years later, this incident change itself with two-thirds majority of the No, the Maoist should join the political mainstream and work to uplift Nepal, for its part, is essentially no exception: the cosy oasis called helped Cas F de Stoppelaar, the Royal pratinidhi sabha. If the Maoists the lives of the poor and needy. Bring progress and prosperity to the Padam Sharma, Minnesota non-industrial, with little infra- the Summit Hotel was established Nepalese Honorary Consul General nation, win the people’s hearts and minds. Then demand a new want to change the constitution, let them fight elections peacefully and It will be real stupidity to change the constitution. But, we can certainly by their own countrymen and to the Netherlands, get Transavia to constitution. structure to speak of, nor enforced get a two-thirds majority in the house and amend it. However, this does not consider changes that are promptly needed, such as in the case of royal taxes for that matter, but abound- specifically caters to their cultural fly to Nepal. this does not give our present rulers the excuse to be complacent and powers and so on. It is better for Maoist to quit their crazy demands. and dietary needs. ignorant towards the plight of Nepalis. Nanda Limbu ing in natural beauty. Then there is De Stoppelaar dashed off a What we need is a change of attitude, not constitution. What we need is CL Duwal the most apparent and amusing In 1998, the number of Dutch letter to the Dutch Royal Palace, Damanendraaction, not speech, and we need to not expect that from others, Thebut setMaobadi are right, perhaps Nepal needs to revise its constitution. contrast—in the Netherlands the nationals visiting Nepal saw a sharp pointing out that the palace had Government shouldn’t panic. We need to think critically, and makeexamples the ourselves. But this is not for them to say or do. The consensus should come from highest point is a few hundred feet increase. According to figures from once been responsible for ruining an the people and political parties. Political parties will try to seize the right decision that does not put the country in danger. A few years ago, the Rajeeb Satyal above sea level, which in Nepal the Consulate of the Kingdom of official dinner in honour of King Maoists were nobody, now they want to take over the country and change opportunity for their own benefit, so the only neutral person would be His would be swiftly dismissed as a Nepal in Amsterdam, the total the constitution. This is not fair on other citizens who want democracy.Amend the constitution, but the way the Maoists want to. The pastMajesty. Mahendra. The palace rang him decade of Westminster-style parliamentary system in Nepal has bred number of tourist visas issued were Sushmita khaoistsand Maoists. The former created the latter. The proliferation of DD 6,649 in 1997, 10,860 in 1998 and Even though a new constitution is not required, the present onerank-and-file needs to khaoists and the very existence of the Maoist insurgencyI think so. Given our political situation maybe we need Mao. dhisko. be amended to suit the modern era. The state should be secular.expose The the structural cracks of the present Nepali constitution. Gajendra Gurung But tourism is one concern power of the prime minister should be clearly defined, whether in mobilis- ing the army or declaring a mid-term poll. The judiciary should beThe made current practice by which the leader of the majority partyProgress in means going forward, not backward. This constitution is not accountable to the people, the palace must be made more transparent.parliament becomes prime minister is flawed, more critically so whendoing noanything for the people. After 12 years it hasn’t brought change. If Nepal is to go into the 21 political party has a majority. The institution of prime minister needs to st century, we need total change, become a Prakash be strengthened to elect a strong leader who carries forward the national vision as per the aspirations of the majority. This leadership develop-republic and have a presidential system. Yes, the demand is quite right from the people’s perspective. Thement present process can be accomplished by electing the prime minister and Dipak Sharma constitution is not less democratic than any constitution of the world, but it his/her deputy directly by adult franchise for a set period of years.Try to understand what most Nepalis want. The constitution needs a shot is only mimicry, not reality. Did the framers of the constitution get a The elected prime minister should form a cabinet consistingin of the arm, and it isn’t wise to ask the king of a tiny country to step down mandate from the people? individuals of high ethics and proven public service from amongstwhen there are over three dozen ethnic groups who hate each others’ guts. Dev Basu political parties, civil service, business, non-governmental institutions, technocrats, educators, and other sectors of society. If MPs become There is nothing wrong with the current constitution, only with theministers, people they should resign from the legislature. A simple majority of J Bruno implementing it. Nepal needs a group of honest people to be elected who parliament should have the power to remove any incompetent minister,I do not understand why on earth Maoist leaders are demanding a new will run the country in its best interest, not their own. The political powers and a two-thirds majority of the whole legislature should be allowedconstitution to or a constitutional assembly. To formulate a constitutional and the powers-to-be should remember that they are elected by the people impeach an incompetent prime minister. The king should remainassembly, the first of all there have to be elected representatives from every to serve the interest of the people. If instead of worrying about who sits in commander-in-chief of the army with a set of clearly defined constitu-constituency and then the representatives will construct a new constitu- which chair and holds what powerful position, they worry about the needs of tional roles. However, he should be responsible to the people. tion. This is a very long and complex procedure and an extravagant the people, a lot of the troubles that confront us will slowly disappear, economic burden for a country like ours. Prime Minister Deuba is taking including the trouble caused by the criminals masquerading as Maiosts.Every Itdecade, the Nepali people should be given an opportunity to the problem seriously and positively. Now it is the turn of the Maoists to seems to be the nature of all those who acquire positions of powerdecide in Nepal on the status of the royal institution through a referendum. A two- show similar honesty and vision. No doubt about it: the present constitu- to become corrupt. A new constitution will not solve the problem,thirds what majorityis of parliament should vote on question on the referen- tion has some drawbacks, but these can be resolved though an all-party needed is to change the way people think. dum. A king in command of the Royal Nepal Army would preclude the Furniture Land prime minister and his entourage from being authoritarian. consensus. Merely changing the constitution means nothing, what we need is for it to be implemented in practice. With amendments of the current constitution, the multiparty political DDP system can be improved to create an environment where leaders can rise with experience from village level public office to that of prime Yes. Nepal needs radical change, fresh blood, something new. Ifminister. the Eventually, the system will produce principled visionary leaders Babulal Pakhrin current politicians run the country, we are going to be poorer. who command the respect and support of the populace in leadingThe Nepal Maoist demand for changes in the constitution has a certain validity. D Koirala, Biratnagar The present constitution was the outcome of the popular movement, but In my opinion this is not the time to change the constitution. There is no all segments of the people did not participate in framing the constitu- better ruling system than this. But it has not been handled properly by tion. The people should have a say in the kind of constitution they want. those elected by the people. If I were a Maoist, I would get rid of corrupt Aatma Shrestha 101010 HINTERLAND 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES HINTERLAND 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 111111 Dhulikhel shows small is bountiful

time. Many residents are getting impatient, waiting for the benefits to trickle down. “A handful of moneyed entrepreneurs have Things to see profited from the tourism Whether it’s a mountain sunrise you’re after, or 400 km industry. Smaller ones like us of horizon from the Annapurnas in the west to Numbur in have it hard,” says Purna Man of the east, the Himalayan skyline dominates Dhulikhel. And the Nawaranga Restaurant and unlike that Thamel-on-the-Hill, Nagarkot, Dhulikhel has Guest House. Others, like Purna culture with its old Newari heritage. At 1,500 m it is also Bahadur Karki, a teacher at the milder in winter than Nagarkot. Sanjeevani High School, remain Dhulikhel was once known by the Buddhist name of hopeful, “If there is proper Shrikhandapur and still has a few Buddhist stupas in infrastructure tourism here could memory of the old days. Namo Buddha is an interesting do much better,” he says. and pleasant three-hour hike from the town, and has a nice mix of Buddhist flavour and old Hindu temples. Dhulikhel Dhulikhel is swiftly turning also has several ancient temples dedicated to Sweta into a modern municipality, with Bhairava, Hari Siddhi, Shiva, and Narayana, each with an good infrastructure. It is still a interesting story related to how they came into being. united town where citizens are There are plenty of other short hikes to undertake from very much concerned with Dhulikhel, but one of the best is the pleasant half-hour development. What it needs as it uphill from Dhulikhel to the telecommunication tower. Walk moves forward is consensus, so its through a lush forest echoing with the chattering of racquet By concentrating on education, health and tourism Dhulikhel has become a model town. residents continue to have a say in tailed drongos and turtle doves to come to a temple dedi- the future of their town. Mohan cated to Kali. If you can manage to wake up early and get up there, it is a sunrise you will remember for years. eastern tarai. Half the traffic Mayor Shrestha’s words seriously. Prasad Shrestha who owns a ALOK TUMBAHANGPHEY a thriving sense of community An independent candidate serving And there are more than a dozen hotels to stay for the ALL PHOTOS:ALOKTUMBAHANGPHEY ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ moving through Thankot is going to stationery shop summed it up: despite the cosmopolitanism. Part his third term as mayor, Shrestha “Dhulikhel people have always night if you want to do this, from the upmarket Himalayan hulikhel has for centuries be diverted through Dhulikhel. Is Shangrila, which stands at the highest point here and offers prospered from its location this going to bring more of the reason Dhulikhel is so well managed to bring in a successful shown much love for this place run is its mayor, Bel Prasad university and a modern hospital. even if they do not live here. The the best views to the 28-year-old Nawaranga Restaurant Don the ancient trade route dhulo and Guest House, which with its gallery of local art is a Shrestha. “We have set three To take full advantage of between Nepal and Tibet. Now, the important thing now is for all of backpacker’s dream come true. (dust) ordhan(riches) to objectives we would like to meet,” Kathmandu University, which set country’s smallest and best-run us to remain united, whether we Dhulikhel? says Shrestha. “We want quality up home here in 1993 on the municipality is gearing up for the are hoteliers, farmers, or other \Dhulikhel is gearing for some education for our children, better western edge of the town, the rush that will accompany the professionals.” health services and the promotion municipality has been working to opening of a new highway that will well-planned honest-to-goodness of tourism.” improve the quality of education in its soon be the only direct road access commercial and social development. schools, so more students from the from Kathmandu Valley to the It helps that Dhulikhel has a There is good reason to take population of only 12,000, there is area can get into KU. Locals even donated a large part of the land the university stands on. (See “College comes to Dhulikhel—and the country”, #64) Set up in 1996, the Dhulikhel Hospital, a modern medical facility with out-patient and in-patient departments, is said to be better than many Kathmandu clinics. The town has other, more pro-active ways of keeping its residents healthy—it has one of the most efficient and safe drinking water systems in the country. “Stomach ailments caused by poor drinking water have almost disappeared from here,” says Govinda Neupane an old-timer on the main street who establish a wholesale market. runs a homeopathic medical store. Shipments of Chinese goods would when the road becomes fully hopefully stop here first, encourag- The drinking water program is ing the Valley’s traders to take admirable, but reaches only seven ofoperational, it will provide a shortcut to eastern Nepal. The fact advantage of the lower prices. The the nine wards of the municipality. road would also make it easier for “The program was started before that Dhulikhel is so well managed will probably help it overcome the Dhulikhel to leverage its tomatoes, the municipality came into potatoes and milk. existence, but we are trying to Mugling-effect—that wild west But there are doubters. “How provide for the remaining two look that afflicts all major highway wards as well,” says the mayor. junctions in Nepal. can Dhulikhel be a stopping point when Banepa, 15 minutes down the Everywhere you go in Dhulikhel is bravely preparing for full-scale war. Since the water road, is already a major business Dhulikhel, you see signs of change. centre?” asks Biswa Shrestha, who A large community ground has beensupply was improved and the university moved in, real estate has has been running the Mt View constructed with the help of the Guest House for 14 years. Japanese government, and an become scarce and expensive. But, with the help of a German Dhulikhel and Banepa have endured artificial lake is on the way as an centuries of healthy competition, added tourist attraction. The town government grant, the municipality has already started building a bus and the tradition endures. It isn’t as has also conserved the forest in its if residents of Dhulikhel don’t like backyard, which is now a jungle park to make commuting easy should offices move here. “We plan the idea of developing their town. that drapes the ridge connecting They are all for it. In fact, the Dhulikhel to Namo Buddha. The to cash in on this road and convert the region into a major trading Sanjeevani High School here was trees have brought the birds back, built with the small savings sent and bird watchers flock here, as do point that offers better deals to traders than Kathmandu,” says home by Dhulikhelites who Kathmanduites on weekend picnics. ventured further. The problem is But the most important change Shrestha. Those residents of will be the Banepa-Bardibas Dhulikhel not in the tourism highway being built by the Japa- industry will, he hopes, work to nese, 22 km of which has just been completed. In another five years, retired from the US Army in 1997. He has over 16 years experience as a Special Agent with Army Counter- intelligence and has taught at the Army’s Advanced Foreign Counterin- telligence Training Course. TECHNOLOGY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES WORLD 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 121212 “I’d love to discuss specifics, 131313 but I really can’t go there,” Sanders says. “We are really sensitive about not making the bad Aid on schedule guys smarter.” ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ rewritten, altered versions of BO. BRUSSELS - Top EU development officials agreed last week to adopt EDNA has also found previ- Harris’ STAT Neutralizer also THE TAKING OFKABUL a ‘common calendar’ for the bloc’s members to make good on interna- How to inoculate computersdefuses bad guy or bad code tional promises to raise official development assistance (ODA) to 0.7 ously unknown “parents” of behaviour, and even blocks good esidents of the Afghan percent of GNP. At present there is no formalised mechanism within malicious code. “I remember one Five years and a few months after the Taliban the EU to monitor its member states’ efforts to comply with that UN day we downloaded a Trojan people or code that are innocently capital peered through the It’s quite simple, really.TASC’s eDNA You application write was programs to identifyattempting to do bad things. open doors of abandoned target, meant to halve worldwide poverty by 2015. Very few states known as Seek,” said Joe Ailinger R entered Kabul, they are gone. are in compliance. Poul Nielson, EU Commissioner for Development not originally designed to work Neutralizer monitors everything Taliban military bases on and Humanitarian Aid, said that to date, ODA had “not been a theme virus DNA, and disallow bad computerof TASQ. “After behaviour. extracting its ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○ against malicious code, but was DNA, we ran eDNA to see if it that’s going on in a system via Tuesday and whispered to each Akbar Khan, famous in this area as for discussion within the context of the EU, or between member ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○ electronic “agents.” The agents states, on what they do and how they perform.” The Development Help for those poor, belea- intended to assist computer could pick out Seek. To our other: “Are they gone?” The ‘Oh my God, what can I do?’” long beards and failure to do so “the street of guests,” a reference to forensics examiners—people who allow “good” behaviour, anything bodies of two Arabs lay near the Council, comprised of development ministers from the Union’s 15 guered boxes is now available. Two horror, it not only picked out Seek In some areas of Kabul, invited harsh punishment. the Arab, Chechen and Uzbek members, asked the Commission to act as a liaison and push for check computers to gather but also identified two other that a system should normally do, United Nations guest house, volunteers who were allied with the new security programs use what while blocking abnormal or “bad” residents gathered on street corners Houses used by Taliban compliance. “In view of how the world looks after 11 September, it is evidence used in legal investiga- programs, Girlfriend and Paradise, outside a military compound in a Taliban. Many were affiliated with clearly relevant, useful and necessary that the EU gets organised and science knows about humans’ behaviour, such as sending e-mail to talk about what they had seen, leaders in the once posh physical and psychological makeup tions or criminal trials. as being closely related despite city that was taken over by Osama bin Laden. starts [internal discussion] on how it can approach the target of 0.7 But as computer hard drives to everyone in an e-mail program’s opposition Northern Alliance and pointed out houses of former neighborhood of Wazir percent for ODA,” Nielson added. “There is a new understanding of to protectcomputers from people. there being no known link Taliban commanders. Opposition Akbar Khan were aban- In the money market in the increase in size, forensics experts between them. We were sure address book, or making changes with virtually no resistance interdependency and this is also a reason we are moving forward in Harris’ STAT Neutralizer, stops to the system software. soldiers said they were collecting doned. The large steel old city, businessmen said this quite spectacular manner,” he said. Denmark, Luxembourg, the are faced with not only finding the eDNA was wrong. But upon Tuesday morning. departing Taliban soldiers humans from doing bad things to Since STAT Neutralizer blocks arms as they moved door-to-door. doors of home of Netherlands and Sweden have achieved the target. Austria has said it computers. A STAT-protected proverbial needle in the haystack further examination of these Bundles of burned clothes emptied the stores of goods and could get to 0.7 percent in the next few years and Ireland hopes to do virus and Trojan activity, systems Groups of five to 10 men huddled former Health machine can’t have its vital files but also contending with a lot programs’ code, we found that and blankets were piled on top of in the streets, wrapped in woollen Minister Mullah money. One money changer, who so by 2007. One development official said debate within the Develop- more hay. So Sanders’ team set out administrators don’t have to take ment Council over setting such uniform targets had been intense, with deleted or altered, either purposely or both Girlfriend and Paradise are the corpses, and a charred rocket shawls. Northern Alliance fighters AbbasAkhund gave his name as Dr Wali, said to write a “data reduction” program networks offline while they countries like Spain and Portugal—whose ODA levels fall far short of by well-intentioned error. The derivatives of Seek. eDNA easily launcher lay beside one of them. sped through the streets in vehicles Taliban soldiers on tanks stopped that could quickly identify and download, test, and install a new People gathered to look. were wide open. the target—arguing against the proposal. The official said that several computer simply won’t allow it. spotted the relationship.” camouflaged with mud that had in front of the shops, demanded delegations occupying the middle ground—Britain, France, Germany, remove “known” files—typically security patch. Homes were also TASC’s eDNA program After tests involving thousands Sporadic gunfire pierced the been left behind by Taliban troops. the money and then rumbled out and Spain—said their finance ministers must consider the practical system files and applications—from Dr Chris Feudo, the director of abandoned on identifies and stops malicious of donor code files, eDNA has crisp early morning air as In northern Khair Khana Street 15 of Wazir of the city. implications before modalities could be agreed upon. the list of things that the examiner never falsely identified a code file the Global Information Assurance Northern Alliance soldiers programs such as viruses in the needed to look at. district, inhabited largely by ethnic same way that a human’s DNA can as being related to the DNA donor Group a technical consulting firm, celebrated their victory over the Sanders’ team used a two-step has tested STAT Neutralizer. Feudo Tajiks who fled the earlier fighting (Times of India) be used to identify his or her nor has it missed matching a code Islamic militia that ousted them north of the city, some people centuries-old genetic makeup. method to accurately ID all file, according to Sanders. “Putting says he is impressed with its ability to from the capital in 1996. US detect the computer viruses he set shouted: “Congratulations. Oh my eDNA does not rely on standard-issue files. Their program on my scientific sceptic hat, I have bombing cleared the way for theirGod, they are here.” Some men checked the file’s size against the loose on the test system. rapid advances, which began with (IPS) heuristics scanning as many antiviral to assume there is a false positive hugged each other. “We leave typical size of that application or “STAT basically places a the fall of the northern city of programs do. Heuristics looks for or missed match out there everything to God. We don’t know file, and also used “MD5 hash,” a Mazar-i-Sharif on Friday. specific patterns of code associated somewhere lurking in the darkness protective shell around the (operat- what will happen. We pray only Water of life technology that produces a digital ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ with known viruses in order to spot waiting to laugh at me, but I have ing system’s) kernel,” Feudo explains. Opposition fighters moved for peace,” said Sheer Agha, an fingerprint of a file or application. BONN - More than one billion people lack access to safe water yet to encounter it,” Sanders says. “It protects the kernel from being quickly through Kabul neighbour-elderly man wrapped in a striped new or rewritten viruses. EDNA digs supplies. Almost three billion are deprived of adequate sanitation. Five deeper and ferrets out the old Sounds foolproof, but as any Currently, eDNA is being altered in any way by anyone who hoods, conducting house-to- shawl, his grey beard reaching doesn’t have explicit permission.” to ten million people die each year from water-related diseases or ancestral links, even if the program’s programmer knows, two legitimate tested by several government house searches and seizing almost to his chest. inadequate public health and hygiene, especially the water supply and code has been greatly altered. copies of a program may produce agencies, but agency spokespeople Some systems administrators abandoned bases. Rifle fire was “We are happy. Now I have sewage systems. Twenty percent of the world’s irrigated lands are “A person can be matched from slightly different MD5 hash said that beta testers would be were particularly interested in heard at some outposts on the to go to the barber to shave my salt-laden, affecting crop production. A new study attributes all this to fingerprints from their code files, unable to comment on specifics STAT Neutralizer’s ability to edges of the city. the absence of an adequate international legal framework for water his or her DNA no matter what beard,” said Zabiullah, an ethnic resources management. Author Aaron T Wolf from the Department of due to small programming changes. immediately. “Anything that protect computers from their “I think there were some Tajik. “Today is a happy day.” makeup they are wearing or what So Sanders and his team coded a Geosciences, Oregon State University urges consideration for the essentially gives investigators an users. “Given a choice, I’ve learned Taliban who were asleep when Two men on a bicycle looked at security implications of “a critical, non-substitutable” asset. The study, body-altering surgery they have program, now called eDNA, which undergone,” says David Sanders, head infallible brain is useful,” said an that users will almost always everyone else left,” said a smiling each other. “Do you think I can examines and matches program FBI agent who did not want to be choose entertainment over resident, Abdul Jan. “They have shave now?” one asked. The scientist at TASC. “Similarly, eDNA code at a very primitive level. The can identify version 3.2 of a virus or identified. “We are quite aware security. That’s why e-mailed woken up and they are thinking Taliban required men to grow Transboundary Waters: Sharing Benefits, Lessons, will Learned MICHELLE DELIO requires technology based on idea was that once you had the that criminals and terrorists use viruses promising glimpses of ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Trojan with a sample from version serve as a background paper for ministers, experts and NGOs at the human biology and behaviour. basic “DNA” of a program, you malicious programs to gather interesting material if you just ools used to detect computer 1.0, just like a child can be identified 3-7 December International Conference on Fresh Water in Bonn. It “Computers are the scapegoats of should be able to identify all of its intelligence and jam critical ‘click on the attachment’ are so viruses and stop malicious and differentiated from all the other argues that the scarcity of water in arid and semi-arid environments the modern age,” says David Young, “parents” and “children.” systems, and obviously we’re effective,” says David Young. “A leads to intense political pressures, often called “water stress”. Wolf hack attacks may not be as children in the neighbourhood by a T a systems administrator of a “While we never really gave familiar with DNA tracking— product that protects the system says the most recent legal document on international waters, the effective as they could be because DNA sample from its father.” Manhattan publishing firm. much thought to identifying eDNA extends that science to from its users is a big step in the 1997 Convention on the Non-navigational Uses of International they lack the human touch. COMMENT by JOSEPH STIGLITZ Watercourses, is vague and occasionally contradictory. The Conven- “Computers never do bad things to malicious code during the eDNA computers. It’s a pretty neat idea.” right direction.” Security experts contend that tion is in fact ineffective, because four years after its adoption by the people. But people often do really project, after its completion we Sanders also declined com- UN General Assembly, it has been signed only by 16 countries and protecting computers from people- bad things to computers.” discovered that eDNA worked just ment on what specific tests the countries seem determined to maintain large ratified by nine, well below the 35 needed to bring it into force. “Water created plagues and problems as well against viruses as it did any government might be carrying out, has been a cause of political tensions between Arabs and Israelis, trade surpluses. There is a basic law in Indians and Bangladeshis, Americans and Mexicans; and all ten other code,” Sanders says. although his experience is probably Lessons from the globaleconomics: the sum of the trade slowdown surpluses and riparian states of the Nile River. It is not surprising that ‘water’ and The team tested eDNA on the being put to good use. Sanders deficits must add up to zero. If some country ‘war’ are two topics being assessed together with increasing well-known Trojan “Back Orifice” he world is in a global slowdown. has a surplus, another country must have a frequency,” argues the paper. Wolf says it is important to understand (BO). After extracting BO’s DNA, Growth in 2001 is expected to be half deficit. But the IMF is telling everyone not to the history of water-related violence, even at the sub-national level, they turned eDNA loose. It easily have a deficit. A country with too large a generally between tribes, water-use sectors, or states/provinces. As T of last year’s. Japan seems headed for a water quality degrades, or quantity diminishes, over time, the effect found the “donor” program and real recession, and Europe’s boast that its deficit faces a crisis and soon switches policy on the stability of a region can be unsettling, warns the study. also accurately recognised strong fundamentals will allow it to sustain to secure asurplus—that is what has growth during an American slowdown seems happened in East Asia. The US has been without foundation. willing and able to run large trade deficits, Several policy lessons emerge. For one, but it is unclear how long this can continue (IPS) there is a pallor over the Clinton administra- without a loss of confidence. It is difficult tion’s promise that capitalism American-style to predict the trigger, but the impending assures unprecedented and sustained fiscal deficits resulting from President prosperity. Some of the boom of the late- Bush’s tax cut may do trick. When that 1990s was as much a mirage as East Asia’s happens, more than a global economic slowdown may result. (Wired) boom which collapsed in 1997. In each case, irrational market exuberance fed excessive The problems of insufficient global investment, which led to excess capacity. The aggregate demand were on the minds of John “New Economy” was thought to mean the Maynard Keynes and others who conceived end of the business cycle. With “just-in- and founded the IMF. There is a framework time” production that entailed smaller for enhancing aggregate purchasing power, Move over, Al Jazeera, hereinventories, comes new information systems thatAjeeb.com through the creation of SDR’s. (The SDR, allowed better control of inventories, and the Special Drawing Rights, is an artificial decline in manufacturing, inventory cycles currency unit defined as a basket of national Ask most people what they think of free Internet translation services, and their first associations are of currencies and is used as an international bizarre sentence structures and amusing syntactic snafus. seemed a thing of the past. But economic reserve asset to supplement members’ existing reserve assets—official gold But where others see garbled grammar, Fahad Al Sharekh of the Arabic-English portal site, fluctuations have always marked capitalism, and inventory cycles are only one source of The IMF needsand foreign to ensure exchange holdings, and reserve positions in the IMF.) One way Ajeeb.com, sees a new era of global communication. Al Sharekh believes that the error-prone technol- of thinking about this is the following: assume the nations of the world ogy known as machine translation has played a key part in speeding the exchange of information fluctuation. Capital and financial market global liquidity to enable between the English-speaking world and the Middle East. Four weeks ago, Ajeeb introduced whatliberalisation its combined with globalised wish to maintain reserves equal to a fixed percentage of their GDP. With founder says is the first free online service that instantly translates Arabic websites into English. Thecapital markets have, if anything, increased vulnerability,sustained especially in global growth. GDP of around $40 trillion and growth of around 2 percent, if company, a division of the Arabic-language programming firm Sakhr Software, has been running ansmall countries. Real estate bubbles are another○○○○○○○○○○○○○ fact of life, and when they○○○○○○○○○○○○ reserves were equal to 5 percent of GDP, aggregate reserves would grow by English-to-Arabic translation service for more than a year. break, as they did in the 1980s in the US, Scandinavia, and Thailand, they$40 billion a year. Given China and Japan’s surpluses, a number twice that Al Sharekh, a Kuwaiti citizen educated in the United States, admits that machine translation—despitebring down economies with them. might be more realistic. An annual issue of SDR’s in that amount would momentous improvements in recent years—is still far from perfect. Any arguments to the contrary areThe claim of market fundamentalists that markets are self-adjusting isoffset the purchasing power set aside in currency reserves and would not be quickly disproved by a glance at the website of Arabic news agency Al Jazeera, where translationsclearly of wrong. There is an important role for government in macroeco- inflationary. These SDR’s could be used to pursue global interests— headlines range from the humorous: “Concord returns to the service after a year of the stop” to thenomic not stabilisation. The question is, what is it? The 1973 oil crisis led tohelping poor countries or improving the global environment. entirely intelligible: “An Israeli incursion is near an embryo and Buch he refuses Arafat meeting.” over a decade of inflation, and the scars still hurt. Worry about inflation For the past several decades, the IMF has focused on bailing out But given the voracious demand for news from abroad in the wake of the 11 September attacks,led Al the US Federal Reserve to increase interest rates in late 2000, when creditors and pushing the neo-liberal agenda. The time is ripe for it to Sharekh says users are learning to live with a little weird grammar. But why did he decide to launchthe an impending slowdown required the opposite. With two of the world’sreturn to its original mission—ensuring global liquidity to enable sustained English and Arabic translation site? Says Al Sharekh: “We realised there is one impediment for the global growth. Internet to be accepted in the Arabic-speaking world. It is language. The World Wide Web is built withlargest economies facing sustained deflation in the last few years, and English domains. Ninety percent of the content on the Web is English. We know a lot of people hereinflation are contained almost everywhere, the focus should be unemployment educated. They’re computer literate. They have Internet access. But they don’t speak English, and andthat under-utilisation of economic capacity. Potential losses from this are is what is stopping them from using the web and the Internet the way they should.” far greater than those associated with the slight increases in inflation that a In October, Ajeeb.com hit 14 million requests for English to Arabic translation and a million requestsmore aggressive macro-policy might entail. There is virtually no evidence to translate Arabic to English. Most of the requests are for Arabic to English of Aljazeera.net, the Arabicof inflation having significant adverse effects, so long as it is low to satellite news agency. So far about 90 percent of Arabic to English translations are for this one site.moderate. Today’s lack of aggregate demand is worrying. Several of the world’s (Project Syndicate)

(Joseph Stiglitz is the 2001 Nobel prize laureate in economics and professor of economics at Columbia University.) 141414 ASIA 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES FROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 16 - 22 NOVEMBERNEPALI 2001 TIMES 151515 No to Paras Breaking the nuclear boycott ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Sanghu,5 November NEW DELHI - By finalising a deal to transfer two nuclear power reactors to India, Russia last week broke an international boycott on transfer of The new Chipkonuclear equipment imposed as punishment when New Delhi first On Dasain, Prince Paras was made Crown Prince. The student wingCrownbe elected in thisPrince country. It was Paras? exploded a nuclear device almost 30 years ago. Concluded in Moscow of the Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) doesn’t quite approve of only much later that the monarchy during Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s 4-7 November visit,this and is preparing to start an agitation soon. The pro-Maoist became hereditary, when the deal facilitates the transfer of two reactors for a $3 billion power Jana Ekata,5 November than the voice of the people, and not just a person, he is an Will hugging trees station at Kudankulam village in coastal Tamil Nadu state, where they student wing has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the move. The Anshuverma became king during thetheir opinion. The people are institution. It should be left to Marxist-Leninist student wing has asked the king to reconsider his Lichhavi period. After him the in Garhwal, India, are expected to generate 2,000 mW of power. The international boycott Dr Mathura Prasad Shrestha, paramount. In making this decision,the people to decide what type of did not halt India’s ambitious nuclear programme for power production decision. They say that Paras should first of all make a public apology monarchy changed hands a couple their wishes have been crushed. institution they want. All that or defence, as demonstrated by a second round of tests in May 1998. Leftist activist and and former save them this to the people. In a recent statement, the Marxist-Leninist youth of times. During the Malla era, evenThis is a very undemocratic step. Paras did before he became crown India has not signed the 1970 Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) group said action must be taken against Paras for all his misdeeds andminister women were crowned rulers. The and does not accept full-scope inspections of its nuclear facilities by The constitution is a document prince has been laid bare before time around? the trouble he has caused in the past. The statement proceeds to It (the appointment) was an father of King Jaishtiti Malla, the the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The unconstitutional step. Being king of compromise, but it clearly states the people. We all know that he ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ clarify that the protest is not against Paras, the person, but rather most powerful Malla monarch, was Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), established in 1975, and of which does not give you the latitude to do that sovereignty lies with the killed a taxi driver in Putali Russia is a member, prohibits exporting nuclear technology to countriesagainst the criminal character that resides in the palace. The palace, not even made king. Even in the Sadak. Everyone knows that he virtual certainty that a strong that do not accept full-scope safeguards. After the present Bush anything. If you do that, you are people, and the people do not like they say, must not be a place of conspiracy and intrigue, or harbour Shah dynasty, Rana Bahadur did killed musician Praveen Gurung. earthquake of magnitude greater administration took over, it asked Russia to stop supplying nuclear fuel not listening to the voice of the Paras. It is surprising that he was to the Tarapore power plant near Mumbai, although the plant observes criminals. It must be open and democratic and follow simple rules not make his oldest son king, he Everyone knows he held a gun than 8.0 on the Richter scale will people, their aspirations. This may made crown prince during Dasain, full IAEA safeguards and was installed by US power giant General and norms. In addition, parliament must have the right to discuss and made him a against a police officer in occur in the region during the life of be detrimental to the nation. The when most people were busy Electric in 1969. The US stopped supplies of nuclear fuel after 1974, analyse the character of any member of the royal family. The right to Kupondol. We all know about the dam—the extremely poor status but India sourced it from France and China, apart from Russia, which king did not make the celebrating the festival. He was not appoint the crown prince must not be held by the king alone, the incident in Chitwan. He of readiness to deal with the hazards kept up supply even after the 1998 tests. According to the announcement earlier because he made crown prince in June because parliament must also have a voice in this matter. This has become causes trouble almost every day. and the unprecedented damage in especially important after 1 June, say the students, and so the king realised it would provoke strong chautariya.He at that time the protests against How can we make such a case of a breach or overtopping, the must reconsider his decision. If he does not, the students say they willreactions. The one-year mourning instead crowned his 18-month- him were at their peak. The people Committee reiterates its view that it be left with no alternative other than starting an agitation. period has not even elapsed yet, andold son, whose mother was a are still angry with him. But during person the future king? This goes would be irresponsible to clear the Indian they have done this. This is against Brahmin widow… festivals few people are in the against the constitution. We Tehri dam as currently proposed.” Express, Russia supplied 58 tonnes of low enriched uranium for the very fundamentals of Hinduism. capital and most are busy. They thought the present king In view of such adverse Tarapore this year. Greenpeace says the Indian government maintains It goes to prove that the monarchy Khagendra Sangraula, (the palace) realised that there understood the problem with uses the shield of religion and Paras and so did not make him comments and the newly discovered close links between its nuclear energy and its nuclear weapons pro- Leftist writer would be few protests during this grammes. “It was technology acquired by India, ostensibly to generate tradition only when it suits them. crown prince (in June). We threat to such a large number of Paras is king material period and so decided to take this nuclear electricity, that was used in the 1974 and 1998 nuclear weapons○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ Such an unpopular move will be thought he wasn’t made crown these trees when the dam was cleared?trees, some observers believe the step. People must raise their voice I doubt that permission to fell so tests,” says Greenpeace campaigner Ben Pearson. Jana Bhawana,5 November detrimental to the monarchy. against this. prince because he was not king Tehri dam could still be converted (IPS) Chipko activist Sunderlal Bahugunaa protestinglarge number theTehri of other Dam trees in1995. of this many trees would have been given.” The people have been very The palace has always said that material. This sudden decision

BIKAS RAUNIAR into a run-of-the-river project. Says region, comes from the giant Tehri Activists accuse government Excerpts from an interview with Ashok Nath Tiwari, Upper House vocal in protesting Paras’ it only moves ahead after taking has shocked and angered us. BHARAT DOGRA Sunderlal Bahuguna, the senior ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ dam project. The project is highly agencies of deliberately keeping any environment activist at the Another row over rice member (nominated) behaviour. A certain section of into account the opinion of the ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Dr Ram Man Shrestha, TEHRI GARHWAL, India-The controversial because of its adverse information about the environmental forefront of opposition to the Everyone is commenting on the appointment of Crown students had collected people. The people are against remote Himalayan forest of Advani impact on the environment, but work impact of the project from public BANGKOK - Rice farmers from Thailand’s north-east districts are taking Paras, so this announcement is Chairman, Tehri dam: “So much work has to the streets to protect the future of their much-valued crop, long-grainPrince Paras. Do you have something to add? 600,000 signatures to that was festive last week—villagers on it has begun and the government discussions. Shekhar Singh, one of thebeen completed on this giant aromatic jasmine rice. This show of strength, in the provinces and in His Majesty made the decision exercising the legal and effect and presented the tantamount to going against the marched in, singing songs, chanting looks determined to complete it. experts on a committee appointed by Bangkok, has been triggered by revelations that two US scientists will of the people. This shows that project, there will inevitably be constitutional powers vested in him. The petition to the late king. Nepal Rastriya slogans. Women tied sacred threads To transmit the electricity that the government to examine the dam, some financial loss in changing it gained access to jasmine seeds in order to develop a variety of the riceConstitution of Nepal as a constitutional monarchy the palace is still neither that could be grown in The people are not yet Budhijibi Parishad(the National around trees, symbolising their will be generated from this project to is anguished: “The loss of so many into a smaller run-of-the-river and Hindu kingdom gives the king the power. It was democratic nor constitutional. the United States. convinced that Paras Intellectuals Council) determination to protect them. They other parts of the country, the Power trees on Himalayan slopes was never project. But the hazards are so Last week conserva- only natural for him to make his only son, Prince Paras has been involved in two hope to save the forest, like the earlierGrid Corporation has been asked to brought up before our committee.” many as to justify this change.” tionists and grassroots Paras, crown prince. It is not necessary for anyone to was innocent in that incidents of murder and countless Narahari Acharya, To be proclaimed crown prince according to the constitution is Chipko movement did in the 1980s. lay 800-kV transmission lines from Environmental impact is just one Although the government has activists joined the keep harping on this issue. incident. others of hooliganism and mayhem. Central Commmittee member, farmers in Roi Et not unusual. After the 1 June The name of the village-level Tehri in Uttranchal to Meerut in of the concerns the project has If you turn the The crown prince is the future king Nepali Congress shown no signs yet of accepting this province to protest But questions have been raised about the incident, no one mentioned the movement means “embrace”. Some Uttar Pradesh state. Nearly 50 km of spawned. Earlier, the Environment pages of history, of this country and he represents According to the Constitution, demand and revising the project, it against the US Crown Prince’s character… issue of picking a crown prince. twenty years ago, a large number of this approximately 200 km stretch areAppraisal Committee which examined programme. “The you will find the nation. He stands for all that the announcement of a crown has responded to some extent to the I have not noticed anything wrong with his character. Even now I do not think it trees in the same forest in Tehri in hilly areas. The proposed path of the project concluded that safety consequences cannot the nation is worth—its prestige, itsprince is a normal matter. That is calls to spare the Himalayan trees. All the qualities needed to be king are already showing that kings necessary to go into that Garhwal district of India’s northern the lines in the Himalayan area wouldfactors alone are important enough to be underestimated; reputation. It is natural that people not a topic for discussion. The On 7 September, the Ministry of many farmers and in Crown Prince Paras. He will develop himself and used to discussion. There is enough room Uttranchal state, were auctioned for cut into the forest of Advani, stop the clearance of this project. The raise questions when someone like discussion going on right now is Environment and Forests asked the farming communities could end up living in poverty,” says Witoon grow to shoulder the responsibility he has been given. The for people to raise their voice and commercial felling. When the threatening about 100,000 trees. committee said: “Taking note of the Lianchamroon, director of the Bangkok-based BioThai, an environmen- Paras is placed in that position. Thethe manner in which this Power Grid Corporation to apprise royal palace was growing in stature, and gaining the respect be suspicious. But there are contractors came to fell them with an Dhum Singh Negi, a mentor to the unacceptable risk involved—the tal and community activist group. Witoon agrees that this a case of role of the major parties of the announcement was made. The it of alternative alignments of the and love of the people. In such a scenario, it is not surprising other, more important issues to armed police team, village women younger Chipko activists, asks: “Did electricity lines or the possibility of “theft”. For some activists it is “biopiracy”. Such thinking has found that people start raising a hue and cry about things. It is country, the Nepali Congress and most important thing is that the resonance among lobby groups in Europe and Canada. “The Thai the Communist Party (UML), is people have the right to discuss be discussed. To tackle issues hugged trees to prevent them from they really take permission to cut all using existing towers. farmers and the national economy are threatened” by this effort, improper to raise questions concerning an accident. being cut. The forest was saved. very important. Intellectuals have the character and behaviour of concerning the monarchy, it is declared the European Free Trade Association. “Jasmine was bred and Many a time we have made minors kings in our necessary to bring about major The new threat to this forest, and nurtured by Thai farmers from generation to generation and its market country. So why are people bothered now when we always held that the character of the person who sits on the is vital to the well-being of many farming communities. If commercially future kings must be monitored changes in the constitution. What successful, US-bred jasmine rice could supplant much of Thailand’s $1 make a grown up person crown prince? I cannot is the point in just raising (IPS) understand this. carefully. But neither the Congress billion export market and undermine the livelihood of millions of rice nor the UML took this seriously. questions and not bringing about farmers,” it added. Thailand produces three million tonnes of jasmine Why was the announcement made during The constitution has given the changes in the constitution? ANALYSIS by YASHENG HUANG rice annually, half of which is exported to the United States, Canada, Dasain? Australia, China and other Asian countries. What troubles BioThai and There are many constitutional According to the Hindu religion, Dasain is very king the power to nominate the the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI), a Winnipeg- crown prince. It is up to him, who changes that need to be made, based NGO championing the concerns of rural societies, is the way the auspicious. There is nothing wrong for a king and this is just one of them. scientists gained access to jasmine seed samples. The International in a Hindu kingdom to announce a he wants to nominate, why he wants to do so, and when. The king Everything concerning the Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippine town of Los Banos gave crown prince during Dasain. monarchy needs to be discussed the scientists the seeds from its gene bank without having them sign the is empowered to do this by the Keeping China downagreement that protects Thailand from “biopiracy”. The germ plasm of constitution regardless of the in detail. We did not do that jasmine rice was “acquired in 1995 without the Material Transfer character of the eldest son. But the earlier, and that is why we are in Agreement that obliges the recipient not to patent or otherwise this situation now. n most shops nowadays there is an infinite variety of goods made in China— monopolise the donated seed,” says RAFI. crown prince is the future king, and Why do indigenous Chinese firms while making the nomination, the low-priced sweaters and socks to high-value electronic products. China is amonopoly custodianship over the country’s most valuable assets—oil fields or Mangal Siddhi Manandar, king needs to keep this in mind. Ihuge manufacturing base for firms from all over the world that invest theresavingsgrow to assets slowly from Chinese and households. stay China’s at economy home? has taken off, but few MP, UML benefit from its low-cost but highly skilled and disciplined workers. The Congress and UML should also of○○○○○○○○○○ its firms have. This failure○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ of competitive indigenous firms to grow under throne. It has become clear after The decision is in keeping with But although a massive amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) has propitious conditions points to the inherent inefficiencies in China’s economic have thought about this. There is a major problem in the constitution, 1 June that changes are necessary the constitution. But the present flowed into China in its age of reform, indigenous private firms have not system. One is that China’s goods and asset market is fragmented and has and this situation is a result of that. in the laws and rules concerning situation does show that the developed as fast as their market and business potential would allow. Many become more so in the last twenty years. A dramatic illustration of this is that

RAVI MANANDHAR RAVI the monarchy and the heir institution of monarchy should be goods sold around the world are made in China, but very few are made by the average distance over which freight is Shyam Shrestha, apparent. The issue remains even more transparent anddemocratic. indigenous Chinese companies. (IPS) shipped has actually shrunk at a time Journalist, coordinator, after the recent proclamation. Questions have been raised The size of a firm is a rough, although imperfect, indicator of its growth when the government has invested QUOTE OF THE WEEK The timing of the announcement concerning this and in this light, the potential. Although India’s economy is massively in highways, air cargo facilities was very surprising. It would havedecision is a bit surprising. That is and railways. China is increasing its sales Shahtoosh from Nepal? about half the size of China’s, and has a ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ The only way out of the current political crisis is a constitutional assembly and if the present rulers don’t even been proper if the king had called all I want to say. and exports to the rest of the world but lower growth rate, India is now home to a NEW DELHI - The seizure in New Delhi of a major shipment of want to aaccept this minimum compromise, only the future will show what the frightening result will be. for a sitting number of large, globally competitive internal trade has declined, making it shahtoosh wool from a Singapore-registered trader points to a possible of firms. Today, the largest private firm in difficult for firms to expand and grow. new route via Nepal and Singapore to smuggle the banned wool Samajbadi parliament China is the Hope Group in Sichuan The second factor is that China’s obtained from the endangered Tibetan antelope. Three packages, said Maoist ideologue Baburam BhattaraiJanadisha in , 12 November to contain woollen garments, arrived in New Delhi in early October as Andolan(Socialist Movement) and made province run by four brothers. This financial system allocates its vast savings cargo aboard a Singapore Airlines flight. Upon suspicion the packages The man who has just been made the an- agribusiness conglomerate generated pool inefficiently. It allotted subsidised were opened. Forensic examination at the Wildlife Institute of India crown prince, Paras, has caused nouncement annual sales of $600 million in 1999. The credit and cheap equity capital to confirmed that one contained 130 kg of high grade, raw shahtoosh. The many deaths. The newspapers have there. The largest private firm in India, the Tata China’s most inefficient firms, state- other two packages contained pashmina, which is legal. A high quality shahtoosh shawl fetches around $1,500 in the US and Europe. reported extensively on his people have to begiven Group, generated sales of $7.2 billion in owned enterprises (SOEs), while The shipment was sent by Globalmatics Trading, registered in hooliganism. Only last year, he some reasons, some 1995, of which $163 million came from denying financial resources to China’s Singapore. Two Singaporeans, two Americans residing in California, killed musician Praveen Gurung, answers. They have to be its tea business division alone. Another dynamic private firms. Both SOEs and and a Nepali national, Nabin Tuladhar, are listed as officers; the and everyone knows about this. assured that what happened example comes from the pharmaceutical private firms fail to become competitive Nepali and the Americans are shareholders. The consignment, which as People took to the streets at the in the past will not be industry. In 1997, the largest pharmaceu- and foreign firms find it profitable to invest and produce in China. Chinesefinished shawls would be worth millions of Singapore dollars, was booked time and even collected a lot of repeated. tical firm in China was Sanjiu, which had SOEs are inefficient and are not market-savvy, privatedon’t firms have the to a company in Delhi called RND Trading, registered months ago by signatures and presented the sales of $670 million. Contrast Sanjiu three Nepalis with the same last name, Tuladhar. The Delhi company’s resources to capitalise on their superior software capabilities. manager, Narottam Shrestha, appeared to receive the shipment and petition to the late king, who askedPadam Khadka, with Ranbaxy Laboratories, one of the This inefficiency impacts overall performance. Indians save about half of has been arrested. the prime minister to look into the coordinator, largest Indian pharmaceutical firms. In 1995, it generated sales of $2.27 billion, what Chinese save and India gets one-tenth the annual FDI that China does. Yet Shahtoosh, derived from killing baby Tibetan antelopes, Chiru, is matter. despite the fact that the Chinese pharmaceutical market was three times as large banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered The crown prince is the future as the Indian market. A comparison with South Korea during a comparable stageIndia’s GDP growth in recent years is about 80 percent of the Chinese growth rate. India is using its capital more efficiently, because its government does not Species (CITES). Under international pressure, New Delhi recently king. It is a serious matter that of economic development tells the same story. During South Korea’s economic banned the weaving and trade in shahtoosh. Since the antelope discriminate against private firms, and its financial resources fund efficient firms. Paras has been made the future takeoff, commonly dated to between 1960 and 1980, a number of firms such as became endangered, China has banned its killing and run anti- king. If the palace wants to remain Hyundai and Samsung emerged that were globally competitive, their later It is time for China to learn from India. poaching teams in the Tibetan plateau, the antelope’s habitat. It is estimated that 20,000 Chiru are killed every year for the shahtoosh a constitutional monarchy, it must corporate governance problems notwithstanding. trade, and Chinese and American researchers say its population has be democratic in the way it China has not produced similarly competitive indigenous firms during the dropped to 10 percent of what it was 100 years ago. functions. It must take the over two decades of its “economic miracle” from 1978 to 2001. All China’s large aspirations and opinion of the Pragatishil firms are state-owned enterprises, and large only because they are granted a Budhijibi Sangathan(the One Maoist to another: “No way we’ll kneel, comrade.” people into account. In a democ- (Project Syndicate) racy nothing is more important Progressive Intellectuals Group) Musician Praveen Gurung, allegedly run (The Straits Times) Naya Sadak,11 November (Yasheng Huang is Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.) The crown prince is over by then Prince Paras last August. were living in India and were doing their utmost to turn Nepal into another Sikkim. After all, whether it is a policeman or a Maoist who is killed, FROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES CULTURE AND SOCIETY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 161616 we are all Nepali. By killing one 171717 another, you are spreading mayhem Dasain day, the court of the Morcha OBITUARY was carrying out its activities and two and terror and this is all helping India,pleted 100 days. What has it tions have you received for serious. This revolution aims to Madhav hits out people were killed and more than a it is turning Nepal into another ○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ accomplished? his replacement? free the people from all forms of dozen were injured. After this incidentSikkim. Why don’t you contest Dristi,6 November One hundred days ago, it was Nearly 20. We will discuss and tyranny—social, political and the government carried out a massive elections, you might be able to win at impossible for the prime minister to analyse them and then make our economic. It aims to give them a presumably with the help of hallucinogenic drugs, search in Pame village, which the least 40 to 50 seats? If you are enter Singha Darbar without being recommendation to the king, asking chance to survive and live as a UML leader Madhav Kumar also allowed the author to elevate the hospital into Morcha protests against. prepared to stay quiet and not create harassed. The house could not work him to appoint the person we believe liberated people. For 250 years the recently made the following what he saw as a metaphor of repressive America, The Morcha started following the trouble, I will release you. If you are for 57 days. A large contingent of is suitable. We faced some problems feudal and ruling classes have which Chief Broom calls the Combine. statement: “The Maoists do not prepared to come to the negotiating EN ESEY directives of Marx, Lenin and Mao police was trapped and surrounded byfor about two months (after the exploited the people—politically, K K have the ability to rectify their sometime in mid-1998. Earlier they table, I will release you immediately. the Maoists, and war was about to resignation), that is true. socially, economically, on the basis EH Gombrich en Kesey, best known as the authorOne of mistakes. They believe that they supported the Maoists in principle These were some of the things he break out between the Maoists and The government and the of religion, caste and gender. The Flew Over the Cuckoo’s, Nestdied on 10 will be the masters of the universe only, but last year they agreed to form talked about. the Royal Nepal Army. Large Maoists both accuse each other people’s revolution is to help build November in Oregon. He was 66. The ir Ernst Gombrich died thought. The pursuit of a K they foresee. This is their mentality. an armed fighting force. A document industries around the country were onof human rights violations. a new country that is just, fair and In fact they are doing exactly the aged 92 on 3 November. rational study of painting, cause was complications after surgery for cancer released a couple of months ago says What was the reason the IGP the verge of closing down. All What is the truth? treats everyone equally, a country of the liver late last month. opposite of what Chairman Mao Gombrich was the most however different from music, Cuckoo’s Nest was published by Viking Press the Morcha is now part of the Maoist wanted to meet you? educational institutions were shut. We are very firm in our beliefs. It is where there is no place for S Kesey was also well known as the hero of Tom suggested, and the opposite of what seems one of the goals of his in early 1962 to enthusiastic reviews.Time called it organisation. Earlier the issue of an The reason he met me there was to People were in a state of shock and always the government that violates discrimination. If this does not eminent art historian of the last history teaches. They are moving work in Wolfe’s famous nonfiction book about psychedelic“a roar of protest against middlebrow society’s armed force had casued misunder- turn me into another Dinesh Sharma. panic, wondering whether parliament human rights. If the activities of the happen, there is no way our nation half-century, for specialist Art and Illusion. drugs, against the tide.” The Electric Kool-Aid Acid (1968). Test In Rules and the invisible Rulers who enforce them.” I say this is because after meeting me, scholars and for a wider public. The film version was released in 1975 and won five standing between the Maoists and the and state institutions were really Maoists violate the freedom of the can progress. Keeping the aspira- Gombrich sought in the optical describing Kesey’s role as the Pied Piper of I believe he told some people, “He is Oscars, for best picture; best director, Milos Morcha. Now all problems have been working or not. The Maoists were people, that too is a violation of tions of the people in mind, we The Story of Art (1950, 16th and psychological basis of psychedelia, Wolfe’s book somewhat mockingly older than me, but he is very energetic Forman; best actor, Jack Nicholson as McMurphy; resolved. Gopal Khumbu, chairman of terrifying people; they were killing human rights. People must be able to have agreed to a dialogue. We want painting some equivalence to the compares Kesey to the leaders of the world’s great edition 1995) has been the best actress, Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched; and active. He is like a 16-year-old.” religions, dispensing to his followers not spiritual the Morcha, met Baburam Bhattarai people at will. The situation has enjoy freedom and independence. dialogue to find a way out of the introduction to the visual arts rationality of musical structures. and best screen adaptation, Lawrence Hauben and I recently met Dinesh Sharma and he balm but quantities of lysergic acid diethylamide, or in 1998 and decided that the two changed completely. This is their right. The government present trouble the nation is in. for innumerable people for more It was not that he believed the Bo Goldman. parties would help each other. The told me that. I am not saying the country has must act as the guarantor of this We want to bring about fundamen- expressivenes music was reducible LSD, to enhance their search for the universe Tell us something about your than 50 years, while his major within themselves. Although Kesey wrote several more books Morcha would be active in areas suddenly become very prosperous. right. If it is violated, the government tal changes in the country, try and to principles of harmony, or time in captivity. theoretical books,Art and The book’s narrative focuses on a series duringof his life, controlled by it and both parties These 100 days have been days of must move in and take action. The make it better. We want to make painting to the psychology of would be represented properly. I was detained for six months. For two police, the army and the courts have sure that sovereignty lies with the Illusion(1960),Meditations on illusion, but that these formed the quests undertaken by Kesey in the 1960’s. First, Cuckoo’s Nest remained the high hope. Now even the Maoists are silent there was the transcontinental trip with a band of months, I was in Maharjgunj at the expression of a face, the gesture point of his career. Reviewing the film version in on their demand for a republic. Two been created for this purpose; this is people. And the minimum agenda a Hobby Horse(1963) and framework for understanding friends he named the Merry Pranksters, aboard a Police Training Center, and for four something we have to understand. required for this is the formation of other volumes, have beenpivotal artistic achievement. of a figure, the spaces of a The New Yorker, Pauline Kael wrote that “the novel months I was kept at the Armed rounds of dialogue have been held landscape. Instead of taking the 1939 International Harvester bus called Further that Violation is always linked to the a constitutional assembly. for professional art historians. The Gombrich engaged for 50 was wired for sound and painted riotously inpreceded Day- the university turmoil, Vietnam, drugs, the Battalion office in Naxal. They used towith them and the third round is fact for granted, he turned it activities of the government. If a The revolution says it wants scope of his reading, the way he Glo colours. Neal Cassady, the Dean Moriartycounterculture.” of She continued, “Yet it contained handcuff me when they took me to going to be held soon. Parliament has years in a polemic against into a focus of inquiry. Earlier person is kidnapped, the government a people’s republic. Now you coordinated his knowledge and Jack Kerouac’s Hanuman Dhoka—that is a rule. met and worked smoothly without invoking the collective mind— writers had treated the fact in “A lion does not any disruptions. All political parties has to get the kidnapped person have put aside this and other the accuracy of his memory were, whether of an age or a nation or After that they took me to the police released and must also takeaction demands and only raise the three ways: as an unproblematic are showing their commitment as another historian described it, a class—as explanatory of extension of ordinary perception, On the Road, was recruited to station in Anamnagar. Two days later against the kidnapper. The issue of a constitutional eat grass” towards democracy. Industries have “awesome”. changes in art or politics. He as opposed to our interest in drive. The journey, which took the Pranksters from ○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ I came to know that they had brought government must act as and when assembly. Has the revolution two police vans to the station. Later started working again. The most Gombrich was born into a did so because he saw such aesthetic or expressive properties, California to New York City and back, was timed to Janadesh,6 November it is required. Weakness and been hijacked? Isn’t this coincide with the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Its important thing is that now the sophisticated Vienna family, explanations as not only or as something modern painting at night they brought me outside and indiscipline in government has led cheating the people? purposes were to film and tape an extended movie, Nepal further said that the tried to handcuff me again. I told people have really started believing in originally Jewish but converted circular, but as failing to had to overcome. Excerpts from an interview with and supporting the constitution and to human rights violations. Action Yes, our aim, and the expectation recognise the essentially rational to experience roadway America while high on acid Maoist leaders and cadre believed them, “I was handcuffed in 1960, in at the turn of the 20th century Gombrich changed all that. and to practice “tootling the multitudes,” as Wolfe Iswori Prasad Dahal, Central Advisor, the parliamentary system. must be taken against violators of the country, is the establishment nature of the way artists in and were creating a cult of 1972, handcuffed again in 1985 and to a rather mystical He challenged aesthetic put it, referring to the way a Prankster would stand Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) according to the law of the land. If of a people’s republic. More, it is protestantism. He was anti- experimented and learned from with a flute on the bus’s roof and play sounds to personality. He said the Maoists are now again I am being handcuffed. It the establishment of a socialist exclusiveness and its snobberies When and where were you the government cannot stop the sectarian and unreligious, but it each other. The work in which imitate people’s various reactions to the bus. anti-national … and fascist. He seems that until the country is not country. But on a practical level, while still being a great defender arrested? Maoists from killing and kidnap- was impossible, in the wake of he set out to replace the Then, back in California, there were the so- added that you should fire your gun free, I will always be handcuffed.” I you have to take into account many of high culture. In one of his I was arrested at Kalanki, Kathmandu, ping people, that is a weakness. Austria’s enthusiastic adoption formalisms of the turn of the called Acid Tests that Kesey organised—parties only when needed, it should not be told them I was proud that I was external and internal factors. In our finest essays, on Raphael’s in early September last year. The government is responsible for of Nazism, to dissociate himself century was with music and strobe lights where he and his the fundamental defining policy of being handcuffed. They looked country, after 1 June, a republic has Madonna della Sedia, he friends served LSD-laced Kool-Aid to members Where were you detained? stopping such activities. from Judaism, and he insisted on your organisation. Nepal predicted disappointed and took me to already come into being. The followed the implications of the of the public and challenged them to avoid As soon as they (the police) caught How does the Commission describing himself as born an that the Left movement in Nepal Hanuman Dhoka. Six or seven days people have said that they will not Art and Illusion, painting’s circular format for “freaking out”. the prophetic essence of that whole period of me, they hit me on the face a couple view the activities of the Austrian Jew. could be seriously damaged or even later in Hanuman Dhoka, the Deputy accept a person who has killed his first published in 1960. It the intricacies of its drawing This was the public Ken Kesey, the magneticrevolutionary politics going psychedelic, and much of times and I started bleeding from Maoists? destroyed because of the activities Superintendent of Police suddenly brother as king. And they have also and its expressive composure. leader who built a bridge from beatniks on theof roadwhat it said has entered the consciousness of the mouth. Four or five of my teeth People in government say that this presented an account of many—possibly most— Americans.” of the Maoists. asked me, “Dahalji, is there anything been clear that they will not accept But on the way, he used an to hippies in the Haight-Ashbury, who brewed the are still damaged. They tried to force is a political problem and so will the psychological factors on your mind?” I told him that I was as future king anyone who has been advertisement for a rotary cultural mix that fermented everything from psych-Over the next three decades, Kesey raised me into the van. I protested and soon only be solved through dialogue. It which made it possible edelic art to acid-rock groups like the Grateful Dead fine. A few days later, maybe four or must be solved through dialogue. involved in multiple murders and electric shaver, which also cattle and sheep, and grew blueberries. He joined people from the neighbourhood five days later, the same DSP came for us to see a three- and Jefferson Airplane, and who in the processschool of boards,ped hel out several local businesses, People’s problems must be taken incidents of hooliganism. Only a played on circular forms, to his pilgrimage blew an entire generation’s mind. gathered around. The police said I and asked me the same question. I still dimensional moving ran a website, Intrepid Trips edited a magazine, care of peacefully. Everyone, few Marwaris and smugglers have illuminate the nature of the Yet Wolfe also narrates the adventures of a was a thief and dragged me to the van.did not say anything. After he left, I subject—such as Dry days again? including the Commission hopes publicly felicitated the king and the painting’s visual wit. more private Ken Kesey, one who in addition to his ○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ I shouted, saying I was not a criminal, tried to figure out what he was getting that the dialogue will be fruitful. crown prince. All this shows that a people in action—on Among his most accessible quests took the inner trips that gave him his best Janadesh,6 November but a Maoist activist and that my at. I wondered whether he was asking But people think the govern- But because you think the Maoist republic has already been born. a flat, still surface. and seminal papers from the fiction. It is true that by 1959, when he had his first name was Iswori Prasad Dahal. me to surrender. He came back again ment has not done much. problem will be resolved peace- The tragedy of the situation is The painter learned same decade as experience with drugs, he had already produced a Inside the van, they shackled my eight to 10-days later and said, “Have novel, The All Nepal Women’s Association As far as I know, the government has fully, you should not start sup- that no political party has raised to do this by trial Spit in legs and blindfolded me. The van thenyou thought about anything?” I (Revolutionary) recently held it not done anything unpopular in these pressing the people. The people these issues—they have completely and error, checking the Ocean, which he founded in 1974, and worked on started moving east. It stopped after replied, “DSP Sahib, remember one central committee meeting and 100 days. Instead the belief of the and the Commission will hold the surrendered to this monarch. completing the films and tapes of the bus trip. He some time and the police took me thing. A lion does not eat grass. I am a whether his marks discussed important issues among people in the constitution and our government accountable. They will Keeping all this in mind, we have coached wrestling at several local schools and inside a house and left me in a dark lion, I will not surrender. Be assured, I elicited recognition taught a graduate writing seminar at the Univer- which were expanding the organisa- parliament has grown. The law and not go and place their demands in put forward a minimum-points End of Autumn, about college athletics, room. I later found out that this was am prepared to die. This is what I of his subject. This sity of Oregon. He practised his lifelong hobby of tion, the agitation, publicity and order situation has improved front of the Maoists. The govern- agenda that only calls for the although it would never be published. But after he the police station in Anamnagar. Laterbelieve.” I asked them for some led Gombrich to magic and occasionally visited the bus Further, publications, and matters of economic dramatically. It is natural that there ment has to deal with the Maoists. formation of a constitutional had volunteered at a hospital to be a paid subject of that same day they took me to the newspapers to read. Forty-five days which he kept in the woods on his farm. importance. Rekha Sharma, head of are critics in a democracy. Many Killing people is not going to solve assembly. Comrade Prachanda has argue that the Art and Illusion experiments with little-known psychomimetic Police Training Centre in later they came and asked me, “Do drugs—drugs that bring on temporary states the ANWA (R), says the group has decisions of the government may have the problem. We must realise this said in his releases that this major factors in are those in the volumeMedita- Maharajgunj. At seven in the evening you want to read the Gita?” Two days resembling psychoses—his (New York Times) decided that by February it would been criticised, but on the whole, it and be vigilant against it. decision should be left to the changes in tions on a Hobby Horse. Here they tortured me for half an hour and later they came and gave it to me. I imagination underwent a have at least one million members and has been effective. Can the Commission play a people. There is no reason for pictorial style the fundamental questions of then started questioning me. finished it in 15 days—I could only startling change. To earn extra increase the number of volunteers to People say the prime minister role in sorting out the issues other political parties to be afraid. were the result of aesthetics are explored: how the money and to work on a novel read during the day. Gombrich came to Britain in at least 25,000. Later, after about week, they did not do his homework that have cropped up in the This assembly is a body that will rational activities rather than imagination functions in about the beatniks of San She further added that the party handcuffed me, blindfolded me again government-Maoist dialogue? 1936 and joined the Warburg painting, how it elicits or Francisco, Kesey also took a How did you spend your timebefore starting negotiations help form a system that represents mysteriously changing expres- discussed in detail both the 22-point and took me to a new place. On the The Commission has played a part Institute as a research assistant. transforms our psychological job as a night attendant on the in Sindhuli prison? with the Maoists, and that they the will of the people better. Such sions of the age. He was deeply psychiatric ward of the agenda and the 34-point agenda, way there, they kept abusing me. I are using this time to prepare and provided direction. The release He became director of the urgencies and how aesthetic and Although I could not do a lot of work, a body can form a constitution that opposed to any account of hospital. Watching the patients presented to the government a few thought they were going to torture me for war. Is that true? of prisoners and captives, for Warburg, combining the post moral awareness are related to we managed to get a proper library is republican, or supports a multi- artistic creativeness which was there convinced him that they months ago. The nationwide physically but they did not do that. instance, did not happen purely on with being London University’s each other. These essays were locked into a system that there. The International Committee This is not what everyone thinks, it is party monarchy, or a people’s couched in terms of a collective alcohol ban was also discussed, and They kept me there for three days. some person’s whim. The Commis- professor of the history of the combine a conversational ease was the very opposite of of the Red Cross donated some the conclusion reached by detractors psyche rather than by reference it was decided that this program That was the Number One Battalion of the prime minister within the sion has repeatedly told both the classical tradition (1959-76). of expression with a depth of therapeutic, and provided the books. Earlier there wasn’t even a to individual invention and raw material for would be carried forward vigor- office, Naxal. A few days later they government and the Maoists that The fact that he became one thought which makes them scrap of paper there, now there are Congress. And it is not true. The discoveries which others could ously. The party says that the took me to a different place, and really no one has the right to kidnap and of the UK’s most honoured perhaps the finest introduction over 5,000 books. A school was also Maoists, who earlier believed in only then adopt. A third line of government broke the agreement started pampering me. Every few kill people. We have established scholars, a knight and a member to the subject. started on the premises. Now at least killing people, have not done anything argument (manifesting his close reached by the two sides earlier andmoments someone would come by in these 100 days, and they have not contact with the Maoists and even of the Order of Merit, having intellectual relation to his Several volumes followed, One Flew Over and ask, ‘Dahalji, do you have any you can study in that prison. has done nothing to implement its raised the issue of a republic. The visited Maoist-affected areas. The held all the most prestigious friend from Vienna, the philoso- mostly on Renaissance art, the the Cuckoo’s Nest. One night problems? How are you feeling? How promises. The party has no other third round of negotiations will start Commission’s role has been similar chairs—at Oxford, Cambridge, pher Karl Popper) was that the most influential of which was on the ward, high on peyote, he option but to re-launch its anti- is your health? If you have any soon and theMaoists are preparing to that of the press… Harvard and Cornell universi- history of western painting suddenly envisioned what alcohol program again this month. problems please let us know, we will to stop all violent activities. This is ties, and at the Royal College of shared with science the self- Wolfe describes as “a full- Sharma said people need to find an inform the concerned people.’ They because of the government’s open Art—and received so many critical urgency to overcome its Norm and Form(1966), which blown Indian—Chief Broom— alternative to alcohol. even told me that the people who international awards (the includes the paper on Rapahel’s the solution, the whole mother- policy towards them. own previous formulas so as to ing key, to the novel.” were responsible for the murders in Goethe, Hegel and Erasmus become more coherent and Madonna. As Kesey explained, his Jhapa had left the (Maoist) organisa- republic. We believe that most prizes), may lead one to forget compendious in representing Though he had written tion and come over to their side. They people are in favour of forming a that his first 15 years in Britain natural appearances. eloquently about Picasso and discovery of Chief Broom, said they believed even I would give were fraught with difficulty: as a despite not knowing anything people’s republic. The only way For 40 years the book has other artists of the first half of about American Indians, gave Maoist allies up my position and switch sides. I out of the current political crisis is restricted alien, he struggled to the century, they were not him a character from whose ○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ remained central to the discus- realised they were trying to buy me a constitutional assembly and if the look after his family. The war sion of the visual arts by central to his sensibility. He point of view he could depict a Shree Ruprekha,6 November out. After they did not succeed, on 30 present rulers don’t even want to years checked his professional philosophers, art historians and was critical of various schizophrenic state of mind and October, they took me to meet the aaccept this minimum compromise, career, but the scope and modernisms: he was, for at the same time describe critics. It retained this position objectively the battle of wills The Maoist organisation has begun Inspector General of Police, Pradeep Only way forward only the future will show what the originality of his work in1945- instance, sceptical about ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ despite radical criticisms of working very closely with the Sumshere Rana. There we had an between two other key frightening result will be. 60 make one aware of his pent-up parts of his argument because at Schoenberg’s 12-tone system as characters, the new inmate Khubaban Mukti Morcha. They hour-long discussion. Janadisha,12 November On rights intellectual energy and the its core it focused, as no art musically disabling, and he was Randle Patrick McMurphy, who joined hands recently in Pame village ○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○ sustained thinking and reading historian before had, on the role unimpressed by art which undertakes to fight the system, in Solu Khumbu. Sources in the What did Pradeep Sumshere Excerpts from an interview with Deuba’s 100 days Sanghu,5 November that must have preceded it. of illusion, on the fact that in seemed to depend on making a and the tyrannical Big Nurse, Morcha say some of its members took discuss with you? ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Miss Ratched, who ends up Baburam Bhattarai The serious understanding of depiction, without our being rhetorical gesture (as opposed action against a few people, including He told me that most of my leaders lobotomising McMurphy. Chief Bimarsa,9 November Excerpts from an interview with What are the main objectives music formed a crucial factor in to art in which there was visible Dhansher Rai. Under the instructions deluded, we are caught up by Broom’s unstable mental state Sushil Pyakurel, member, National of this round of dialogue? the development of Gombrich’s the represented subject that we internal structure), however and Kesey’s imagining of it, of Minister for Tourism Bal Bahadur Some say it is just an excuse (Excerpts from an interview with Jaya HumanRightsCommission recognise within it—the interesting the psychology of KC, Rai was among those that were (for the Maoists to regroup). such gesturing might be. spying on the Morcha. The people Prakash Prasad Gupta, Minister for The secretary of the Human Telecommunication) More than 2,000 people have died (spies) were caught and punished. On Rights Commission has in the people’s revolution. This is The government has com- rereresigned. How many applica- (The Times, London) 181818 CITY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES ART AND SOCIETY 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES 191919 ABOUT TOWN YAK YETI YAK by MIKU FAREWELL TO A PRINCESS

MOVIESMOVIESMOVIES Nepali and Hindi movies online ticket booking at www.nepalshop.com The passionate pacifist EXHIBITION EXHIBITION JANAKI GURUNG ○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○ Kenichi Komatsu 2001Exhibition and sale of photographs by Japa- f you walk to Basantapur on nese photographer of Mustang, Dolpa and pilgrimages to old Nepali Saturday, 17 November and you temples. Organised by Japan-Nepal Photographic Exchange Society. 22 November-7 December, Nepal Art Council, Baber Mahal. 220735 Ipass the Kumari House you will Impressionistic photographs and Digital Art by1995-2001 Sandy see a pyramid of newly-harvested Shum and Jyoti Duwadi. Until 26 November. Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber paddy (dhaan) with an AK-47 Mahal Revisited. 411122 stuck on top. No, it will not mean Colour of my mind Paintings by Mona Ghosh. 20 November-2 Decem- an escalation of guerrilla warfare ber, Alliance Francaise, Thapathali. 241163 BOOKWORM between the government and the Paintings and sculptures by Surendra Pradhan and Ram K Bhandari. Maoists. It will in fact be the latest Park Gallery, Pulchowk. Until 20 November, 10AM-6PM, Sunday-Friday. 522307 Of Myths and Movement: RewritingChipkointo Himalayan HistoryHaripriya installation art exhibition by Nepali Rangan artist, Jyoti Duwadi, trying to draw Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2000 attention to the world’s gun EVENTSEVENTSEVENTS Rs 952 culture through art. Action Asia Himalayan Mountain Bike Race Series 18 and 2001 24 November. Open to all, In the 1970s, local communities in Garhwal began hugging trees marked for felling in state- “What I am trying to show is five race categories, great prizes. Himalayan Mountain Bike. [email protected]. 437437 owned commercial enterprises in protest. This volume brings Chipko back from the realm of how much rice can be bought with Contemporary Jazz dance classes by Meghna Thapa. At Alliance Francaise Sundays and myth into the world of geographical history. It reveals how biogeography has been shaped by the same amount money that it Tuesdays 4.30PM-6.30PM, 241163. At Banu’s, Kamal Pokhari, Wednesdays 6.30PM-8PM, varying struggles over resources and how the ‘sustainability’ hinges on an understanding of costs to buy an assault rifle,” Saturdays 1.30PM. 434024, 434830 substantive democratic processes. Duwadi told us while preparing for his exhibition. The show is called Demystifying Tibet: Unlocking the Secrets of the Land of the SnowsLee Feigon “Value” and will draw attention to MUSICMUSICMUSIC how the economic cost of conflict Ivan R Dee, Chicago, 1996 Live acoustic music Dinesh Rai and Deependra every Friday at the Himalatte Café. exacts an emotion toll from Rs 2,000 7.30PM-10PM 262526 communities around the world. Weekends at The Jazz The Bar Jazz Commission on Thursdays, Chris Masand’s LatinAn authoritative view of the history and culture of Tibet. Feigon attempts to locate the origins Duwadi says he has been band on Fridays and on Saturdays An Fainne. 7PM onwards, Shangri-La Hotel. 412999of modern Tibet and sort out its controversial relationship with China. Although Tibetans and increasingly disturbed by the series Live music Tuesday and Friday nights at the 40,000 ½ ft Bar, Rum Doodle Restaurant.Chinese share characteristics as a result of their long association with each other, Tibetans have of violent acts in the past year that 414336 far more in common with their nomadic Central Asian neighbours, and the idea that Tibet is a have rent his motherland, and his Coursespart and of China many is very more. recent. 425836/425894. adopted home, America. In earlier [email protected]. visits to Nepal, Duwadi had been EATING OUT Courtesy Mandala Book Point, Kantipath,www.borderlandresorts.com. 227711, [email protected] concerned about the escalating Afro-Caribbean night with music and speciality food. Rs 500, 30 November, La’Soon Maoist violence, and just when he Nagarkot Deepawali SpecialB&B, three-course Restaurant and Vinotheque, Pulchowk. For reservations ring 535920. thought things couldn’t get worse, Thai buffet dinner Adults Rs 750, Children under 12 Rs 500. Taxes extra. Summit Hotel, CLASSIFIEDinternational gourmet dinner, transport both the royal massacre happened in

Sanepa. 521810 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ways. Rs 1,440 or $19. Naked Chef, Nagarkot. An artist turns his craft to healing the Stupa View and Restaurant & Terraceat Nepal, and then the World Trade Himalayan Feelings Fusion band every Friday night with full Sekuwa dinner and complimen- 417386, 680115 Baudhanath Stupa. Well-appointed restau- Centre bombings. In despair, this world and Nepal of violence and conflict. tary beer or soft drink. Rs 555 per head, Rs1010 per couple at rant and terraces with views of stupa andK-Too! Beer and Steakhouse not the “longest”, passionate pacifist is trying to ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○ Dwarika’s Hotel. 479488 Himalayas. International vegetarian explore the connections between others. “I started thinking about it Le Cafe des TrekkersNew Tibetan and French restaurant. “highest”, “first” or any other superlative. Just a specialties, pizza from clay oven, ice cream,relaxed, easy-going bar and restaurant with the human conflict, militarisation, tion, and the artist says he is Does he feel the tug of home, is five years ago, with the gun-related Special Spanish Paella on 2,3,4, 9,10,11 November. Jyatha, soft guitar tunes on Fridays, Saturdays, coldest beer and juiciest steaks this side of the poverty and despair. inspired by the poetry of his that why he has kept in touch with violence in the United States, and Thamel, opposite Hotel Blue Diamond. 225777 Sundays from 5PM on. Special events onmoon. full By the Kathmandu Guest House. 433043 Duwadi is trying to collect as grandfather, poet Dharani Dhar his homeland and keeps coming then it happened in my own Barbecue lunch with complementary wine or beer for adults, moon. Open daily 11AM-8.30PM. 480262. many of the names of the estimatedKoirala who wrote 50 years ago: back? “Absolutely. This is where country with the royal massacre, soft drink for children. Saturdays and Sundays at the Godavari HMB Mountain BikingHave your bike serviced or my roots are, this is my connection and then September 11 hap- Village Resort. 560675 Secretary wanted Minimum three years 2,000 Nepalis who have died in the repaired by HMB’s Professional Mechanics at the Rox RestaurantTraditional home-style European cuisine from past six years of Maoist violence as Nepal, your smiling face to my past, my ancestors, my pened.” secretarial experience, excellent written andHMB Workshop. Riding gear, accessories and being.” Duwadi’s art form demon- a wood-fired oven. Steaks, trout, roasted vegetables, desserts. spoken English, computer & basic accounts, possible and these will be exhibited parts available. Second hand bikes bought/sold/ Would I see it, or die without strates this symbolic link to the Hotel Hyatt Regency. 491234 filing. Travel agency experience an advan-hired. New and reconditioned mountain bikes for alongside the rice. Visitors will be This is the worry that aches my Peking Duck and Mandarin Music Chinese chefs’ mild and spicy delicacies fromtage. the Immediate far- start. Position for GM of encouraged to light oil lamps and land: his ongoing exhibition in the sale. Himalayan Mountain Bikes—Tours and heart Visualising the Cost of east at the Imperial Pavilion every Sunday. Hotel Shangri-La. 412999 Adventure Travel Co. Bio-data and photo Expeditions.to 437437. burn incense so that the artwork Siddharth Art Gallery is called: Sandwiches Over the Rainbow American Diner with Fifth Avenue sandwiches, fullPO meals Box 12673 at KTM. itself becomes a shrine and a Towards hope or despair. “Earth Drawings to Digital Prints”. Vioence backpacker prices. Opposite Pilgrims Book House, Thamel. 426518 House for rent or saleSitapaila Ring Road, 12- memorial for the souls of the dead. Duwadi left Nepal in 1971 and Art installation by Jyoti

Kodari Eco Resort Peace in natural sur- ALL PHOTOSNMSUWAL Splash Bar and GrillNew fifth-floor outlet with view of city and surrounding hills. Radisson minute drive from Lincoln School. Two roapni On Tuesday, the did his PhD in political science (See below) Duwadi roundings, good views of Nepal/ Tibet border, Hotel. 411818 compound, five bedrooms, two bathrooms, from Claremont. But his heart was In the exhibits on display there, Basantapur jungle-covered mountains, Buddhist monas-kitchen, dining and sitting room, servant’s always in art, and he did his first teries, ancient Shiva cave. Hike to villages he took soil from Nepal, the 17-20 November quarters, other facilities. 356074, or 98103-0322 show in 1978 and has exhibited United States and rubbed it on with various ethnic groups, vantage points(Hari, to Shanta, Sanju, John) Inauguration: 4:30 PM on Himalayas. Comfortable accommodation, dhaanwill be regularly in the US. In 1994 he Nepali paper, scanned the result Saturday, 17 November came to Nepal on a brief stint with attached bath, balcony or terraces, good Bestfood, Room in Thamel Long-term only. Private put into jute sacks and marked and worked on them digitally to www.akash-himal.com GETAWAYS friendly service. 480262, the United Nations. He has done terrace, bath, double-bed, wardrobe, shelves. with the names of Afghanistan, produce colours and patterns that Chiso Chiso Hawama Summer B&B package for Nepalis and expatriates. Rs 1,[email protected] per several exhibitions in Nepal before, have a near-hypnotic effect. Quiet, private, and a great view. US$5 per day. Sierra Leone, Congo and other Digital Art 1995-2001 (From top to bottom) Princess Prekshya’s body arrives at Kathmandu head. Club Himalaya Nagarkot Resort. 410432, 414432 Contact John 548119. including one on In his heart of hearts, Duwadi The way to Mexico is too far. Botega Restau- countries torn by war, and replica nagas, the serpent Jyoti Duwadi airport on Monday evening on a Royal Nepal Army Avro. King Gyanendra Escape to Jomsom Two nights, three days, B&B package with tours and Pokhara-Jomsom is concerned about the global rant and Tequila Bar is near Thamel Chowk. rifle will be laid alongside the sacks and Crown Prince Paras arrive at Pashupati for the funeral. Princess return airfare. Expats $250 per head. Valid until New Year. Jomsom Mountain Resort. 434870 saviours of the water and air. “I Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber 266433. 15 percent off-season discount. to symbolise an end to violence. culture of violence and the effect it Prekshya’s daughters, Shitashma and Dilasha with Queen Komal prepare Dwarika’s Anytime Escape under the auctioneer’s hammer. Bid for a full overnight package wanted to generate an interest in has on the human soul. Through Mahal Revisited Using the environment, and the to garland the late Princess. Queen Komal and the Princess’ two daugh- in one of Dwarika’s suites, starting from $130 per night. Until 18 November. 479488The Borderlands Resort For canyoning, dhaanfor Duwadi is a nagas art, he hopes to heal himself and 1-26 November Nagarkot Escape Weekends in cottages, views of the Himalayas, valleys and forests. www.siddharthaartgallery.comters bid a tearful farewell to a sister and mother. rafting, trekking at Tibet borders, Profes- metaphor for peace and regenera- were the perfect symbol,” he adds. temple, gongs, bells and the windhorses— Special rates for Nepalis and resident expatriates. Hotel Keyman Chautari. sional Development Program, Leadership coloured pieces of cloth printed with [email protected] 436850 Buddhist texts—that we see festooned ART REVIEW around gompas. Theby subjectsAJIT BARAL seems ordinary. But Shum’s photographs are anything but. MARTIN CHAUTARI She forgoes the idea of photographic Media and democracy: Some thoughts about democracy Pratyoush Onta speaks, 20 reality and subverts the very essence of November. photography—that of capturing a subject Power reverses Film by Prahlad Dhakal. Dhakal leads discussion after screening. 22 meaningArt, of art, eventually manipulated leading to the precisely, in its finely detailed glory. November. For insertions ring NT Marketing at 543333-36. acceptance of technology in art. But all Instead, they are rather characterised by vague, blurred lines and textures, very Open to all. Unless otherwise indicated, all discussions are in Nepali. Both events 5.30PM, that, even if some of it happened some 80In other paintings, instead of working years ago, hadn’t really touched Nepal. much like those in impressionist paintings. Martin Chautari, Thapathali. 256239, 240059 on the images available to him, Duwadi Until now. Some of Shum’s subjects have hard, bone- has created images that are purely like feel, similar to mixed media painting US-based artist Jyoti Duwadi’s exhibi-abstract. On account of this, try as onethat uses adhesive. How she achieves this For inclusion in the listing send information to [email protected] tion of computer-aided paintings, whichmight, he it is difficult for the viewer to relateis simple—Shum presses a rounded nub of on FM 102.4 calls digital prints, at the Siddhartha Artthem to everyday reality. So one looksa for special kind of pen against the Polaroid Gallery should be of interest to Nepaliaesthetic beauty in these images, andof a photograph and then prints it to get NEPALI WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL audiences. There are altogether eleventhere one runs into another matter. different textures. The process demands paintings done in three different stylesPossibly on because we are used to conven-creativity, however—particularly in decid- Enjoy this glorious weather for as long as it lasts—until display—the difference in style being tionalthe paintings and colours, the imagesing what texture suits which surface. the wind direction changes and starts bringing in the Mon-Fri 0615-0645orld BBC Today W difference in the programs used to ‘paint’and their colours, while nice to look at, Shum’s photographs are different, no or generate the artworks. don’t really strike a chord. Digital prints haze again from the Gangetic plains from the southwest. doubt. But are they beautiful? More A huge high pressure area over the Tibetan plateau is The interesting thing about technol-seem to lack that immediacy of colour and Sat 0615-0645Science BBC in Action texture that conventional paintings have.beautiful than they would have been keeping away the effects of the cyclone over the Bay of ogy-aided art like Duwadi’s is that the Perhaps this is why the painting calledwithout being manipulated in Polaroid? Bengal which have only grazed Sikkim, and haven’t possibilities seem endless. Take, for Earth Drawing, though rather—a few linesThis reviewer has his reservations. brought any rain or snow over Nepal. This high pressure Sun 0615-0645Agenda BBC example, the painting titled Desert. Here DSES-13-11-2001 0800 GMT drawn unaided by the computer—has a will also deflect the westerly disturbance currently over the artist has superimposed one photo- different, more appealing feel than the Kashmir and not bring any precipitation to the Himalaya. graphic image over another. Then he has Daily 2045-2115g]kfnL BBC ;]jf;]jfg]kfnL;]jf rest of the paintings. The days next week will be a balmy 25 but the minima distorted and manipulated the images to are going to hit 5 degrees C on the edges of the Valley create a painting in which one can see, Also on display at the Siddhartha Art and 8 degrees C in the city. Daily 2245-2300g]kfnL BBC ;]jf;]jfg]kfnL;]jf quite clearly, a forest receding in the Gallery is the work of Sandy Shum, a background in the upper half and, not photographerso from Thailand. Shum likes to clearly, figures in sombre attitudes veiledcall her work impressionistic photographs by what look like optical threads in theand, like Jyoti Duwadi’s paintings, her SANDY SHUM lower half. photographs will be new to a Nepali European art world with an exhibit that was KATHMANDU VALLEY Radio Sagarmatha audience. Shum has mainly photographed echnology has triumphed, and thesimply an inverted commode, futurist sculptures of the Buddha, Swoyambu Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue P.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, Nepal debate over its use in art is over.Fillipo Marinetti, who apotheosised Tel: ++977-1-545680, 545681 Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227But the victory for technology didn’ttechnology; the king of kitsch Andy Warhol, The work of Jyoti Duwadi and Sandy T who created art out of discarded cans—they E-mail: [email protected] come quickly or easily, it took years of Shum is on view at the Siddhartha Art www.radiosagarmatha.org redefining the meaning of ‘art’. Dadaistall helped broaden and redefine the 24-07 23-06 24-05 24-05 23-06 /]l8of] ;u/dfyf Marcel Duchamp, who shocked the Gallery until 26 November, 11AM-6PM, Sunday through Friday. 202020 16 - 22 NOVEMBER NEPALI 2001 TIMES Under My Hat

by Kunda Dixit The mother of all inventions s a card-carrying nabob of negativism and a chronic cynic, it is difficult for this scribe to see non-existent Moving swiftly along, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur silver linings on alleged clouds because usually Deuba and senior members of his cabinet took a couple of A hours off their strategy meetings in preparation for talks with pessimistic sources have just told us on condition of complete anonymity that the sky is about to fall anyway.Maoist guerrillas on Monday, to meet the inventor in a secure bunker inside Baluwatar where the decision seems to have However, stung by recent criticism that I am habituallybeen taken that Nepal should pursue its research into a putting down the accomplishments of Nepalis from all Missile Defence Shield and weapons of mass destruction. walks of life, I have vowed now never to make fun again of The Prime Minister is also extremely concerned about the great strides taken by this country in the field of high technology research and development. My Nepal Era NewBiraj’s security in this age of international terrorism, and has Year Resolution this week is to make amends and recogniseinstructed that the young scientist be given 24-hour security the tremendous achievements of our young scientists as theyto prevent al-Qaeda operatives from kidnapping him. We cannot let such sensitive technology get into the wrong hands.

push the frontiers of science. Nepalis are today going Since this last report came out, boldly forth where no Nepali has we have also learnt that RONAST gone before, and this includes to has been secretly involved in other the Federated States of Micronesia. areas of high-technology applica- The best example of Nepalis tions. Documents leaked to us show: dazzling the world is the news published in a national daily on The Royal Nepal Navy has Monday (right) of an eighth already designed and built a grader named Biraj who has prototype nuclear-powered subma- designed a Three-stage, Booster- rine which has undergone high- assisted, Laser-tracking, Heat-seeking, Sub-orbital, Semi- guided Launch Vehicle with a 50 Kiloton Automatic speed, hot-pursuit trials in Begnas Nuclear Ultra-warhead capable of flattening an area of Lake. 27,000 sq km. Let me take a moment here to pay tribute toNepal’s space programme suffered a set-back when the the intrepid investigative journalist who brought this newscountdown for the launch of our nation’s first hunter-killer to the attention of the Nepali public, thereby restoring oursatellite (codename:Dandi-Biu 1-B) from the summit of Mt confidence in this country’s glorious future, and to showEverest had to be called off at the last minute as word came that if we all pull together there is nothing to stop us fromfrom Paris that a minister had just sold off our geostationary being a pariah nation that is feared and respected by all. Indian Ocean orbital slot a private company. The Royal Nepal Academy for Science and Technology Our labs have bred a genetically modified Turbo Yam (RONAST), which has always shown exemplary open- endowed with a xylem that allows the super tuber not to be mindedness to new ideas, has passed on this Star Wars restricted in its growth by stones to the north or south. invention to its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Research Division, and will soon be giving 15-year-old Biraj Our researchers haven’t forgotten consumer electronics, permission to use the Army’s missile test range in Rohiniand in an effort to automate every facet of national life, they are Bhanjyang. presently conducting field trials of a laser-guided precision nostril hair plucker that can also multi-task as an ear wax excavator and a belly-button lint remover. (Especially useful for civil servants who don’t have much to do in their orifices between the festivals.)

NEPALI SOCIETY Bhakta Bahadur’s Malaya t the age of six, his parentsbattling the British, and Bhakta Today, Bhakta Bahadur and his left their home village in Bahadur joined up with the colonialson run a successful security AGorkha and took Bhakta police as a staff sergeant. agency. “I hire only Nepalis, they Bahadur Rana with them to “Fifty years ago I fought are my blood, you have to help Burma. That was a time when Maoists in Malaya, now I see people of your own blood.” Bhakta thousands of Nepalis from the Maoists in my own country. Bahadur has given employment to midhills left their impoverished Sometimes life is very ironic,” ruedmore than 300 Nepalis in Malaysia villages and headed east in Bhakta Bahadur during a Dasainmany of them body guards for VIPs search of work—to Darjeeling,trip to Nepal to make pilgrimagesand to business executives. Assam and further to Burma andJanakpur, Manakamana and Bhakta Bahadur is the patriarch Thailand. Bhakta Bahadur’s Muktinath. Bhakta Bahadur looksof the Nepali community in Malay- parents were in the Thai town of much younger than his 80 years,sia, and often takes up the Surat Thani when the war and despite a fall from a horse problemsin of the estimated 5,000 erupted. The Japanese were in Muktinath after which he was Malaysians of Nepali origin directly Burma, and at age 16 Bhakta evacuated by helicopter to with Prime Minister Mahathir Bahadur left his parents and went Jomsom, he looked none the Mohammad. The latest case to work in a rubber plantation in worse for it. involved the predominantly-Nepali Malaya. town of Rawang which was But in 1942 the war pursued directly in the path of a new him there. When it was all over, highway, the inhabitants were south-east Asia lay in ruins, the relocated and their housing needs Japanese were gone but anti- taken care of. colonial civil wars continued. In Bhakta Bahadur says he has the jungles of the Malayan deep attachment to his Nepali roots peninsula, Maoist guerrillas were and is worried about how younger Malaysian Nepalis are losing touch. That is why he gets the community to celebrate Dasain, speak Nepali and keep their Nepali identity. His only regret in life: “I never really had the time to study. Today the youngsters are all well-educated and it has opened their eyes.” Even without education, Bhakta Bahadur has the wisdom and vision to lead his community. Common sense and generosity, it seems, do not need education. “I have become religious in my old age,” he admitted to us. “I have understood the value of my homeland, my soil, my water. I will come back and die here.”

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