#644 22 - 28 February 2013 16 pages Rs 30

WHO IS IN CHARGE? DIWAKAR CHETTRI DIWAKAR

op leaders from the four main parties appear to Tbe at a loss about how to convince Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi into accepting the post of Chairman of Election be a mere puppet of the all-party ensure constitutional validity IDs for voters. Administrative Council. political mechanism. The chief Any Advice?’ Everyone agrees that only Even though the clock is justice is also worried about the Another tweet: ‘Let’s now fresh elections will get Nepal TSUM ticking for elections in June, resistance among and within focus on holding elections by out of the current impasse. there doesn’t seem to be a sense the UML, NC, and the fringe 1stweek of June. Electoral govt But elections for the sake of of urgency among the parties parties to his appointment, and under CJ is the last alternative elections may which spent all day Thursday the threat by student unions of for that purpose. Please no Editorial not resolve in internal meetings. They are street protests against him. hassles.’ Electing to go anything, expected to approach Regmi Prime Minister Baburam However, election officials for elections and it would again on Friday to persuade him Bhattarai took time Thursday to say it is already too late to hold be better to page 2 Sonam Lama writes about his that he won’t just be a rubber- send out optimistic tweets: ‘It’s elections in June. And it would prepare for home valley in the Himalaya stamp leader. good all major political forces be impossible if they have clean and free voting, even if it that is a spiritual refuge Earlier this week, Regmi are now united to form electoral to tinker with voter lists and is in November. voiced concern that he would govt under CJ. We have now to constituencies, or ensure photo- Kunda Dixit page 6-7 2 EDITORIAL 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 ELECTING TO GO FOR ELECTIONS idea. And that is what happened. Even die-hard anti-Maoists in the UML and NC who had opposed the idea mysteriously changed their minds overnight. It is a needlessly risky road, when there were other more acceptable alternatives available. But if this is the only way there will be the compromise necessary to hold elections in June, so be it. The NC and UML have to take their share of the blame in the Maoists

BIKRAM RAI coming up with this proposal. If they had agreed to join a Bhattarai-led all he art of compromise is based on the premise party government six months ago we that both sides in an argument give in a little. Only fresh elections will wouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get here. TUnfortunately, politics in Nepal has become a zero get us out of this rut, but As things stand now, it is Regmi’s turn to have doubts sum game where both sides want all or nothing. Every about the wording of the deal. The UML leadership, too, is concession is seen as a sign of weakness. Our so-called they have to be clean and having second thoughts. The young turks in the NC are on leaders don’t just want to be top dog, they want to be the violence-free the verge of a mutiny, and the openly selfish smaller parties only dog. in the Bhattarai coalition want to sabotage the deal. There This was the reason for the democratic decay and that political power comes from the implicit threat of are other snags: the photo-ID citizenship requirement to be disillusionment after 1990. Groupism within the Nepali using a gun. able to vote, the re-demarcation of constituencies to reflect Congress, the factionalism within the UML, or the rivalry Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has agreed the 2011 census and including those who have turned 18 between them held the whole country hostage during the to step down in favour of Chief Justice Khil Raj since 2008. Regmi himself fears that the parties will use 90s. Politicians incapable of thinking beyond their narrow Regmi to lead an Interim Election Council to hold him as a rubber stamp to endorse decisions by the all-party partisan or personal interests squandered the hard-won polls in June. We have argued in this space that this political mechanism, and he has told them to look for gains of the people’s movement. They couldn’t even stand was a bad idea because it blurred the separation of someone else if that is the case. together to confront the growing Maoist violence that was powers between the executive and judiciary. It was a These delays mean that it is also looking very tight for sweeping the country. proposal by one party that wanted to remove the last elections in June. The Maoists used muscle in 2008 to cheat After the ceasefire in 2006 and in the political roller remaining hurdle in its quest for absolute power. After and intimidate, this time they have money too. The NC and coaster post-2008, we see the same malaise. Only this dissolving the assembly, buying into media, coopting the UML know what happened five years ago and will also be time the Maoists are also in the fray, and the former police, appeasing the army, infiltrating the bureaucracy, investing in deterrence. Criminalised militant groups are revolutionaries are behaving no differently than the only the Supreme Court was standing in the way. still active under political protection in the Tarai. parties that they fought a war to replace. Despite declaring The feckless democratic opposition walked right into Everyone agrees that only fresh elections will get us themselves to be a ‘civilian party’ in their Hetauda the Maoist trap. Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal was out of this rut. But elections for the sake of elections will Convention, the Maoists are still using threats, extortion, betting on the political parties being so tempted with not be the answer. It is better to give the new Chairman of and intimidation as standard operating procedure. They the possibility of seeing Baburam Bhattarai step down the Interim Election Council time to organise free and fair may not openly carry guns anymore, but they still believe that they’d ultimately come around to supporting the CJ voting, even if it is in November.

ON THE WEB www.nepalitimes.com

HIGH COSTS, LOW FARES would partially address the over- and more effi cient to incentivise private revenge is allowed to fester in society. Imagine airplane fares in Nepal as capacity problem. carriers such as Tara Air, Sita Air, Goma Thank you for this Editorial, it should a private sector product and priced Lkhola Air, Kasthamandap etc to ply remote be read by all Nepali politicians, differently depending on which routes. Let it concentrate on where especially the Maoists. passport you hold (‘High costs, low Karnali people used to have mixed it’s required and where private Nepali Bela fares’, Sunir Pandey, #643). One feelings about Yeti/Tara Air, but it’s not airlines cannot go because of high price if you are Nepali, another if the case any more. I remember when investment and risk involved. If Johan Galtung loves the you are Indian, a third if you are Tara Air could not base its Twin Otter TS Maoists so much, he should start a French. Fine if you are talking about in the autumn of 2012. The new single Maoist revolution in Europe instead of a government-owned or supported engine airlines charged the Karnali folk The former RNAC was the training his peace consultancy in Nepal where carrier, where Nepalis pay taxes and three times the fares that Tara used to. ground for technicians, pilots, marketing journalists like the editor of Nepali are theoretically entitled to a lower Tara also conducts a certain number persons, planners, and others which Times seem to think he is some kind price. But why should a foreigner of subsidised fl ights every week to the helped enhance aviation in the private of guru. pay more for a ticket than a Nepali remote airfi elds for the local Karnali sector. It had been doing very well till Lila on Buddha Air, which is a private people. Now which private airlines does at least the 90s and later got into the company? Imagine if a Nepali went to this? clutches of people with vested interests It’s interesting to see the the US and was told he would have Tara Supporter to stay in the game, they will have to who had no love for the company. Norwegians lecturing about how to to pay double for a ticket on United follow simple market rules. As far as Khem Lal Bhusal end the confl ict. They have, of course, Airlines because he didn’t have an Birendra Basnet’s excuse appears 'Kuires' not getting the similar treatment been among the leading champions of American passport? This is all about very weak. Why blame rivals for a as Nepalis, sorry dudes, this is the only There seems to be quite a bit of fl ag the Maoists, never seeing how doing Nepalis not understanding how free ‘smear campaign’ when maintenance privilege we get for holding a Nepali waving by Capt Lama so often when the so made them little better than the and fair markets work. They don't get lapses required the intervention of passport. You know how hard it is to misery of Nepal’s civil aviation comes to Maoist cream they covered for. it when it comes to petrol and they Pratt & Whitney and the suspension get a visa for us to your more civilised the surface. I understand his frustration. PK don't get it when it comes to airplane of three senior engineers? Blaming countries? Just kidding. May be these What else can he do but rant against tickets. They need to wake up. software glitches is ridiculous. Anyone Airline companies will offer net based the prevailing culture and/or rock himself Pkrugman who knows anything about aviation is competitive fares direct to fl yers (Kuires as a very patriotic man amidst the toxic aware that maintenance records are and Nepalis) when the competition gets environment. I pray one day he gets the Weekly Internet Poll #644 The fare policy is quite absurd checked and crossed checked all the tougher or some common sense prevails chance to cure the ills of his sector to Q. Should the parties have appointed commissioners at the and it’s unique to Nepal. Local fares time. Blaming software for maintenance in their heads. keep the fl ag fl ying. Election Commission before announcing polls? lapses does not sound reassuring at all. Nirmal Ghimire are being forced down to unprofi table Krishna S Total votes: 775 levels due to competition and Fly Guy overcapacity, while foreigners are Good article from Captain Lama LOST IN TRANSITION charged some of the highest fares The main reason the fares have as always (‘Keep the fl ag fl ying’, Vijay It’s common sense what Prof Johan anywhere, meaning that only high-end gone down on main trunk routes, at Lama, #643). A national carrier that Galtung says, that as long as there is tourists and those on work-related least for Nepalis, is because passenger serves the interest of Nepal would be so inequality and injustice there will be travel fl y in Nepal. By lowering the numbers have gone up which has great. Hopefully the politicians will learn violence in society (‘Lost in transition’, difference between fares or offering allowed airlines to go for higher capacity to let it remain independent and run by Editorial, #643). It is the media’s job to aircraft with lower per seat km cost. expose these precursors to confl ict. And competitive web-based (regardless professionals one fi ne day. I disagree, Weekly Internet Poll # 645. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com Buddha has benefi ted the most with after confl ict, as the Bangladeshis are of who you are) fares according to however, on the domestic involvement of Q. Do you think elections will take place on 5 June once the supply and demand, companies its fl eet of ATR’s and if others want the national carrier. It would be cheaper fi nding out, violence can erupt again if parties agree on who should head the next government?

Publisher and Editor: Kunda Dixit Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd | Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur | GPO Box 7251 Kathmandu | Desk Editor: Trishna Rana | Design: Kiran Maharjan [email protected] | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5005601-08 Fax: +977-1-5005518 Director of Corporate Events: Anup Prakash | Marketing: Arjun Karki, Surendra Sharma [email protected] | Advertorial/features: Ram Krishna Banjara | Subscription: Santosh Aryal [email protected] Nepali Times on Facebook Printed at Jagadamba Press | 01-5250017-19 | www.jagadambapr.com Follow @nepalitimes on Twitter 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 OP-ED 3 Agree to disagree

BY THE WAY Anurag Acharya

he unlocking of political horns by appointing the chief Jjustice as the head of an election government, although unpalatable Tto many, is still welcome. It was not just the best of the worst options, it was the only option. Politics, as someone said, is the art of the possible. When all other alternatives, from a consensus government led by Baburam Bhattarai to one led by Sushil Koirala, failed to gain acceptance there really was no other way. Politics must overcome barriers to keep the affairs of state running. And when the issue at hand is about ensuring continuity to democracy through franchise, the CJ card was the only one left on the table. Critics of the formula may have a valid point about separation of powers, but they must also be able to offer a solution. The country has been without an elected body for almost a year, there haven’t been national elections for eight years and local elections for 13 years. The drafting of the constitution which was an integral part of the agreement that brought an end to the war is in limbo. Important bills are stuck at Shital Niwas and the electorate has become a silent bystander to endless political squabbling. This cannot go on, and if it takes a technocratic government to reinstate republican order, so be it. Undoubtedly, this is a desperate move by parties who have cancelled each other out by their single-minded obsession with power. But it would be an exaggeration to say that democratic politics has failed in this country. A few months ago, Sushil Koirala whom some see as a leader of the ‘democratic forces’ against Maoist ‘authoritarianism’ was charged with having sold out when he was proposed as the consensus CJ as the head of the candidate by Pushpa Kamal electoral government Dahal. In 2011, when Jhala will only make sense Nath Khanal became the prime minister he was publicly if the parties agree labelled a Maoist puppet by not to disagree about fellow comrades Madhav Nepal polls end-May and KP Oli. Now, Justice Regmi is accused of being a Maoist henchman. To understand why successive governments after 2008 have been unable to deliver what they set out to do requires deeper analysis of the interim constitution and the political backdrop in which the governments came to power. Article 43 (1) of the interim constitution mandates that all government decisions be consistent with the spirit of the People’s Movement and as per political consensus among the parties. While the spirit of the movement has been elaborately laid out in the preface, the constitution is silent on what amounts to consensus. The lack of clear authority and jurisdiction has been used by the opposition to bash the Maoist-led coalition which has been blamed for the dissolution of the CA, even when it was all the political parties which were in perpetual disagreement. If a future electoral government is to ensure timely elections, it has to be given a clear mandate and delegated the requisite authority to do what it needs to hold free, fair, and timely polls. For that to happen, the parties must agree not to hold the elections hostage to their incessant bickering. Chances are that disagreements over forms of governance, state TWO IN ONE restructuring, and the content of the Truth and Reconciliation and Disappearance Commissions will erupt again in the new Constituent Assembly, and again stall the new statute. But people want the Subscribe to an expanded parties to resolve those issues in the chambers, and not play politics with them on the streets. 20-page and get The powers that may be have agreed to appoint the CJ as the head of the electoral government, but the devil is in the details. The free every Friday from 1 March. decision has not been owned by many of their own leaders, and the fringe parties are angered by their exclusion. The CJ has refused to become a rubber stamp for the all-party mechanism which seeks to run the country de facto. Then there are practical and logistical difficulties in holding elections by May or June. For renewals and subscriptions: Luckily for the people, parties in the government as well as in the Santosh Aryal opposition are doomed to cooperate as long as the present Interim (01) 5005601-8 Constitution exists. So for their own sake and the sake of the people, [email protected] they must go for elections at the earliest, May or May not. 4 NATION 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 Innovating a new Nepal Mahabir Pun needs help to scale up his award-winning work in a remote Myagdi village to the national level

KUNDA DIXIT

ahabir Pun won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2007 for his project to bring wireless Internet to rural Nepal, but he found out last Mweek that the Internet was also a great way to remotely get through to the prime minister. Pun had met Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai a year ago to discuss his pet idea to set up a National Innovation Centre to promote creativity and generate jobs so Nepalis don’t have to migrate abroad for work. Bhattarai had nodded, said it was a great idea and instructed his offi ce to implement it. As expected, nothing happened. Whenever he came to Kathmandu from his native village in Myagdi, Pun followed up with the ministries and all AAKAR ANIL GHIMIRE he got was smiles, pats on the back, and nodding of heads. Last week, Pun vented his frustration with a direct Tweet to the Prime Minister’s Twitter handle, @brb_laaldhwoj, and through a message posted on the listserv of NNSD (Nepal Network for Social, Economic and Environmental Dialogue) whose members include Nepal’s top academics, civil society activists, politicians, and bureaucrats. Crowd-sourcing ‘After talking to responsible political leaders, high level bureaucrats, development agencies, and educated elites in Kathmandu for more than a year, I have a feeling now that nobody cares about the in the cloud immense need of one innovation centre in Nepal in order to uplift Nepal from a beggar nation to a well-to-do nation,’ Pun began Unique global communication project combines his passionate appeal. job-creation with commitment to the community He went on to lament that while donor agencies poured billions of dollars into Nepal, no one seemed interested in SULAIMAN DAUD stemming the haemorrhage of working age people out of the country. He said he was shocked to read in the papers that the cabinet had sanctioned Rs 3 billion to buy helicopters for the Nepal Army. n a country where nearly With the extra workload, KISHOR RIMAL ‘If the government has that much half the population is CloudFactory can therefore money to buy helicopters, how come it cannot provide half a billion rupees Iunemployed, any new afford to hire 5,000 more as loan to help start an innovation centre?’ Pun asked. opportunity that creates jobs people by the end of 2013. Pun has registered a non-profi t company called Nepal Abiskar Kendra and stops Nepalis from being But Sears doesn’t intend to with noted ex-bureaucrats like Rameswor Khanal, the man behind the forced to migrate has to be stop there, his long-term goal is Chilime Project, Dambar Nepali, and others in the advisory board. The plan welcomed. CloudFactory, a to ‘connect’ one million people is to build a 10MW hydropower plant, and sell electricity worth $6 million a year to the grid. Kathmandu-based technology in Nepal and other countries That money will be used to service the loan and run the centre start-up company, is doing through the Net and generate sustainably into the future. It will use information technology to help creative just that. income for people who could Nepalis with fi nancing and know-how to launch businesses. Pun is seeking CloudFactory already in turn do social service for a soft loan of $6 million for equity to build the hydropower plant, either from employs 600 workers, most of their communities. the government or a multilateral donor. them are college-aged along “There is so much potential Pun posted his message on the NNSD bulletin board at 7:45PM on with 80 staff members, and it in Nepal,” says Radhesh Friday, and within three hours there was a SMS from the Prime Minister’s aims to hire 5,000 more by the of CloudFactory at a company Pant, the CEO of the Nepal Offi ce summoning him to Baluwatar the next morning. This was surprising end of the year. The company is event called ‘We LOVE Nepal’ Investment Board who attended because the all-party negotiations on setting up a CJ-led election based around the twin resources at City Centre Mall last week. the event. “But someone needs government were reaching a critical stage. of crowd-sourcing and the to step up to make the most of Pun cleared security to enter Baluwatar, and within fi ve minutes About 300 of his employees Bhattarai was there with Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, Chief Secretary Internet. The organisation were treated to a free screening it, and it starts with people like Krishna Hari Baskota, and the PMO Secretary Lila Mani Poudel. The PM sources for large-scale digital of Captain America to thank those in CloudFactory.” began by saying he had read Pun’s Twitter message and fully agreed projects from across the globe, them for their hard work. Sushant Satyal, a ‘cloud with the concept of a Nepal Innovation Centre, and he asked the Finance and then breaks them down CloudFactory has a lot worker’ who joined the Minister how the government could support it. into simple tasks that are to celebrate. The company’s company when it only The meeting dragged on for an hour, and Pun remembers that as then distributed to its pool of data entry services are in high employed 30 workers, says the expected the minister and the secretaries had no concrete ideas about how workers. demand and extra work has organisation encourages young the government could help fi nance the 10MW power plant. But before the “We are thrilled to provide been coming in, including people like him to perform entire PMO, including the prime minister, went off for a picnic in Godavari, work opportunities for so many digitising receipts from the community work as a way of the meeting agreed to invite the World Bank, ADB, and other multilateral people in Nepal by the end of United States and collating giving back to society what agencies to push the idea. this year,” said Mark Sears, CEO society gave to them. “It will be a miracle if the Secretary fi nds a single donor to contribute a medical records from Canada. soft loan for the innovation,” Pun told Nepali Times, “let’s wait and see.” CloudFactory’s example As a boy, Mahabir Pun used to graze sheep in the high meadows near is not just the usual corporate the village of Nangi below the Annapurnas. Going to school, he had no social responsibility, it hopes to pencil or textbooks. Most of his neighbours became British Gurkhas, but integrate a sense of community Pun got an education and a scholarship in the University of Nebraska. in its workers, a new corporate Unlike most other Nepalis, however, Pun returned to Nepal. He model where its employees didin’t just come back to Kathmandu but went back to Nangi to see how are not just workers, but also Information Technology could help his community leapfrog into the pillars of the community. Internet age. Sushant and others like With the Nepal Innovation Centre, Mahabir Pun is trying to scale up him know the road ahead is what he has done in Nangi to a national level. His plan may have a better not smooth, with power cuts chance of being funded under a technocratic government than under one led by political parties. Or better still, Pun should be a part of the and political disturbances, technocratic government? integrating their professional www.nepalwireless.com.np work at CloudFactory with community action will be nepalitimes.com difficult. But it is an example of the talent pool existing in Mahabir’s centre for Nepal Connection, #622 HEADS IN THE CLOUDS: Team Leader Sushant Satyal and ‘Cloud Seeder’ Beyond the digital divide, #392 Jyotshna Thapa are just two young Nepalis who work at CloudFactory. Satyal Nepal, and an innovative way Web pioneer, #360 says: “I like the fact that CloudFactory encourages us to give back to society to create jobs and a sense of what society gave to us, whether it is by volunteering our time or by donating commitment to the community. some of the money we earn.” www.cloudfactory.com 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 BUSINESS 5 BIZ BRIEFS

Clean sweep Colourful life Easy business Six and counting Skoda Kansai Nerolac Paints India, International Finance Corporation Triveni Byapar has opened division of a subsidiary of Kansai Paints is supporting the government of its sixth showroom in Banepa Morang Japan has started operations in Nepal under the Nepal in simplifying and automating featuring products from Auto brand name Kansai Paints Nepal. According to a procedures for issuing licences and other Yasuda, Panasonic, Daewoo, Works press statement, KNP had acquired 68 per cent approvals for investors. It is supported by the Sanyo, Moulinex, and Tiger. (MAW) in stake in Nepal Shalimar Paints last year. UK Government and the Norwegian agency for The showroom offers a partnership Development Cooperation. variety of home electronic appliances. with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Free holiday Development (ICIMOD) will distribute 300 The eight holiday winners of Climbing fun Customers first improved cooking stoves in Makwanpur. A joint Bajajtantra campaign have left Astrex Climbing Wall and International Money Express press release said the one year partnership will for a fi ve day trip to Thailand. NepalSutra are organising Wall began the IME Customers’ complement ICIMOD’s ongoing work related to Hansraj Hulaschand the authorised Spiders to promote climbing Special Week from 19 February. black carbon and air pollution. distributor of Bajaj motorbikes in culture in Nepal on 22 and 23 On this occasion IME is giving Ncell SIM worth Rs Nepal launched the campaign. February. The competition is 99 talk time for free to each customer for every open to 14-24 year olds. transaction made at IME Centres and private agents across Nepal. Flying high Happy homes Etihad Airways, the national carrier of the Asian Paints Nepal has launched Apex Tile Guard, Happy birthday United Arab Emirates, reported net profi t of high-quality emulsion paint. The company says Waterfront Resort Pick and choose US$42 million in Apex Tile Guard is the in Pokhara Universal Electrocom of Lucky Group has 2012, up by 200 only clay tile and brick celebrated its fi rst launched a complete range of home appliances per cent from 2011. coating available in the anniversary. The in the market. It also sells and The last year saw Nepali market which staff of the resort distributes home appliances strong improvements in revenues, passenger has the ability to protect tiles and bricks from harsh donated blood and of European and Asian brands numbers, and cost control. weather conditions. cleaned the surrounding lake to mark the occasion. along with Colours Mobile. SONAM LAMA in GORKHA La in Nepal, this is it. The Guru Rimpoche is said to have meditated here, and there is or decades, trekking in even a cave where the Mila Nepal was synonymous Repa stayed. Tsum is one of the Fwith Everest or sacred hidden valleys of the Annapurna, which got 90 per Himalaya called ‘beyul’ - places cent of the adventure tourists of such tranquility and beauty who visited Nepal every year. that they make mortals But that is slowly changing. meditate on the As roads snake up to Manang eternal and and even Mustang is connected allow them to to the highway grid, trekkers are transcend to a looking for regions untouched higher spiritual by the internal combustion plane. engine. Because of its proximity Beyul means to Kathmandu, its mountain ‘hidden lands’ in wilderness and the rich Tibetan Tsumpa and culture, the attraction of the Tibetan, where Manaslu Circuit is spreading by people fled word of mouth. to in times of The trek follows the mighty strife for safety, Budi Gandaki River that scythes or in peace between the Himalchuli and time to pray Ganesh Himal ranges, cutting and meditate. steep gorges with spectacular Within these waterfalls. The trail follows the valleys river and leads up across the there are Larkya Pass (5,400m) and into nooks and the Manang Valley, which is crannies the route taken by most trekkers that are at present. even more But at the confluence of secluded, the Shiar River and the Budi where saints go to Gandaki an hour and a half find bliss. And then there are walk from Philim, if you take stories, told by monks at night the right fork on the road you around the hearth, of places so reach the mystic and holy Tsum sacred and secret that they exist Valley. If there is a Shangri in the border between reality 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 NATION 7 In the conservation, health improvement, and Holy book tourism development in his home valley. Tourists had just started trickling in, and he was convinced that eco-tourism was Mountain the future with a potential to lift living ost books about Nepal’s Mtrekking destinations are written standards. by Europeans or Americans, and Lama, now 34, decided to contributors to tourist guides written collaborate with his friend from primary of the Soul by foreigners. The few books on the school in Tsum, Lobsang Chhiring, to Himalaya by Nepalis are by Kathmandu- publish a guidebook. Lobsang used to Tsum Valley is a spiritual refuge for based writers. work for the Nepal Police, quit after the Now comes one of the first Maoist insurgency, and now works for the those who want to escape the world guidebooks to an exotic trekking locale Norwegian Cruise Lines. While Lobsang written by a native. Sonam Lama took pictures spanning 10 years, Sonam (pictured, left) was born in the Tsum wrote the explanatory text. Introduction Valley, and his village school was only to Trekking in the Manaslu Region and up to Grade 5 so he had to come down Tsum Valley was launched last month by to Gorkha for high school. After that, he Himalayan Map House. studied engineering in Kathmandu, but felt perpetually homesick. On clear days in Kathmandu, when he saw the Ganesh Himal range looming on the northwestern horizon he couldn’t bear it any longer and trekked home. Lama went to Darmstadt in Germany to study urban development, and specialised in sustainable emergency architecture in Barcelona before returning home to Nepal. He Introduction to Trekking in the Manaslu couldn’t stay in Kathmandu, and Region and Tsum Valley organises research expeditions to Himalayan Map House, 2013 remote valleys, and is an adviser at 144 pages the Tsum Welfare Committee which Rs 1,250 works on education, cultural heritage www.himalayanmaphouse.com

The Manaslu and Tsum regions are one of Nepal’s last Himalayan jewels … however as magnifi cient as the mountains are, it is perhaps the people of Nepal that are its greatest asset. Below these giant peaks they are hardworking, boisterous, industrious, endearing, brimming with humour, versatile, vibrant, and hungry for change. As new dirt roads begin to snake along the deep gorges and high meadows, progress will surely begin to change the region. Trekkers visiting the Manalsu and Tsum regions are sure to be smitten by this magical place. All will leave with a renewed inspiration for life …

from the Introduction to Trekking in the Manaslu Region and Tsum Valley

ALL PICS: LOPSANG CHHIRING LAMA

and mysticism, between the funds for environmental and temporal and the spiritual. cultural conservation. This The biggest challenge for is the successful Annapurna tourism in Nepal is to preserve Conservation Area model that our traditional heritage and is also being replicated in the way of life while we open up Manaslu region, with tourism to the world. From Humla to income ploughed into the local Mustang to Tsum, we face the economy. Homestay tourism is same challenge. The younger being promoted, local guides are generation, mesmerised by the being trained, and alternative ersatz of modernity that comes energy resources used. However, with roads and tv forget the true tourists and trekking agencies value of their sacred traditions. complain of harassment and Tsum Valley is the starting corruption in the restricted area point for the holy Kyimolung permit procedure. Trail, the 120km sacred If these issues can be circumambulation in Nepal smoothened, Manaslu and the and Tibet of Siringi Himal. Tsum Valley have the potential Pilgrims used to trek around the to be the next big thing in mountain till Tibet became out trekking in the Himalaya, of bounds, but they still do the and a model for balancing partial trek on the Nepal side. preservation with prosperity. Tourism in the Manaslu Manaslu can be loosely Circuit has been picking up translated as ‘The Mountain of with nearly 4,000 trekkers in the Soul’, and the Tsum Valley 2012, but only one-fourth of in its shadow can be a spiritual that number went to Tsum refuge for those who want to which was opened only in escape the stress of the modern 2008 as a restricted area for world. which visitors need a permit from the immigration office in Sonam Lama is a native of Tsum Valley Kathmandu. and an architect who specialised in One of the ways that we emergency housing in Germany and can strike a balance between Spain. the traditional and modern is by promoting sensitive nepalitimes.com tourism so that visitors, aware of the need to preserve Home away from home, #632 Kyimolung, the blessed land, #201 local traditions, generate 8 LIFE TIMES 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 Documentary fi lm-making Kasi, spread out over a large terrace workshop, explore principles DINING overlooking Phora Darbar, Kasi offers GETAWAYS and components of social-issue a delectable plate of Newari delicacies. documentaries with Czech-Canadian Darbar Marg fi lm-maker Kristyna Balaban. Rs 2,500, 20 February to 6 March, Backyard, incredibly reasonable prices, Sattya Media Arts, Jawalakhel, modest and simple food has made this www.sattya.org/2013/02/ restaurant a favourite among Nepalis socialissuedoc and foreigners alike. Jhamsikhel

The play of plays, see this Bombay Masala, fl ays the limits of humourous play to know how frantic it geography with a wide variety of cuisine. EVENTS is during a theatre production. HIMALAYAN PIZZA, this Italian Pulchok Rs 100 and Rs 200, runs till 2 March, restaurant has enough options to keep MO:MO: MANIA, the biggest momo Sarwanam Theatre, Kalikasthan both adults and children coming back Buzz, the food at Buzz is good and festival in Nepal, including free drinks, for more. Thamel wholesome, it will leave your palate live music, and games for children. Mustang trail race 2013, be part buzzing. Baluwatar Mum's Garden Resort, head out to Rs 650 for adults, Rs 450 for children, of a group of atheletes and get the Tian Rui, if you’re looking for genuinely Pokhara for a peaceful and comfortable 23 February, Bhrikuti Mandap, 3pm experience of a lifetime by running good Chinese food this restaurant is the stay in beautifully designed cottages through the roof of the world. 27 April place to go. Thapathali surrounded by a lush green garden Pranamaya Yoga, an Ashtanga yoga to 10 May, [email protected] with great views of Phewa Lake and the weekend retreat in the hills with Ellen Cafe Cheeno, comfortable and elegant, Annapurna range. Lake Side, Pokhara, Johannesen. Rs 11,500, 23 to 24 Cafe Cheeno is the perfect place to (061)463468, February, Namo Buddha Resort, have a cup of coffee and chat with www.mumsgardenresort.com [email protected] friends. Patan Dhoka Temple Tree Resort and Spa, a Sustainable workshops, learn how to The Village Cafe, authentic Newari peaceful place to stay, complete with make briquettes and a recycled roof so food straight from the heart. Pulchok CAPITAL GRILL, the American a swimming pool, massage parlour that you can lower your electricity bill. style diner offers a large assortment and sauna, it'll be hard to leave once Rs 150 per day, 28 to 3 March, 10am Noyoz, this tiny little joint serves food of appetisers and entrees to suit you get here. Gaurighat, Lakeside, to 4pm, Hariyo Chowk, that tastes like your mother’s home- everyone’s tastes. Bhatbhateni (61)465819 www.hariyochowk.sattya.org/ cooking. Bhatbhateni 2twodayworkshop/ Just Baked, haven for those with a Himalayan Wellness Centre, a one- Yeok Teck, the most intriguing part of sweet tooth. Battisputali stop centre for a relaxed mind and Mustang, a spiritual odyssey, an the menu is the variety of 'mock meat' healthy body inside the Park Village exhibition that showcases thangkas, WALL SPIDERS, come and see 100 dishes on offer. Bhanimandal Bagaicha, serves Nepali, Indian, Hotel. Budhanilkantha, open all week, photographs, sand mandala, young male and female climbers Chinese, Continental, and Thai dishes. 9801066661, installations, and dance from Mustang. compete in scaling walls as they Jawalakhel www.himalayanwellness.com.np Runs till 13 March, Siddartha prove their worth in lead, speed, and Art Gallery boulder categories. Rs 200 to register in competition, 22 to 23 February, Eco fair, see a wealth of stalls and 10am onwards, Astrek Climbing Wall, activities on what local schools and Bhagwan Bahal, Thamel, (01)4419265 businesses are doing to promote the protection of the environment. Rs MUSIC 50, 22 February, 2.30pm, The British HERITAGE KITCHEN AND BAR, School, Jhamsikhel, (01)5521794 quick, friendly service, good Thai food, Come taste the band, spread the and the charm of the refurbished old Cycle rally, students of British School word around, Deep Purple’s gonna be Newari building. Thamel invite you to participate in their rally to in town - fi rst and last chance to catch raise funds for a charity in Dhading. the legendary band live in Kathmandu. Mulchowk, the blend of culinary 23 February, 7.30am, Patan- 15 March, Dasrath Rangasala, expertise and charms of a bygone era. Basantapur-Jhamsikhel, 9851109546 Tripureswor Babarmahal 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 LIFE TIMES 9 Cycles of change

istory is full of stories of great Hcivilisations that once fl ourished with culture, attained prosperity, then made some grave mistakes, and now only exist as fragmented archeological sites, or have simply moved into the pages of bland history books.

Engineer and energy planner Anil Chitrakar will look into the positives and negatives of crucial periods in Nepal’s history and assess the present state of the country so that we may make correct decisions to avoid an Ozymandian fate in the near future.

22 February, 9.30am, Hotel Shankar, Lajimpat, [email protected] Rs 100 for members, Rs 400 for non- members, tea, and coffee included

SOMEPLACE ELSE

PICS: CINDREY LIU

s the old saying goes, palace, Caffe Concerto is also without being too a pot of mint tea. The menu the best way to stay known for its Italian style sweet. boasted that the range of herbal Ahealthy is to eat like a menu of pizzas and pastas. But We also ordered teas was made with fresh king in the morning, eat like a to our surprise, its breakfast Caffe the American herbs grown in Concerto’s own peasant in the afternoon, and menu had better choices than breakfast set (pic, garden and infused with honey. eat like a pauper at night. If you most other restaurants in left), a slightly For a reasonable price of Rs 140 happen to be around Pokhara’s Pokhara or in the capital. pricier option the smooth, sweet tea was the Lakeside, Caffe Concerto Our first order was the Concerto at Rs 335, but perfect choice to finish off Pizzeria Restaurant is the ideal Platter B/F (pic, right), one that didn’t our meal. place to start your day with a which we assumed stood for disappoint when The cafe also provides breakfast fit for royalty. breakfast. A large plate of it arrived. You can free Wi-Fi and a selection of A two-storey building cheese and breakfast meats Pizzeria choose omelette, fresh Gelato (Italian ice-cream) opposite the former royal served with a thick slice of toast and a mess of roasted scrambled or sunny for those with a sweet tooth. potatoes, it was a very hearty side up egg. In the end we settled Before you go for a late morning meal for just Rs 290. The cheese on scrambled. The eggs weren’t stroll along Phewa Lake, drop went well with the ham and as fluffy as we had hoped, but the by Concerto for a long, lazy salami, but the peach jam served croissant made up for it. Warm holiday breakfast to start your with the toast was a pleasant and buttery, soft on the inside day on the right foot. surprise. As we were more and crispy on the outside, it was Sulaiman Daud familiar with blackberry and so good we felt like ordering a raspberry jam, trying the peach whole basket to take home. How to get there: the restaurant is jam was a novel experience. Being more tea lovers than located near Phewa Lake, opposite the It turned out great on toast coffee junkies, we also ordered former royal palace. 10 HAPPENINGS 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644

DIPESH SHRESTHA/NAGARIK BRIGHT FUTURE: Children activists of CPN-Maoist stop a driver in Baneswor on AMOUR Tuesday for defying the party’s banda. lost the will to live, Georges smacks her, not out of irritation but from fear, desperation, and exhaustion. It is little scenes like these, slowly built up with the MUST SEE precise and unerring eye of the director, with the help of his Sophia Pande cinematographer, the great Darius Khondji, that binds the fi lm together creating an effect which is so subtle yet so realistic that the audience feels we are indeed witnessing this couple’s lives ast year in June I reviewed The White Ribbon, a fi lm by unfolding right before our eyes. the Austrian director Michael Haneke that won the Palme Haneke’s style has always been slow, watchful, patient, and LD’or at Cannes in 2009. I chose to write about that fi lm non-judgmental. While contemplating this beautiful yet painful then in order to celebrate his winning of the Palme D’or at the fi lm I was reminded strongly of another domestic drama, the fi lm Cannes Film Festival again, in 2012, for Amour, a fi lm that has A Separation (2011) by the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (also become available to us just now. reviewed in the Nepali Times). Amour is every bit the minimalist masterpiece that I had Both fi lms deal with families disintegrating, a subject that anticipated over the last few months of waiting. Made for an can easily descend into melodrama and messiness. Yet both of astonishingly low sum of 7.3 million euros, the fi lm traces these directors are skilled and restrained enough to allow the KRISHNA SINJALI the fi nal months of Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and actors to work on behalf of their excellent scripts, trusting in their MUST BE YUMMY: Singer Kunti Moktan (left) greets Dhimal girls selling their Anne (Emmanuelle Riva), an elderly couple living in an old skills, and in the mysteries of the human condition, that when but spacious and elegant apartment in Paris fi lled with oil traditional food at the fi rst Mechinagar indigenous festival in Jhapa on treated with the sleight of hand of a wise director can be so Saturday. paintings and a well used, perfectly tuned piano, depicting a much more compelling than any thriller. lifetime’s worth of the appreciation of beauty. Amour has been nominated both in the Best Foreign The fi lm starts explosively but mellows into scenes Language as well as Best Picture categories this year. The portraying the simple harmony between the couple, the Academy will probably pick Lincoln over Amour, and while both affection they feel for each other, their ease in each other’s are great fi lms, Amour deals with the stuff of life with so much company, and the comfort with which they live during their grace and power that it resonates in the mind forever. gently waning years. Then one morning at breakfast, Anne Winning in the Best Picture category is an honour, but not suffers from a stroke, and their lives change irrevocably. necessarily the best judge of the greatest fi lm. Come Oscar As George cares for Anne over the course of her illness night (well, early morning for us on the 25 February), I will be she inevitably deteriorates; it is then that we see why the fi lm holding my breath. is titled Amour (which is the French word for love). Even while Georges is forced to hire nurses to care for Anne, he continues to treat her with a tenderness that comes nepalitimes.com from long years of companionship. When she won’t drink Watch trailer water at some point, spitting it out at him because she has

CINDREY LIU SWITCHED OFF: A woman texts while walking past a sign in Kamaladi on Fighting fibromyalgia Wednesday that discourages the use of cell phones during driving.

READERS’ PHOTO unclear, but the disease occurs to massive under-diagnosis. in a 9:1 female-to-male ratio Ten years ago if patients like DHANVANTARI and is associated with disturbed Sita showed up at our clinics, sleep and abnormal pain we would usually refer them to Buddha Basnyat, MD perception as in Sita’s case. the ‘bone’ doctor (an orthopedic Earlier, the diagnosis criteria surgeon). Today there are for fibromyalgia required experts like Buddhi Paudyal, or 38-year-old Sita patients to demonstrate pain at a rheumatologist at Patan Rana the throbbing pain 11 of 18 tender pre-determined Hospital, who deal with the Fthroughout her body was sites (back of neck, arm, hip etc). disease. But general internists becoming unbearable. In the last However, this strict guideline should be able to help patients three months, she was having has been left out in updated with fibromyalgia as well. difficulties concentrating and diagnosis manuals because it led Doctors mostly prescribe sleeping and feeling anti-depressants like very tired. She also amitriptyline which ARNE WALDERHAUG had a long history can also double up KARATE KIDS: Children run up and down the stairs leading to Boudhanath of anxiety. Taking as pain and sleep stupa early in the morning. ‘brufen’ (ibuprofen) medicines. However, didn’t make her feel since many are still any better. During a not aware about WEEKEND WEATHER regular check-up, the fibromyalgia, they doctor discovered might recommend pain Sunday’s temperature is just tenderness on the killers like ibuprofen about the average for February. muscles of her neck, which have little effect. This bodes well for replenishing back, arms, and The focus of Kulekhani and winter crops. A legs, but there was treatment, however, fresh westerly front will pump moisture up the Himalayan slopes, nothing unusual in her should not be only to bringing some isolated showers laboratory tests. eliminate the pain, with occasional thunder and KATHMANDU Sita suffers from but also to improve lightning in the high Himalaya fibromyalgia. It is a function and quality into the weekend. Snowfall in the high valleys will add to the woes FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY common infliction that of life through various of domestic air and road travel, affects about five to exercises like aerobics since the northwesterly wind is also ten per cent of Nepalis and strength training keeping the maximum temperature and is not specific to and relaxation low, while the minimum will go up a notch. Things will start warming up 22° 6° 23° 8° 22° 6° geography, ethnicity or techniques like yoga only midweek next week. climate. The causes are and Tai Chi.

22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 OPINION 11

previously, Lobsang Namgyal economic underpinnings of its became the 100th person to relations with China. Might not commit self-immolation since then it occur to the Tibetans to 2009. The current total: 102 carry directly their message of self-immolations and 85 dead. self-immolations to the cities It’s an overwhelmingly a in the West, much in the way movement of the young: 77 of Islamic suicide bombers did the 102 self-immolators were with their horrific methods? between 15- 29. Indeed, the self-immolator’s It seems logical for Tibetans psychology closely resembles to seek more spectacular the suicide bomber’s. Both settings for self-immolation, believe death is the only for their unique form of protest recourse left to secure justice. not only seeks to defy Chinese Both choose to die because they rule, but to also persuade wish through their sacrifice to through their suffering an provide a better future for their indifferent world of the need to people. Yet, what distinguishes mount pressure on Beijing to the suicide bomber from what grant them their cultural and cultural theorist Terry Eagleton religious rights. calls the ‘martyr’, or the person These twin messages of who fasts to death for a cause defiance and a cry for support or demand, is that the latter NEPALI TIMES constitute the meaning of doesn’t injure or kill others, almost every Tibetan self- just as the self-immolator immolation, invariably doesn’t. carried out outside famous Nevertheless, considering monasteries or public places, the escalation in self- thus providing the opportunity immolations in Tibet, it seems SUICIDE BURNER for capturing on camera or there is an inexhaustible video the horror of their supply of people waiting, The self-immolator and the suicide bomber both burning to death. No doubt, the just as the earlier generation believe death is the only recourse left to secure justice downloading of these ghastly of suicide bombers spawned scenes on the internet suggests more deadly imitators. At a network of activists hoping the apathetic response of act would be: frenzied coverage indifference to self-immolations to exploit self-immolations the world to their plight and of the incident by the media, a in their homeland. In India, for garnering support for the Beijing’s refusal to accept LOOK OUT crescendo of criticism against home to the Tibetan government Tibetan cause. their key demands, is it not Beijing has grasped the Ajaz Ashraf Beijing, and prominent voices in exile, no prominent leader, possible for the potential self- demanding the Dalai Lama not even from the opposition, message of defiance implicit immolator to reinterpret the issue a statement condemning nor the palpably anti-China in the self-immolations, Tibetan Buddhism creed of t is conceivable a Tibetan self-immolation as a form of media in India has been unduly evident in its decision to flood non-violence, much the way could in the future set his protest. You can only hope the bothered by the rising number Tibetan towns with troops, the Quranic injunction against or her body on fire, in one world won’t have to witness the of Tibetans setting themselves and crack down after every suicide was? I suicide by burning. But such [email protected] of those Western countries horror. on fire. whose fate it is to live in Yet, it is an idea which On 12 February, 25-year-old defiance, Tibetans know, will unrelenting media spotlight. is perhaps incubating in the Duptse turned himself into a not acquire a salience until the nepalitimes.com It is also possible to imagine Tibetan diaspora deeply raging fireball at the Boudha international community is Tibet’s burning issue, #630 what the response to such an frustrated at the world’s temple in Kathmandu. A week repulsed into overlooking the 12 ECONOMY 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 No big deal There will be minimal benefit to Nepal from the hike in minimum wage for workers in Malaysia

SUNIR PANDEY furniture factory in Johore that refused to implement the minimum wage. But the anger was even greater among hen the Malaysian government factory owners, who said the wage hike increased the minimum wage would make them uncompetitive. The Wfor domestic and foreign Malaysian Employers Federation, an workers to at least RM 900 (Rs 25,172) umbrella body of manufacturers, lobbied last month, Nepalis there were overjoyed. the government to get tough and even Back in Kathmandu the media deport striking workers. splashed headlines about the move, and Fadli Adilah, Charge d’Affaires at projected growth in remittances from the Malaysian Embassy in Kathmandu the nearly half-a-million Nepali workers told Nepali Times foreign workers were NARESH NEWAR in Malaysia. Recruiting agencies were essential to fuel Malaysia’s economic flooded with queries from people eager to growth and keep the industries running. Even before the Malaysian HARD WORKERS: Nepali workers throng the get on the next plane to Malaysia. “It’s all about supply and demand,” government raised the minimum wage, small Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. The But what the Malaysian government he said, “the minimum wage decision employers there had warned that the embassy had no comment on the resistance gave with one hand, it was pressured applied to both foreign and domestic Malaysian furniture industry would from many Malaysian employers to implement to take with the other. It announced the workers, and we don’t expect there to be be hardest hit. Petrol stations, where the government’s minimum wage policy for foreign workers that went into effect on minimum wage increase and a month a drastic change in the number of Nepali thousands of Nepalis work, said they also 1 January. later, workers were required to pay a workers in Malaysia.” would not be able to afford the higher housing and food levy to employers The Embassy doesn’t expect recent wages. In December 2012, business after it came under pressure from factory decisions to dissuade workers from going owners had asked their government to visitors of the rise in wages. owners. to Malaysia, and the wage controversy withdraw the decision fearing negative Narayan Dahal of Jhapa came back to “The cabinet’s decision to make doesn’t seem to have discouraged Nepalis impact of the move on small and Nepal in December 2012 after seeing out migrant workers pay for the levy is from seeking work there. In fact, statistics medium-sized companies. a three-year contract at a plastic factory immoral and unjust,” said the labour point to the contrary. The Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur in Selangor. His employers housed him group, Tenaganita about the levy, Malaysia still remains the third largest failed to respond to our queries about at a hostel and even paid for medical “migrant workers as one of the least foreign employer of Nepalis after India the impact of the wage hike on total checkups. Narayan admits his employers paid and most exploited workers in the and Qatar (see below). On average, more remittance figures from Malaysia, or if it were kind, and that other Nepalis he country will see a further erosion of their than 10,000 Nepalis leave for Malaysia expects Nepalis workers to think twice met in Malaysia were not as lucky. meagre income.” every month, and nearly 120,000 have about going there. The embassy website Nevertheless, he still wants to go back. The labour welfare organisation, gone there since July 2012. does have a pop-up notice informing “My monthly salary was about RM Jaringan Rakyat Tertindas (Jerit), 460,” he says. “Maybe I can earn double submitted a complaint to the government if I go back soon. Hopefully I will also get about abuse by employers of the to work overtime.” minimum wage policy in which benefits Malaysia depends heavily upon such as transport, overtime, and other Arabian plights foreign labourers, considered cheaper allowances were revoked. The wage hike alternatives to local workers who tend to has also stirred anger among Malaysian ne in every fi ve person on the streets of Doha is a Nepali. Qatar is the second switch to better jobs more frequently, and workers, who feel foreign workers got O largest employer of Nepali workers after India, treats them at par with domestic workers. bigger hikes and have more allowances and the gas-rich Gulf state will be a major But given the recent strike and debates than them. source of remittance for the country for the next about minimum wages, with companies The 40 per cent rise in wages, it was eight years as it embarks on a multibillion dollar looking to cut costs, it seems likely that argued, meant the workers could now construction scheme to prepare for the football thousands of people like Narayan will afford their own housing and food. An KUNDA DIXIT World Cup in 2022. find that their chances of earning a higher average Nepali factory worker who used This week, Human Rights Watch concluded minimum wage depends more on their to earn RM 350 had his wage increased to that Qatar will be a ‘crucible of exploitation’ ahead of the games because of poor working conditions employers’ financial capability than any RM 900, but would have to spend up to for foreign workers from the subcontinent, including Nepal. In January, the Nepal embassy in Qatar state decision to increase it. RM 100 on average on food and housing successfully negotiated a raise in minimum wage and allowances for Nepalis from 800 riyal (Rs per month, meaning that the hike would 19,161) to 1,200 riyal (Rs 28,742). This has resulted in a drop in demand for Nepali workers say recruitment agencies in eat into a chunk of his savings. Kathmandu. Qatar is also feeling the pinch of a construction slump as international gas prices nepalitimes.com As frustration rose among foreign collapse because of the increasing use of shale gas in the US. Every month, nearly 20,000 Nepalis, Let them eat burgers, #404 workers, including Nepalis, in Malaysia, mostly men, leave for Qatar. “Political stability for economic progress”, #415 the first strike this month shut down a 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 ECONOMY 13 Spineless backbone With small-scale production and limited access to markets, rural Nepali farmers are stuck at the bottom of the food chain

from the farms. But what about the farmers who live in the remote hills ECONOMY STUPID and far corners of the country? They Puja Tandon not only have to walk for days to reach the nearest market, but fearful that their produce will go bad, many are y now more than 76 per cent compelled to slash their prices to a bare of Nepalis who depend on minimum. Bagriculture for their livelihood At the state level, the challenge is to have gotten used to empty promises adopt a blue ocean strategy and take on made by successive governments to niche marketing which can be supported ‘develop’ and ‘prioritise’ the agricultural by our scale of production. There is sector. While most farmers produce no harm if our produce is costlier than barely enough to feed their families, those from India and elsewhere if we even those looking to sell their goods can package and position them as are held back by the lack of road unique and distinctive. However, this networks and diffi culties reaching the requires better research and policies market. regarding what and when to produce. The tradition style of farming in The government will also have to come Nepal, while enough to sustain a family, up with better agricultural aid policies cannot accommodate large-scale to make sure that farmers aren’t being production. Maintaining the quantity forced into methods or activities that and quality every year is particularly outsiders think are ‘best’ and the money diffi cult under this method. Small- is going to those who have a good track scale production, ineffi cient methods, record in business. along with soaring transportation bills Farmers also need greater support mean that production costs in Nepal in terms of soil testing facilities, are signifi cantly higher than rest storage, and knowledge about improved techniques. Providing training in business literacy through co-operatives and encouraging the bigger co-operatives to venture into processing will help. And introducing classes on agriculture and entrepreneurship in schools in rural Nepal will go a long way in equipping future farmers with the tools for success. Entrepreneurs who want to invest in of South Asia and we cannot even agriculture should look into opening think of competing with our northern processing and grading units closer to and southern neighbours. To make production sites instead of bigger towns matters worse cheaper produce from and cities. This will not only help them India that fl ood our markets erode the get hold of better quality produce, but competitiveness and confi dence of they can also save up on transportation our farmers. costs. However, even within the country When farmers and their co- farmers have a hard time selling their operatives are taught to think, goods. Since farm goods are highly strategise, and manage the type, perishable they have to be purchased quantity, and quality of their produce, from the site within a few weeks or cold the market will automatically come stored. If farmers are lucky enough to them. However, how much people to live along highways or major road should expect from a government which networks, they can at least carry their has repeatedly failed to provide even fruits and vegetables to the markets basic commodities like fertiliser in time or the buyers can collect them directly for planting season is open to debate. 14 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644

NEPALI TWEETS Indecent proposal Letter to the CJ Suresh Prasad Acharya, between the four parties Binita Dahal, Kantipur, 19 February I have never seen such a depressing President, Campaign for and ‘unconstitutional and Democracy Day until today. I don’t think Informed Citizenry, Facebook, unauthorised amendments’ my country has been in such disarray Judging by his silence, it seems that Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi does not 20 February to the constitution by the before. want to lose the opportunity of becoming the next prime minister. He is fully president, will it be necessary aware of the principles of power separation, having studied each article of the to re-examine or supercede constitution for 40 years. But with the top post in sight, he seems determined An open letter to Chief Justice the interpretation of law and to write his name in history. That could be the reason he wants to avoid Khil Raj Regmi, who looks constitution in the light of the controversy before everyone agrees to his leadership. tempted by the prospects of then CJ Anup Raj Sharma’s The CJ has not done anything outstanding during becoming decision over the Royal Poor Nepali people who have been the 20 months of his tenure, and there is no way to say prime Commission for Corruption suffering under ‘Gyane tantra’, ‘Prachanda whether he will perform better as PM, especially in times tantra’, and ‘Baburam tantra’ get scared minister, Control? when they hear ‘Prajatantra’. of constitutional crises. In case we forget, it was under about the 4. Will the Army, which has his leadership that the number of justices in the Supreme Court was stuck at six, and instead of promoting people Constitution always claimed it will ‘only who performed well he sent them packing. People admired which remain under the control of Regmi for not extending the Constituent Assembly’s says: ‘The a constitutional government’, deadline back in May, but that too played a part in inviting sovereignty obey the orders of an this crisis. and state unconstitutional government? In Why would Khil Raj Regmi want to take Among the three organs of the state, the judiciary is authority of other words, how will you make over power when Baburam Bhattarai said earlier that the key to state power lies considered the most upright and justices don’t engage in Nepal shall the Army obey your command? elsewhere? open rivalries, in contrast to politics. How will a man who be vested in 5. How do you, as CJ, has spent 40 dignifi ed years fare in the cat-and-mouse the Nepalese explain Article 102 (4) of the race for power? Unlike at the Supreme Court , where the people.’ constitution which gives the CJ faces no pressure, at the PMO Regmi will have to Supreme Court final power compromise and keep everyone happy. What will happen to the judiciary’s clean image after the parties drag the CJ 1. Please to interpret the prevalent down to their dirty games? remember Constitution? that in the 6. Have you shown interest to The current political deadlock reminds PM Baburam Bhattarai knows all too well about Regmi. me of Lekhnath Poudel’s Pinjada ko Suga Dozens of decisions made by his government have been absence of a become prime minister with that he wrote for long-suffering Nepalis stopped by the SC, and court records show that no other parliament, the full knowledge of Article during the Rana regime. ‘Poor me, I am government has made as many controversial decisions. BIKASH DWARE the 103 (4), according to which trapped inside a cage for the sake of this country’. Bhattarai has even said publicly that the SC did not let his government do sovereignty and state authority you will have to declare that anything. By bringing Regmi to the doors of Baluwatar, it is evident that of the country automatically you are unable or not healthy Bhattarai wants to infl uence these cases. Amidst the political wrangling, will the shifts on to the Nepali people. enough to remain as CJ if you CJ-PM be able to send people like Bal Krishna Dhungel to jail? 2. The preamble of the are to become PM, and will you The UCPN(M) did not propose the CJ’s name for the PM’s job so that constitution expresses full demand from the four parties killers within the party get sent to jail. Having already given orders to free journalist Dekendra Thapa’s murderers, this government knows that merging commitment towards a that they let you resign first? Ram Chandra Poudel: ‘We will have the executive with the judiciary will work in its favour. If that is so, why does democratic system containing, 7. How do you, as incumbent a government under the chief justice amongst others, an independent CJ, explain Article 106 (1-2) by Friday’. Sujata Koirala: ‘The NC is the CJ covertly show that he wants to leave his dignifi ed career and entertain becoming an anti-democratic party’. Do proposals fl oated by a party that grants amnesty to known killers? If that is not judiciary. If this is so, i) should of the existing Constitution these two belong to the same party? the case, why doesn’t Regmi speak up strongly against the proposal? the incumbent CJ be under the which places limitations on the The opposition’s efforts to make Regmi prime minister just to replace direct influence of the four postings of a Supreme Court Bhattarai will deliver momentary gain. They must realise that the Maoists parties through a ‘political justice? only want to postpone election dates by fl oating Regmi’s name. So instead of mechanism’ that has been 8. Will you have to suspend trying to overthrow Bhattarai, they should work on strengthening the Election recently agreed upon? ii) Who Part 6 of the Constitution, Commission to hold polls under Bhattarai’s leadership. will a CJ-PM be answerable to which governs the nature of the Schoolchildren are dancing to the Hindi in the absence of a parliament? parliament, as long as you are song ‘Fevicol’ as part of Saraswati Puja and, iii) who will authorise prime minister? celebrations. No comment. court proceedings against 9. Will you also have to suspend the ‘last resort’ CJ-PM if his the post of the chief justice as government can’t hold polls in long as you are PM? June? 10. Will ‘Amendments to the 3. If the incumbent CJ is to Constitution, part 21’ have to be Forget unifi cation day, democracy day, become prime minister through suspended before you become republic day. Nepal banda is the new ‘unconstitutional’ agreements PM? symbol that unites the entire nation. Crime wave

Himal Khabarpatrika, 17 February

Himal Khabarpatrika has launched a Bazar Theft 59% Public Opinion Poll in its new weekly avatar with support from The Asia Foundation. The polls are conducted every week in 12 urban centres across Threat 53% the country from Damak in the east to Dhangadi in the west, and 375 respondents “Let’s have elections!” are randomly asked three questions in the marketplace. This Rajesh KC in Nagarik, 18 February Kidnapping 30% week’s questions were on the perception

of security: ‘How do QUOTE OF THE WEEK

you rate security in your town?’. Nearly “ 40 per cent said ‘not You can’t put words in my mouth, good’, and half said you can’t tie me down. Murder % “ 30 ‘ok’. In response to a supplementary question Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi reportedly (‘What kind of crime telling PM Bhattarai on Tuesday what is most prevalent in he thinks about the preconditions your town or city?’) to becoming prime minister, respondents were Jana Aastha, 21 February asked to name three Rape 29% top crimes. 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 15 16 BACK SIDE 22 - 28 FEBRUARY 2013 #644 www.nepalitimes.com www.nepalitimes.com

decide, here is a list of jokey nominations PhD in urban planning planning to leave, on FB: it is clear that the justice of the supremo Something stinks here court will not be land-grabbing. Who Prime Minister: Chief of Justice knows, road widening may even come to a Home Minister: Chief of Police grinding halt. he Justice-in-Chief is wavering Defence Minister: Chief of Army But just as they thought they didn’t about taking on BRB’s offer to lead Finance Minister: Chief of Central Bank have to worry about the road, wham! Tan election govt. Being a lawyer, he Information Minister: Chief Editor, Embassies got letters last week from the looked at the fine print, and it did look Gorkhapatra NEA to pay a minimum flat rate of like he was going to be a puppet with Tourism Minister: Chief of NAC Rs 30,000 for their electricity bills. Dips the strings being pulled by the all-party Supplies Minister: Chief of NOC now have to pay for power supply that is mechanism. The parties have left it up to Energy Minister: Chief of NEC not supplied. Besides being a violation PM BRB to convince the CJ, since the two Foreign Minister: Chief of Non-Resident of the Vienna Convention, they say it Balu Water neighbours have long been Nepali International Cordination Council could also be construed as a crime against in cahoots. Because there was so much Health Minister: Chief of Trauma Centre humanity. to-ing and fro-ing across the wall between FG the CJ and PM compounds, they’ve now FG installed a door to make it easier for the Now that their days are numbered, Nepalis can proudly say we have the CJ and PM to sneak in and out without members of the Cabinet are raking it in highest per capita number of national waking up the guards. Incidentally, as if there is no tomorrow. And guess holidays. We had three New Years till this trap door was also used by the 12 what the Ministry of leaders of the 4 parties to cajole the CJ on Traffic Jams managed Wednesday night. to sneak through FG as one of its last There may be a slight unanticipated decisions: lift the ban Whose ever brainwave it was to make problem, though, what is the CJ going to on new taxi licences the CJ lead the gobblement, it was do when as head of government he has and award 2,500 new ones. With those recently: the Gregorian, Bikram, and Nepal truly inspired. But just so we have all to share the podium with Bal Krishna new cabs on the streets, they will have to Sumbuts. Now we have added at least bases covered, it may be necessary to Dhungel whom he sentenced to life widen the roads all over again. six more Losars. Nepal also has the most think about alternative non-political imprisonment for murder and whom the FG number of Communist Parties, and the independent personalities in case Regmi PM who made him CJ had released? total has gone up to 22 with the breakaway gets cold feet. Here is a list: Embassies that stubbornly resisted Dash Baddies and the emergence last week Gyanendra Shah FG pressure from the Valley Road-Widening of the Communist Party of Nepal (Che) Shortest Man Chandra Bdr Dangi When the CJ does take over his job as the Authoritarians must be heaving a sigh of to complement the CPN (Enver Charles Shobraj Temporary Chair of the Interim relief that the BRB govt is finally stepping Hoxha). Miss Nepal Shristi Shrestha Provisional Election Adhoc Mechanism, down, thinking they will now stop getting ‘Visit Nepal: The Land of DJ Tantrik his first order of business will be to set letters to demolish their perimeter walls. Most Communist New Year Pahupati ko Bhatta up an 11-member cabinet. To help him With a prime minister who had done his Parties’.

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