518 3 - 9 September 2010 16 Pages Rs 30
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#518 3 - 9 September 2010 16 pages Rs 30 PICS: KIRAN PANDAY PAINFULLY EMPLOYED: Youths queue up for army recruitment, Korean language tests, and Lifeline passports in the capital ost people are so making a living. For every man or to the politicians who brazenly engrossed in the day-to- woman who hopes to get into the pocket the life savings of those M day that they hardly army, police or the APF, there are less fortunate than them. The notice the lines clogging up the thousands more who see no way most depressing aspect of this is pavements of the capital. Unless out but to get out. how some Nepalis abroad are they are in them themselves. Add And there are plenty who take doing the same. The recent case of up the queues for army advantage of the most 108 Nepalis rescued from Libya is p13 recruitment, Korean language disadvantaged members of our not simply about cruel, Trafficker Tej: How one tests, passports, and the airport, society. It goes all the way from exploitative foreign employers man gambled with the however, and you get a composite the brokers who step up to the and states; it illustrates how lives of hundreds of picture of the desperation Nepali line and promise to facilitate Nepalis are fleecing Nepalis, Nepali migrant workers youth face when it comes to whatever it is you are looking for home and abroad. 2| 3 - 9 SEPTEMBER 2010 #518 PUBLISHERS NOTE THE CENTRE CANNOT HOLD hings fall apart when the centre doesnt hold. The dictators who were propelled to power not by their mafias were quarrying the flood-control embankment. prolonged political uncertainty in Kathmandu is ruthlessness, but by the fecklessness of moderate In this issue we have an investigative report on T having an impact across all sectors of the economy, adherents of an open society, whose greed blinded them how Nepali workers are not just being exploited, but and in the everyday lives of citizens. from seeing what was coming. are bought and sold like slaves. The victims are The long queues for jobs in the army or police, the There has always been mismanagement in Nepal. We Nepali, the traffickers are Nepali. There is no point teeming passport seekers, the throngs at Korean language have come to take it as a given that governments will be blaming the Libyans or the Macau authorities for this test centres and at the departure gate at the airport all ineffective and corrupt. Budgets, if passed, are seldom modern-day form of slavery in which the state is indicate heightened public exasperation and spent. Garbage has been piling up on Kathmandu streets for complicit. disenchantment. decades, especially since 1990. State-run corporations This is what happens when society and the nation Politicians, whose inability to agree on forming a have all been bled dry. There have always been kleptocrats are without leadership. Crooks of all hues crawl out stable new government are the cause of all this, ignore in the bureaucracy, and there has always been dacoitry in from holes in the ground to pick at the bones of what is this mass disaffection at their own peril. Someday they politics. But never has the level of malgovernance, left. will reap the whirlwind. The only political forces that corruption and apathy among our rulers been as visible and It is when the state goes into freefall that we have benefit are those that thrive on chaos and anarchy. blatant as it is today. to be most vigilant to prevent the rise of strong-arm Even if it is only for their own self-preservation and The rubbish on the streets is symptomatic of the rot. dictators who promise to set things right, and restore well-being, the democratic parties that believe in non- The inability of the state to cope indicates the level of order. If that does happen, the blame will then fall violent change and pluralism should work together and statelessness. Floods are ravaging the land from Mahakali squarely on the leaders who today call themselves curb short-term greed and ambition. If they dont stop to Mai Khola, but there hasnt been a coordinated state democratic. fighting now, there will be nothing to fight over. response. a CDO inspecting floods from a helicopter in History is replete with example of demagogues and Kanchanpur makes the news, not the fact that boulder Nitty-gritty politicking reluctantly agreed to stay neutral has an instinctive understanding disillusionment among the rank They point out that the Madhes PLAIN SPEAKING because of Indian pressure and of where power resides in any and file Madhesi party MPs. movement is essentially an fear of another split in the party. context. Dahal has been trying to Many of them feel they are just anti-Maoist movement and Prashant Jha Yadav sees the other three tap into that, by offering him being used as pawns in larger allying with them could erode Madhesi parties in the front as DPM-ship and the home games and want to assert their base, which NC could upstarts who are benefitting from ministry. Gachchadar seems to themselves. Add to this the capitalise on. Alternatively, he Maoist-Madhes his movement. His past Maoist realise he can extract the most desire among many from the others say that the Maoists dynamic is back in the background is coupled with the while the bigger three parties are Madhes to be seen as acting could use the Madhesi parties T news. Political circles are strong conviction that only a fighting. Despite his bluster independent of India they are to make inroads in the Tarai. rife with speculation that the two tactical alliance with them can about Maoist state capture, he is sick of the taunts from other Some leaders also argue that MJF constituents could shift to win the Madhes any rights, since not worried for he knows that the MPs and constituents that Delhi Dahal cannot be trusted one bit the Maoist camp in the next the Maoists have the least stake Maoists can do little to challenge decides their fate. he may become PM with their round of voting. This has been in the present structure and are him in his home districts, which There are widespread support, but the Madhesi reinforced by Pushpa Kamal willing to reform it. gives him enough space to rumours about how top leaders parties will not be able to Dahals statement that were given some money to control him at all. And if the 5 September will be decisive, his remain neutral, but this never UML joins such an arrangement meetings with both Upendra trickled down to the MPs. Those subsequently, their space will Yadav and Bijay Gachchadar, and The Maoist-Madhes who were not ministers in the shrink further. But with the their subsequent efforts to last government see an Indian enthusiasm to hold the convince other front constituents dynamic may yet gel to opportunity now, and feel there Madhes back from supporting to play a more decisive role. give Nepal a prime will be more cabinet berths on the Maoists flagging, these It is difficult to judge offer since both the NC and UML arguments are not supported by whether both the Madhesi parties minister next week could stay out of a government adequate hard power. with all their members will led by the Maoists. Many of Irrespective of the result on be willing to break the front and them also dislike the established Sunday, these seemingly vote for the Maoists. But the Yadav told an interlocutor manouevre in the capital. parliamentary parties; note the mundane details are fascinating speculation underlines once last year, Look, just let me be Gachchadar also appears royalist background of some of for they show how politics, at again the fact that the dynamic with the Maoists till we have confident that while India may the 11 MPs who crossed the floor the end of the day, is not about between these two forces is the federalism. The NC and UML will be upset temporarily if he moves, in the third round. With the broad principles. Instead, big unpredictable variable in never give us that. Once we have it has limited options and he can Maoists not really in a position individual calculations, Nepali politics. our own state, we will fight the mend the relationship. But these to challenge these politicians on personal relations, money, and There appear to be three Maoists. Add to this the are all last-minute decisions. He the ground back in the Tarai, raw power are driving forces. causes for the renewed temptation of becoming deputy could well be cozying up to the their fear of the former rebels is Any alliance finally rests on the restlessness in the Madhesi prime minister and regaining his Maoists to increase his bargaining diminished. right combination of these camp. position as foreign minister. position, and extract more from There is of course another factors. The Maoists and a Upendra Yadavs heart is with Bijay Gachchadar, schooled in the other side. school within these parties, and section of the Madhes are trying the Maoists, and he only the GP Koirala brand of politics, The third variable is the in the broader Madhesi front. to get that mix right. ON THE WEB www.nepalitimes.com HIGH HOPES cannot compare UCPN-Maoist with any which is made up of 100% bahun males. Weekly Internet Poll # 518 Constitution or no constitution, Nepal is communist party of the past. KiranL Q. What do you make of Paras Shah’s public becoming Zimbabwe; Dahal will be Gole comeback? Robert Mugabe (Central concerns, CASH FLOWS Total votes: 1,821 Prashant Jha, #517).