695 21 - 27 February 2014 20 Pages Rs 50
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#695 21 - 27 February 2014 20 pages Rs 50 NOT AGAIN amilies of the victims of the Nepal Airlines F9N-ABB Twin Otter crash on Sunday, gather at Tribhuvan Airport to collect the bodies of their loved ones. The plane that crashed at Masine Lek, Arghakhanchi with the loss of 18 lives was flying from Pokhara to Jumla. Nepal has a notorious record for aviation safety and the EU blacklisted Nepali operators last December. 114 people were killed in eight aviation disasters between 2007 and 2012. TWIN OTTERS IN THE NEPAL SKY BY KUNDA DIXIT PAGE 4 BIKRAM RAI 2 EDITORIAL 21 - 27 FEBRUARY 2014 #695 COMATOSE GOVERNMENT n apocryphal anecdote doing the rounds in The country is al had no authority to do that. The Kathmandu these days goes like this: a Nepali other issue is that Gautam is not Aman fell into a coma for 14 years and was kept exactly where all that popular within his own alive on life support. He came back to life, but refused to party and after his tactical alliance believe he had been unconscious since 1999, insisting it was 14 years ago with strongman KP Oli, the other that he had just been asleep overnight. To prove he was two ex-prime ministers (Madhav right, the patient asked the nurse a few questions: Nepal and Jhal Nath Khanal) are The NC and UML are in a tussle wary of Gautam becoming too Patient: How many hours of load-shedding is there? over the Home Ministry for all the powerful within the UML. Nurse: 12 hours. wrong reasons. The UML knows How these various equations Patient: Has the Melamchi Project been finished? that the Congress knows that the play out in the days to come will Nurse: No. ministry is of critical importance determine how soon we will have a Patient: Who is the prime minister? because of its control over the complete cabinet and a functioning Nurse: Koirala. state security apparatus during government. But for now, we Patient: See? I told you, I have just been asleep local elections if they are held later can only rue that the country is overnight. this year. Bam Dev Gautam was exactly where it was 14 years ago. Home Minister during the 1998 In an editorial in this paper It has been three months after elections and two local elections and engineered a from issue #18 of 20 November weeks after Sushil Koirala was sworn in as prime resounding victory for his party, 2000, we had written: ‘The Unified minister and the haggling goes on. Koirala may have which dominated village and district Marxist-Leninists see the Maoists moral stature, but doesn’t have the charisma and councils and municipalities across stealing their thunder so they leadership qualities needed to whip the coalition into the country. That was the very reason Deuba scuttled half-heartedly put forward their own bright ideas for shape. He has partially surmounted internal pressure, local elections in 2002 when he was prime minister, constitutional amendments. Then there are the people but has had to confront the stalemate with the UML citing the insurgency as an excuse. The other reason the on the hard right, who are furious that their masters over the Home Minister’s post. Home Minister is such a sought-after job is that more than lost power, and now want a new constitution that will Frustrated, the prime minister is said to be thinking any other portfolio, it commands a budget which is at the set right the ‘wrongs’ of the Janandolan ... The snowball about putting off the nomination of a UML Home discretion of the minister and for which he doesn’t have effect of public cynicism about the state of the country Minister and is cobbling together a partial cabinet. to account for like other members of the cabinet do. has little to do with flaws in the constitution. It has to But even for that there is bound to be a tooth-and-nail NC ministers Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Minendra do with short-sighted, narrow-minded, and self-serving tussle over juicy ministries and Koirala has to appease Rijal have been trying to sort things out with the UML politicians who don’t deserve to rule. Blame the driver, the UML as well as the rival camp within his own party and it has now emerged that they were instrumental not the car. Blame the carpenter, not his tools.’ led by Sher Bahadur Deuba. The three-time prime in assuring Bam Dev Gautam and the UML that the It is a travesty for Nepal that this paragraph is as minister is obsessed with keeping Water Resources for Congress would have no objections to offering him relevant today as it was when the country went into a one of his cronies. Home. Koirala has now said that Messr Sitaula, Rijal et coma 14 years ago. ON THE WEB www.nepalitimes.com ANOTHER CROSSROAD Nepalis are bleeding and weeping. after we have fed them to the gill. Dambar Shrestha, #694). They Judging by the condition of retired The new prime minister is from the What kind of leadership is that? The Shame on you date expired politicians. should have lobbied for equality in Gurkhas in the UK, the four men Koirala clan and so far no one from saga over portfolios proves that our Kishor Dahal pension fi rst, rather than residency mentioned in the article seem to have that family has shown any capacity politicians are selfi sh and immune to rights in the UK. made the wise decision of staying for ‘personal sacrifi ce’ starting from the sufferings of the people. It was silly I was embarrassed that our new Although I understand why most back in their own land. If only other Matrika Prasad (‘Another crossroad’, of us to vote for these same men and prime minister, Sushil Koirala, is almost ex-Gurkhas have succumbed to the former Gurkhas had chosen to do the Editorial, #694). Why should we expecting them to solve our problems. three quarters of a century old. Then I lure of the UK, life is not easy there same and fought for equal pension expect anything different from this Narayana Prasad checked Wikipedia and was happy to and prices and living costs are high. rather than jumped at the chance of new installation of the same old learn there are several heads of state Yes, there is free healthcare and moving abroad, one could imagine corrupt lineage which has and will Once again the fools who who are 90 plus. Septuagenarian? No education, but many families have the wonders it would have done to keep on ruining Nepal? When will lead our country have shown zero big deal. problems integrating and living in Nepal’s economy. the Congress party wake up? Even foresight. When the NC and UML were Mote cramped accommodation. Racial Aakash Tamu months after the election results formulating their seven point deal, why tension is on the rise and resentment are out, the NC still can’t agree on couldn’t they include an eighth clause Ladies and gentlemen, here from little Englanders is also growing Gurkhas are like creative yeast: sharing ministries, how pathetic. clearly spelling out which party would we have our 37th joker (38 if you as Nepalis fl ood into the same areas wherever they go, they prosper. For BNS get what ministry? We would have count Khil Raj Regmi). Let’s see and put local resources under strain. instance, they are doing great in been spared this nonsense. Now these how strong the Koirala blood is. May The proud name of Gurkha has been Hong Kong. By choosing to settle in There maybe somebody in loathsome politicians will waste another Pashupatinath protect us all. diluted. the UK, the ex-servicemen are giving the blind spot ready for the kind of month in accusations and counter- J Sharma It would have been cheaper for their children the kind of opportunities politics Nepalis would welcome. accusations. I can just imagine Pushpa the British government to allow for that would not have been possible in Somebody we know little about, Kamal Dahal and Baburam Bhattarai COUNTRY’S CONSCIENCE parity in pensions and backdated Nepal. Besides what would they have a scion of the Koirala family who giving each other an evil smirk Thank you Professor Chaitanya Mishra this to the beginning of service. This done if they had stayed back home? actually seems to be quite different Roshan for your timely article on Dr Govinda would have afforded a nice lump The state has just thrown them out to from the unchanging old echelon KC’s fi ght against corruption and sum for ex-Gurkhas who could have rot in the dump. the public is used to. I am referring Nepali politicians cannot do politicisation within the medical sector lived like kings in Nepal rather than ‘Whatever’ to Bhaskar Koirala. He is not yet consensus politics, the past 24 years (‘Carrying the country’s conscience’, paupers in a foreign land. Their in the spotlight, but his upbringing have proved that amply. Can we #694). Each of us should embody the income would have had a multiplier and personal quests can eventually change the laws so that whichever ideals of KC and become agents of effect on the local economy and they make him a proper candidate for party wins the most number of seats change by doing whatever we can to could have contributed to making the Weekly Internet Poll #695 becoming a PM.