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#153 11 - 17 July 2003 16 pages Rs 25 used a large part of the possibilities. There can be top level assassinations, attacks on large infrastructure. And all will be lost once they SAARCForeign secretaries to ofsummit SAARC member begin urban guerrilla warfare in the by-lanes of nations finally agreed in Kathmandu on the Valley towns.” th dates for the 12 Summit of their leaders At present, King Gyanendra is the in Islamabad 4-6 January, 2004. The inscrutable power at the apex of the summit was to have taken place earlier establishment, and it is not clear what he thinks. this year, but was postponed because The talks which he doubtless guides from of bilateral tensions between India and backstage could have been an opportunity to get Pakistan. But a recent thaw allowed the Maoists to prove their bonafides, for officials from the two countries to agree instance spelling out exactly what they mean by on the summit. All eyes were on “constituent assembly”. We only have backdoor Pakistani foreign secretary Riaz channels to tell us they are actually okay with Khokhar and his Indian counterpart, “constitutional monarchy”. Kanwal Sibal, but the two did not have Not again Part of the answer seems to lie in giving the any official one-on-ones in Kathmandu. Maoists their due as a political force and Sibal will have time for a meeting with negotiating a respectful way out for the Nepal on Friday. SAARC doesn’t allow leadership, given that they have come above bilateral issues to be raised, but ground due to foreign (read: Indian) pressure tensions between India and Pakistan and the professed fear of foreign (read: US) have been a chronic curse for SAARC. intervention. We have seen elsewhere that every time a peace process breaks down, the next round of fighting is more vicious, more brutal and with more civilian deaths. Nepal is presently at the The people need brink of such a disaster. In the past weeks, the Maoists have gone eerily silent and there is NEPALNEWS.COM

SUBHAS RAI a ceasefire that clearly a rethink going on about strategy in the guarantees run-up to informal talks slated for Friday. Those talks must extricate the peace process Weekly Internet Poll # 93 human rights. from the quagmire. Since other actions would require rapprochement between the palace and Q. Rate the issues raised by the agitating parties? ANALYSIS by

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ KANAK MANI DIXIT return to conflict more vicious than before will if they are left to dangle, and a short and the parties, the most urgent need is to have ive months into the ceasefire, Nepalis are mean innocents will die by the thousands. decisive military campaign will finish them off. human rights safeguards in place and to without representation, without security, Some analysts reckon it may take up to three This is unlikely, due to the lack of political monitor the ceasefire. and without development. Reconstruction years to defeat the Maoists militarily. But even activity and administrative initiative It is the tragedy of Nepali polity that there and rehabilitation is still a mirage. But an even if that were possible, it would leave a country countrywide which is an advantage for the hasn’t been a groundswell demand for such a larger tragedy looms: an institutional loss of in ruins, no civil society, and wipe out the Maoists. Besides, Nepal is still the best terrain life-saving as well as confidence-building Fhuman rights, militarisation, and a change in freedoms we do enjoy even today. for guerrilla warfare. measure. Now, the National Human Rights the very nature of the Nepali state. In five months, the Maoists have lost It is not clear if an army that appears so Commission has prepared a draft human rights The Maoists could be blamed for creating some of their mystique, but elsewhere they excited about the Congo mission has upgraded accord which is supported by Total votes:1,316 the conditions for all this to happen, but it is have continued to consolidate, extort, arm and its intelligence and fighting capability to deliver UNDP, the EU, Amnesty Weekly Internet Poll # 94. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.com up to the palace, Maoists and the parties to even administer. The Maoist leaders’ desire to a decisive victory in-country. Some seem to International and the political parties. Q. Do you agree that enough is enough, and all political undo the damage. In this three-way tug-of-war enter the mainstream appears genuine, but believe that a round of fighting will weaken the The government and the Maoists now forces should now unite for the good of the nation? the growing rift between the palace and the they need to be able to convince their followers Maoists enough to make them more amenable need to sign on it. (Draft accord is posted on parties seriously threatens the peace process. to lay down the gun at one go. The present at the table. Others, particularly those who have www.nepalitimes.com) The urgent goal of disarming the rebels so that deadlock, however, allows the local cadre to actual experience in fighting insurgencies, say The Accord will follow up on the Code of politics can be revived at the grassroots, is fortify itself, so that the tail begins to wag the the Maoists cannot be beaten, they just have to Conduct agreed in March, and allow a country- nowhere in sight. Kathmandu is sleep-walking, dog. The worst that could happen is if the be regarded as a political force, and adequate wide monitoring mechanism managed by the while the Maoists control the countryside. rebel leadership fractures, leaving arms in the concessions made. NHRC with technical support from the UN. The end to this road will be a Maoist hands of local warlords and bandits—a mess “The Maoist came out of the jungle strong. This immediate action by the government and leadership that willingly (if this has been their that could take decades to sort out. Their leadership is too smart to allow power to the Maoists would give the people the breathing strategy all along) or unwillingly (if they are It could be that the king’s military fizzle away,” says one close international space needed to let the king and the parties solve forced by the cadre) returns to the jungle. A advisers believe the Maoists will lose strength observer of the insurgency. “They have not their differences. There is no time to lose. t

Welcome to NAVIN○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ SINGH KHADKA Patan Museum Café hen state-run Nepal Telecommunications Corporation Opening from1030 – 1930 hrs No freedom to roam

introduced mobile phones in Nepal four years ago, it Official indifference deprives Nepalis ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Enjoy our new Cocktail & Snacks of the promised roaming facilities within three months. of○○○○○○○○○ cell phones that work abroad. Week from 1700 – 1930 hrs Customers are still waiting. and didn’t bother to check if it allowed roaming. Big mistake.” In Plagued by mismanagement and corruption, NTC officials the NTC’s politicised and unaccountable system, no one ever For reservations please call areW unable to provide a convincing answer why. Nepal’s cell phone paid for the gaffe. Only the customers did. 552 6271, 552 4694 network is one of the most primitive in the world, and it is hard to Now, NTC has imported new equipment from the Chinese see why NTC is not interested in providing a service that would be Hua Wei company which allows limited inbound roaming, which such a lucrative source of revenue. NTC makes Rs 35 million a means a customer with a foreign phone can make and take calls month from its mobile operations, and is adding 300 new cell if it is through the 24 operators in 14 countries with which NTC connections every day. But it provides only voice mail and has agreements, including India, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, domestic texting. There is no call-forwarding, no roaming and no Britain and Singapore. facility to sell SIM cards to visitors. NTC customers can’t use this system even if the equipment is NTC’s director for new services, Madan Kaji Shakya told us: in place because officials admit it doesn’t have the “We are arranging to set up the service. But there are technical management capacity to operate the billing systems with other and human resource constraints.” Nepali customers have heard it operators. Why can’t NTC hire more people? One engineer told all before, and those who can afford it are going for satellite us the management is non-technical and just doesn’t understand phones like Thuraya which are designed for use in the earth’s the need to upgrade. remotest regions. In tarai towns, Nepalis are buying Indian mobile At the regulatory Nepal Telecommunication Authority, phones and use them to call Kathmandu because it is cheaper Shrish Prasad Sen passes the buck back to NTC, saying: “It is the than NTC’s monopoly rates. NTC’s decision to providing roaming services or not. We haven’t The crux of the problem seems to be that NTC was forced in asked them for details.” Listening to this, it seems the problem is 1996 by politicians to go for the Israeli Telerad system that neither technical nor managerial, but indifference. supplied Canadian-made Nortel equipment for the initial 10,000 If NTC can’t do it, the private mobile operator Spice Cell mobile lines. Telerad had a fatal flaw: it didn’t allow roaming. Nepal could step in, but it is stuck because of a lingering One NTC engineer admited to us: “They bought it in a hurry financial dispute with the government. t 11 - 17 JULY 2003 2 EDITORIAL NEPALI TIMES #153 Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda Dixit STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL Desk Editor: Trishna Gurung, Design: Kiran Maharjan Webmaster: Bhushan Shilpakar [email protected], www.nepalitimes.com Advertising: Sunaina Shah [email protected] Subscription: Anil Karki [email protected] Sales: Sudan Bista [email protected] Sanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel: 01-5543333/ 5523845 Fax: 01-5521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hattiban: 01-5547018/17

KingdomSecularism is the ofonly waythe to governbahuns a caste-ridden,

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ OTTOM UP ○○○○○ Bhen King Gyanendra sacked Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on 4 multi-ethnic nation state. October last year, he said Deuba had been incompetent in not being able ecularism is one of the 18 forward- male preserve) is likely to be a to hold elections as promised. But everyone knows that wasn’t Sher looking agendas collectively Ghimire, Koirala, Dahal, Bahadurji’s fault. His real incompetence was not using legal provisions to extend the terms of adopted by the five party coalition Upadhyay or, as with this paper, VDCsW and DDCs by a year. Local elections couldn’t be held because of the raging campaigning against ‘regression’. Details a Dixit. Bahuns were, and still are, insurgency, but Deuba thought he could kill two birds with one stone: appease the haven’tS been clearly spelled out, but scribes. king as well as demolish the domination of the UML over grassroots bodies. presumably genuine religious freedom is This is why the World Brahmin By this one act of wilfull inaction, Deuba let the terms of more than 50,000 all that the mainstreamers are aiming for. Conference couldn’t have chosen a elected officials lapse. In one fell swoop, the administration of 75 districts, 58 The secularism of the Nepali better venue than Kathmandu. It’s municipalities and 3,913 village committees fell into the hands of this country’s Congress and UML is sure to be much convener restaurateur B L Sharma notoriously inefficient bureaucracy. less unsettling than the idol-smashing, may or may not have his own political As it turned out, Lokendra Bahadur Chand didn’t prove to be any more cow-butchering, temple-desecrating, and agenda, but it wouldn’t be surprising competent in reviving the first tier of democracy. As a result, for more than a year Sanskrit-censuring atheistic politics of at all if the meet comes up with a now, Nepalis are without local representation. Development has ground to a halt, the Maoists. no one is accountable anymore to citizens, and the vacuum has been filled by the Yet, this harmless agenda of Maoists who now hold sway beyond the perimeter of district headquarters. parliamentary parties has ignited So, despite the ceasefire, political activity outside urban areas is now limited vociferous protests. All kinds of Hindu solely to Maoist extortion drives. From field reports in this paper over the past outfits that mutely watched Maoists’ weeks, we catch a glimpse of a country with two systems. Nearly half the budget excesses for eight years are suddenly up allocated to local government units for development remained unspent this fiscal in arms against the very idea of

year. That means no money for schools, health posts, trails, bridges and secularism. The ‘World Brahmin ROBIN SAYAMI emergency relief. Conference’ may herald a Hindu It’s encouraging that the present government is concerned about this abysmal backlash against modernist parties state of affairs and is moving an ordinance to empower itself to “make alternative conducting relay hunger strikes in arrangements” in running local government units. The malaise has been correctly urban areas. diagnosed, but the prescription is wrong. Hindu militancy is largely an urban To replace government officials, the Thapa government wants to take a leaf out of Deuba’s book of political tricks and hand over the administration of VDCs, phenomenon even in neighbouring India. foreign relations in the Shah court has decision to uphold the primacy of municipalities, and DDCs to all-party committees. Even if local units of the political The Brahmin warriors of Banaras and been so complete that the external affairs monarchy in the only Hindu Kingdom parties agree to go along, the government is going to further alienate the Vadodara, pretending to be modern department during the Rana regime was of the world. mainstream parties and rankle the Maoists at one go. The treatment is more avatars of mythological Parsuram (the known merely as the Jainshi Kotha. Noted Indian constitutionalist B R dangerous than the disease. Hindu sage who attained Brahmin status General Pyarjung Thapa may be at the Ambedkar once observed that graded The right road is still the one that Deuba didn’t take: revival of the elected local on the strength of his penance, and then helm of the Royal Nepali Army, but its inequality and supremacy of the heaven- government units. Many of the elected local UML leaders have either voluntarily went on to eliminate sinning Kshatriyas) psy-war expert is none other than Biye born was an inalienable part of crossed over to the Maoists or have been coerced into doing so. The moderate left seldom venture out to places like Kumar Sharma. Hinduism. In disgust, he later embraced will get a much-needed boost from such a move, and it may even prevent an Kashmir and Nagaland where Hinduism Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai Buddhism. If Brahmins don’t reform undesirable party split. This time, the Nepali Congress will not complain since it is is on the verge of extinction. was recently spotted circumambulating Hinduism, they will be the only caste in an alliance with the UML. The revival of local bodies will be a win-win situation It’s not surprising that the faculty of the temple of Manakamana with his left with such an archaic faith. The for everyone—most of all for the Nepali people. the Mahendra Sanskrit University of elderly parents, journalists dutifully in reform must begin by accepting that Thapa needs to kick-start the political process at grassroots: first, by reviving Dang spend most of their time in tow. Even years of ruthless war doesn’t secularism in the affairs of the state is an VDCs, municipalities, and DDCs, and then by creating an environment for local Kathmandu. Brahmins consider seem to erase the caste legacy of 6,000 inevitable and indispensable part of elections. This can be a beginning of the rapprochement between the government themselves to be heaven-born entitled by years. The janjati, dalit, and women base democratic polity. No other form of and the parliamentary parties. For all we know, crafty Thapa may have been birth to all the privileges available in this of Maoists notwithstanding, its leader- statecraft can meet the challenges of cooking dhido all this while to feed politicos on relay hunger strikes. If that is true, world. As ordained by Hindu scriptures, ship too is firmly in the hands of governing a multi-ethnic nation state. t then let’s hope our harsh comments last week about the lack of direction of his “The Universe is under the power of the Comrades Dahal and Bhattarai. government are way off mark. We would be happy to eat our words. gods. The gods are under the power of The legislative arm of government, the mantras. The mantras are under the when it is functional, is also Bahun power of the Brahmins. Therefore the dominated, with the leaders Messrs Brahmins are our gods.” And how! Koirala, Nepal and Pokhrel all caste- Nepal is still a Hindu Kingdom, and mates. Graftbuster Surya Nath in the Hindu scheme of things, Chhetris Upadhayay and most of his colleagues in may rule but there are always powerful the CIAA are Bahuns. Chief Justice Bahuns off-stage. Surya Bahadur Thapa Kedar Nath Upadhayay, the entire owes his premiership to the grace of King judiciary, including most Bars, are Gyanendra, in addition to the rumoured Bahun-dominated. backing of ‘foreign forces’. But his The Fourth Estate is also cabinet secretary, Bimal Koirala, has a near-Bahun preserve. risen from the ranks and is not beholden Name any prominent to anyone save the rules of civil service journalist in Nepal, and and his own conscience. It will not be you can almost be surprising if the bureaucracy paid more sure he (media attention to Bimal Koirala’s instructions continues to be a than to the commands of a stopgap prime minister. Kathmandu is currently hosting the SUBHAS RAI foreign secretaries’ meet of SAARC, and Madhu Raman Acharya, is leading the Nepali delegation. Yet another Bahun, Madan Bhattarai is the articulate spokesperson of foreign ministry. The traditional dominance of Bahuns over 11 - 17 JULY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #153 3 LETTERS

all this Nepal has usually stood IBABURAM was quite amusedBHATTARAI to read in YourNOT EQUALwriters should stop making proud and firm in resisting these your esteemed paper (Nepali accusations against the army forces, whether from India, Times/Nepalnews.com Poll, without any basis (‘Jajarkot’s China, Pakistan, the US, EC, #91) last week that the largest tense frontline’, #152). The army Japan, UN, or the World Bank, number of email voters have cannot be treated on equal terms for example. Now Nepal seems chosen me as the prospective with the rebels. As one of the to be buckling shamelessly to ‘prime minister’ if elections were nation’s leading newspapers, China’s infantile denial of the held today. While expressing your exaltation of the armed prestige and respect the world gratitude to the voters for their rebels will only serve their holds for the Dalai Lama, as well kind affection, I would reject the propaganda machine. Your as the adoration he commands offer for its misleading political comment on ‘two armies’ gives by millions of Nepali Buddhists connotations and consequen- the impression that the Royal and their Tibetan guests. ces. It is impossible for our party Nepali Army is up against an Malcolm Odell, USA and me personally to think of equal opponent. It is not and occupying any post, howsoever such comparisons are high and prestigious it may be, misleading. You write as if you YouADS mention your strict policy of within the prevailing state are a mere umpire in a row keeping advertisement to content dispensation. The ongoing between the Maoists and the ratio below 1:3 in response to a Peoples’ War and recent peace RNA. Are you with the state, or comment made by Mark talks are aimed at a progressive, with the rebels? You can’t be Zimmerman (‘Letters’, #152). democratic change in the state neutral. Apathy is our biggest However, I have carefully system as a whole and not any hurdle, not only in the calculated your ads to content cosmetic change in the govern- bureaucracy but also among ratio in the same issue and your ment within the old state. Let every single citizen. ads exceed content by 132.2 sq there be no doubt, at least ‘Ajay’, Kathmandu inches out of a total paper area amongst the enlightened of 3,888 sq inches. Regular English-speaking urbanites, on readers of your paper, like Mark this fundamental political PuskarNEW PATHS Gautam’s articles usually Zimmerman and myself, prefer question. There is just no make a lot of sense. But if the reading material to ads. chance of our sharing the spoils last 12 years were a “rose Amrit KC, Bishalnagar of power within the present garden”(‘Prachanda’s new path’, autocratic monarchical system, #152) and if democracy is whether through showcase resilient enough to correct itself, ‘elections’ or no elections. I earlier headmaster left the school why was it necessary for the would once again reiterate that in 1968 and Verghese Thomas Maoist movement to so quickly the bottom line for any political took the mantle successfully till start its insurgency after 1990? compromise at the moment is a the mid-eighties. Hence it would This movement, which Puskar roundtable conference, interim be a gross injustice to omit was initially a part of, has government and elections to a Verghese Thomas’ name, who wrecked the economy and constituent assembly. And was a good mathematics teacher introduced historically nothing more or nothing less. I as well. unprecedented levels of cruelty hope I have not hurt the feelings Baburam Bhattarai, courier and murder whose scars will of your enlightened email voters. take a long time to heal. Puskar And more to the point, I l I was perplexed to see the knows very well that the actual would like to add something else results of your last two internet number of ‘innocents’ killed by to this short letter, which may be polls in which the RPP and the the RNA or Maoists can be spun somewhat out of context. This Maoists come out on top. Since in different ways. To my concerns an earlier report in these polls were done before knowledge, no moderate Nepali Nepali Times (‘Class of 1970’, you say you tightened your hopes that the king will stay in #142) about my school days in multiple-voting software I must power and his policies have not HAIKU Amar Jyoti High School, Luitel, say, could it be that we are exactly, ahem, blown away Recently, on going through Gorkha. While most of your seeing a Nani Maiya-effect here anyone. But if peace is to return, pictures on your news sites, I reporting was quite objective, from your internet voters? Either Puskar is correct to note that saw our so-called leaders taking there were some serious, if not that, or we look at the political laying down weapons and part in a relay hunger strike. I deliberate, omissions. While parties and we don’t see any leaving behind the habits of was inspired to pen this haiku in talking of people who made a faces in the leadership that we extortion are absolute tribute: great impact on my childhood like. prerequisites to fair elections Fat fellows in the shade, and contributed to the rise of Shambu Shakya, that will put us back on the lazily talking, Amar Jyoti High School to Australia democratic path and lead to pretending to read. national glory, one can never economic growth, and social They won’t eat for two hours. Are they on a diet? forget a great lady called Miss l First, thank you for fixing the recovery. It would also help if Eleanor Elkins. A devout internet polling page to prevent the political parties stopped Basanta Kumar Gautam, Christian missionary from multiple polling. Now, as you say, using children as pawns and Chubu University,Japan Scotland, now settled in New it takes a lot of free time (which closed ranks to really making York, she was single-handedly is not worth it) to click in that elections possible. If we cannot TIMES instrumental for the excellent second vote. I looked at the last solve our problems ourselves, it Politicians are always soft quality of education and two polls and thought that the is folly to complain when others targets. No doubt, they deserve discipline in our school for more trend was interesting, interfere. some of the vitriol in your than two decades. I can never notwithstanding the editorial PS Rana, USA editorials, but aren’t you glossing forget her, even though your caveat about the accuracy of over the autocratic streak reporter conveniently omitted internet polling. It seems that shown by the other players in her while writing about Amar between them, both the socialist/ FirstMORE Nepal ON TIBETbuckles to Chinese this great game to heap cheap Jyoti. There can be no objective communists and the Maoists pressure and deports Tibetan scorn at the parties? Is it history of my school and my have the hearts and minds of the refugees, and now HMG is because they don’t have armies, childhood days without that Nepalis. Combined, the UML and banning celebrations of the Dalai they don’t extort money or great soul, Miss Elkins. Let her the Maoists received 43.79 Lama’s birthday? What’s murder people? ‘god’ bless her forever! At least percent of the votes. If you happening to the democratic, Harish Panday, email thousands of her students will combine the individual leaders religious and press freedom that cherish fond memories of her leading these two parties, the Nepalis have fought so long and l Do you know if our throughout their lives. You also total is 48.89 percent. You don’t hard for over the past 50 years? venerable politicians get their missed the name of Verghese have to be a statistics genius to As a great admirer of Nepal over own “fix” of the Nepali Times Thomas from Kerala, who was see that there is a definite trend the past 40 years, and having every Friday? I suggest you actually the headmaster of our here. Another interesting lived there for 13 years, I send them all a copy (two school when we passed out in observation is that the individual appreciate the pressures this copies, if they have offspring 1970. Maybe you got ‘Thomas leaders fared a tiny bit better small nation is under, sand- who are political wannabes), Verghese’ and ‘Verghese than their parties. wiched between India and China early every Friday morning. Thomas’ mixed up. As far as I Deepak Neupane, email and subject to both external Ashok Pokharel, Kathmandu remember names and dates forces from the global commu- correctly, Thomas Verghese, the nity. I also understand the enormous internal stress Nepal faces from its rugged TheCORRECTION distance from Khalanga to environment, poverty and still- Chaujhari airfield in Jajarkot is emerging political and social only two hours and not 16 hours institutions as they grapple with as erroneously stated in the extremes of tradition and ‘Jajarkot’s tense frontline’, #152. modernisation. But in the face of 11 - 17 JULY 2003 4 NATION NEPALI TIMES #153 Karnali gives up waiting Nepal’s five remote northwestern districts want to take destiny into their own hands.

PULLING ITSELF UP: The Nepal Bank building in Jumla (left) that was destroyed in a Maoist attack in November 2002, with the new building coming up alongside.

Jumla children take classes on the roof because the classrooms are too dark. ALL PICS: HEMLATA RAI ALL PICS: HEMLATA in JUMLA

HEMLATA○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ RAI Humla, Jumla is almost double the Karnali say it is the historical lack of Kathmandu’s attention also seems to t has been 40 years since the national average, only three out of a representation from the region that be more focused on what happens to government in Kathmandu 100 women are literate, and life resulted in Kathmandu’s chronic Bhutani Nepalis than Nepalis of the launched a special development expectancy at birth is only 40 years. neglect of the region. “Stronger political Karnali. For decades, people here have package for the remote Karnali region of Poverty is higher here than anywhere lobbying and more focused been resigned to this apathy, and got northwestern Nepal. The idea was to else, with per capita income only two- development targets only can make the used to not expect anything from the BEYOND COMPARENational Average Karnali People per sq km 157 14 Istop the influence of Maoists in China, third of Nepalis in other parts of the region more visible in the country’s centre. Family size 5.44 5.58 and there was ready financial and country earn. development map,” says Shankar This void has been exacerbated by Infant mortality (per 1000 live birth) 97 150 technical help from India and the Geographer and former minister Sharma, the current vice-chairman of the Maoist insurgency which has Labour force in agriculture 57% 93.5% United States. Harka Gurung remembers visiting the NPC. further isolated the five Karnali Life expectancy at birth Today, the tables are turned. The districts of the Karnali basin nearly 40 Mohan Baniya, the DDC chairman districts from the rest of the country. Women 52.4 years 50.4 years Maoists are on the Nepali side. And years ago when he was vice-chairman of Mugu agrees that the government in Telephone and postal services Men 55 years 52.7 years northwest Nepal is as underdeveloped of the National Planning Commission faraway Kathmandu has ignored the destroyed during the insurgency have Adult literacy and more dependent on the outside (NPC). “The only achivement has feeble voice of this remote district for still not been rebuilt. Airports, the Women 21.3% 03.0% than ever before. been that now the people of the Karnali too long. “People’s desire for change is only way in and out, have been Men 54.3% 35.7% The original idea in setting up the know what needs to be done, and are our biggest resource,” Baniya told us. destroyed and airlines are refusing to Illiteracy (children under 14) Remote Area Development Committee willing to get it done,” he says. But It is not only physically that fly until security is guaranteed. Girls 50.4% 85.9% was a recognition of the Karnali’s they need help from the centre. Karnali is removed from Kathmandu. Jumlis who want to fly down to Boys 23.9% 41.1% remoteness, and the catching up it Development experts who had There is a psychological distance as Nepalganj have to call relatives in Maternal mortality 875/100,000 980/100,000 needed to do with the rest of Nepal. gathered in Jumla two weeks ago for a well. It costs more to fly to Jumla from Kathmandu through VSAT phones to The infant mortality rate in Mugu, seminar on the development of the Kathmandu than to fly to New Delhi. book them a seat. In many other

HERE AND THERE by DANIEL LAK

y mother died this past week. It was not unexpected but it was a shock, of course. Death is most problematic to the living, let there be no doubt about that. Those who slip away into that “good night”, as the poet Dylan Thomas calls it, are gone for good someplace else Death, like life, among the or returned to the elements from whenceDeath they came. But the living, they in the family Mhang around and have holes in their lives to fill. Thus the mourning process. poor is a hard business. Death in a developed country like Canada is orderly and accountability mourning will pass and life will go on. But what of the achievements of the is mandatory. Even when someone dies of a serious illness in hospital—as dead—the possessions, the wishes for disbursement of assets and my mother did—the authorities must ensure that wrongdoing didn’t take posthumous favours and so on? Even the poor have property. In Nepal at place. The slightest doubt here will get the police and the forensic scientists least, there are no guarantees of anything being just, fair or according to the involved. A natural death must be reported to various levels of government last wishes of the deceased. For we all know how families behave, given a so that records be changed and sums of money paid out to survivors. The smell of booty or a chance to redress past grievances. And then there’s the glorious Canadian welfare state, for which people of my grandparents’ system, little changed in practise from two centuries ago. Rent seeking generation fought epic political battles, is being gutted by the mindless government officials and local power brokers of the left and right could conservatism of the present age. But the spirit of sharing and compassion come calling, demanding something in a property settlement. Anything is lives on among the elderly, the dying. They, after all, founded the system possible. and it is only right that they benefit. Various reforms to the Mulki Ain over the years have done little but I’ve been going through my mother’s will, her bits of property and her entrench its vast inequities by tinkering with flavour of the month detail. As assets. Her bank accounts and credit cards must be cancelled, transferred to MUNCH EDVARD for provision of any sort for the survivors, welfare or a sharing out of her husband’s name. Property that they both held in common must be the top of the caste pyramid. No one who is privileged enough to speak accumulated centuries of booty by the landed rich, it’s a laughable thought notified as having a single owner. The will is simple. Everything goes to my English or have a top class education, who reports to any institutes, think in a country where less than a tenth of one per cent pay taxes and no one stepfather, my mother’s spouse, but even then a lawyer will oversee the tanks or international aid agencies. No senior government people or former with any money is willing to own up to its source. process to make sure other relatives—like me—aren’t up to no-good. It’s a ministers or sports figures or members of Kathmandu’s so-called On balance, I’m glad my mother died in Canada. For if I were Nepali, deeply sad affair but also quietly encouraging. As ever when I’m in this part intelligentsia. Not even the literati, the pop culture elite or the heritage and the local equivalent of the social class that I am in my native land of the world, I feel fortunate, blessed, by the level of support that society mafia of the Kathmandu Valley. In short, I’m talking about the deaths of (lowly, some sort of Sudra probably), we’d be just nearing the end of the and the system give to ordinary people. Like my mother. Like me. people who have, in their lives, not a single shard of privilege. Probably 95 period of mourning, and bracing ourselves for the onslaught. The closure Inevitably, I then start to think about what happens when a member of percent of the Nepali people. provided by tradition’s benchmarks would soon be eclipsed by modernity’s the citizenry dies in Nepal or anywhere else in the developing world. What happens when they die? Well, of course, a family mourns. material demands. Death, like life, among the poor of this country is a hard Understand here that I don’t mean someone from the top the heap, of the Probably. There will be friends and neighbours too, distant relations and business, little changed over hundreds of years. blood royal or clan Rana. Not a business leader or someone who balances at people who shared employment or labour with the deceased. A period of Someone should pay for that someday. t 11 - 17 JULY 2003 NATION NEPALI TIMES #153 5

DOMESTIC BRIEFS ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ EminentMahesh historian, Chandra researcher and Regmi, scholar Mahesh 74 Chandra Regmi died Wednesday at age 74. He leaves behind a copious body of work which includes 14 books and scholarly works. Regmi’s Land Tenure and Taxation in for Kathmandu Nepal was published in four volumes by UC Berkeley between 1963-68. A Study in Nepali Economic History 1768-1846, detailing the agrarian basis of Nepali society during unification, appeared in 1971. In 1976, Regmi published his seminal work, Landownership in Nepal. He also launched and successfully ran the weekly Nepal Press Digest, which became a journal of contemporary reporting. For his contribution to historical research and journalism, Regmi was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1977, becoming the first Nepali to win the prestigious award. The Magsaysay citation said he was recognised for “chronicling of Nepal’s past and present, enabling his people to discover their origins and delineating national options”. Regmi graduated from Kathmandu’s Tri-Chandra College in 1948 and served in the government from 1951-62 and left to devote full time to research. His last public appearance was at the Conference on Inclusion in Nepali Democracy in May during which Harka Gurung delivered the annual Mahesh Chandra Regmi districts, Royal Nepal Airlines flights care, about the realities on the ground agriculture. The Talcha airfield in MIN BAJRACHARYA Lecture (see pic, left). sell tickets after the flight takes off, like here. The system of budget allocation Mugu was prioritised as a lifeline for in a bus, because the airlines doesn’t and the delineation of fiscal years, for the district, but it took 20 years for it other exporters after Nepal joins the WTO. Nepal’s have an office. example, contradicts the seasonal to be completed and even now there garment industry had registered exports worth $175 Those who have never been able to variations here, when winter closes up have only been test flights. ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ million in 2001, with more than 90 percent going to afford to fly are also hampered. They the high passes with snow and the Kathmandu-centric development IndustrialistsThe Bill are pressurising the government to the US. have to pass a gauntlet of hostile Maoist monsoons are late and erratic. The plans are also the reason why the request US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) to and security forces checkpoints with fiscal year that starts in July allows Karnali is still Nepal’s only roadless reintroduce the customs and quota free bill for

permits required to travel anywhere. only limited time to carry out region. It has been easier to build a Nepali garments that she withdrew in May after ○○○○○○○○○○ Three of the mule trail bridges joining development activities, and most of the road to connect Simikot to the Tibet 18 Tibetan refugees were deported back to Endangered○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ heritage Humla and Mugu to the south have money has to be sent back to border than to get a road to Jumla China. “They want a guarantee from us that there Seven of the Valley’s World Heritage Sites have been destroyed by Maoists, and this Kathmandu unspent. from the south. Kathmandu has always will be no deportation in the future,” says a senior been placed on the danger list by UNESCO. The requires detours sometimes lasting five Since the national budget is taken it as a given that the hill districts Foreign Ministry official. “But how can we issue announcement came as a shock for days. It is a two-day walk from Kalikot allocated on the basis of population should be linked to markets in the such a guarantee? We have accepted more than conservationists, tourism industry and many other and eight-day walk from Humla for and constituencies, Karnali gets too tarai, ignoring the proximity and the 150,000 refugees in the country but if someone professionals, but the government is playing it cool. anyone to needing to attend the zonal little to carry out development activities markets in China. arrives here illegally, we will have to deport The reason? They claim that the UN agency is yet to appellate court in Jumla. in the large areas it covers. The five The inaccessibility affects every them.” inform them about its latest findings. Instead, they “This region has been doubly districts of Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, facet of life: health care, education, Nepali garment manufacturers say the brandish a “positive” report the UNESCO faxed them victimised, by the state that ignored our Mugu and Dolpa cover almost 15 social welfare, tourism and government is not lobbying enough. “A high-level in the past. “There is no reason to panic,” says development needs and recently by an percent of Nepal’s soil, but is home development plans. Jumla health posts government team should have already been in the Binod Gyawali, spokesperson at the Ministry of insurgency that destroyed whatever little for only 1.3 percent of the population. didn’t get their quota of medicines last US for damage control, but they are not doing it,” Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. “So far, we have infrastructure we had,” says Tula Ram Population density here is only 14 year. Despite the complete disinterest says Kiran Sakha of the Garment Association of a UNESCO report that says almost everything is Bista of Kalikot DDC. people per sq km against 157 per sq shown by tourism promoters in Nepal. OK.” Now, political and development km national average. Kathmandu, locals got together to hold The Nepali mission in Washington has been The new report blames rampant urbanisation for leaders here believe the solutions can “Budget allocation should be the Rara festival two years ago, and preoccupied with the payment row between Nepal deterioration of the sites at Kathmandu, Patan and come from the people of the Karnali based on remoteness and geographical private companies are taking trekkers Electricity Authority (NEA) and the Panda Energy Bhaktapur that were put on the World Heritage Site themselves. At the the Karnali area than based on constituency like at and pilgrims to Mansarovar through International over the Bhote Kosi joint venture. list in 1979. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, Conference in Khalanga they demanded present,” says Dilli Bahadur Mahat Simikot. Karnali’s potential for fruits, Even before Feinstein withdrew the bill, the was also on the same list. The Royal Chitwan autonomy to decide their own former parliamentarian from Jumla. nuts, herbs all lie wasted. Texas-based Panda Energy had threatened to stall National Park and the Sagarmatha National Park have development priorities and how they The political leadership here is “We have been wrongly portrayed the customs and quota free bill if NEA did not clear been placed on the UNESCO list of World Natural want to spend their budget. particularly unhappy about misplaced as failed communities, and this had its bill for electricity. NEA says all payments have Sites. Former NPC head, Mohan Man priorities and scattered budgets. The given us an inferiority complex in the been made, and instead faults Panda with not Meanwhile, the American Alpine Club has Sainju, even proposed at the seminar central government has been providing past,” says Jivan Bahadur Shahi, the paying required royalty to the state on power. pledged financial support for a major new that an autonomous planning food subsidies to Karnali for the past charismatic leader of the Humla DDC. Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry official conservation initiative in the Sagarmatha National commission be created for the region. 30 years without ever considering “No more. Now we are going to take our confirmed that even if the Tibetan and the Bhote Park. Community-Based Conservation and Kathmandu doesn’t seem to know, or alternatives like investments in local destiny in our own hands.” t Kosi issues are sorted out, something else will Restoration of the Mt Everest Alpine Zone will come up that will stall the garment quota bill since address the impact of trekkers and climbers. It will the US wants to protect its market. Garment be implemented in partnership with Sherpa exporters, insist that quota and customs-free communities, the Department of National Parks and Nepali exports would enable them to compete with Wildlife Conservation, and The Mountain Institute.

EASY TIMES It’s never been easier to subscribe to Nepali Times Just dial this number and leave your address. 5543333 11 - 17 JULY 2003 6 NATION NEPALI TIMES #153 COMMENT by BP GIRI VACANCIES

WaterAid is an international NGO that works with poor people to improve their access to safe drinking water, adequate sanitation and improved hygiene. It has worked in Nepal since 1987 during which time its partners have implemented over 500 community projects in rural and urban areas that have served 600,000 people. It currently works with 5 NGO partners in Nepal and has an annual budget of $900,000. WaterAid Nepal (WAN) seeks to fill the following posts. All candidates should have excellent written and Radical and spoken English and good computer skills in word-processing, spreadsheets etc. All remuneration packages also include allowances for Provident Fund, medical and child education expenses, Dhashain and end-of-contract payments in addition to basic salary. All positions are based in Kathmandu with travel and have a six months probation Communism is enjoying an afterlife in Nepal, such is the period. upwardly mobile power of history’s time lag and contradictions. 1. COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE Total annual package (salary and benefits) in the region of Rs 2.2 million (taxable) equivalent to £ 18,000 4 years contract (renewable) Closing date: August 18, 2003 Responsible for leading all aspects of our work in Nepal, s/he should have good education, wide work experience, a history of achieving results, excellent written and spoken English and strong experience in: • senior programme management in Asia, ideally within a development organiza- tion, for 10 years or more • preparing strategies, plans and budgets, and monitoring their progress • programme, personnel and financial management • working with civil society and to develop the capacity of NGOs • research and advocacy • development programming with poor communities in Nepal • networking and policy dialogue with HMGN, INGOs and donors.

Candidates should have a demonstrated commitment to the values and mission of DILBHUSAN PATHAK WaterAid. It is desirable but not essential to also have experience with programmes of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion.

2. RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY MANAGER Monthly basic salary Rs 40,000 – Rs 44,000 (taxable) plus allowances or centuries Nepal’s politics desire to turn a fragmented Since political radicalism 3.5 years contract (renewable) was run by a handful of collage of castes and ethnicities within the country has already closing date: July 24, 2003 hereditary elite who ran the into a unified nation. In an reached a critical mass, repression Responsible for design and implementation of all stages of research activities by WAN country as if it was their private ironic twist of fortunes, Nepali of the traditional sort is not likely and partners and dissemination of their findings to influence policy and programmes. estate. Rules were made nationalism has been co-opted to bring about lasting peace. S/he should possess Farbitrarily at the top before they by various left-radical groups to Finding principled • an advanced degree in sociology, economics or a related discipline were passed on to the masses with discredit others seen to be closer accommodation with the • experience in conducting research and analysis of quantitative and qualitative the threat of violence if opposed. to India at one time or another. agitating groups is the best course data Things, it seems, have The next path is of action for the state as well as • excellent written and spoken Nepali changed drastically in the last 60 communism, the mother of all its adversaries. years. Today, the country is abuzz radicalisations. It may be passé Among the three ideologies of • experience of preparing reports, publications and learning products, and their with what a leftist would happily elsewhere in the world, but in mass mobilisation, radical dissemination call ‘people’s politics’. Instead of Nepal communism is enjoying a communism appears most • minimum 5 years relevant experience one central authority that speaks powerful afterlife—such is the aggressive at the moment while • participation in development activities with poor communities in Nepal with a commanding voice, we power of history’s time lag and parliamentary democracy has • an interest in analysing and overcoming the obstacles that prevent poor people now have a cacophony of contradictions. The spread of suffered setbacks. Still, the from accessing water and sanitation. competing voices. Their dissonant communist ideology in Nepal chances the Maoists will grab babble saturates the media. has benefited from the Chinese state power seems unlikely mainly 3. DOCUMENTATION MANAGER Streets are crowded with revolution of 1949, and our for geopolitical reasons. Earlier Monthly basic salary Rs 24,000 – Rs 27,000 (taxable) plus allowances assertive, sometimes violent, obsession with comparing China their movement was empowered 2.5 years contract (may be renewed) crowds. A so-called krantikari favourably to India and weighing by contradictions in Indo-Nepal group staring from above the which country has been nicer to relations on the one hand, and a closing date: July 24, 2003 barrel of a gun is terrorising more us. Its popularity among the scramble for power among the Responsible for implementing the computerised WAN document classification system than half the country. The sum large sections of the masses is a ruling elites on the other. But for the Resource Centres at WAN and its NGO partners, for obtaining and cataloguing total of our national politics since sign of the failure of Nepal’s things have changed since then. new materials, and for enhancing the developmental results from these Resource the fall of the Ranas has been an democratic experiment in the America has the rising power of Centres. S/he should possess: unprecedented radicalisation of pluralist mode, helped no doubt China to contain, India has a • a degree in library science or related discipline the people. by the persistence of regional empire to build. The • experience with similar computer software This process has proceeded authoritarianism on both the left insurgents are likely to become • minimum 5 years relevant experience along three distinct paths. The and the right. their unwitting tools, but they • knowledge of development literature, especially those produced in Nepal first was traversed by the group The rise of the Maoist will never become their trusted • excellent written and spoken Nepali that fought the Ranas while insurgency is often explained in partners. Isolation is not an putting its faith in a pluralist and terms of its social causes, such as option. • experience in secondary research using existing documents and supporting the secular form of democracy. Led underdevelopment and official From the perspective of research activities of others by BP Koirala, the movement for corruption. Social deprivation, distance, the current dismal • English – Nepali translation skills parliamentary democracy has however, does not translate itself situation in Nepal appears to be sought to pull the country out of into anti-state insurgency the result of radicalisation 4. ACCOUNTANT / ACCOUNTS OFFICER its authoritarian past and remake without the ideological proceeding on divergent paths, Monthly basic salary Rs 24,000 – 27,000 (taxable) plus allowances it along Western social investment of vested groups. while the state has become 3.5 years contract (renewable) democratic ideals. In and out of The insurgency, therefore, can weaker in providing leadership for Closing date: July 24, 2003 power many times, its leaders be better theorised as an modernisation. Ideological Responsible for daily accounting transactions, preparing reports using WAN software, have mobilised the country’s outcome of a wide gap between warfare of the sort the political and providing support to NGO partners. S/he should possess: youth and the middle classes failed modernisation on the one forces are fighting is not likely to along a distinct reformist hand and a high level of political make the country progress. In • Bachelor or Masters degree in accounting, commerce or business administration • ideology. radicalism opposed to the state fact, there is a real danger that it Experience with similar accounting software packages Another path of radicalisation on the other. may lead to the collapse of the • excellent written and spoken Nepali has been nationalism. While its The pattern of political country and its governing • Minimum 5 years relevant experience, preferably with a development roots are old, the idea was mass- mobilisation has graduated from structures. The best hope for organization / project produced during the Panchayat to moderate to extreme forms over competing political forces is to defend itself from competing the decades. Violence now is the urgently find an accommodation Applicants interested in any of these positions must first obtain further details from political groups. Fear of India chosen instrument for those and begin the task of rebuilding a WaterAid Nepal, Bishal Nagar, Box 20214, Kathmandu or by email trying to swamp Nepal with its seeking radical political change. viable state. t [email protected]. goods and people remains Such violence has invited Due to under-representation at all levels in the organisation, WaterAid welcomes nationalism’s main source of counter-violence from the state, BP Giri is the editor of the Centre sustenance even though it is also leading to the suppression of for South Asian Studies applications from women candidates true that Nepali nationalism is democratic freedoms as a Newsletter at the University of simultaneously driven by the distinct possibility. Virginia, USA. 11 - 17 JULY 2003 ECONOMY NEPALI TIMES #153 7 BIZ NEWS ECONOMIC SENSE by ARTHA BEED

Holland. SMSH

offers five ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ TheOn Asian loan Development Bank (ADB) has scholarships per approved a $35 million loan to Nepal for a public semester. Their sector management program aimed at boosting faculty includes revenue collection, prioritising expenditure and senior strengthening fiscal sustainability. It has also management committed a technical assistance grant of staff from Nepal’s five star hotels and resorts. BuildingIt’s not too late. bridges $425,000 to provide overall management support After two and half years students can transfer to he last two months have (Unfortunately, the Nepali ghiu. What they should have done for the program, while helping the government to a university abroad or complete their degree here. taken a toll on Nepal’s geo- government seems intent on acting was join hands to oil the mechanism develop an effective privatisation process and political standing not only in just as insensibly. How can one to create a conducive trade and build capacity to undertake divestment. The bank the region but also on the world excuse the recent ban on birthday transit environment. stage. The refoulement of Tibetan

says the program is in line with the government’s ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ celebrations by the Tibetan The opening of a direct Sino- poverty reduction drive. TheFlight Dutch airline,plan Martinair, is filling in the gap left refugeesT may cost us the garment community of the Dalai Lama?) Indian corridor means quicker The loan comes from its concessional Asian after Transavia Airlines pulled out this spring. quota, and the patching of The larger issue, of course, access for Chinese goods to the Development Bank Fund, with a 24-year term, From November, both tourists and Nepali travellers differences between China and remains the economic impact of the market, not only to India but also including a grace period of eight years. Interest will have a weekly direct service to Amsterdam in India makes us rather expendable to mutually beneficial agreements into the Middle East and Africa. will be charged at 1 percent per annum during the the Netherlands. The Boeing 767 flights will be the equation. Rather than Shanghai or grace period and 1.5 percent per annum operated through Sharjah (UAE) and offers The Beed laments the Hongkong, goods will be re- subsequently. worldwide connections. myopia of a certain US senator routed through to Indian ports who misses the wood for the and then further afield to the

trees: 18 Tibetan refugees at the West. China will benefit in

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ ○○○○○

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ cost of thousands of garment trade and transit and India from Banking on perksKumari Bank has NepaliCrowning girls have begun glory to hand in their workers left straddling the the service industry. The rail begun a “super applications for the Dabur Vatika Miss Nepal poverty line. There was no and road networks in China are saving” scheme that offers 4.25 percent interest Beauty Pageant 2003 to be held on 13 September outrage when people of Nepali being built taking into on daily balances, with interests paid on a at BICC. The contest, organised by the Hidden origin were forcefully evicted consideration the old transit quarterly basis. The bank believes this is an Treasure event management company in from Bhutan and India in the route with India rather than advantage for depositors at a time when other association with Kathmandu Jaycees, is the final decades of the last century. through Nepal. banks offer only 3 percent interest rate on saving biggest and most well known pageant in the The economic impact of The Beed’s crystal ball accounts. The scheme also has benefits like 50 nation. This is the second consecutive year that supporting approximately shows a decrease in trans- Dabur Nepal has hosted the event as the main percent reduction in the loan processing fee and 100,000 refugees has been Himalayan trade unless Nepali sponsor. The pageant winner will represent Nepal free internet banking facilities for high and low tremendous on the Nepali associations and businesses find value depositors. A deposit of Rs 500,000 has at Miss World 2003 and the first runner up will economy and yet there was more creative and lucrative ways fringe facilities like 50 percent off at various compete for Miss Asia Pacific Quest. hotels, restaurants, shopping complexes, precious little international of maintaining ties with our readymade clothes, hospitals and other attention or sanctions placed northern neighbour. One way to

against either of the two nation leverage our position would be commercial outlets. As a further bonus, the bank ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ is even offering to pay electricity, water and Showcase Samsung has states. On the contrary, Bhutani between China and India. The two to build roads and networks in the telephone bills of selected account holders. opened its new tourism continues to draw well- control a third of the world market western part of the country, because showroom at heeled travellers and India became and realised it made more economic the east is lost to us with the Darbar Marg with a the economic tiger of the sub- sense to smooth over prickly renewed ties between India and

continent—the latter not without political issues in favour of China. There is Kailash-centric

○○○○○ ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ full range of the SilverNew Mountain internships School of Hotel Management Korean company’s considerable ‘help’ from the United commerce. Nepal has been affected tourism and the large mass of (SMSH) is the first institute to offer a four-year consumer States—the same country that is by the change in status quo. We western China that must be internationally recognised Bachelor Degree in electronic products. The state-of-the-art premises whipping Nepal’s economy and can no longer bargain on our nurtured. The Beed believes there is Hotel Management in the kingdom. It is affiliated to allows customers to test any of the Samsung tourism. It is unwarranted for the strategic importance as a trade still enough time to literally build the American Hotel & Lodging Association products before purchasing them. The Golchha international community to clog conduit between China and India. our bridges and pave our roads. t (AH&LA) and recently signed an agreement with Organisation, national dealer for Samsung, has the wheels of tourism that has been Our government floundered over an CHN-University of Professional Education, the already opened a showroom in Biratnagar and has stuck in a rut ever since SARS institutional framework for a Readers can post their comments or Netherlands who will provide internships in plans to do so in other towns soon. damaged the small upswing that the trading centre and transit point, the suggestions to nation was experiencing. private sector focused on vegetable [email protected]

INTERVIEW “There is no miltitary solution to this problem.” decades? One thing I would like to stress is that we are fully supportive of the In the 1950s we were involved in malaria eradication, among others. In peace talks that are going on because we believe that there is no Ambassador Wendy J Chamberlin, before the 1960s, we were deeply involved in training Nepal’s first generation of military solution to this problem. We would also like to point out, and taking up her present position as the technical specialists in the public sector and education. At one point in this should not be lost on anybody around the world, that President USAID’s Assistant Administrator for Asia the 1970s, we were in agriculture and we moved on to public health. We Bush has taken a very strong position against terrorists and those who have also worked in energy, water resources basically, in the last 12 years. practice terrorist methods. So, our position is to very clearly encourage and the Near East was ambassador to progress at the peace table. Pakistan (a position she gave up because Have you moved away from development of infrastructure? of the pressures of being a single That’s true, we go where the needs are. You had taken some strides in How was it that the Maoists arose from the very area where the mother). She served earlier in Zaire, your infrastructure. That’s why I am particularly concerned for the Nepali Rapti Project supported by USAID was active for such a long time? people when the terrorists destroy the infrastructure, which is a step back The reason why we got involved in the Rapti region was because we Malaysia, Laos and Afghanistan among and is not in the people’s interest. recognised that this was the one of the most disadvantaged parts of the others. Nepali Times spoke to her last country, with severe problems of exclusion. Perhaps there was some week during her visit to Nepal. Does the USAID also take some of the blame that is being heaped on correlation with our presence in that USAID programs caused people to a lot of Nepali actors for the lack of development in Nepal? More than think differently. It broadened their horizons and people started to Nepali Times: What is the USAID’s own self-evaluation of its activities any aid agency, USAID Nepal has been here for our entire modern era [question] why things are the way they are. It is very good when people in Nepal since 1950? starting in the 1950s. question the status quo and start thinking differently with a broadened Wendy J Chamberlin: What we have learnt in our long association here is Ultimately it is up to the Nepali people and the government. You need a horizon. I do not think we should make any apology for our work in about what really works in development. As you know USAID has been here government that is accountable to the people in every sector. Now what Rapti. I think it was appropriate at the time. One wishes, however, that since 1951 and the US government, through USAID, invested nearly $700 USAID can do is to assist and to enable as a partner. But, the decision of the people who did ask questions had stayed on the side of peace million in Nepal and it has been, for the most part, wildly successful. What how you develop is that of the Nepali people. rather than going for violence because violence is very corrupting. has worked is when the Nepali people have participated in their own development, with our aid program acting as an enabler. For example, in USAID’s public profile in Nepal has dipped considerably over the Is there any impact on lives of Nepali women due to Washington’s the forestry field, we have assisted villagers invest their personal efforts in years. Why is this so? anti-abortion stance that began in the Reagan era and has managing the forests. In the beginning, many people were doubtful about That’s a misperception. Last year the levels of our assistance spiked. It is continued? whether erosion and deforestation could be arrested, but it could. And the now $38 million, up from $24 million the previous year. There has thus The USAID is a US government program, and it has to reflect the key has been Nepali villagers themselves. Another impressive example is been a dramatic increase in assistance, and this is not counting military values and policies of our government. This is also a policy that has with the women health volunteers all over the country, in all 75 districts, aid. It’s the highest that it has ever been, and you have to understand Congressional support. But, we still have very active and successful where again USAID has only been an enabler. The success of the Vitamin that this is in the context of funds required for Iraq, Afghanistan and family planning programs and we have got some active HIV/AIDS A program is a case in point. elsewhere. programs in Nepal. Our anti-trafficking support is also aimed at improving the lives of Nepali women and it brings a great deal of What about the problems plaguing Nepali politics? Where does the military assistance from the US fall within that effective assistance to the Nepali people. To achieve success you really need to involve all the forces, all the matrix? players, and they have to work together for the common good. To the Let’s also be very clear that real peace is based on state security and in Where is USAID when it comes to education? extent there is a political gridlock today in Kathmandu, among the fact real development for the people throughout the country is based on We have not been doing very much in education in Nepal over the last different players, it presents a grave danger to Nepal and the future of the extent that the state can provide security for them. So, having a few years, but we are interested in getting reinvolved. And this is not Nepali democracy. It undermines true democratic forces and, perhaps most strong, responsible, accountable military providing security for all the Nepal-specific. Throughout the world we moved away from the dangerously, it emboldens those that practice violence and terrorism. people, that respects their human rights, is very much the foundation for education sector to put emphasis on other areas. Under Andrew Nadsios an accountable political system and potential for economic growth. [USAID chief] and more specifically President Bush, there is much How has USAID’s own development agenda in Nepal evolved over the That’s where we are supporting. greater interest in channelling more of our support to education. 8 HEALTH AND BEAUTY Looking good Get that healthy glow with nature’s bounty and some time-

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COMMENT

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ LEAMINGTONRight to –work A union that wants to represent migrant farm workers in Ontario has filed a court challenge to the repressive farm labour laws in Canada’s largest province. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) is pursuing a court challenge of the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, charging that it violates the constitutional rights of farm workers by forbidding them eveloping countries are to join unions and excluding them from wage and safety laws. The often advised, or union held a news conference recently at Leamington, the hub of instructed, to undertake Democratic processes are likely to be more Canada’s vegetable farming and orchard region near the US border. reformsPopulists recommended by are sometimes About 3,000 migrant farm workers come to this region each “experts” who are called policy,sensitive as against another, to the the real tradeoffs involved. year, mostly from Mexico. The mainly male workers described being “technocrats”D and are often choices involved would indeed forced to spray pesticides without safety protection, living in backed by the IMF. Opposition be purely “technical”. overcrowded buildings with leaking sewage, long work hours to the reforms they propose is But in reality, few policy without overtime pay, lack of access to medical care, and not being usually dismissed as “populist”. choices are Paretian. Instead, able to recoup government pay deductions. The workers said they Countries that fail to undertake some policies are better for some feared being sent back to Mexico if they dared to complain about the these reforms are dismissed as groups, but worse for others. conditions. The union has filed an application in the Superior Court craven or lacking political will, Different policies benefit and of Ontario seeking the right of farm workers to unionise and have and soon suffer the consequences: hurt different groups. In East the same wages and safety rights as other workers. (IPS) higher interest rates when Asia, for example, IMF bailouts borrowing abroad. helped international lenders, but

But look closely at some of hit workers and domestic firms ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Little○○○○ victims these “technocratic” proposals: hard. Different policies might ROME – Unexploded munitions are an many are more often based on have imposed more risk on immediate danger to Iraqis. In the last two ideology than economic science. international lenders, and less on weeks of April, 260 civilians were injured or Technocrats can of course workers and domestic firms. killed just in the city of Kirkuk, according to reliably make an electricity plant Deciding which policy to choose an official report. More than half of them involves choices among values, were children. None of the approximately work better. The goal is simple: 210,000 children born in Iraq in the past to produce electricity at as low a not just technical questions three months has been vaccinated against price as possible. This is mostly a about which policy is in some any of the diseases they are vulnerable to. matter of engineering, not morally uncontroversial sense Disease and unexploded ammunition could politics. Economic policies are “better”. These value choices are are in fact flawed and make many fundamental point here. kill thousands of Iraqi children unless usually not technocratic in this political choices, which cannot people—sometimes entire Democratic processes are likely to immediate priority is given to their protection, sense. They involve tradeoffs: be left to technocrats. countries—worse off. be more sensitive to the real says the UNICEF chief representative in some may lead to higher inflation Of course, there is scope for Look at the litany of consequences of policies, to the real Baghdad. Many more are prone to injury, but lower unemployment; some technical analysis even when technocratically inspired examples tradeoffs involved. Of course, some abuse and exploitation, the United Nations help investors, others workers. political choices are at the crux of privatisation and deregulation in criticisms of technocratic remedies Fund for Children (UNICEF) representative Economists call policies of the decision. Technocrats can the 1990s. Banking “reform”, for may be populist posturing, but Carel de Rooy said. where no one can be made better sometimes help avoid Pareto example, frequently soon required sometimes they contain insights About 4.2 million children below five are now considered off without making someone else inferior policies, that is, policies government bail-outs, leaving a few that ivory-towered (and usually vulnerable to preventable diseases such as polio, tetanus, worse off Pareto efficient. If a that make everyone worse off. people much richer, but the US-trained) technocrats miss. diphtheria, pertussis, measles and tuberculosis. Iraq lost all its single policy is better than all Sometimes there are policies country much poorer. These Consider the case of Mexico, where vaccine stocks when the Vaccine and Serum Institute of Baghdad others for everyone, ie, has no that can promote both growth failures suggest that we should have a proposal to raise revenue by was hit by missiles, and electricity to the store room was cut. Pareto-efficient alternatives, it is and equality, and the job of good less confidence in the supposed taxing food and medicines UNICEF has repaired five out of ten huge storage refrigerators and said to be Pareto dominant. If economists is to search for them. professional skills of technocrats— consumed by the poor was, brought doses of vaccines worth $25 million to restart the choices among policies were The problem is that many or at least less confidence than they unsurprisingly, rejected by a immunisation program in partnership with the reactivated Ministry of purely Paretian, ie, if no one was policies advanced by technocrats have in themselves. democratically accountable Health. (IPS) made worse off by choosing one as if they were Pareto efficient But there is also a more legislature.

until 2 November this year. The official representationA of newsix artists—ironically those cultural revolution led by the Ministry of Culture—was cancelled Contemporary Chinese art is all the rage—and the state supports it. because of the outbreak of Severe Acute thousands of workers once produced military Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). products in workshops designed by East There is much that Ministry of Culture German architects, has become a New York- commissars can be annoyed about. Had it not style Soho artist colony complete with galleries, been for the SARS crisis, the 50th Venice bars and nightclubs. Biennale the most significant showcase of The factory, like thousands of other contemporary art in the world, would have obsolete state factories in the capital, has been unveiled China’s national pavilion for the first relocated but the walls still carry slogans time in the Biennale’s more than a hundred exhorting the proletariat to keep Mao as the years of history. The participation of the ‘red sun in their hearts’. Some of the Ministry of Culture marks the first time the redundant and factory machinery remain, but state has given its blessing to the display of in the liberated spaces dozens of artists, China’s avant-garde art at the all-important sculptors, designers and architects have Biennale. ‘International Landscapes Series’ by Ai Weiwei moved in. It also indicates a watershed in official “The painters are here now becoming part policy, which has thus far held that Chinese noodles, in which he eats a string of noodles grip on culture. In the past, when they of a network of artists in global cities,” says contemporary art as subversive, disturbing and that he then pulls back out of his mouth. insisted on doing art for art’s sake, artists were Robert Bernell from the United States, the first too abstract to appeal to Chinese aesthetics. However shocking these works may appear rounded up and criticised. In the late 1980s, foreigner to move in and rent an old engine According to the organisers of the Biennale, the to Chinese state curators, they now have come hundreds of artists flocked to Beijing— workshop. “Chinese art is no longer being China International Exhibition Agency, to realise that contemporary art is imbued with regarded as the art capital of the country not shrugged off as a fad like post-Soviet art but is ‘Violin’ by Yan Lei appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, sharp-edged social commentary, unlike the only because of its celebrated Academy of Fine here to stay,” he adds. Burnell worked for the announced with “deep regret” its withdrawal state-enforced strictures of ‘socialist realism’ Arts but also for its support of art inspirations US multinational Motorola before setting up

in BEIJING ○○○○○○○

ANTOANETA○○○○○○○○○○○○○ BEZLOVA from the art event. All other works by Chinese that depicted beaming model workers and foreign community. ‘Timezone8’ to publish books on Chinese eing hip and avant-garde are hardly the artists involved in the various different sections peasants. Official tolerance toward the new, Settled in a collection of villages near contemporary art. The art colony now includes criteria that Chinese cultural mandarins of ‘Dreams and Conflicts - The Dictatorship abrasive modern Chinese art has been on Yuanmingyuan, the Old Summer Palace on the Tokyo Gallery of Japan, which opened the like to adhere to when they judge which of the Viewer’, directed by the Italian curator display since 1999, when 19 Chinese artists the outskirts of Beijing, they were regularly Beijing-Tokyo Art projects in October. The Chinese contemporary art is worth presenting Francesco Bonami, are exhibited at the appeared at the Venice Biennale, more than raided by the police, fined and sometimes New York-based Long March Foundation also to the world. Underground art is spiritual Arsenale Giardini, said the organisers on their from any other country, and took the event by expelled. The repeated crackdowns, especially launched its Cultural Transmission Centre Bpollution; gaudy art is pornography and post- official website. storm. “That was the big breakthrough,” says after the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy here in February. Both initiatives focus on Mao pop art is reactionary trash are but a few Most of the works in Venice are being Ai Weiwei, a sculpture and installation artist protests, forced many contemporary artists to Chinese contemporary art. of their judgements. curated by Hou Hanru under the rubric of who left China to study in New York but is go into exile. Now they are coming back and ‘The Loft’ is another former military Times change though. With all the art ‘Zone of Urgency’, a melange of new media back at work in Beijing. “After that the police like Ai Weiwei, opening up their own research factory that has been turned into a new indicators pointing east at the 50th Venice installations and video art selected to illustrate began to leave us alone.” He added, “People exhibition centres and workshops. media restaurant-gallery. The manager, Lin Biennale, Beijing’s arbiters of taste are his notions about the chaos of Asia’s new cities. here now want to be seen as Western and Beijing is also changing in a way that Tianfang, says Chinese contemporary art is a pointedly being reminded that much of He believes that urban development has been contemporary. And the government now wants embodies the very changes in official policy success not least because of its political Chinese contemporary art discarded as trash so fast that it has entered what he calls ‘post- Beijing to become more international, a place toward contemporary art. Once underground- background. “The Cultural Revolution was a here at home is a hot commodity abroad. At planning phase’. It includes the works by the of mixed culture.” turned-official artists have carved a niche for shock but it liberated people’s thoughts,” she least 30 Chinese artists are showcasing their likes of Yan Lei, who in the past has parodied Treating artists as employees of the state themselves in the very heart of China’s says. “It gave them freedom from traditional work at the international exhibitions at the China’s new consumer society with installation propaganda department is a risky strategy for a sprawling and secretive military industrial ideas and allowed artists to be more daring and Biennale, which opened on 14 June and runs works with live pigs—and another with Communist Party that has always kept a tight complex. Factory 798, where tens of forceful.” t (IPS) 11 - 17 JULY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #153 11 by JOSEPH E STIGLITZ OPINION by GRO HARLEMby ARNE BRUNDTLAND JERNELOV

Rejecting this proposal was countries that are both more ARS is the first new public health epidemic of the 21st century and Thethe public health community’slessons first opportunity to mount a of SARS not a matter of unbridled equitable and distort economic populism. The problem was with incentives far less than VAT. Many coordinated, early response. We are dealing with a new disease Public health is, as never before, a theright proposal. Its advocates argued developing countries lack a striking a globalised society. We have seen its rapid international spread. priority on the global agenda. that efficiency required adopting a corporate income tax: the huge We have seen stock markets rise or fall in response to the latest successS or setback in the SARS situation. We have seen the disease on comprehensive Value Added Tax. profits of the telecom, cement, and Advanced industrial countries in other monopoly sectors escape the front pages and on television. We have seen the closure of Europe use such a tax. Developing taxation. (If one worried about hospitals, schools and borders and witnessed economic fallout, population movements from affected cities, and unwarranted countries, the technocrats said, double taxation, one could allow a discrimination. should do likewise. credit for corporate taxes on But we have also seen unprecedented international solidarity But there is a fundamental individual tax returns.) It may also against this shared microbial threat of unknown dimensions. And we difference between developed be possible to impose taxes on have seen SARS stopped dead in its tracks in some of the worst European countries and emerging luxury goods (many of which are affected areas. SARS has changed the perception of the infectious markets: the size of the informal imported), thereby promoting disease threat. It has also raised public health to a new level of sector, from which VAT is not equity without stifling growth. importance. collected. This vast “black Economic theory supports a The first and most compelling lesson we must learn from SARS economy” makes VAT inefficient VAT only if one does not care concerns the need to report, promptly and openly, cases of any disease in most developing countries. about distribution and if one can with the potential for international spread. In a globalised, electronically- Indeed, because VAT is a tax on impose a tax on all commodities. interconnected world, attempts to conceal cases of an infectious community to collaborate, rather than compete with each other. the formal sector—the new You don’t need an economics disease for fear of social and economic consequences must now be On the negative side, SARS exposed weaknesses in health systems factories, banks, and so forth that doctorate to recognise that, in recognised as carrying a very high price. This includes the loss of around the world. Even with highly-developed social services, the pay regular salaries and whose developing countries, you can’t credibility in the eyes of the international community, and its negative burden of coping with SARS and the number of hospital patients and incomes and expenditures can impose a tax on all commodities. economic impact, damage to the health and economies of neighbouring health workers who became infected brought health systems to the easily be traced (as distinct from Moreover, you should care about countries, and a very real risk that outbreaks within the country’s own verge of collapse. those of the cash-based street equity. territory can spiral out of control. The reality is that public health is a priority on the global agenda for vendors, village enterprises, and So the next time you hear SARS also shows the decisive role of political commitment at the the simple reason that so many of the challenges we now face have a poor farmers)—VAT impedes rumblings in the legislature of an highest level. Vietnam, which became the first country to break the global impact and thus require global solutions and a global response. development. emerging democratic country chain of transmission in late April, showed how a developing country, hit Our task is to build trust and solidarity. In an interconnected and The logic is simple. against this or that “technocratic” by an especially severe outbreak, can triumph over a disease when interdependent world, bacteria and viruses travel almost as fast as Developing countries that impose proposal, think twice before reporting is prompt and open and when World Health Organisation email messages. Globalisation has shrunk distances, broken down old barriers, and linked people together. It has also made problems halfway a VAT perversely encourage dismissing the deputies’ doubts as (WHO) assistance is quickly requested and fully supported. When awareness, commitment, and determination are high, even such around the world everyone’s problem. The tenacity of the SARS virus production to remain in the populist rants. Perhaps the traditional control tools as isolation, contact tracing, and quarantine can and the public health and economic uncertainty it brings underscore this informal sector, which often populists are popular because they be sufficiently powerful to break the chain of transmission. all too well. produces the goods that are know something that the The urgency of SARS challenged the WHO to set in motion high-level Surveillance and effective response are an important expression of consumed domestically or used as technocrats don’t. t scientific and medical collaboration. Within a week of the first global solidarity in public health. They save lives, protect economies and are an inputs in the developed world. But (© Project Syndicate) alert, the WHO had established three “virtual” SARS-dedicated networks essential pillar of both national and international security. If the world it is the formal sector that of virologists, clinicians, and epidemiologists to ensure a continuous can unite against SARS, we should be able to address other health produces higher value-added Joseph E Stiglitz is professor of research effort equal to the magnitude of the SARS emergency. One scourges, especially those which affect not thousands but millions of economics and finance at manufactured goods that compete month after, 11 leading laboratories had joined the WHO collaborative people. t (IPS) with developed countries. Columbia University and was the effort, and participating scientists collectively announced conclusive There are other sources of tax 2001 Nobel laureate in identification of the SARS virus. Complete sequencing of its RNA Gro Harlem Brundtland is Director-General of the World Health revenue in many developing Economics. followed shortly. This success showed the willingness of the scientific Organisation and former Prime Minister of Norway.

COMMENT by DANIEL PAULY

It will be difficult to revive the rapidly dwindling fish population. t is difficult not to be a pessimist countries, it supplies cheap animal about the future of the world’s fish protein right where it is needed. population. Global marineSave catches, the fishThe second type of aquaculture which had increased rapidly since entails the farming of carnivorous fish WWII, stalled in the late 1980s and such as salmon or seabass, and Ihave been declining ever since. That increasingly, the fattening of wild tuna decline will be difficult to halt. in captivity. These fish eat flesh— The rapid depletion of fish stocks they are the wolves and lions of the is the inevitable outcome of sea. When fed only vegetable matter, sophisticated industrial technology such as soy meal, salmon do not being thrown at dwindling marine grow well, and end up looking and populations as demand rises, fuelled tasting like tofu. by growth in human population and One reason why acquaculture’s incomes. The decline has so far been practitioners can get away with this is masked in the developed world by that the public assumes that all of these seafood products that were not operations are similar, and that they all previously available, such as farmed Agriculture Organization (FAO) that foremost among them—literally tear add to the global fish supply. This is salmon, and by massive fish imports showed increasing figures for global up the habitat. As a result, some fish simply not the case. There is still time from developing countries. fish catches. Lomborg used the figures stocks exploited in this manner do not to save our fisheries, but only if they But over-fishing has become a to argue that if catches are up, then the seem to recover, regardless of quotas or are reinvented not as the source of an severe problem in the developing underlying ecosystems must be in other regulations on catches. endlessly growing supply of fish for an world as well. So fisheries worldwide good shape, despite all the warnings Aquaculture, the farming of fish endlessly growing human population, are due for wrenching changes in the from experts. and other aquatic organisms, could in but as a provider of a healthy near future. A clear indication of the The experts are right. We now principle ameliorate the coming complement to grain-based diets. problem is “fishing down the marine know that the apparent increases in shortfall. However, aquaculture refers Moreover, such reinvented fisheries food web”—the increasing tendency to global fish catches in the 1990s were to two fundamentally different kinds will be smaller, and they will rely on land fish and shellfish from the due to massive over-reporting to the of operations. One is devoted to the fish that move out of marine reserves, bottom of marine food chains. FAO by China. We also know that farming of bivalves such as oysters and the protected ocean areas that we must The fishing industry is, on its fish catches can remain high (and in mussels, or to freshwater fish such as establish to enable marine ecosystems own, incapable of reversing the fact usually do) even as stocks collapse, carp and tilapia. It relies on plants and the species within them to rebuild “fishing down” trend, notwithstanding as illustrated by cod off Eastern (plankton sometimes supplemented some of their past abundance, and to arguments by commentators who Canada, which yielded good catches by agricultural by-products in the case share it with us again. t should know better. In his recent book until the fishery had to be closed of freshwater fish) to generate a net (© Project Syndicate) The Skeptical Environmentalist, for because there were literally no fish left. addition to the fish food supply example, the Danish public-policy But excessive catches are not even available to consumers. Moreover, Daniel Pauly is professor of analyst Bjørn Lomborg cited data the whole story. Many fishing because this type of aquaculture is fisheries at the University of British reported by the UN Food and techniques now in use—bottom trawls based predominantly in developing Columbia, Vancouver. 11 - 17 JULY 2003 12 FROM THE NEPALI PRESS THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI PRESS NEPALI TIMES #153

death in army custody ten years ago. students. As a result so many youths ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Chief of Sarbhang district, Sonam migrate abroad for menial jobs. ChhalphalPriorities, 7 July Dawa, himself handed over a government notice ordering the Sapkotas So, how do we reform The five agitating political parties held to immediately vacate their land. Seven education? “We are confident elections the second special session of the third other families from the same locality We should be able to decide on the House of Representatives on 4-5 July were served with similar notices. Dhan kind of education policy we want to and came up with an18-point common Maya Rai and her five daughters were adopt, and then discuss practicalities Janamanch, will6 July 2003 take place soon.” agenda: forced to vacate their home on 8 June for like management, monitoring and Special interview with His Majesty King Gyanendra l Constitutional proposition would a Drukpa family. They were forced to implementation. We also need to be established to allow a referendum on take shelter in a neighbour’s cowshed. review our examination system. We What is your role in the context of violence against both the monarchy and democracy as well as about constitutional, political and other issues Refugee leaders in Nepal have teach the children for 10 years and good governance? of national importance to strengthen expressed doubts about the Bhutani evaluate their abilities in three hours, Our country was a symbol of peace in the past but today it is caught in violence, terrorism and destruction. We people’s sovereignty. government protecting the rights of which is very impractical. If school feel that the path to finding the reason and solution to the problems through constitutional means has not l Termination of the present clause those who have been allowed to return level education is in a bad shape, then closed. The monarchy has and will always be active within the framework of the constitution to fulfill the that allows the king to use his home. Pratap Subba, secretary of the tertiary education is even worse. common goals of Nepal and all Nepalis. We will never step back to remove the worries and concerns of the discretion in ruling and in formulating Sanischare Refugee Camp in Morang, Nobody pays attention to how many people. laws. Management of the royal palace said under the present circumstances students appear for university exams brought under a ministry. Provision there was a possibility of intensified and how many pass. If you bar the How can this dissatisfaction and mistrust caused by violence and bad governance be addressed? introduced for the king to announce his suppression of refugees from the technical institutions, only 15-20 Mistrust and dissatisfaction increases when the people’s basic necessities are not met, and leaders disregard wealth regularly. Annulment of the Bhutani government when they return percent of the students get through the expectations of the people. We feel that it will not be difficult to lead the country towards a better future if provision for the Royal Council (Raj home. university exams. People discuss SLC the leaders elected by the people work towards fulfilling their expectations, and an environment is created Parishad) to make the monarch results because the exam has been where the constitutional bodies can execute their responsibilities. completely consitutional. made into an ‘iron gate’, a source of

stress and terror for students as well as ○○○○○ Bring the national army under an ○○○○○○○○○○○○ Civil wars and ethnic strife have torn many countries apart. Could this be Nepal’s fate as well? l elected government. DrishtiDirections, 8 July parents. Unless primary education is History stands proof of the commitment and sacrifices we Nepalis are capable of making to save the country. systematised, investment made in the We understand that it is only in the hands of us Nepalis to strengthen our nationalism. We are confident that if l Automatic reinstatement of the higher education will be wasted. There all of us are committed and aware, our flag will always fly high. dissolved parliament in the case of a Extract from an interview with prime minister failing to hold elections educationist Chaitanya Sharma. is a gap between those who attend In Your Majesty’s view, what could be the ways to end the violence, return to peace, develop the country on time. public schools and those who go to private ones. It is just an illusion that and keep national unity secure? l Political solution for the Maoist What created the present chaos expensive private schools offer better If all the concerned parties work honestly and remain committed to solving the problems of the people, giving insurgency. Government-funded relief, in our education sector? them the gains of democracy, the nation can move forward. compensation and rehabilitation to We are reaping what we sowed in the education. Most of them concentrate victims of the conflict. 1980s. It was then that the privatisation solely on good exam results—killing The Maoists have demanded an end to the present constitution. Does solving the technical aspects of l Decentralisation of resources and of education began, which accelerated in all creative instincts. this issue require Your Majesty’s personal involvement? autonomy given to strengthen the local the 90s. Education was over- Political instability and over It has been a tradition with the Shah dynasty to administer the kingdom for the goodwill of the masses in bodies. commercialised. Private institutions politicisation is further destabilising accordance with the expectations of the people. His Majesty late King Birendra set about the present l No protection awarded to any one totally ignored their social education. Everyone has their own constitution according to the wishes of the Nepali people. We have already stated that the people are the religion. End all kinds of responsibilities and the government agenda: the state, students, parents and medium of change. discrimination based on religion, failed to regulate. Over the years Nepal teachers. language, ethnicity, caste and culture. has received generous aid for education Looking at the state of the economy and security, is an election l No political interference in and the government spends anything

possible? ○○○○○○

bureaucracy. betwee 12 to 15 percent of the annual ○○○○○○○○○○ We are confident that elections will take place soon. budget on education, but none of it was GorkhapatraBranding, 6 July used properly. In my calculation, every What will happen if the elections can’t be held? How will the

ensuing problems be solved? ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ Nepali shoulders Rs 2,000 of the The farmers of Saptari district are Why have negative views now? Instead, why don’t we all, the GopalMore Gadtaula refugees in Spacetime, education debt, yet there’s very little to being flooded with substandard political parties, civil servants, and citizens, work towards holding 8 July show for it. Politicisation weakened fertiliser smuggled in from India. the elections in the earliest date possible? public education. Empty fertiliser sacks bearing The Bhutani government continues to recognised and trusted Nepali brand Will Your Majesty have any role in solving the problem drive away Nepali-speaking What are the main problems? names are refilled in India and incase an election cannot be held? Lhotsampas (southerners) while it is We need a more realistic education smuggled in through custom points That is a hypothetical question. Let us not even engaged in finalising procedures for the policy. Education is also about in Raghunathpur, Khairavni, Samsi think about that. repatriation of its citizens who have practicality—policy should be guided and Pokravinda among others, been languishing in Nepali refugee by practicalities like human resources according to a local trader in custody. Your Majesty became the heir to the camps for more than a decade. A the country needs backed by good Following the tip-off, the police and a throne in the most unconventional refugee leader living in a Jhapa camp management and effective team of revenue department officials manner. Has this caused any change in reported that in the last month alone implementation. In our context getting raided many warehouses and recovered the way our traditional friends, eight Lhotsampa families were forced to an education is equivalent to landing a several sacks of substandard fertiliser. especially India, China and the United leave their homes in the Sarbhang blue-collar job. Young people get About two years ago, the government Kingdom view us? district of Bhutan. Among them were frustrated when they fail to get a job. even deployed the army to check Has the goodwill expressed by friendly the widow and children of Harka Our education fails to teach creativity smuggling but the activity has not nations towards Nepal changed? Bahadur Sapkota who was tortured to and doesn’t cater to the needs of the abated in this border district.

PradeepUnemployed Pokhrel in Deshantar, 6 July docs Medicine has always been considered a moneyed profession that guarantees prestige along with a steady job. Unemployment was never a problem for a medical doctor. But, times are changing. Each year, around 700 fresh medical graduates pass out of colleges in Nepal. These include the products from more than a dozen private medical colleges in the country and those who return Peace talks home after completing their studies abroad. To their swelling numbers add the significant number of doctors who Budhabar, 8 July already have established practices, predominantly in urban areas. This only serves to make jobs scarcer, since few are willing to go to the districts. A medical degree costs an average of Rs 2 million and fresh doctors prefer public hospital jobs, even though they are poorly QUOTE OF THE WEEK paid, which is why there are so many volunteer doctors in city hospitals these days. Finding jobs fresh out of college is difficult because almost all the positions are reserved for In the past, as old acquaintances, I did help them [the Maoists]. Fortunately, they haven’t demanded established senior practitioners, so many graduates end up as assistants to the latter at monetary donations from me till date. their private practice. More than 4,100 doctors have received licences from the medical council. Around 2,000 - Pradip Kumar Shrestha, chairman of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industries. foreign doctors have also been granted licences for one year and nearly 2,200 junior Sanghu, 7 July doctors are still in training. And now Indian doctors are taking jobs that Nepali doctors need. 11 - 17 JULY 2003 HISTORY AND CULTURE NEPALI TIMES #153 13 Back at Sundarijal >39 ‘I have shown myself to be a weak person in these pages.’ Saturday,Sundarijal 9 April 1977 MondaySundarijal 11 April Today at about 7AM Major, ie camp commander came in with the I have been writing very freely without any reservation in these pages my …breakfast people. In the breakfast there are usually 2 or 3 pieces of innermost thoughts, because absolute truth is of the essence on the writings bread and some milk. There was no bread today, and time for serving it is of this personal nature. It is like speaking to yourself, and you can’t speak unchangingly 8AM. The Major appeared to be bustling with extra lies to yourself. Well, of course, one wants to hide certain things from energy. I asked him why the early serving of my breakfast, and that too oneself too—not in a blatant way, but very insidiously, like exaggerating without toasts. He said that in a hurry the toasts could not be brought out one’s virtues, if any, or finding excuses for one’s vices, however atrocious. I from the Ganeshmanji’s prison (“uta patti bata”) and that also try to be as true as possible in recording my thoughts, here of course Anchaladish was likely to pay a visit today—hence breakfast was being thoughts are for free therefore in recording my moods or state of my mind. served an hour in advance. Lunch was served at 11AM and in fact Ass But sometimes I get a sneaking suspicion that perhaps they turn over the Anchaladish did come at 11:30 AM to ask me which of the advocates I pages of my diary when I am busy at the table. If my suspicion is correct would like to engage for my defence in the cases pending before a then the whole exercise is worse than useless. I have shown myself to be a special tribunal. When this team had come on 25th March for weak person in these pages, and they mustn’t fall within the hands of the interrogation in connection with my case I had told them that I won’t people can take mean advantage of this. However, what is the guarantee answer any questions unless I get the benefit of the advice of legal that they will not openly confiscate it? This is all a matter of vague experts who, I would engage in consultation with my family members. I suspicion that sometimes appears to lurk in my mind. Perhaps they won’t do told the Ass. An. that unless I meet my people I can’t decide whom to it—altho I cannot credit them with a sense of aristocratic honour. During our employ. Then he asked whom I wanted to consult from among the family last detention in this very prison for 8 years our personal papers were never members. I said Sushila, Nanu, Rosa, and Sriharsha all together. tampered with, and on our release we took them out without inspection by Ultimately I agreed on Sushila alone meeting me, but I told him them. I don’t know what … of the present set is. Anyway, I can’t but be definitely that I agree to this arrangement with one reservation, which is truthful in my diary—otherwise I should stop writing diaries. that if I feel that she would not be able to convey my ideas about my Today also I coughed blood in the morning—the look of the blood case there where advice is needed for the appointment of a defence saturated sputum is very sinister. Yesterday Dr Bhattarai when looking at it, lawyer I must meet the other members of my family also. He didn’t say thought that there were pus like things in the sputum. I will have to wait for anything about it. He gave me a hint that Sushila is already here, and as 4 or 5 days or even longer to know the result of the pathological exam. Last the name of Sushila came from him I have a feeling that she has time about a month ago they didn’t find anything—and the symptom applied for an interview with me to the king. Then by allowing her to disappeared after a week by itself. I told Dr Bhattarai yesterday that when meet me they would like to kill two birds with one stone: to meet my BP Koirala, in solitary confinement at very clearly the blood in the sputum indicated some disease, and that it demand as well as Sushila’s request for an interview. Later, I started Sundarijal Prison, starts having was not enough for a doctor to say that no pathogen was isolated. So far as feeling that I should have stuck to the demand of meeting all the 4 suspicions that someone may be I am concerned, I think this is a very serious trouble, some infection members of my family—they would perhaps have agreed to it. Sushila is reading his diary and discovering his perhaps [needing] antibiotic treatment. Or it may be a symptom of a very so innocent about everything, particularly about politics that, apart from weak health and psychological state. serious disease—like cancer. My health is deteriorating and I seem to lose my emotional satisfaction, from the political point of view the interview weight. Dr Vaish has told me that I should take care of my persistent with her would be of very little consequence. Still by the general But, he says, “I can’t but be truthful in cough—because that may develop into a trouble of a serious nature. behaviour of her, her demeanour, I may be able to assess the my diary—otherwise I should stop Today’s sputum was also sent for exam. atmosphere outside. The whole day I was extremely excited at the writing diaries.” He is still coughing thought of meeting her. It may be the breakthrough. Ass. Anchaldish blood, and for the first time BP is again assured me that our isolation would be lifted soon after the preliminary inquiries are over. I told him that it was against Human Rights worried that it may be something Sunday,Sundarijal 10 April to keep a prisoner in solitary confinement which for sensitive people, and the serious, like the throat cancer that … like ourselves are sensitive men, is the worst type of torture, psychological afflicted him. The next day there is a Temp Pulse torture. Moreover I am under-trial, who is in the point of law supposed to be visit from the Assistant Zonal 5AM 97 80 innocent. And as such I must get at least all the facilities that are normally Commisioner and a hint that Sushila 11:30 AM 96.5 104 provided to convicted prisoners even in Nepal jails. 5PM 97.6 76 Today also there was blood in my sputum which was also sent for Koirala may be allowed to visit her 8PM 96 72 examination. This is the 3rd specimen of sputum sent for exam. husband in prison. BP is excited.

BOOK REVIEW by AJAYA DIXIT

Unbundling A theparadigm Worldshift in the world’s Bank bank is necessary, and possible. he World Bank began as a projects. The questions of Criminal performance. Reform, according to the example, with upgrading performances the Power Development Fund (PDF) central for effective and accountable funding agency for post Second Debt and Corruption are addressed by contributors to the book, cannot come of the recently constituted distribution was sanctioned. Confidence of the governance. The book will be valuable World War reconstruction of Jeffrey Winters and Mushtaq Khan from within the Bank but has to be centers of NEA, and getting the lender may be good news for a country for academics, aid watchers and those TEurope. Subsequently, the agency respectively. John Sender assesses the externally imposed. They further Community-based Rural attempting to limp back to normalcy working towards reconciling public transformed itself into a development World Bank’s role in Sub-Saharan suggest that the agency shareholders Electrification Initiative off the ground. after the violence of the past seven policy goals with operational bank, an aid agency, an anti poverty Africa while the agency’s Speculation are unlikely to be agents for such Alongside Arun III, the Bank had years, but that in itself does not solve effectiveness. t campaigner, a leading proponent of on Social Capital is discussed by Ben reform. two other projects (India’s Sardar Nepal’s problems, which is matching state entrenchment under the rubric of Fine. The editors finally provide So, what is the point of leverage so Sarovar Project and Bangladesh’s public policy goals with operational Water management analyst structural adjustment, an advocate of conclusions. The collection is a that Bank-supported programs suit Flood Action Plan) whose assumptions effectiveness. The country’s problem Ajaya Dixit is based in Kathmandu neo-liberal regime of unfettered thorough no-holds-barred, yet specific conditions? The case of were questioned on technical, social was, and continues to be institutional and edits the journal Water Nepal. markets, and a knowledge bank. balanced, examination of the Global Nepal’s own Arun III hydropower and environmental grounds. The Bank dysfunction and lack of systemic In the process of its Agency vilified by champions of anti- project demonstrates that informed withdrew support from all of them in checks and balances. According to Reinventing the World Bank transformation, the Bank has taken on globalisation as an imperialist plot. contestation by social auditors can the mid-1990s. In all the three cases, Pincus and Winters: ‘Barring a major Jonathan R Pincus and Jeffrey A governance, biodiversity, post conflict The conservative right, on the other bring about changes. After 1990, the Bank was challenged by realignment of shareholders attitude Winters (eds) reconstruction, anti-corruption drive hand, sees it as a socialist giveaway egalitarian social auditors questioned independent groups within and expectations the World Bank will Cornell University Press, 2002 and public participation. The agency doling out money to corrupt and the appropriateness of the hydropower Bangladesh, India and Nepal in in all likelihood stumble forward along 288 pages searches for its soul as it attempts to unaccountable Third World project. A liberalised political coalition with transnational the current dysfunctional grapple with the challenges of reforms governments. atmosphere in the country had created counterparts. The agency has path.” to become effective in what it does. By positing itself as the temple of the space for creative engagement. Toni attempted to adapt to the disjuncture So, what to do? The editors The reform story of the World modern development practice, the Hagen termed the Arun III by helping set up the World of Reinventing the World Bank Bank is the subject of the book World Bank has ended up being every engagement as quintessentially a Commission on Dams. The suggest unbundling the Bank. Reinventing the World Bank edited by thing to every one. It conducts its own democratic exercise. Commission’s report Dams and It would maintain commitment Jonathan R Pincus and Jeffrey A research, does evaluation of its policies, In the post Arun III era, Nepal’s Development made public in 2000 to public capital flows across a Winters. Ten chapters of the book is a lender, and has economic advisory hydropower development policy has suggested a negotiated process for range of countries and focus on analyze the Bank’s lending policies, roles as aid coordinator, social terrain is pluralised and involves the building dams. Reinventing the physical investments amenable projects, operational procedures, reformer, law formulator and enforcer. government, the private sector and World Bank, however, falls short of to external supervision, and measures of accountability and But thickening of bureaucratic layers communitarian initiatives. New commenting on this paradigm shift. balance of payments support in structure of governance. Each chapter in its more than 50-years of being has projects started and completed under The World Bank was a tandem with bilateral donors to addresses the operational, conceptual, riddled the Bank with many fault these institutional modes produce major contributor to the Nepal suit the requirements of and power dimensions of the World lines. Institutional filters reject timely more electricity than Arun II would Development Project. The agency individual countries. Bank reinvention. cautions by social auditors at the cost have. However, many constraints such continues to exercise influence in Independent agencies would Bruce Rich reviews the World of operation effectiveness. as an expensive tariff, limited access to shaping the country’s development provide policy advice, research Bank under Wolfensohn who took Consequently, the Bank’s reform electricity, diversifying end use and and public policies. The agency and evaluation that would over in 1995. Devesh Kapur explores as presently constituted has failed to reconciling competing water users recently upgraded its lending level to minimise moral hazard, and the Bank’s Anatomy of Governance, address the problem of disconnect remain to be overcome. Second Nepal from a ‘low case’ ($0-50 conflict of interest problems. Jonathan Pincus analyses institution between the institution’s publicly generation institutional issues have also million a year) to ‘base year’ ($100 Reinventing the World Bank building in World Bank financed stated goals and its operational emerged. These are related, for million or more a year). Subsequently, emphasises that balance of power is 11 - 17 JULY 2003 14 CITY NEPALI TIMES #153 ABOUT TOWN BOOKWORM

FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONS Deepak Thapa (ed) v The Eastern Essence Paintings by Chirag Bangdel at the Alliance Francaise gallery till 15 July. Understanding the Maoist Movement of Nepal 4241163 Martin Chautari, 2003 v Poetry Festival Mark Wyatt reads from “Snow and Other Adventures” 18 July, Pratibha Tuladhar and Rs 475 Smriti Jaiswal on 20 July. Both at 7.30 PM at the Lazimpat Gallery Café. 4428549 This collection of writings taken from a variety of sources provides wide-ranging perspectives v Traditional and modern Nepali paintings 4-8PM at The October Gallery, Hotel Vajra. 4271545 on the Maoist insurrection to inform readers of the many facets of Nepal’s internal conflict. v Innovative & Quality Crafts Exhibition/Sale by Moni’s Creation, 12-13 July at Hotel de l’Annapurna, The selection analyses and explains the failure of the state to meet the aspiration of the people. Darbar Marg. 4432122 A fresh pair of eyes Paintings, sketches and photographs by volunteers living and working in Nepal. v Education in dilemma: A Nepalese perspective Radabhir D Khati, from 18 July at the Lazimpat Gallery Café. 4428549 PhD v Monsoon Moods Paintings by Uttam Nepali, Shashi Shah, Batsa Gopal Vaidya, Shashikala Tiwari, Kiran Manandhar, Ragini Upadhyay-Grela at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Baber Mahal Revisited. 4411122 Udaya Books, 2003 Rs 290 v Imaging Everest Photographic exhibition from the Royal Geographical Society, London, in association with The British Council, Kathmandu. 8.30 AM-4.45 PM till 31 July at the British Council, This very timely book makes an in-depth examination of the education sector in Nepal. Policy, Lainchour. processes of decision making in an educational institution and the student-politics nexus, rural and female literacy are some of the most pressing issues that the author addresses. EVENTS v Martin Chautari Discussions every 3PM Sunday on political issues, 5PM Tuesday on various topics, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home & Abroad Fareed Zakaria 3PM Thursday on media, and 3PM Friday on youth related issues. Participation is open to all. Penguin Viking, 2003 v Party at Baber Mahal Revisited 7.30 PM onwards, 11 July. Entry Rs 100 Rs 395 v Ghetto Dance Blast International artists, DJ Arjun, bottomless bar on 18 July Yak & Yeti. Tickets: Rs At a period when democracy is the one political system is unquestioned, this deeply important 1,111 for drinks and dinner. 4248999 book points out the tension between democracy and freedom. Zakaria argues that in many v Newroad-Basantapur Street Festival-2060 12 July at Hanumandhoka Durbar Square and surrounding areas. parts of the world, the spread of democracy has not produced a corresponding growth in liberty. v The God Dance of Kathmandu Valley 7PM every Tuesday at the Big Pagoda, Hotel Vajra. 4271545 v Kathmandu Toastmasters Club 5.45-7.30 PM every Tuesday. Improve your speaking and listening skills. Free at IEM,Tripureshwor. 4429638 Courtesy: Mandala Book Point, Kantipath, 4227711, [email protected]

MUSIC v Yale Whiffenpoofs Tickets: Rs 799. World renowned a cappella group on 15-16 July at Hotel Yak & CLASSIFIED Yeti. 4248999 Visit Ground Zero Fine wines, designer candles, bedrooms 2 bathrooms large kitchen dining living v Salsa featuring Cadenza and Latin Section. 8PM on 11 July at The Jazz cards, gifts, stationery, wooden items, perfumes and terrace lobby and porch and telephone. Contact: Bar, Shangri-la Hotel. Entry Rs 300. 4412999 Cadenza more. Darbar Marg, opposite Hotel de l’Annapurna Roshani 4275180 v Live Acoustic Jam 7PM on Saturdays at Himalatte Cafe, Thamel. 4256738 Visit Femilines, the Exclusive Lingerie Store for ladies New York Pizza: Free Home delivery Cadenza live 7.30PM every Wednesday and Saturday. Rs 200 entry. undergarments, nightwear, bathrobes and more. Ladies Contact:5539345 v staff. Opposite Sajha Yatayat, Harihar Bhawan, Interested musicians welcome to jam. Upstairs Jazz Bar, Lazimpat. Pulchowk. Tel: 547428 To Let: In Jawalakhel near zoo, fully furnished v Full Circle acoustic jam every Friday at New Orleans Café, Thamel. apartment 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, spacious living / 4427311 Flowerlovers: Flowerlovers, it’s FUCHSIA time again dining, modern kitchen individual telephone, terrace, v Thunderbolt with Ram Shrestha and Sabu Lama. 8PM onwards Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Red !! See 60 beautiful varieties in bloom! Our lovely overlooking English garden with tall trees in quiet Onion Bar, Lazimpat. 4416071 CYCLAMEN are also flowering. Only at THE surrounding. Available immediately Contact: 5524389 BISHALNAGAR NURSERY, tel. 4431797; 5 min. from Bhatbateni Supermarket, 2min. from Bishalnagar To let: Furnished air-conditioned computer lab on rent DRINKS v Liquor Buffet 7-9PM at the Splash Bar & Grill. Rs 550 per person. Radisson Hotel, Kathmandu. Chowk (turn right and downhill). per use basis. Mail: [email protected] or call Mrs. 4411818 Khadka at 4246346. Fusion offers over 100 cocktails. Happy hour from 6-7PM. Dwarika’s Hotel. Custom Made: Generate Wealth with Feng Shui…. Get v a Tabletop Fountain Custom made for you…. Call NEW BOOK Nepal: Politics of Stalemate, Confusion v K-too! Special Tropical Khukri drinks Rs 125 or Rs 750 for every 1.5 litre. Free Irish Coffee with every 981054102 and Uncertainty, by MR Josse, a prominent journalist main course. K-too! Beer & Steakhouse, Thamel. 4433043. in Nepal, is available at leading department and book Co-Q10 and all dietary supplements imported from stores in Kathmandu. For trade information please Singapore & Malaysia Contact: 5520294 contact: Bazaar International. Phone: 4255125 Fax: FOOD v Weekends Late Riser BBQ fixed lunch at the Shambala Garden. Upto 66 percent discount. 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NEPALI WEATHER by NGAMINDRA DAHAL VIS -10-07-2003 05:00 GMT Since last week, the monsoon pulses have been coming in on FM 102.4 thick and fast over the eastern Mahabharat and tarai dumping copious amounts of rains. Surprisingly, the deaths are more Daily 2045-2115 BBC from lightning than floods, signifying formidable cloud buildups g]kfnL ;]jf at the point where the mountains meet the plains. This satellite Daily 2245-2300 BBC g]kfnL ;]jf image taken on Thursday morning shows why there is less Sun-Fri 0740- 0800 rainfall in western Nepal, residues of westerlies are blocking Ps}l5g\ -/]l8of] klqsf_ the advance of the moisture-laden winds from the Bay. When Sun-Fri 0800- 0830 8anL -ljifout cGt/lqmof_ Kathmandu this happens, the water vapour is dammed up and cloudbursts occur as the clouds condense above the Himalaya. Maximum Sun-Fri 2000- 2030 cfhsf s'/f -;d;fdlos ljifodf ax;_ temperatures will plummet by another two degrees because of Sat 0800- 0830 overcast skies. zflGt cleofg Sat 1930- 2000 cfrf/ ljrf/ -e|i6frf/lj?4 ;xsfo{_ KATHMANDU VALLEY Sat 2000- 2030 s"6gLlts d~r Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue Radio Sagarmatha P.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, Nepal S S SS S Tel: ++977-1-545680, 545681, Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227 28-19 30-17 29-20 28-18 29-18 E-mail: [email protected], www.radiosagarmatha.org /]l8of] ;u/dfyf 11 - 17 JULY 2003 NEPALI TIMES #153 15 NEPALI SOCIETY Aural pleasure with The Whiffenpoofs ari Bahadur Rokaya’s practice gold and a silver in the 5km and couldn’t afford the participation fee. national runner. Hari has schedule is as tough as his 10km races. Since then he has won This year he is determined to received numerous home terrain in Jumla. Like every other major national long run, and win again. Hari is already invitations to emigrate most marathon runners he prefers distance run and participated in 30 training for the November event abroad, but choses to live setting off in the early morning, past Run,international events. He has evenHari, though he hasn’t found any runand work in remote Hthe bazar, along the trail down to the represented Nepal in the SAF sponsors yet for the Rs 50,000 Jumla. He says Bheri, over the suspension bridge, Games, Asian Games and even at the he needs to cover personal simply: “I was born past paddy terraces glistening in the Olympics. Hari also prides himself expenses. and brought up sun, along the edge of the pine- in being among the few Nepalis to Hari’s job as an here. This is scented forest. After two hours, this take part in the famous Jungfrau assistant coach in the home.” t world class athlete is back home in Marathon held annually in Jumla District Sports (Hemlata Rai)

time for a snack of instant noodles. Switzerland in 2001. He stood Committee earns him Rs HEMLATA RAI ○○○○○○○○○○○ SOPHIA○○○○ PANDE tuxedos—complete with pristine His training may be ‘low eighth among 3,700 runners. “I am 7,000 a month, which he touch of whimsy led to the white gloves—but are far from tech’, his shoes frayed, but Hari a highland runner—so I gain ploughs back into taking ‘Gentlemen Songsters’ of stodgy. In fact, they are renowned more than makes up for it with his momentum uphill but my budding athletes under his for their ‘presence’ that includes Yale naming themselves determination and patriotism. The performance slows along the flat wing. His trainee Laxmi The Whiffenpoofs after one of much jumping around and the A up-and-down and the thin air at stretches, I wish they had more Upadhaya, also from the characters in a Victor Herbert occasional dance routine. As I musical comedy. Don’t let the recall, they carry the old Yale- 3,300m is good training. The 41- hills in Switzerland,” Hari says with Jumla, is already a name fool you. This group of 14 Harvard-Princeton rivalry right year-old sets himself a grueling pace: a grin. fresh-faced Yale men is very, very under the arc lights through he has reached Rara Lake from Jumla But it was the Everest Marathon, talented and has a 96-year-old outrageous jokes, all at the in seven hours, a distance that takes the world’s highest marathon held history behind it as one of the expense of the other Ivy Leaguers, trekkers two days. every 18 months, that made him best collegiate a cappella groups charming the audience into a Hari’s life reads like a highland famous. This 42.2km race reaches in the United States. complicit understanding that Yale version of Forrest Gump. From a an altitude of 5184m, and Hari won The 2003 group—a new is undoubtedly the best of the lot. shy lad at Chandannath Secondary it three consecutive years in 1997, batch is culled from the Yale The Whiffenpoofs repertoire is an School in Jumla, he became a 1999 and 2000, and set a record by senior men every year—is on eclectic mix of traditional Yale celebrated athlete at the 26th finishing in 3 hours 50 minutes their annual world tour and we songs, Broadway favourites and National Athletics Meet in and 23 seconds. In 2002, Hari are very fortunate to have them traditional folk songs from all Kathmandu in 1985 where he won couldn’t take part because he here in our patch of the around the world. The Bohemian Himalaya. And there could be no Marching Song “Aj, Lucka, Lucka better setting than Bir Siroka” is a favourite opener that Shumshere’s entertainment will set your feet tapping. theatre, Naachghar, now a part of The Whiffenpoofs of 2001, the Yak & Yeti Hotel. I had the 2002 and 2003 have three pleasure of watching them in albums to their credit, so at the performance before, and must end of the evening if you need to warn you that Whiffenpoofian (!) stock up on a little of their joie de vivre is highly infectious. legendary aural pleasure, you can The group takes the stage leave with a CD, two or maybe impeccably turned out in even three. t 11 - 17 JULY 2003 16 NEPALI TIMES #153 In the July Himal Civilising civil society: Donors and Surplus and starvation in Orissa democratic space in Nepal Under byMy Kunda Hat Dixit India-China: bhai-bhai once again “Mysterious” afflictions in Nepal’s South Asia and homosexuality ‘remote’ districts Karachi’s ‘illegals’ Review of Foreign Aid and Politics in Nepal Bengal’s cultural borderlands To subscribe: Call 554-3333 or write to [email protected]

hroughout the long history of Man’s introductory guide to replacing speciest language with relationshipGoing with the Animal Kingdom, to we can themore politically correct dogs formulations: now say in hindsight that we have been unfair to our fellow creatures—mainly because we’ve barbecued WRONG: The only fly in the ointment was that the their body parts and eaten them up in large quantities. political parties refused to join the government. TEver since our quadruped ancestors climbed down CORRECT: Finally, towards the end of the cocktail from the acacia trees in the Rift Valley, shed their reception, she mustered enough courage to whisper to prehensile tails, and started riding around in mopeds, him that his fly was open. we have treated animals abominably. Aside from the physical cruelty that we inflict WRONG: Nepalis have now upon them by ascribing realised that you can’t teach an nutritional value to their T- old dog new tricks. bone and ribs, Man has also CORRECT: Kathmandu’s treated animals with canines yowled in celebration psychological torture. Just when they were told that the look at how we use the names country was going to the dogs of various animals in everyday again. language by attaching negative attributes to them. WRONG: It is quite acceptable In referring to our current in politics to be a sycophant and political scenario as a ‘snake lick your boss’ ass. pit’ think of what an insult it is to snakes. Similarly, by CORRECT: He has been a visionary statesman for describing the peace negotiations as moving at a donkey’s years. ‘snail’s pace’, we underestimate and belittle the velocity of snail locomotion. And we show a singular WRONG: The prime minister has kept a lion’s share lack of sensitivity to the feelings of our equine friends of the portfolios. when we wolf down hors d’oeuvres. CORRECT: Leopards are generally satisfied with the But as animals ourselves, and a species that has location of their spots and don’t want to change them reached the pinnacle of evolution and civilisation, we unless forced to do so at gunpoint. have to learn to be less anthropocentric, more politically correct when referring to our four-legged WRONG: The reporters at the press conference and feathered friends in everyday conversation. In the behaved like vultures tearing at a wildebeest carcass. beginning it will be difficult, after all we can’t break a CORRECT: The famished vultures nibbled at the habit that we have nurtured over thousands of years to mortal remains of a deceased gnu like a gang of call an unpopular rival the offspring of a bitch. journalists mobbing a press conference announcing the As a service to our readers we offer below an formation of yet another government.

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