By Biswo Poudel in Berkeley, CA
“The passion of men for equality is ardent, insatiable, eternal, and invincible” (De Tocqueville, 1860)
For a brief moment last winter, it seemed as if Nepal was on the brink of being disintegrated. The demands made by Janajati, Madhesi and other groups made the political environment muddled. There were demands of all kinds. The demands ranged from the demand for quota, and jobs to the demand for reservation on the parliament. Occasionally, it was laced by Brahmin-bashing.
It seems like an eon ago, but around five years ago, this author was shocked by the prevalent attitude in Nepal, especially among the elites of Kathmandu. Remember this was before the Madhesis or other groups were in the street. The parliament was in the thrall of NGOs. I met several friends who used to recount the tales of parliamentarians coming to them and asking them to take small projects to their districts. In return, the NGOs, often run by the western educated people, had such an access to the parties and parliament that they seemed to be running the government and writing the bills. NGOs were parallel government, they were different from the existing government in that the government was theoretically subject to popularity test every five years, while NGOs were like a permanent government, never subject to any test by the people.
NGOs were proliferating because they were subject to almost no laws. They even had the audacity to oppose when the government decided to regulate the money inflow on those NGOs. They behaved as if they were sovereigns. Some NGOs opposed Arun hydroelectricity project to the extent that their honchos made the trip to Washington DC, World Bank office, claiming that there would be enough electricity in Nepal in the next x years if only we didn’t make Arun. Well, we couldn’t make Arun, and today, we are still living under the load shedding.
NGOs were not the only one running a quasi government. I also read a demand as ridiculous as this one: journalist association was making the demand that some seats should be reserved for their members in the hospitals. (While my memory is blurry, I am certain about the veracity of this news. I would love it if our skeptic readers verify it themselves, however.). Most of the journalists did extremely poor job those days. They mainly wrote propaganda pieces. I wonder if the journalists of several weeklies ever crossed the chakrapath. News always emanated from the center and went to the villages. The journalists sucked up to the national leaders, and never really looked at the local leaders and nurtured them. A promising mayor of Hetauda, who came with creative ideas such as banning plastic, making a nice park, and widening the street, never really got the credit for that.
The journalists, the NGOs, the teachers, the lawyers all continued their radical politics even when the country had a functioning democracy. The teachers until a few months ago were shameless enough to demand automatic tenure and the leadership in opposition was shameless enough to encourage them. No boundary was un-crossable, no promise was un-makeable by our leaders. The message to the marginalized groups was consistent and clear: be noticed, and government will listen to you and somehow you will have access to the national resources. Otherwise, you will be damned to whatever state you are in forever. How else can you explain the fact that the government never had time to think about the issue of Karnali or Madhesh, while it spent hours dealing with asthayi (temporary) teachers demanding automatic sthayi jagir (permanent job)?
Forgotten at the time were valleys in the far away mountain where a certain radical group was organizing neglected and hungry citizens without hope. Those people were programmed into being a killing machine of extra ordinary ruthlessness. Hope given by the state, and its rules never was clear to those people, while the terrorists and their clear, transparent vision seemed to so near and so attainable.
One day, I rode on my favorite bike from Shantichouk, Chitwan, a cozy civilized village straddling the east west highway and headed north towards Shaktikhor, more recently famous for housing the Maoist cantonment. Shantichouk might be a relatively modern town, but people there are still conservative, women still fast in Ekadashi, and old men still ask caste and gotra before deciding marriage on their children’s behalf. I had to bike for around seven kilometers before I reached the verdant hill of Kangalikot, crossing small creek of Kair Khola at least two times while doing so. At last, tired, and seemingly at the end of the civilization, I entered a restaurant at the godforsaken place, and asked the owner if he could make some chicken for me.
The restaurant was rudimentary in its endowments. There was a wooden oven in the corner, and breads, cigarettes, and biscuits were stuffed in a small wooden cupboard in the front. Few people were sitting and talking with each other lazily, their talk often interrupted by the hand-swattings of flies buzzing nearby. It was an exercise for me to eat the chicken curry with chiura in the presence of those flying flies, and I wondered whether I was rare among the customers patronizing the restaurant in my desire to eat the chicken.
A few minutes later, a long queue of indigenous chepang people filed in from nearby village. They first crossed a small creek from a ford nearby. Then, they came to the restaurant. The small children looked at my food with covetous eyes. The elderly men sat outside, perhaps afraid to enter the restaurant. They asked for a stub of cigarette, which the restaurant owner unwillingly complied.
There was a love hate relationship between the owner and the chepangs. The owner knew that those chepangs were his major customers. But they were also bums, looking for a lot of freebies in his views. Running a business is a tough business even in that remote corner of the world.
The group of people numbered almost a dozen: a stubbly old man who was lean and had a narrow bony chest, three women who would be considered diminutive from almost all standard, and a few other kids, whose gender was difficult to differentiate without asking them. The kids looked sick, their eyes were teary, their stomach distended, their hair tousled, and their cloth tattered. They looked hungry too. They were looking at my food, and I found it hard to make any decision on whether to continue eating.
The restaurant owner explained to me that the chepangs had come to sell ‘chiuri’, a delicious local fruit. Apparently, those chepangs had no other sources of salable stuffs. They were not tame enough to be employed. Most of them had no education.
Human had started farming at least ten thousand years ago in Turkey, according to some historians. In pre-agriculture days, a person needed on average tens of hectors to find a morsel of food for a day. His food was subjected to randomness: if he could find an animal to kill, he would have food, otherwise, not. Before fire was discovered, an average man would thus find a prey, and chew the raw meat. It would take hours to chew even half a kilo of such food. Discovery of fire made consumption easier. Invention of farming system similarly made food supply relatively stable. People with stable and reliable food supply also had some free time to think about subjects other than food itself. This was how civilization developed.
In that way, chepangs were thousands of years behind the first human who started farming. It is no wonder that sans any government help to make them abreast of modern thoughts, they would find ideologies of even nineteenth century more advanced.
In these last five years, Shaktikhor (not necessarily the Chepangs, in deed, their participation in politics is still minimal) remained a bastion of hot headed Maoist rebels. While government in Kathmandu was besieged by the groups demanding reservations in hospitals, groups such as chepangs had no one to speak on their behalf, and the government was not good enough, or extensive enough, or perhaps rich enough, to take care of all the groups that deserved its attention. Slowly, those who were near the ministers benefited from their connections, while marginalized groups fell behind.
How neglected groups behave? Do they rise? Do they submit to their extinction meekly? Do they happily welcome adversity that is bound to inflict the generations to come? The history of mankind tells us that the answer is neither meek surrender nor resignation. People either rebel, or adapt. Adaptation has been inalienable human trait.
Nepal is a mosaic; it is not a melting pot. Any attempt to force uniformity is bound to fail here. Although admittedly, the change has come to us, we are changing and converging towards something, but it is not a culture of one particular group. The mores of all groups are changing. More than anything, adaptation is seen across the board among all the groups residing in Nepal. This is a convergence while keeping the mosaic fabric of our society constant.
This year, I was surprised to note that in the village of shantichouk and vicinity, the number of bullocks was significantly lower than that of heifers. The observation took me by surprise. I asked around if there had been some bullocks specific disease, and found that there were none. Since cows are sacred, there had been no murder either. Then, where had those bullocks gone?
The answer lied on a dark little secret that I later figured out. The pious Brahmins of the village had lately found that the stags, which used to be used in agricultural purpose, were no longer useful as the introduction of tractor had made them obsolete. Since one needs only one bull for tens of cows for mating purpose, the bullocks were virtually a useless investment. You couldn’t use them in your farm; you can’t sell them for meat. What do you do? The pious farmers found an ingenious way to kill the baby bullocks: they wouldn’t let the babies suckle for a couple of days, and then the third day they would let the baby drink all the milk of her mother. The helpless little bullocks would then choke and die.
This incidence provides evidence for the claim that economy is the biggest religion, and people’s behavior is directed by norms based on the economic consideration. This also provides evidence to the claim that as we become more developed as a nation, our differences might matter less. We will remain a mosaic nation, but our differences might not be as big as they are today because even now our values are slowly changing, and perhaps converging to those of other communities in the country. Those who are daydreaming about a homogenous state based on the community traits of centuries ago are in for a great shock, as the traits themselves are shifting.
To sum up, in this brief essay, so far, I tried to make the argument that our country which even in the heyday of democracy had been a country that listened only to the vocal groups and managed to neglect the indigenous groups committed a mistake by doing so, but that these marginalized group will either rise or adapt, rather than meekly surrender. But during this rising, any argument for pure ethnic states based on the argument that we are unmixable communities is bound to fail, because even as we are mosaic, our mores are converging, and we are closer to each other than ever before, particularly because our more is guided by our economic consideration, which doesn’t have any community specific nature.
I would like to finish this essay by reminding my readers that while we fought with each other, our country lost a lot of money because of our inability to harness the natural resources, reap the benefit of hydropower, and the money that could be spent on our marginalized groups have went elsewhere. This has been, in my view, the greatest tragedy of our last decade. It will continue be a tragedy in the future too.
If you look at the white paper of Nepal Electricity Authority, you will find that it was running in benefit from 2049/50-56/57 fiscal years. Last year, NEA lost Rs 2.47 billions. Out of that loss, Rs 1.75 billion was lost because it had to pay higher prices for electricity produced by Himal Power Ltd, Bhotekoshi Power co and Chilime. The reader shouldn’t forget that the ownership of these high priced power companies belongs to the foreigners.
If we are looking at gulf or Africa, and wondering how foreigners have exploited their natural resources, please look no further. It is at our own home that we are letting our hydro be exploited by the foreigners in a way that should baffle everyone. Let us look at the middle Marshyangdi project. NEA undertook this project after the Germans assured us an assistance of 127.82 million euros. But they attached a condition: we must hire a European contractor. There are a lot of issues with the European contractors. They are expensive, any issues should be settled in European court where hiring a lawyer would cost a fortune for us. (I don’t believe that a European court or American court is going to be any fairer than a Nepali court. But these Europeans live in their own world!) If you are following the row between the contractor and NEA, you will realize that the cost of project has already skyrocketed to 273.41 million and our government (and NEA) has to foot the balance (more than 111 million euro). If we had undertaken this project ourselves from the start, and hired Chinese contractor, it would have been constructed in approximately that much amount. There is nothing for us to be grateful about to the Germans for their help. In fact, we are now stuck with their equipment, and should some problem arise in future, we would be paying more dough to them for maintenance etc. We are probably in a big mess.
It is hard to find a person, or state to blame under these circumstances. I recently read a paper about Swiss hydropower, and found that most of the counties of that country consider the rent from hydropower as their major source of revenue. In a lot of the cases, upto 25% of the incomes of the counties come from hydro rent, and this could go upto 70-90% in a case of a particular municipality. In our country, whatever rent there is, it is not reaching to people. It is reaching to elsewhere.
And yet it is hard to blame someone. I have met several intellectuals who opposed Mahakali sandhi vocally. They initially claimed that 1 crore units of electricity was too low. Then India upped the ante, and gave 7 crore units. I asked people what they thought of the new provision, and they still opposed it. I then asked what they thought would be the appropriate number, and I never found any answer. The intellectuals who were so quick to oppose didn’t know what the fair deal should be. They just love to oppose and play victim, their only point often is anti-Indianism, rather than an informed opposition. Do we deserve half of everything? Do we deserve less? How much is it that would be a fair deal? Or should we just oppose the project and not make anything?
The issue again is the knowledge. If we have a scientific tradition, if we foster science, if we encourage our students to go to school rather than drag them to krantikari sabha-julus, may be we will have enough people to work out what our legitimate right is. Today, it seems we don’t have people who can tell us what our exact right is, how much a fair deal is, while we have a horde that can incite violence in the name of Mahakali treaty. If we calculate and find that we deserve 10 crore units, then we can talk to the Indians with confidence about our estimation. Or when they offer 11 crore units, we can happily close the deal feeling like a victor. Ignorance is fueling our inferiority complex, and we have been a prisoner of our ignorance, and skeptic mind. This same ignorance makes us treat our own fellow Nepali as less pure Nepali and this same ignorance makes us weak and prone to fight with each other. Fight is not going to make us stronger or richer, light will.
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(God, take me from ignorance to enlightenment.)
Biswo Poudel is a a PhD student (environmental economist) in University of California at Berkeley.
United We Blog 
Comments
44 responses to “Deciphering Nepal’s Recent Turmoil”
“economy is the biggest religion, and people’s behavior is directed by norms based on the economic consideration”
thats rite mr. bishwo, lets be 29th state of India we’ll have better economy, hopefully then no chepangs will be hungry, look no chepang in sikkim has to think about feeding his children.
Good arguments. It will take a while for Nepalis people to understand the concerns you have raised even if it seems hopeless right now.
Wonderful, articulated article.
poudel ji,
a good read after a long time in UWB, i enjoyed reading it. But, i have noticed your essay lacks a central theme, you have tried to accommodate everything under the Nepali sky that what makes it interesting but at the same time is the it’s weakness.
but, i found your ‘findings’ on stifling of the young male cows very interesting. And that raises the question
WHAT DO WE DO WITH KRIPA BHOTENI WHO IS BEHIND BARS FOR KILLING A COW?
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(God, take me from ignorance to enlightenment.)
Rather make me blind, if I had to see injustice!!
Mr. Poudel,
I think the intent of you article is good but your observation is shallow and miscalculated, especially when you tried to analyse the status of indigenous people.
The very reason the voice of the ‘indigenous people were not heard’ is because the ‘listening people’ in the Bahun-centric caste-government neither understand the language language of the indigenous people nor care. They only care about caste-people like yourself. That’s why ethnicity-based federalis is the only way out so that they can speak in their own language get
and get it heard by someone in the government who can understand it. Let me make it simple, you speak Khas-language, because you are a Chetri, but keep in mind that over 80% of the older-generation Nepalese don’t understand or speak your Khas-language, so called Nepali language. The cenus data collected by Bahun-chetris, the khas people is manipulated to tell the people that Khas-speaking people are the majority, but in reality, if you go in any of the vilalges of Nepal, you will hardly find any villages that speak this language, including Kathamndu, where Newars hardly speak Nepali.
Therefore, giving people the power to exercise and govern their own affairs of lives is the best and only solution. So, don’t try to justify your bullshit Khas-ideas on others.
But I do agree with you on the foriegn influences in Nepal’s hydro-power and other development sectors that are ripping Nepalese of their natural resources and culture.
Brilliant Poudelji, specially the part about negotiating with confidence with Indians. The problem is whoever can negotiate with Indians end up on the payroll of Indians via some or the other MNC, INGO or consultancy based in UK, USA or Australia.
I have been living in USA for the last fifteen years and I have seen far more conservative people in any country, including in Europe and America, than in Nepal. When you wrote above “Shantichouk might be a relatively modern town, but people there are still conservative, women still fast in Ekadashi, and old men still ask caste and gotra before deciding marriage on their children’s behalf,” what did you mean by conservative? Is it conservative to keep one’s belief, to practice fasting or vegetarian food evey fifteen days for ekadashi? Where are you? My whole family practices Ekadashi and all tithis in our Hindu calendar. I am raising my kids accordingly. Am I doing wrong?
It has been proven scientifically most logical for a long long time. And you would want to go to the MacDonald’s for the junky food on Ekadashi, right? This only shows the poverty of your thinking, maybe due to lack of proper critical education.
What about Jews fasting? what about Muslim’s going to mosque five times a day (Muslims living in Europe and America are even more strict than in the less developed countries)? Can you dare call the French, British and Republicans conservative who have so many taboos?
And asking gotra is a far more complicated thing for you to understand, based on your arguments. You must read some books on cultural anthropology to understand the basic concept of the modern world’s competition for cultural colonization and identity perpetuation. The whole world practices the caste and gotra in one way or the other for cultural colonization or to protect their identities from being doomed; Jews, Christians, Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs and so on. Can you call the whole world conservative?
Our Hindu practice has a lot of merits of logical and scientific importance. You need a little bit common sense and some education to understand them.
There is trouble in Nepal…reading this LONNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG thingie will mean more trouble. Summary please.
Interesting article, Poudel. Its very positive that articles as such are covered in UWB instead of usual political ramblings.
Nepal has not gone through the step of nation building. The government institutions are weak and marginally working. Judiciary is broken. It takes years to resolve an issue and even the supreme court justice are mired in daylight corruption. Proper parliament is not even formed and at least a year away. Government is plagued by incompetent civil servants and civil strifes. The least Nepalese can expect is that journalists tell the people whats going wrong. The worst is the lack of sense of urgency.
Definitely, Madesh and Janjati issues are serious. But this is a society which is basically poor, materially and intellectually, and which has a backward economy. As Dor bahadur Bista pointed out, until now , Nepal has been governed by a narrow clique of Kathmandu. Historically, govt has been dominated by ranas, shahs and bahuns. This situation needs correction and the only alternative is more democracy, which unsurprisingly is not in the agenda of Madheshi activists and Janjati activists. Instead even for legitimate causes, demonstration of force has been chosen as the only alternative. The weak and frail government already not in capacity to govern in daily affairs is now having to deal with sufferings caused by previous regimes.
Nepalese now need to realize that they are only left to themselves if they want to get out of this trap of backwardness. With no industry, no service and not even a vision to get out of the poverty, its hard to see the concrete results. Lets hope people at least people start to ask questions instead of hoping help of donors (EU, IMF, WB, ADB) who have been mercantilist and colonialist throughout their history.
Dear Yabadabadooji:
Thanks for your comment. The central theme of the essayw was, as I gave in the essay, the following:
”
…..
……
To sum up, in this brief essay, so far, I tried to make the argument that our country which even in the heyday of democracy had been a country that listened only to the vocal groups and managed to neglect the indigenous groups committed a mistake by doing so, but that these marginalized group will either rise or adapt, rather than meekly surrender. But during this rising, any argument for pure ethnic states based on the argument that we are unmixable communities is bound to fail, because even as we are mosaic, our mores are converging, and we are closer to each other than ever before, particularly because our more is guided by our economic consideration, which doesn’t have any community specific nature.
I would like to finish this essay by reminding my readers that while we fought with each other, our country lost a lot of money because of our inability to harness the natural resources, reap the benefit of hydropower, and the money that could be spent on our marginalized groups have went elsewhere. This has been, in my view, the greatest tragedy of our last decade. It will continue be a tragedy in the future too. ”
This is admittedly a long essay, filled with pretention perhaps, and this is one more reason to praise you for reading it and taking the pain to comment on it.
Gopalji:
I definitely lack the critical thinking, and I thank you for reminding me about it. I am sure I am learning. As for the use of the term ‘conservative’, I think you got it wrong. This is not a negative word. I am a conservative myself. While not in USA for fifteen years, I still stick to my old tradition, and identify myself as a conservative. So do almost half of the Americans. it is just a word without any negative or positive connotation.
Justiceji:
Rather than making a wholesale condemnation, it will be nice if you point out the part in the essay that rankled you most. Somehow, I felt may be you didn’t read the whole essay.
Again, if you charge me for being a khas bahun, then guility as charged, sir. That’s how I was born, and I can’t change it. If you want to charge me for being not white enough in complexion, not tall enough in height or not agile enough in athletics, I will also accept that. But that’s not relevant here, is it?
To the rest of you, specially scoop, unnamed commentor, XYZ, I appreciate your good words. I don’t share the sarcastic remark of ‘endnote’, however. As for noname’s observation that it is too long, yes it is, and perhaps this essay targets different type of readers.
Poudel: good article. I liked your essay.
But I somewhat disagree with what seems to be your premise in the first part. You make it sound as if the political leaders were a victim of the powerful evil NGOs. I disagree with that picture. Our political leaders are greedy, ball-less SOBs period.
Very positive in tone and spirit. A doctorate student in Env Eng would have sufficed sans the name of the university. It seems like the name of the university is trying to patronize your analysis. You are there, that cannot be changed but the name doesn’t seem to be necessary. But again, it is just my thought.
The article seems to lack the central theme yet it touches an array of topics. Hence, different essays would have been better. Thanks for raising serious issues that really need discussions.
“… But during this rising, any argument for pure ethnic states based on the argument that we are unmixable communities is bound to fail …”
Mr. Poudel – please dont make definite conclusions like this. You are an economist and not a political scientist. You are talking as if the current arrangement is working. Just look at India and tell me if ethnic states are not working. You point out Bahun bashing at the start of your post, it is exactly this reason why Bahun bashing happens in Nepal. You people offer erudite explanations that has no ground. People like you make me sick.
On the whole the article is nice.
Your erudition here seems to be that the religion of economics will dissolve everything, which is true but you are offering a top down solution. I cant imagine an economist like you making bland bookish statements. You seem to represent the very intellectuals you criticize in your post.
Answer this question for me. How long you think Nepal will take to be economically stable so that people have less time to think abt ethnic differences and concentrate more on economic activities? 50 yrs? 60 yrs? Now tell me are we willing to wait that long? esp when majority of our population are illeterate and vulnerable that now they’ve become so suspicious that even good intent/policies wont work. And now people have the mindset that only ethnic based separation will set them free.
In such a situation where theres a highly charged political dimension, its naive to offer an economic solution in isolation. Really the solution for Nepal lies not in such Bahunist propogation but in a strong state where the central govt will mobilize and channelise aspirations of various ethnic states into a single fold for the greater national interests.
This is the most viable way out for a new Nepal. Thats why I keep saying in this blog that economics is phase 2 of the process. Phase 1 is social/ethnic reconciliation.
Mr. Poudel,
Appreciate your response to the commentators, especially taking time to address individually. For one, I was glad that you did it.
While my earler comments were over-simplication of the ground reality and perhaps bit judgemental on you without knowing your background, I do hold the position that any efforts to dehumanize the indigenous people and their struggle to self-governance and self-determination will only prove to be futile. As you may have experienced in the US that being the people of color category, you felt the frustration that you are not white enough, tall enough or fluent enough in English that holds you back from the opportunities that are available for white folks. If you even slightly feel that in a foreign country, think of the native of people of Nepal who have suffered such fate for generations on their own land? Then you will understand the frustration the native indigineous people feel. I guess my point is: Don’t try to dismiss the issues of Indigenous people of Nepal as marginalized group issue, a degrading term often used to disqualify the legitimate concern of the masses. They are not just a pocket of people out of nowhere in the mountains and tarai, they are the population majority if you can look through the prism of justice and fairness and grow out the caste-box.
Very good article. Eloquent & Well argued.
hipocracy of bahunbaad would never ever change, its usless to sit here n argue, really high time to show some actions…..
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Dear artha,
thanks for your comment. Let’s also look at the positive also: Things are better than fourteenth month ago, when we were under the strong clutch of a Shah, the maoists-inflicted civil war seemed unending, and the govt was run by kleptocrats. Today, we have a world respected leader as our prime minister, CPN UML has shown so much tolerance that it has given up most to facilitate peace process, and the maoists are also mellowing. The latest example being the broadcast of miss Nepal, which I see as a pragmatic side of the Maoists. Even after Gaur incidence there has not been news of retaliation against madhesi communities, and madhesi community has come out strongly advocating tolerance and social harmony. Communities demanding equal rights is a sign of stronger nation, not weaker.
Today thousands of our students are in the good universities around the world, there are so many more Nepali businessmen and acadamics abroad than just ten years ago, and so many are in pipeline. In international organizations too, Nepalese are rising fast. In 2046 we had 951 doctors, today we have thousands. In 2046 we had around 2K paved roads, now we have tens of thousands. In 2046, electrification was 9%, now it is reaching 50%. May be we are in a good direction, may be we are rising. Let’s focus on positive. I strongly believe we have a great future, and a great country ahead. There is hope. But we must work hard, we must educate our children and we must manage our internal affairs judiciously.
Bhudaiji:
Appreciate your good words.
I believe that human beings are inherently greedy, corrupt, opportunist and brute. It is the rule of law that forces them to behave. Our leaders are just like us, they are our reflection. Once we have a system in place, things will slowly turn around.
NGOs were doing what they were established to do, they are biased by nature. Our leaders were guility to be compromised. This point I definitely agree.
Nepali Akashji:
Points well taken. I don’t want to shift the blame, but I have little to do with the way it appeared. I sent article with my name and address, and Dineshji put it in the web the way he liked.
Patriotji:
I am sorry I made you sick. It is an unfortunate result of my writing with my own name, I guess.
Since you raised the issue of being economist, I recently read this article by Ed Glaeser in web. To read the full article, you can just search by typing “The political economy of hatred” in scholar.google.com, I would quote the abstract from the paper. (Ed is strong contender of this year’s Bates Clark medal!)
“What determines the intensity and objects of hatred? Hatred forms when people believe that out groups are responsible for past and future crimes, but the reality of past crimes has littled to do with the level of hatred. Instead, hatred is the result of an equilibrium where politicians supply stories of past atrocities in order to discredit the opposition and consumers listen to them. The supply of hatred is a function of the degree to which minorities gain or lose from particular party platforms and as such, groups that are particularly poor or rich are likely to be hated. Strong constitutions that limit the policy space and ban specific anti minority policies will limit hate. The demand for hatred falls if consumers interact regularly with the hated group, unless their interactions are primarily abusive. The power of hatred is so strong that opponents of hatred motivate their supporters by hating the haters.”
Note: the demand of hatred falls if consumers interact regularly. Ethnic states by their nature are about seggregation, not interaction!
But in our country’s context, if people want it, who am I to oppose it? Given my home district, I will be a happy subject of a madhesh state in Nepal!
Dear Justice:
As far as I know, our country is not trying to “dehumanize the indigenous people”. In deed, these days Subash Nembangji is our sabhamukha, and chitra lekha yadav is our upasabhamukh. I believe that this is a harbinger of trend that is to come. Our people have now more right than ever before, and an equitable society is a very much possibility in the near future.
I don’t like unelected, unpopular people masking as representatives of indigenous people and try to fish in the muddled water. Election is coming and we will listen to our elected leaders. I believe that they will do good for our country. At least, they have brought us so far, from the brink of oppressive Rana regime, panchayat regime, king’s regime, maoist terror etc., so I want to trust them. You know if it were a panchayat era, I wouldn’t even be issued a passport!
Bhismaji:
appreciate your comment.
[I apologize for all sorts of mistakes that might have cropped up above. I wrote this long response in a rush.]
Poudel ji,
Today, we have a world respected leader as our prime minister, CPN UML has shown so much tolerance that it has given up most to facilitate peace process, and the maoists are also mellowing.
God! things do look ‘muddled up’ [sic] from the Berkeley across the Golden Gate bridge. Which world do you live in? Middle earth. we have a world respected leader as our prime minister Let’s not even talk about UML’s prudence and Moaists’ mellowing.
well, i took you write up for a rant, and just gave an offhand reading. But, your presistence with coming back with all the responses for all the commenters, persuades me to take you as a serious scholar.
if this is not a rant and a scholarly piece, few things needs to be straighten out.
you have accaused some of the NGOs of hijacking/manuvering government/its polices for their benifits. such a serious claim needs corroborating facts. Tell us which are those NGOs, and how are they conspiring?
your write:
would like to finish this essay by reminding my readers that while we fought with each other, our country lost a lot of money because of our inability to harness the natural resources, reap the benefit of hydropower, and the money that could be spent on our marginalized groups have went elsewhere. This has been, in my view, the greatest tragedy of our last decade. It will continue be a tragedy in the future too.
ah! so tipical of the western trained education that for every social ills economical incentive is the answer. With all that wisdom/enlightment of PHD (piled higher and deeper) in economics you could just calculate the loss in monetary value due to insurgency, but completely failed to see the cause of the insurgency. After all what the f*** HAAS School of Business would teach you about the unequal distribution of resources in under-developed country.
the money that could be spent on our marginalized groups
what money? who are marginalized in your views? God, you need to take few classes in Public Policy too.
your write:
The issue again is the knowledge. If we have a scientific tradition, if we foster science, if we encourage our students to go to school rather than drag them to krantikari sabha-julus, may be we will have enough people to work out what our legitimate right is.
what has it got to do with scientific tradition and fostering science in school to indentifying legitimate right? By the way whose legitimate rights, and what are legitimate rights?
you sound very confused, and your arguments sound scattered lack a central theme. For a PHD student from such a prestigious intitute, who had to present/defend so many dissertations and thesis, your performance is dissapointing at best lame.
???? ?? ????????????
(God, take me from ignorance to enlightenment.)
I guess, second PHD would do you better.
by the way this is my rant.
Gopalji:
It’s okey, and you don’t have to apologize. I understand your view.
Y.ji:
“by the way this is my rant. ”
I was about to give a serious reply to all your questions above, but the last sentence means I don’t have to, do I?
Just because I go to Berkeley (not HAAS school of business) doesn’t mean I am brainwashed. It is on the contrary.
It’s not a scholarly piece. Scholarly pieces are sent to economics journals, and I have some in pipeline. This is ‘rambling’.
(PS: If you need the names of NGOs, and other explanation, you can just email me in the address above.)
Hey Poudel – I am sorry I said some nasty things, didnt mean to. But again, you have served me nothing but erudition and some quotes from some guy.
Again, I am not denying every word you’ve said. You are right. Economic activity and consumer interaction in the marketplace is the single biggest force that will eventually dissolve all boundaries including hatred. But you are offering a pigeon hole view of things through a very linear lens of your specific subject. Just hold it there and try to be a “generalist” for a moment.
Any event has many dimensions. Social, ecological, economical, political etc etc. We need to undersrtand the dynamics of how these factors interact with each other at different times in different circumstances. Unfortunately our society puts too much premium on specialists and we end up like a group of monkeys confidently jumping from tree to tree and getting surprised when we find ourselves lost in the forest.
My point is – in Nepal’s context – we have limited time and choice. The country is on the verge of disintegration. And marginalization on majority is not some political cooked up stuff, but its a fact. Come CA and the state better come up with something and not some bookish explanation about some guy who defined hatred in terms of markets and economy. You see we dont have 50-60 years before our economy is on the swing and people have less time for ethnic differences. The reality is now and the solution must be multi dimensional that will address all the aspects of political, social, economical, ethnic problems etc.
My strategy for laying a robust foundation for a peaceful and prosperous Nepal is two pronged. One – oppressed groups like Madhesis, Janjatis, Dalits must continue making aggressive demands for separate ethnic states. This must be used as a bargaining chip, but the real demand is different. The real demand, Two – is equal representation, rights to safeguard & promote one’s culture and basically an overhaul of all state structures and systems to accomodate aspirations of these groups – small example, doing away with bahunist/sanskrit shit on entrance test for civil/foreign affairs. The strategy must be to acheive option 2 while using option 1 as a strong bargaining chip.
Point is – unless we dont use such force there will always be old guards and protectionists who will never let Nepal be an equilatarian society. So it is in the best interest of all and the country to have this overhaul. Once we have this then only can we look forward to a better future and to integrate into the global economy that we have so far been missing. Thats when your argument becomes relevant.
And your last point – “.. Ethnic states by their nature are about seggregation, not interaction!” now while it sounds correct in the books but are you sure about it. By your theory, India would’ve been a failure you see. Hence, I think you’ll accept that under diff circumstances generally accepted wisdom may not necessarily hold true.
Again, I’ll repeat, even if Nepal is divided into ethnic states, then the need will be for a strong state where the central govt will mobilize and channelise aspirations of various ethnic states into a single fold for the greater national interests. And again, after taking the unique nature of our problems into consideration, I think social/ethnic reconciliation comes before economic process.
Mr. Poudel – being the economist that you are, please tell me if there is any flaw in my reasoning. But please refrain from giving me pointless scholarly talks.
what exactly do you mean by ‘elites of kathmandu’? it is bit confusing and surely you did not shed(decipher if you like to say so) any light on this.
Yet another know-it-all wanna-be-policy-maker pundit. I guess days of openly support maobadi propoganda are over for the writer now. What, don’t see the possibility of a polit bureau in Nepal anytime soon now? So time to prepare for an ngo career? Whatever man, guess you’ve come a long way since seeing the China days, but obviously there is more to see. Go get some real american pragmatic education while you still can. You can just look around the bay if nowhere else!
Patriot:
What you said is reasonable. However, seggregation is not a good solution, nor does it induce more tolerance. It is irony that while Gandhi and MLK actually fought against seggregation, in Nepal we are doing the contrary.
I am proud of economic achievement India has made. India also has made a lot of other progresses in her democratic independent era. What I disagree with you, however, is that ethnic based state have provided India a stable solution. Hardly, in fact. It has merely provided a template to break up the states further, and states are being broken up, and there has been more and more demand for such break ups. Breaking up states, seggregation, ethnic evictions are not solution.
It is not true that homogenous states don’t produce hatred filled demagogues. As far as I know Hitler was from a homogenous Wiemer Germany, Stalin was also ruling a relatively homogenous state and so on.
But if you argue that this is only a bargaining chip, then that’s tolerable.
Dear Mr Singh:
Whoelse I might be addressing by calling elites of KTM? Pode, chyame, kapali,untouchables, madhesis working in KTM, I guess.
Dear Mr sfrdr:
I wish you had commented on my article.
biswo
Thats funny. But i am not kidding. Since your article is based on the kind of people(elite of kathmandu) manipulating the politics and on whole the resource of the country and you not deciphering anything, does not make any sense. You see we have been living in this beautiful city for very long time–much longer than PN Shah. And we never had any influence in nepalese politics and sure we are not a part of “kathmandu elite”. So if you really want to decipher as your topics claimed why dont you shed some light on this issue and stop making confusion to fellow bloggers. If you just want to divert the attension of ‘bahun bashing’ bloggers to ‘elite of kathmandu’ who have no face then it is entirely different issue.
Mr. Poudel…I think you need to first understand the difference between segregation and ethnically based federal structure that Janjatis are demanding and then perhaps think of writing something politically substantial. Apparently you are getting educated in Berkeley and yet you fail to comprehend a basic definition. It makes me wonder if you truly are hanging out with the right crowd. I see a lot of those same pahade bahun mentality in your writing and I certainly hope by the time you graduate with your Ph.D, my alma mater and not God would have enlightened you.
Poudel – good but you will be doing all a great favor if u stop propogating half baked solution to our problems. You are not amused by bahun bashing so just refrain from acting like know-it-all and offering solution to probs which only people who face know. Dont provoke any further racial discord.
“Dont provoke any further racial discord. ”
Just out of curiosity, which statement above provoked racial discord?
Nepal’s Grave and Deteriorating Situation
An Appeal to Our Fellow Patriots
Dear fellow patriots;
Namaste!!
Once again, we are calling on all fellow patriots to pay immediate attention to our country’s grave and deteriorating situation. Unless we act now with utmost urgency, it may prove to be too late. The specter and horror of forever losing our beautiful nation to the dust-heap of history has become an all too frightening prospect for us. Our country’s disintegration is impending with a sectarian demand backed up with ever increasing destructiveness: civil strife, unruliness and deadly violence.
It has been almost a year since the present regime seized power through riots and the Maoists guns with a twin pledge of restoring peace and democracy. Sadly, peace appears as remote as ever in our once tranquil land. Death, destruction and sorrow continue to haunt people day and night throughout our land. The Maoists, for eleven long years now, continue to live with a daily diet of Nepalese people’s blood and money through violence, threats and intimidations. In the absence of a leader with real plans to confront these grave problems head on, Nepal is drifting straight towards complete chaos. Our societies’ order is rapidly being replaced with anarchy, unity with division, action with paralysis and hope with pessimism.
As strange as it may sound, the Maoists, instead of facing justice, are a major part of the government now. The same incompetent and dishonest people, who allowed the Maoists to dehumanize our fellow citizens and perpetrate the most barbaric acts in our history, had no moral qualms about bringing these thugs into the government. Together these two groups have destroyed our cherished hope of seeing a functioning democracy in Nepal during our lifetime.
What’s more, historians need not wait to describe this period in our history as the time of national humiliation and shame. This generation will live in infamy for failing to live up to its responsibility in defending the country in its maximum hour of danger. Not a single leader has emerged in defense of our lives, our honor and our national pride. Our morals have sunk, our values have eroded, our economy has been ruined and our Dharma has been vanquished. Our 90-thousand troop national army has submitted to a handful of terrorists, readily agreed to change its name and consented to lay down their weapons. In the meantime, the Maoists have been given full freedom to continue their sinister plot by putting bullets in our people’s hearts and minds to break their will. Consequently, our country is sinking deeper and deeper into a dark abyss. To add further indignity to our agony, outside powers have been invited to settle our domestic problem for the first time in our history. We are impelled to ask: how our society lost its sense of right and wrong. Where is our conscience? If so, where is our sense of outrage?
It is evident that the Maoists are not going to change their violent ways, nor give up their weapons and criminal activities. In light of their heinous crimes since the declaration of a ceasefire, we can no longer afford to believe that they will suddenly make a transition from violence to peace and a totalitarian Marxist-state fantasy to democracy. They will continue to perpetrate their inhumanity against our humanity in their determined march to absolute power. It is high time that we come to terms with these harsh facts.
Let us also wake up to another ugly reality that an 86-year-old man’s brain-dead policies and hell-bent actions to remain in power will not lift us from the current quagmire we are in. After all, Mr. G. P. Koirala is mainly responsible for desecrating the Nepali Congress, our toddling democracy, our long-and-hard-fought 2046 democratic Constitution and, ultimately, peace in Nepal. As if that was not enough, when he grabbed power last year, he began his work not with a prayer, but by trampling on our age-old Hindu Dharma by removing it from our Constitution. Now he is closely working with his terrorist allies to remove our Institution of Monarchy. If we do not stop this man’s atrocities now, he will destroy Nepal in no time.
Mr. Koirala, to begin with, never had any credibility to be the prime minister. He revealed his total lack of competency when he failed to demonstrate any principles, morals, ethics and skills to run our country throughout the years he was in power under democracy. Now, he is in power without any legitimacy of being elected by the people. Instead, he was anointed Prime Minister by a purely power-hungry group called the Seven-Party alliance and the Head of the State by the Maoists criminal gang. In order to give the facade of democracy, Mr. Koirala has installed an appointed parliament that includes his daughter, nephews, other relatives and his sycophants, not to mention the Maoists. To maintain his insatiable appetite for power and position, Mr. Koirala follows the Maoists’ dictate at home and runs to a foreign capital at the expense of our country’s honor and vital national interests.
Hence, Mr. Koirala would like us to believe that democracy is at work, but we know better; his raw deal cannot be a fair deal. He invokes B. P. Koirala’s name and his infinite wisdom of reconciliation despite the fact that he is never willing to reconcile with his fellow Congress Party workers who have devoted their entire lives as foot soldiers of democracy in Nepal. He never tolerates anyone who questions him and trounces anyone in his path to power. For the sake of his selfish pursuit of power, Mr. Koirala has vilified the King and demonized the army severely undermining our national security. The likelihood of him bringing the country together in the spirit of national reconciliation, unity and cooperation to meet our daunting challenges is nonexistent.
In light of the grave and deteriorating situation in Nepal, we can no longer afford to leave our country’s fate and future in the hands of Mr. Koirala. We could begin to help ourselves by asking a couple of simple questions: Why is this man still in power? If Mr. Koirala’s intolerable acts and the Maoists’ appalling violence do not compel us to act, what will?
Unfortunately, the international community has also done a great injustice to the Nepalese people by misjudging and mishandling the situation in Nepal. Or, they have simply turned a blind eye in order to avoid any responsibility by offering a simple solution to our complex problems, which will neither work nor be acceptable to us. They have supported an unconstitutional and undemocratic government and thus allowed it to be entrenched. Rather than of, for and by the people, it is a government of, for and by nefarious politicians and criminal gang, all in the name of so-called peace and democracy. This cannot be the future of our democracy. Peace will not return to Nepal without applying the concept of justice first. Accordingly, for democracy and freedom to take root in our blood-soaked land requires a real fusion of justice, peace and order. If the current political arrangement and the so-called Interim Constitutions are any indication, the future of democracy looks disturbingly very bleak in Nepal.
More importantly however, those of us who have an abiding faith and pride in our national independence, our deep-rooted rich multicultural heritage, our Hindu Rashtra and a constitutional monarchy as the symbol of our national unity, must stand up now and steadfastly say no to foreign governments as well as to those who control our government. We cannot allow outside powers to dictate their policies in Nepal if we intend to preserve, protect and defend our unique way of life. In this respect, we cannot afford to leave our national security in the hands of U. N. bureaucrats. The Nepalese people are quite capable in dealing with their own affairs and will determine their own future as they have done for centuries with pride, courage and valor. Our glorious history should speak volumes to our friends and foes. We cannot allow anyone to tear down our country in the name of peace and democracy.
As it has already been proven, the current ceasefire and peace process are a sham. The Maoists are simply taking full advantage of Mr. Koirala’s sheer incompetence and folly. Furthermore, the proposed constitutional-assembly election is a farce and fraud. The criminals and crooks, who occupy power now, will never allow the people to think freely, debate without fear, and ultimately render a free and fair verdict. The Maoists assassins are roaming our country at will, blazing guns, terrifying the people. This election cannot and must not be allowed to take place. If it is held, its verdict should never be accepted. Every patriot should move forward with this determination.
We also urge everyone to think as a Nepali first and our ethnic or linguistic identity or madhesi or pahadi or eastern or western second. Let us learn to understand and respect each other, have appreciation for our diversity and love for one another. With these spirits in our minds and heart, let us put our common interest before our personal interest. Let us always keep our national unity in our thoughts, actions and prayers. To this end, let us all be guided by the highest ideals of humanity: justice, peace, human rights, freedom and equality. At this turning-point in our history, Nepal summons every patriot to duty.
Sincerely,
Vijay K. Sigdel (Convenor, NY)
Bishal Shah (NY)
Dharmendra Gopali (NY)
Dr. Tilak Shrestha (AL)
Kamala Prasai (NY)
Subhash Nepal (NY)
Sujita KC Nepal (NY)
Col. Kuber Thapa (NY)
Guru Dutt (NY)
Shanta Lal Risal
Rishesh K.C.
Kamal Pande (NY)
Bijesh Maskey
Neelima Basnet
Neeshrita Shrestha
Bijay Kharel
Shiva Rasaili
Sekhar Dhungel (CA)
Anil Pandey (CA)
Bandana Koirala (NY)
Nhuchhe N. Dangol
Mahankal (NY)
Sunny Singh (NY)
Krishna Pant (NY)
Suman Shah (NY)
Ramesh Krishna Prajapati (NJ)
Pundit Ram P. Ghimire (NY)
Anil Shahi (NY)
Sagar Acharya (NJ)
Rajendra Lama (TX)
Som Tamang (TX)
Mina Singh (CT)
Ram Gharti Magar (CT)
Arun Malla (VA)
Prabin Rana (WA)
Prem Pun (CA)
Pabitra Gurung (CA)
Vishwo Pandey (GA)
Rabina Pariyar (WA)
Hari Jha (MD)
Binod Shahi (NH)
Preeti Rai (NH)
Raju Shah (NE)
Mohan Chowdhary (CA)
Ram Janam Prasad Thakur (WA)
Chering Tenzing Lama (VA)
Prem Bahadur Shrestha (VT)
Ranjana Malla (VT)
Parvati Malakar (PA)
Rakesh Khadka (PA)
Rabi Thapa (PA)
Pratap Rana (SD)
Prajwol Pratap Narsingh Rana (SD)
Prabha Singh (SD)
Coalition for National Unity and Reconciliation in Nepal
P. O. Box 4291
New York, N.Y. 10163-4291
Dear Coalition for National Unity and Reconciliation in Nepal,
The root of all these problems is no one but Gyanendra himself. According to our Hindu religion, such a king deserves nothing but only death penalty. He killed Birendra’s family just to appease his greed for power; what a shame!
Hindu Dharma does not endorse the power of king, it punishes the kings and for such evil kings, Vishnu comes down to the earth in the form of Parashu Ram, to chop the head off.
In a Hindu Kingdom, a king is supposed to respect Brahmins ( not Brahmins from birth but those with peace, justice and knowledge even if they come from Damai-Kami family) and cows (representation of all living creatures), whereas Gyanendra is an idol thief, rapist, killer of innocent people, corrupt-king, drug smuggler and the one who killed Birendra’s family in the broad day light.
Gyanendre defamed the Great king Prithwi Narayan Shaha and his great works. Gyanendre created Prachande, Jwala Singh and all the notorious killers. He is creating more and more evil. So, the country should be turned into a HINDU REPUBLIC. We can name it as HINDU REPUBLIC OF NEPAL, where we will exercise full democracy under a disciplined rule of law.
As for Gyannedra, he must be brought to the trial along with his disco son Paras and they must be sentenced according to the wishes of the people (which should exclude blind Royalists like your “Coalition for National Unity and Reconciliation in Nepal”)
The rest of the family members of the king (if they are free from crimes) can be given Nepali citizenship and allowed to live like any of us, as middle class citizens.
Hindu Republic of Nepal
Poudel – your know-it-all half baked solution is what is inflammatory and provoking. Dont pretend to know-it-all and thrust your stupid logic. If your offering was discerning then I’d be okay, but you cant come up with something so stupid as to disregard other equally important aspects. Like someone said here – throwing money/economy package to every problem is not the solution.
Wake up, look around, come out of your shell. And its not just me feeling this way.
“The root of all these problems is no one but Gyanendra himself”
Sandhya – dont be stupid. You cant equate 100 yrs rule of Ranas, 30 yrs panchayat, 15 yrs parties and thousands of yrs of Bahuns rule to Gyanendra’s 3 yr rule.
Dont fall yourself into these Bahunists propoganda.
Patriot and Biswo,
You two dimwits! One is in the US doing PH.D. and another in Delhi working for some company. Neither of you are likely to return to Nepal to contribute anything. SO SHUT UP AND DO NOT COMMENT ON NEPALESE POLITICS AND WHAT SHOULD BE. YOUR OBSERVATIONS ARE OF NO USE – THEY HAVE NO VALUE WHATSOEVER. IF YOU CARE SO MUCH AND POSSESS SO MUCH OF KNOWLEDGE, WHY DON’T BOTH OF YOU RETURN TO NEPAL AND DO SOMETHING IN POLITICS OR FOR NEPAL? IF BOTH OF YOU DO NOT HAVE BALLS TO DO IT, THEN STOP PEDDELING YOUR MODERATE POLITICAL APPROACH AND JANJATI DISCOURSE.
sUNSHINE – oh the great statesman of Nepal. And just what gives you the moral rights to tell us if we deserve to comment on our homeland or not. You MORON – just because we live/work abroad, you mean to imply we dont have any stake in the country. You think I am stupid to take my time out and participate in this forum.
Go get a life loser. This blog is for people like us who feel for the country and want to participate in whatever ways we can. Not for jokers like you with an IQ of -ve.
This bloody joker has no idea what a blog is all about, lest the importance of diaspora.
by the way sunshine – probably you need to check in the dictionary what remittance means and what role it has played in Nepal in the most critical of situations.
fat/corrupt people like you who sit in Nepal and suck the country dry dont get remmitance.
Coalition for national unity … fcuk … I almost burst myself after reading this biggest piece of crap ever. What a fcukin piece of dumb shit is this. This shows how far removed most of our diaspora are from reality at home.
While a lot of what they say is true esp abt Girija and his antics but overall it sounds more like royalist propoganda shit. Esp around relevance of Hinduism and monarchy. Wake up people.
The above article sounded like a lullaby coaxing a baby to sleep. Cant you intelligent diaspora come up with something better, something original than this piece of crap.
Mr. Know-All Patriot,
Lest I forget, of course your claim to fame is remittance that you send from abroad. There is no way your contribution can be denied. Since you work in some business development firm in Delhi, you know everything about blog and blogging. Perhaps you must be the innovator of blog. That is why I added prefix in front of your name ‘Mr. Know-All’ out of respect.
As for your positive contribution to Nepal, how can we forget your ever-repetitive derogatory racial slanders? How can we forget your ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude wherein you find faults in everything and everyone except yourself? And how can we forget that anyone who doesn’t agree to your conceptions suddenly provoke and promotes racial discord?
As for me being corrupt and fat sucking the country dry, what the heck can you do about it? Nothing except bang your knuckles on walls of your room in Delhi or type few more abuses on your posts in the blogs that you know everything about. Will it make any difference? No. That is the exact effect of your positive contribution.
Hello patriot and sunshine:
The responses like “you dont’ live here”, “wake up, see around”, “you are just another policy maker wanna be” don’t mean anything. They are not even worth responding.
Why don’t you talk about specifics? What is so wrong about my proposal, and how it should differ? The fact is, in Nepal, people read others’views only partially and offer criticism that are actually half baked.
In a better world, a man is judged by his view, his offerings, his standing among his colleagues, not by where he is physically standing at a particular time. In our country, however, some people run out of ideas and argument, and criticise a person not based on his views but on his location or his origin. In a country where millions of Nepali have tradition of living abroad in search of a job, since centuries, that’s a real tragedy.
FOr your information, on the other hand, as an avid trekker and lover of my great, beautiful land with such a diversity, I have realised that I have travelled more districts, visited more communities and interacted with more ethnic groups than a lot of those who are living in KTM and offering half baked proposals for national reconcilation.
Mr. Poudel,
There is absolutely nothing wrong with your proposal. In reality, it is very hard to find a sane voice within Nepal in these times.
Unfortunately, most of our people who possess sane voices choose to migrate abroad on pretext of education and/or lack of opportunities within Nepal. Of course, individual ambition and well-being is integral. And people who could have made some difference in a nation choose to emphasize individual well-being most of the times and spend their prime years abroad. Again, there is nothing wrong with it. At the same time, they show a strong inclination to offer solutions to Nepal’s current problems on basis of available secondary information over the net and own perception gathered while on short visit/holiday in Nepal. When solution-provider himself is nowhere near the implemention area and expects others to change policy stance on his behalf, I do not think that has much credibility. Secondly, how many of our policymakers and politicians actually visit these blogs to be abreast of policy options that they can have? I haven’t known or read about any such Nepalese politicians or policymakers. You are also aware that our politicians do not even visit their constituencies. In Nepal, where can you find a mechanism wherein public opinion counts or taken into consideration? You may point out that it is changing; however, from my viewpoint it has not changed. For instance, there is so much uproar regarding negative effects of strikes and bandhs; but has any group heeded to strong public opinion against such act?
Therefore, my point is that who will listen to your policy prescriptions when your sphere of influence is limited to these blogs where none of policymakers are interested to visit. Even if they do, policy stances are made out of political compulsions. Will they change? It is unlikely. You may have already made a choice of individual well-being and perhaps your return to Nepal is remote. In such situation, your sphere of influence shrinks even further because you are not physically visible. That is why I say you cannot make difference by staying abroad and offering solutions; you have to be in Nepal if you wish to see changes.
Best of luck to your education and future life. I do apologize if my post has offended you in any manner whatsoever.
Poudel – I like the way you assert your point. Dont get me wrong. Sure I am aggressive but I’m not unreasonable.
You have to be in my shoes to realise why I feel this way when someone who has no freakin idea abt what being treated like aliens in ones own country gives solutions to probs that is half baked. If you note, no where have I disagreed with your main point that economic and consumer interaction is the biggwest force that will dissolve all racial discord. But you constantly failt to see my point.
Economic solution is only one part. Moreover at the current stage, priority is addressing social/ethnic probs. When the country is burning with people asking for equality, your assertion that economic activity will solve all probs is misleading. I wouldnt perhaps be so vigorous with my response but since you are in a responsible position there, I expect better than this.
sunshine – its really not worth responding to your senseless remarks. so go ahead and keep plugging.
Biswo,
it was an interesting reading.I liked most of your argumrnts. However, your writting lacked the fundamental aspects of an essay. It made it difficult to understand the thesis and your conclusion.
Ciekawa strona, bede ja odwiedzal czesciej, pozdro
Language doesn’tmean much when you are drowning. How to convince the european countries that they are now responsable for help instaur maoism and must make projects. Nepal and Tibet are banned from project lists.
That is the problem. Basically describe good projects in Nepal does anyone know any?