Inconvenient truth

The ongoing stir in Kathmandu of Badi women from western Tarai has brought the world’s oldest profession into focus. Badi women have jumped on to the bandwagon of countless agitations that followed the April Uprising. They descended on the capital in dozens, and have been protesting for the past week in various ways, including their novel “semi-nude” demonstration in front of Singhadurbar last Wednesday. They have threatened to protest by stripping off fully if their demands are not addressed. In yesterday’s demonstration outside Singhadurbar, more than a dozen Badis were injured in police baton-charge. They are demanding an alternative to the sex trade they live by. They want the government to give them land and their children free education. A number of Badi women, though unmarried, have children and, in many cases, the fraternity of their children has remained unknown.

The government ought to do what it can to rehabilitate the willing among the Badi sex workers in other more respectable occupations. Badis are a special community with a history, many of whom have plied their trade as something of a tradition handed down from one generation to the next. After all, they have been doing nothing different from what tens of thousands of other girls or women across the country are doing — selling sex willingly, under compulsion or under coercion. There is no clear-cut legislation on prostitution. The law has neither recognised prostitution as legal, nor categorically made it a punishable activity with clear penalties. That is why those arrested on prostitution charges are booked under the Public Offences Act. The accused are released soon, often after some time in police cells. This state of affairs has gone on for decades. In this legal vagueness, malpractices have flourished against women. And these malpractices often happen to be more punishable than the accused women’s offence.

Sadly, others often go unpunished while sex workers find themselves at the receiving end. This state of affairs must end. Unscrupulous policemen often take undue advantage of the fact that female sex workers are on the wrong side of the law. Besides, many others also play on these women’s vulnerability. As tens of thousands of the “weaker sex” continue to receive ill-treatment at the hands of men, and even women who live off their earnings, it is deplorable that clear legal provisions do not exist. This profession has existed from time immemorial in the most regimented regimes as well as in deeply theocratic societies prescribing harsh punishment for the sin. So, unsurprisingly, this trade goes on, perhaps even more briskly, in societies that are more tolerant. On top of that, prostitutes also fill a biological, and some say, a social need. These realities call for a clear law for governing the profession. It would appear sensible to consider permitting the willing to practise it, of course, with reasonable restrictions and safeguards. And these safeguards should include a legal deterrent against anybody else who may try to exploit women for their selfish ends.

Source: The Himalayan Times, August 28, 2007

Congress unification: A story of leadership failure

Ajit N S Thapa

Ever since King Gyanendra dumped Sher Bahadur Deuba’s government for its inability to hold elections on time on Feb 1, 2005, there have been demands from all quarters for the merger of the two parties — the NC and NC (D) — in order to strengthen democracy and fight regression. Responding to this demand, PM and NC president Girija Prasad Koirala made a clarion call for the unification with the promise that the members of both parties would retain the positions they held in the mother party prior to the split. Deuba-led NC (D) did not react positively and dubbed the unification call a ruse to entice NC (D) members to NC.However, unable to withstand mounting pressure for unity from party workers, well-wishers as well as the international community, Koirala and Deuba agreed to take the process forward and constituted a six member team to recommend merger modalities. For some reason, this committee did not work with the sense of urgency that the situation warranted and failed to come to any kind of consensus. With CA election barely three months away and as international pressure mounts, the two leaders have apparently agreed upon the following points.

The united outfit will have a central committee consisting of 37 members from NC and 27 members from NC(D); the general convention and general committee (Mahasamiti) members of both will continue in their respective capacities; the active members of both will be included; district presidents and chairmen of electoral constituencies will be decided on the basis of seniority, positions during the 10th general convention and their contribution to Jana Andolan II; GP Koirala will be No 1, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai No 2 and S B Deuba No 3 in party hierarchy, while Sushil Koirala will be No 4; and acting president in the united party and Deuba will be consulted in all major decision making processes.Meanwhile, it is learnt that NC (D) has come up with a set of demands which among others stipulates that the two vice-presidents and the general secretary retain their respective positions and that the current party spokesperson too continue in the same capacity. This demand does not bode well for party unity since it undermines the seniority and capabilities of more deserving colleagues on the other side.

At this juncture, it might be useful to delve into the genesis of the split. While Koirala can be lauded for his grit, determination and stamina to fight for the cause of democracy, his capacity for institution building, fostering internal democracy and decentralisation leaves much to be desired. It was his intention to monopolise all power that prompted him to dump four cabinet colleagues without consultation with his two senior colleagues when he was the PM in the first elected government in 1991. This resulted in formation of a group of 36 dissident MPs who opposed the PM. During a budgetary vote in the parliament, the dissidents made themselves absent. The PM could not muster a majority and dissolved the parliament (again without consulting his colleagues) and sought a new mandate.

In the mid-term election, the NC fared badly and came out second biggest party after CPN-UML, which formed the first communist-led government in Nepal. After the fall of the UML government, Deuba became PM and led an unsuccessful coalition which could not secure a vote of confidence in the House owing to the deliberate absence of two NC MPs. This aggravated the intra-party conflict.In the third general election, KP Bhattarai was proposed as NC’s PM candidate and the party won a comfortable majority. Unfortunately, Bhattarai soon began to face obstacles from his own party.Ultimately, he was forced to tender an emotional resignation. Koirala, who succeeded Bhattarai, also had to resign in the wake of Holeri, when the army refused to attack the Maoists.

Deuba assumed prime ministership again and soon declared a state of Emergency, also mobilising the army against the Maoists. At the behest of the army, he wished to prolong the six-month-long Emergency, but the NC leadership refused to co-operate. Sensing a foul play, Deuba dissolved the House and announced mid-term polls. This prompted the party leadership to annul his party membership for three years and in turn Deuba split the party. Deuba’s inability to hold polls enabled King Gyanendra to usurp power.In this backdrop, it is clear that NC management is weak and leadership myopic, self-centered and ineffective. After the split, the two parties have fared even worse, NC (D) more so in terms of lack of internal democracy and direction. We hope that the two leaders will be able to unite two parties. They should also pave the way for a new generation of leaders who will be able to manage the united party more effectively by instituting internal democracy, decentralisation, worker evaluation, and financial viability and equip the united NC to cope with the challenges of the 21st century.

Source: The Himalayan Times, August 28, 2007

Parties Moving Slowly For CA Polls

Narayan Upadhayay

The nation is hurtling to wards the November Constituent Assembly (CA) election, but the skepticism whether the polls would be held in a fitting manner in the stipulated date has refused to die down. The statements and reports coming from various quarters and some incidents taking place are alarming as they suggest the path to CA polls is still strewn with many complexities that need to be sorted out before any awkward situation comes to pass.

The Code

Even as the government, composed of eight political parties, has come up with code of conduct for the CA polls, the parties are blamed for their lackadaisical response to the pre-CA polls campaigning. The prevailing mood among the political parties is they have not yet jumped into the electioneering bandwagon. Lately, the Elections Commissioner himself has, in a round about way, admonished political parties for failing to create an environment for polls and lacking in initiative to stir up the real interest among the electorate for polls. The commissioner?s very suggestion that the political parties must now expedite for the polls drops a hint that the political parties have not yet fully geared up for what many believes an epoch-making November 26 poll. It is sad to see that our political parties, almost all of who are never tired of professing their respect for democracy and freedom, had to be given the ?wake-up? call by none other than the commissioner himself.

In democracy, it is the political parties that must remain at the forefront to take the proactive role in launching various activities while they seek electorate?s vote for them through an election, agreed upon by the existing constitution of the nation. Likewise, in a democratic political set-up, the onus of making the electorates attentive and responsive to any kind of polls and the post poll consequences that will have far reaching implications on the well-being of a nation rest solely on political parties. There are several reasons that have slowed the three major political players- Nepali Congress, the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and CPN-Maoist. They have been sluggish in their approach to the CA election. In other words, they have their own axe to grind before the epoch-making poll is conducted.As far as two Congresses are concerned, they seem to be in grip of nagging fear that it would be suicidal if they go into the polls without being united.The fractured Congresses are a worried lot and are also under fire from the party workers for failing to take an unambiguous stance in the fate of Monarchy and issue of republicanism. While many party top brasses are reluctant to support the idea of republicanism, plenty of the congresses? workers are supporting the idea. The raging controversies within Nepali Congress might have delayed the party?s election manifesto.

For the Maoists, the results of the mock elections conducted by the Election Commission are not encouraging while the ?persisting? issue of declaring the nation republic before CA polls and the issue of proportionate election in all seats for CA- have been consuming their time and energy. The two demands however, are at variance with the Maoists? various agreements and understandings with government and other political parties. The Maoist party leadership is also in the know that some activities of the party workers in recent time have done nothing good in raising the popularity of the party. And, of late, the party?s submission of 22-point demand to the government has made the task all the more difficult for those who want to create the conducive environs for holding CA polls. The Maoists are pressing to see their demands come to the fruition. But the problem for the authority that have power to fulfill these demands too need some time while many of the demands are not likely to be duly met, because they are against the 12-point agreement.

The position of CPN-UML on the upcoming CA polls is slightly different. It is the only party that has declared to be doing its homework for CA electioneering. But the sad part of it is that the party as big as UML has not been able to prepare its manifesto to catch the attention of its supporters and the electorate as whole even when the much-talked about polls are less than three months away.A cursory glance at the present position of the major political parties makes it obvious that these parties are mainly engaged in their own party interests rather than for the nation?s and people?s. The fear that the CA polls would once again be deferred for new date is all the more glaring.But the psyche in the nation is against any deferral of the poll. Almost all of the foreign donor agencies, the United Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) diplomats from India, the USA, the UK and other nations form European Union, who have provided assistance in cash and kind for the polls and restoring peace, are voicing their concern that the epochal polls must be held in its stipulated time. They are pressing hard to liven up the political parties for polls, because like all of us, they too are aware that the future of this nation and its restructuring are closely connected with the success of the CA polls. Now this nation can not do away with CA polls. There is no denying that the nation will be pushed into new crisis in case the polls can not be held in peacefully.

Unity Vital

However, in the face of mounting skepticism, one can be fully assured that the vital poll can be successfully held, if the eight parties, the true representatives of the people, go for it in united manner right now. To do this, the ruling elite must rise above their narrow party agendas and must shake off petty interests.

Source: The Rising Nepal, August 27, 2007