Maoists pushing nation to dangerous polarization

PRAJWAL SHRESTHA

Amid confrontations and clashes with opposing parties and also the police, the Maoists are moving ahead with the political programmes, which are bringing the country to a dangerous situation. What the Maoists have shown is that the party has done its homework and it has well made plans on how to move ahead. This can hardly be said of the other traditional parties like the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML). They are in virtual political wilderness and it is difficult to see them making any impact, if an election is really held.

In fact the UML has just tried to follow in the Maoists footsteps by simply echoing what this extreme Left party has been saying. For example, the Maoists called for quick constituent assembly polls and the UML followed, then the Maoists called for a republican state and the UML again did the same, now the Maoists disturbed parliament proceedings and the UML is following suit. This party has done the same, regarding its stance about Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. During all this time, the Nepali Congress, which calls itself the “biggest” political party, has remained a mute witness. Sporadic statements from leaders without mass base are just not enough for the party to counter the overwhelming political advantages the Maoists are gaining.

Meanwhile, the Maoists are pushing the nation to a dangerous situation by unilaterally calling for the nation to be declared a republic. Even a staunch communist like Nepal Workers and Peasant Party chairman Narayan Man Bijukche has criticized such a demand. He explained that more time should be given to replace an institution that had been in the country for more than 200 years. Instead, Bijukche accused the bigger parties in the eight party alliance of selling themselves to India. “When top level leaders go there to consult about even small decisions, what else can you say?”, he questioned in a TV interview.

It is unclear at whose insistence the Maoists are following their present stance of unilaterally calling for a republic, but, what is sure is, they are inviting a violent confrontation to the country by doing so. Like Bijukche, the leaders of the other parties in the eight party alliance must wake up to the threat being manifested by the Maoists. If these parties want their existence to continue, specially as democratic parties, then they must not allow the Maoists to trample over the rights of millions of Nepalese. Even after days of forceful campaigning, what could the Maoists do, just raise, what they claimed to be one million plus signatures. Critics have said that there were thousands of “repeated” signatures. But what all must be aware about is the politically effective manner in which they presented the signatures to the Speaker. But still, it was only a few so called mainstream media which like in the past, gave encouraging coverage to the event. Otherwise, most general people are fed up by the constant disturbances being created by the Maoists. The Americans have done well by not removing this group from its terrorist list. After all, the party at present, though in the parliament and also the government, is doing nothing but “terrorizing the prime minister, the other parties, security personnel and the people in general.

Source: American Chronicle, May 17, 2007

Rise of a party

MALLIKA ARYAL

In 1997, a group of madhesi intellectuals and students banded together to discuss their concerns and issues. There was no formal membership in this Biratnagar-based group and participants included leftists and members of other mainstream parties. The common denominator was their disenchantment with the big parties and the sense that their debates were largely ignored. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum soon emerged as the most-respected, representative platform for madhesi issues.

In the same year, the Maoists celebrated their first anniversary underground by intensifying their struggle in the mid-west, Nepal had three unstable coalition governments, and the human rights situation deteriorated as scores were detained by the state. Ten years later, the Maoists have entered into the peace process, and the MJF has turned relatively violent. Both, however, are now registered as parties with the Election Commission and much of the fight for influence in the madhes is between these two fronts.

Insiders tell us that the Maoist leadership was sympathetic to the Forum at the start, and even instrumental in organising it. Around 1999 Upendra Yadav, then a regular member of UML, started becoming closer to the Maoists. In February 2004, Upendra Yadav, Maoist leaders Matrika Yadav and Mohan Baidya were arrested in Delhi. Upendra Yadav was let go after a couple of months, while Matrika Yadav and Mohan Baidya were handed over to Nepali authorities and were released in 2006. Those close to Upendra Yadav say that during the time of his arrest he was already trying to distance himself from the Maoists because of discrimination he felt in the ranks within the Maoist hierarchy and because he did not agree with the Maoist plan to divide madhes into ‘Madhes Autonomous Region’ and ‘Tharuwan Autonomous Region’. Vijay Kant Karna, chairperson of Jaghrit Nepal says, “No one was happy in the tarai with the Maoists because they called it Madhes Government but high ranks in their party were given to pahadis.”

After the 1 February 2005 royal takeover Upendra Yadav and Jaya Prakash Gupta, former general secretary of the MJF and present Nepali Congress MP started travelling back and forth between India and Nepal to prepare for a movement in Nepal. After last year’s April Uprising Upendra Yadav returned to Nepal and in the eight months after Jana Andolan II, the MJF had successfully held meetings in almost all the districts of Nepal. Since then, the forum and Yadav have been accused of both flip-flopping and forming alliances with Hindu fundamentalist groups in India, such as the Rastiya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In December Yadav attended a meeting of rightwing Hindu groups in Gorakhpur and spoke out publicly about making Nepal a Hindu nation again. A month later he was leading the movement for a secular federal republic.

He can be highly influenced by others,” says Nepali Congress MP Amresh Kumar Singh, adding, “If you try to play with all the powers, you forget the cause you were fighting for.” Like most madhesi leaders who do not actively profess membership in the MJF, Singh too is said to have had a falling out with Yadav. Jaya Prakash Gupta, who is close to Yadav, says the accusations of alliances with the palace and Indian fundamentalist groups are misguided. “If mainstream political parties meet with big Indian leaders, no one calls that an ‘unholy alliance’,” Gupta told us from Biratnagar. Gupta said that since Gaur, Yadav has not been allowed to move freely or explain “his side of the story”.

That Gupta and other moderate madhesi leaders took a careful line on Gaur while speaking to us is an indication of the pan-madhesi appeal that the forum still has. On the one hand, they argued, Gaur was ‘retaliation’ for months of harassment and disruption of MJF meetings by the Maoists Tarai Mukti Morcha. On the other, most admit it was a tactical mistake. “If the MFJ had been willing to sit for talks right after the Madhes Uprising, they could have bargained their way into more madhesi representation and investigations of Lahan and Nepalganj, and pressured the prime minister to implement the promises made during his second address,” says Chandra Kishore, editor of Terai News Magazine in Birganj. “Now, after Gaur, everyone fears the forum as a criminal organisation.” Sarita Giri of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party-Anandi Devi, says the MJF is not in the least militant. “They are not armed, Gaur was retaliation against the Maoists because they had disrupted their activities in Bhairahawa and Nepalganj,” she argues.

Meantime, there is said to be a few faultlines showing in the forum, one between the more left-wing members and Yadav, and the other between Yadav’s supporters who believe this was the right time to register a party and Gupta’s group, which argues that fundamental issues need to be settled before deciding to contest elections. There are signs of a split in the ranks—an insider tells us that of the 25 members in the working committee, only 13 members’ names were on the list given to the Election Commission during registration. Gupta pooh-poohs this and says that though his proposal lost out, he will support the MJF as a party. Yadav gets the most publicity, but there are other prominent figures in the forum, such as veteran leftist leader Sitananda Raya, and MJF secretary general Ram Kumar Sharma. There are two vice chairmen Bhagyanath Gupta, a professor at Birganj’s Thakur Ram Bahumukhi Campus, and Kishore Biswas Tharu, a former member of Nepal Sadbhawana Party. “As a political party our agenda is pretty clear—we want democratic system of governance, autonomous federal structure, proportional elections, and we want Nepal to be a republic” says Jitendra Sonal, MJF’s secretariat member. Analysts say that given the lack of commitment seen on the part of the government to resolving madhesi issues, the MJF as a political party could take off stronger than those who call the forum irresponsible might imagine.

Source: Nepali Times, May 18, 2007

PLA should be inducted into security force: Madhav Nepal

General secretary of the CPN-UML Madhav Kumar Nepal said on Friday problems will arise if Maoist combatants are kept in cantonments for long."The combatants can be integrated into national security wings. Border security force or industrial security force can also be created to absorb them," he said.The registration and verification process of Maoist combatants and their arms would have been easier had the parties agreed to the one-man-one-weapon principle as suggested by security experts, Nepal said while releasing a book entitled "Shanti Vrta: Anterkatha" authored by journalist Subhas Devkota."Following the eight-point agreement on June 16, 2006, Maoist chairman Prachanda had agreed to the one-man-one-weapon principle. He had put the strength of People's Liberation Army (PLA) at 10 to 12 thousands. But they later invited youths to join the PLA as time elapsed," Nepal said.

Nepal urged the parties to speak clearly on monarchy and give others no room for suspicion. He reiterated the party's stance that there was no alternative to proportional representation system of election to address the issues of Madhesis, Janajatis, women and Dalits. He also urged the Maoists to return the seized property and abide by the rule of law.Devkota said he tried his best to cover the untold stories of the entire peace process, including the 12-point understanding, in the book.Dr Shekhar Koirala, Nepali Congress central leader and close aide to PM Girija Prasad Koirala, however, claimed that the peace process had moved ahead faster than had been expected initially.He also admitted having political deadlock among the eight parties when they were close to declaring the date for the constituent assembly election. "Such problems do arise when we reach close to our goals," Koirala said, adding that parties would sort out their differences amicably.

Koirala said the king's power can be further curbed by if the strength of the army deployed inside the Narayanhiti Royal Palace is halved and Gyanendra's property held in the capacity of the king and assets belonging to late King Birendra, Aishworya and their families are nationalised.He also suggested forming a high-level commission to recommend the type of federalism for Nepal. He said concrete measures should be taken within a month to ameliorate the plight of Maoist combatants living in camps.He suggested that top leaders of the eight parties should come up with a package solution to all the pressing issues.

'OLD COMMUNISM OBSOLETE'KATHMANDU: Nepali communist parties should adopt democratic norms and pluralism in keeping with the ever-changing society, Nepal said on Friday. "The conventional communism has become obsolete now," he said at a programme organised by the Madan Bhandari Foundation to commemorate the 14th death anniversary of CPN (UML) leaders Madan Bhandari and Jibraj Ashrit. Nepal said it will be wise to strike a balance of power among various political parties. He called on the Maoists to put people at the centre. — HNS

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 19, 2007

Nepal’s Maoists: Purists or Pragmatists?

Nepal’s Maoists have changed their strategy and tactics but not yet their goals. In 1996 they launched a “people’s war” to establish a communist republic but ten years later ended it by accepting multiparty democracy; their armed struggle targeted the parliamentary system but they are now working alongside their former enemies, the mainstream parties, in an interim legislature and coalition government. Their commitment to pluralistic politics and society is far from definitive, and their future course will depend on both internal and external factors. While they have signed up to a peaceful, multiparty transition, they continue to hone alternative plans for more revolutionary change.

Maoist strategy is shaped by a tension between purity and pragmatism. Although they stick to certain established principles, they have long been willing to shift course if they identify strategic weaknesses. Their changed approach was demanded by recognition of three critical flaws in their original plan: (i) they concluded their belief in military victory had been misplaced; (ii) they acknowledged they had misread the likelihood of determined international opposition; and (iii) they woke up to the failures that caused the collapse of twentieth-century communist regimes.
Despite having an authoritarian outlook, the Maoists maintained a culture of debate within their party; key issues have been widely discussed and hotly contested. From the end of the 1990s, they have moved gradually toward a more moderate stance. They changed positions in acknowledging the 1990 democracy movement as a success (they had earlier characterised it as a “betrayal”), in abandoning the immediate goal of a Mao-style “new democracy” and, in November 2005, by aligning themselves with the mainstream parties in favour of multiparty democracy.

Despite having an authoritarian outlook, the Maoists maintained a culture of debate within their party; key issues have been widely discussed and hotly contested. From the end of the 1990s, they have moved gradually toward a more moderate stance. They changed positions in acknowledging the 1990 democracy movement as a success (they had earlier characterised it as a “betrayal”), in abandoning the immediate goal of a Mao-style “new democracy” and, in November 2005, by aligning themselves with the mainstream parties in favour of multiparty democracy.

The Maoists have cultivated formerly hostile forces, such as the Indian government and the staunchly anti-Maoist Communist Party of India (Marxist), to the extent of alienating their foreign allies. Supporters such as the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and Indian Maoists had backed their insurgency but have been vocally critical of the compromises made in the peace process. They think their Nepali comrades have betrayed fundamental principles and thrown away the practical advantages they had secured through their armed struggle.

For Nepal’s Maoists, however, the balance sheet at the end of ten years of “people’s war” is more complex. They believe they have secured some lasting advantages, from their own dramatic rise to influence (with a support base and military force hardly imaginable in 1996) to their reshaping of the national political agenda (promoting formerly taboo causes such as republicanism and federalism). But the course of the war persuaded most of their leadership that they could not go it alone and would have to be more flexible if they were to build on these gains.

The peace process has forced practical and theoretical rethinking. Leaders have tried to present a more moderate image as they balance complex equations of domestic and international support and opposition. Maoist ministers have to cooperate with colleagues from other parties and work with the bureaucracy even as they plan a possible insurrection and plot to isolate “regressive” opponents. Ideologically, they define the peace process as a transitional phase in which they can destroy the “old regime” and restructure the state. They justify this by saying their acceptance of a bourgeois “democratic republic” is only a stepping stone on the way to a true “people’s republic”. Leaders argue that they can create a new form of “peaceful revolution” that is true to their communist aims but reflects the reality of Nepal’s politics.

It is tempting to brand the Maoists as either rigid radicals or unprincipled opportunists but neither characterisation explains the whole picture. Their threats to revert to mass insurrection satisfy traditionalists in their own movement and cannot be ignored. But leaders who have fought hard to forge a new approach will be loath to turn their backs on the hard-won advantages they have secured through compromise. They know they face internal opposition but believe they can hold the line as long as the peace process maintains momentum and allows them to achieve some of their headline goals.

Their likely behaviour as the process moves forward, therefore, will depend upon the role of other political actors as much as their own decisions. If the mainstream parties keep up a strong commitment to the constituent assembly process, the Maoists will find it hard to back out. If this route is blocked, the Maoists may find their effort at controlled rebellion slipping into renewed conflict beyond their leaders’ control. If this were to happen, the Maoists themselves would be big losers. But so would the democratic parties and, even more so, the people of Nepal.

Source: Abstract from International Crisis Group, Report on Nepal, May 18, 2007

Nepal again heads for constitutional crisis

Chitra Tiwari

Nepal is heading toward a constitutional crisis June 15 after Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel notified the interim government on April 12 that the commission would be unable to hold elections to a Constituent Assembly for lack of election laws and other technicalities. He asked that the elections be held 110 days after June 14, the date specified by the interim constitution for holding the elections. No new date for the elections has been announced, nor has there been any attempt to amend the interim constitution to allow for a new date. Proceedings of the Legislative-Parliament have been disrupted for more than a month by Madheshi legislators representing southern Nepal near the Indian border, and also by Maoists.

Madheshis live in the flatlands of southern Nepal, a region called Madhesh. They are fighting for equality in Nepal's government and society. While the Maoists have returned to the legislature seeking immediate declaration of a Nepal republic, the Madheshi legislators disrupt proceedings with demands to cancel the Election Constituency Delineation Commission (ECDC), announce the date for the Constituent Assembly elections, and a new census in the Madhesh region, among other issues. Consequently, the interim Eight-Party Alliance (EPA) government that includes the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), formed April 1, has become an April Fool's joke, and seems ready to collapse June 15 when its term ends. The Maoists don't want to be fooled, and their leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as Prachanda, says eight-party unity has crumbled, because its basis was the commitment of the other parties -- especially the Nepali Congress party that heads the coalition government -- to hold elections to a Constituent Assembly within the constitutionally scheduled time frame.

Last Sunday, thousands of Maoists and their supporters formed a 3-mile-long human chain around Singha Durbar, a palace that houses the offices of Cabinet ministers as well as the Legislative-Parliament, seeking the immediate declaration of a republic by parliamentary decree. Participants turned over a petition with 1.5 million signatures to House Speaker Subash Chandra Nemang, demanding the immediate declaration of a republic. Prachanda, the Maoist leader, says the new basis of eight-party unity must be an agreement to have the Legislative-Parliament declare Nepal a democratic republic and then set the new date for elections. However, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala insists that declaring the republic must be left to the first session of the Constituent Assembly, as stipulated in the interim constitution.

The politicians are blaming each other for the government's failure to hold elections by the agreed date. All the leftist parties, which make up a majority in the interim legislature, accuse Mr. Koirala, 85, of dillydallying for fear his party will emerge from the elections in the minority because of the growing leftist influence in Nepal. His supporters say the Maoists are no less responsible for the government's failure to hold the elections because of their failure to abide by agreements to return the seized property of those who supported the royal regime. Under the 12-point agreement between the seven parties and the Maoist rebels, signed in New Delhi in November 2005, the Maoists agreed to return properties seized "in an unjust manner." What is a "just" or "unjust" manner remains a subject of debate. Local Maoist cadres have refused to return the seized properties of several hundred rich landowners, but allowed small landholders to return to their villages.

The Maoist rank-and-file say distributing land of rich landowners was a way to empower the landless poor, and so returning the land to its previous owners will disappoint their constituency, make the people feel cheated, and might lead them to switch sides, reducing the support base of the party. They have begun asking their own leaders how could they kill the spirit of the revolution by returning the land?

Nepal watchers say that with the exception of Mr. Koirala, who continues to insist the elections will be held sometime in November, all other parties and civic leaders now suspect the election of a Constituent Assembly will never take place -- recalling that a similar promise in 1951 never materialized, because of monarchical machinations.

Barsha Man Pun, also known as Ananta, deputy commander of the Maoist People's Liberation Army, threatened on May 5 that if there cannot be Constituent Assembly elections, and the Legislative-Parliament fails to declare the country a republic, "We, too, are not bound to stay in cantonments or continue to stick to our previous agreements."

Analysts say declaring Nepal a republic through parliamentary decree requires a political will on the part of the Nepali Congress party, but its leader, Mr. Koirala, is speaking tongue-in-cheek because of his love for ceremonial monarchy, since the latter could be an effective shield for Mr. Koirala's party against the communists. In fact, the late B.P. Koirala, founder of the Nepali Congress party, the first elected prime minister in 1959, and elder brother of the current prime minister, realized this long ago when he said that his and the king's neck were "welded together." Constitutional analysts say the interim constitution needs to be amended right away to allow the government to fix a new date for Constituent Assembly elections and to allow the Legislative-Parliament to abolish the monarchy. Maoists think they see a conspiracy in delaying the elections hatched by "international forces in league with domestic monarchical reactionaries placed within the seven parties." They think the intent is to keep intact the network of monarchical old boys and characterize Mr. Koirala as the long hand of the United States.

Meanwhile, civil unrest and violence in the countryside are on the rise, prompting the U.S. State Department to issue a travel advisory on May 7, saying: "Violent clashes between Maoists and indigenous groups have taken place in recent months in the Terai region, along the southern border with India, in one case resulting in 27 deaths. Ethnic tensions in the Terai region have spawned violent clashes with police, strikes, demonstrations and closures of the border with India. The U.S. Embassy strongly recommends against non-essential travel to this region. Clashes between Maoists and groups who oppose them also recently have extended into Katmandu." The ethnic civil unrest has spread throughout Nepal, a country inhabited by nearly 90 ethnic groups. A coalition of hill tribes has demanded federal restructuring of the state on ethnic lines, with the right to self-determination and proportional representation in the interim constitution before elections to the Constituent Assembly. It has called for nationwide protests starting May 17 and a general strike on June 1, 10 and 11.

The Madhesis have been agitating since mid-January, demanding autonomy. They have clashed with police as well as former Maoist militias now called the Young Communist League (YCL). The clashes have claimed nearly 60 lives, including those of 27 Maoists, and damaged Nepal's economy. Analysts say the peace process in Nepal has become a hostage of the government's failure to hold elections. The Maoists have refused until Nepal is declared a republic to cooperate the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) for the second stage of verification of their cadres, a new date for election is scheduled, living conditions in the U.N. supervised cantonments are improved and salaries and job guarantees to the combatants are assured. The U.N. representative Ian Martin says the Maoists' obligation to allow verification is unconditional and that the UNMIN cannot accept its linkage to any precondition. Analysts say the rising civil unrest, political bickering, parliamentary disruptions, and a decreasing level of political communication within the Eight-Party caucus indicate a diminishing chance for elections to a Constituent Assembly anytime this year. The situation appears to be ripe for yet another uprising that could settle the leftover issues of last year's unfinished revolution, namely, abolition of the monarchy and the passing of power to the Maoists, now rechristened "republican democrats."

Source: The Washington Times, May 19, 2007

Prachanda to talk with PM regarding monarchy's future

Maoist chairman Prachanda has said he would hold talks with the prime minister regarding declaring the country a republic from the House before the eight party meeting gets underway.
He said this while talking to reporters in Pokhara Friday where he is currently in to garner support for the republican proposal that Maoist MPs tabled at the parliament last Sunday .
"Except Nepali Congress (NC), other parties have already agreed to declare the country a republic from the house," the Maoist supremo told Kantipur daily, adding that he would talk with the PM about this issue after he returns to Kathmandu.

If congress (NC) agrees, then the institution of monarchy would easily be abolished, he added.
He also warned that if NC declines to declare the country a republic then the Maoists would take to the streets to step up pressure on the government for it.
During his stay in Pokhara, Prachanda had also met CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam and held discussion on a broad range of issues including establishing a republican set up and forging a leftist alliance. Prachanda is due to arrive in Kathmandu today.

Ethnic cleansing

New York-based Human Rights Watch has rightly assessed the gross violation of human rights in Bhutan. The Druk regime, which evicted over one hundred thousand people back in the 1990s, continues to deny the rights of minorities living there for centuries. Now, the fear is that the third country resettlement plan undertaken by the United States may further encourage the Druk dictator to evict the remaining Lhotshampas. And this is happening at the behest of India -- the largest democracy, which is backing Bhutan's policy of ethnic cleansing. Bhutan has adopted several ways to evict the Nepali minority. First, it has introduced a 'No Objection Certificate' system. It is a must for admission in schools, registration of any firm, running a business establishment for a living or employment. Issuance of such certificates has denied the basic education to the children of Lhotshampas. Second, Bhutan has no constitution as to ensure the rights of the minority. The royal edicts are the supreme law of that country. As a result, hundreds of innocent people have been languishing in the Druk jails for decades.

No country has committed such heinous crimes against its people. Bhutan has denied no objection certificates to the Lhotshampas, with a clear intention of evicting them gradually. It has denied the right of over one hundred thousand refugees to return to their homeland. Yet, some Western countries, which are defending democracy across the world, have funded development projects in Bhutan. India has gone to the extent of protecting the autocratic regime. Earlier, Northeast Indian states did so to uproot the Nepali settlement. Hundreds of thousand of people of Nepali origin were forcefully evicted from Manipur, Meghalaya and Assam states in the 1980s citing them as foreigners. Now, Bhutan has done the same thing as Northeast Indian states did in the 1980s.

Bhutan is planning to hold polls early next year to eyewash the international community. The refugees languishing in UNHCR-administered camps in eastern Nepal will not be allowed to participate in the elections. Although the Druk regime has admitted that the refugees are bona-fide Bhutanese citizens, it has refused to take them back. Besides, the mockery of Bhutanese democracy is that the regime has allowed no individuals to form a political party. While one-fifth of the population is languishing outside Bhutan as refugees, how credible and authentic would such elections be? Obviously, Bhutan has not given up its state policy of ethnic cleansing. It continues to adopt techniques to block the repatriation attempt and sweep the minority out of its territory. Bhutan could do so by taking the side of the largest democratic country, India.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 19, 2007

Put The House In Order

Ritu Raj Subedi

The continued disruption of the legislative-parliament has further complicated the ongoing political deadlock that emerged following the failure of the coalition government to conduct the constituent assembly (CA) polls as per the interim statute. The current interim parliament is an outcome of the popular April movement, which set the loktantrik process in motion. The House of Representatives, restored after the movement, made some landmark announcements, including the curtailing of the King's sweeping powers and establishing full-fledged democracy in the country. Although the present parliament contains most of old faces from the major political parties, it has, for the first time, been represented by a considerable number of Maoist lawmakers. All of them have not been there through a fresh mandate of the people, but they have a vital role in taking the nation towards sustainable peace by instructing the government, and formulating laws and regulations in line with the spirit of loktantra.

Protracted impasse

However, the importance of the parliament has been overlooked by none other than the lawmakers of the ruling parties. It has been in a limbo for more than a month. In the beginning when the Maoists were not inducted in the government, they halted the regular proceeding of the parliament, demanding the formation of a new government that included them. After a brief interval, they continued to create pandemonium in the House following the Gaur carnage and deferral of the CA polls. Then after, the Madhesi lawmakers from all the political parties represented in the parliament joined the fray to press the government into fulfilling their demands. More recently, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party has also joined the agitation in the House only to protract the impasse. One of the interesting features of the protest scenario is that all the Madhesi MPs are up in arms to meet their demands, giving birth to factionalism in the parliament on communal lines. They have threatened to defy the whips of their respective parties if they are told not to raise their demands in the House. Their postures have raised some questions: Why do these MPs fail to channelise their demands through their parties? Why are the major political parties represented in the House mere spectators to this scenario?

By continuously disrupting the parliamentary session, the Madhesi MPs have challenged the leadership of their respective parties in sorting out the problem. While they are unilaterally calling on the parliament to heed to their demands, reports of instigation of communal feelings in the Terai are trickling in. People hailing from the hills have been constantly under threat and intimidation there. Some armed outfits operating in the Terai belt are targeting the Pahade communities. The government employees of hill origin live in fear as Madhesi militant groups are out to displace them from the administration and other government bodies. This tension has been further intensified after a minister representing the Terai sparked a controversy by saying that the region should be led by Madhesi leaders, not by people of hill origin. Is it just a coincidence or is there a link between the House obstructions and the rising tension in the Terai? The century-old social and cultural harmony existing among the various castes and communities have been alarmingly disturbed, thanks to the Maoists who launched political slogans on racial, communal and geographical lines during their people's war some 11 years ago. They floated ideas of the right to self-determination for the Madhesi, ethnic and indigenous people to muster support for their insurgency. They succeeded in their mission, but it has left behind a dangerous legacy as reflected in the Terai movement and in the activities of the Terai outfits.

These activities have threatened the territorial integrity of Nepal created by Prithvi Narayan Shah who unified small principalities into a single state nation 237 years ago. The popular movement last year did not envisage a divided nation. It had a mandate for building a new Nepal wherein all the Nepalese irrespective of class, colour and caste would realise their aspirations. The April movement aimed at establishing a democratic state that cannot be achieved when the nation is torn, and social harmony is ruffled. In response to the Terai uprising, the government approved the federal structure of governance and agreed on restructuring the state, whose modalities will be fixed by the CA polls. The parliament should work to stop the disturbing activities in the Terai. The parliament is a place where the nation's burning problems are solved. By holding it hostage, the situation will only worsen. The House deadlock will definitely disrupt the process of the CA polls as some major laws are yet to be enacted. The CA polls offer an opportunity for all, including the Madhesi people, to have their demands fulfilled. This fact should be realised by the agitating MPs.

Sensible way

Speaker Subash Chandra Nemwang launched a series of consultations with different political parties to end the impasse but was unsuccessful. Frustrated with the continued obstruction in the House, Prime Minister Koirala even went to the extent of saying that the government might be forced to take harsh measures if the lawmakers failed to cooperate with the government for the smooth running of the parliament. People do not want any autocratic government. They want the eight-party leaders to find a sensible way to solve the impasse in the House and avert the looming danger that has surfaced in the Terai.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 19, 2007

Emerging Role Of Human Resource Management

Dr. Shyam Bahadur Katuwal

Human resource management (HRM) has been given importance in the academic and professional fields because of the role it plays in enhancing organisational performance. Presently, organisations are successful on account of competent human resource. Thus, human resource management is a requirement in facing competition successfully rather than fulfilling the legal and mandatory requirements. The role of HRM in Anglo-American organisations is said to be action-oriented, individual-oriented and future-oriented. However, in the case of Nepal, although the scenario of human resource management has been gradually shifting from record keeping of employees and providing piecemeal solutions to HR-related problems, it has not improved to the extent desired. Hence, Nepalese organisations are unable to face HR-related challenges, achieve business strategies and make them competitive and advantageous.

HRM in NepalDeveloping and utilising human competencies for organisational effectiveness in Nepal has received low priority from people involved in managing HR. HR managers are happy performing routine work concerning personnel administration, record keeping, welfare, discipline, labour relations and other operational issues rather than developing and utilising human resources and integrating HRM activities as a part and parcel of the business strategy. Managing human resources, therefore, is preoccupied with the traditional functions of personnel administration. Even after the changes in the socio-eco-political and technological environment in the country, Nepalese organisations face problems of low productivity, poor motivation, morale and satisfaction, adverse labour-management relations and so on. Such problems are more serious in public enterprises because of the unstable political environment, short-term political vision and excessive political interference in the day-to-day affairs of the enterprises. As per the Public Accounting Report 1997, the government blames the top executives of public enterprise for only unpardonable inefficiencies of the public enterprises. Except in some forward-looking organisations, linkage of HRM, including human resource development (HRD), with organisational performance and corporate strategy is still neglected.

Factors for the slow pace of development of HRM in Nepal are centralised organisations, lack of trust between labour and management, frequent changes of executives especially in government organisations and public enterprises, over and understaffing due to lack of appropriate human resource planning, feeling of seniority complex and lack of budget for HRD. The other emerging problem for the underdevelopment of HRM in some organisations is the protective market. The organisations operating in a protective market environment do not feel any responsibility of developing the necessary human resources for competitive advantages. Although it is mandatory to hire a labour welfare officer, many large organisations prefer to appoint a personnel manager/officer to look into the recruitment of personnel, including managerial ones. Thus, innovative human resource practices that emphasise a people-oriented, participatory, progressive and committed approach to HRM is out of bounds for most of the Nepalese organisations.The growing internationalisation of business has its impact on HRM functions. In the contemporary business environment, Nepalese organisations are in a constant state of competition. As the intensity of competition increases, the need for organisations to continuously improve their performance is a compulsion for their survival. The significance of traditional sources of competition like natural resources, technology and economies of scale is decreasing because these resources are easy to imitate. Since HR is an intangible, irreplaceable and inimitable asset of an organisation, the importance of HR in global competition began attracting the attention of Nepalese organisations since the 1990s with the liberalisation of the economy.

Direct investment by multinational corporations for global competition has forced organisations to find effective means of developing and utilising quality manpower. This, being so, the effective management of human capital, not physical capital, may be the ultimate determinant of organisational performance. Competition from multinational and domestic companies has compelled many enterprises to resort to downsizing, acquisitions, mergers or divestitures. The reorganisation will have an impact on the employees. They experience anxiety and uncertainty about their job in the new organisation. Thus, retention of quality employees is another concern of present organisations.The growth of powerful trade unions after the advent of democracy in 1990, introduction of protective labour laws, and increasing value of professionalism in the field of HRM, increasing size of organisations and introduction of new technology have further given impetus to changing the traditional role of human resource management in Nepal.An important key to the success in the gobalisation of business is the management of HR. With the changing character of competition, changed expectation of the employees, interest of the weaker section of the society, demographic changes in the workforce (increasing number of working women, young employees and dual-career couples with increasing awareness and education among workers and decline of blue-collar employees), the role of HRM has been changing.

The role of human resource managers, as a line function, is to coordinate HRM policies, programmes, procedures and activities with the business strategies for the attainment of corporate goals. Consequently, in order to cope with changes in the business environment, innovative HRM practices like Internet recruitment, use of psychological and behavioural tests for selection of employees, participatory goal setting, team appraisal and 360-degree appraisal are required in the different organisations.Participatory career plans, job rotation, need based training, attitude and communication training, challenging job assignment, team rewards, performance linked bonus, family directed rewards, greater transparency, outplacement service, exit interview and retirement counseling make HRM proactive to the global changes. Evidences indicate that HR practices influence employee attitudes, behaviour, perceptions, organisational climate and other human resource performance measures, which in turn lead to human resource performance and thereby organisational effectiveness.

Skilled labourIn the changed economic structure and patterns of competition, managers including HR professionals are required to facilitate the process of organisational development in place of controlling people through traditional personnel management. They must work to develop specialised skilled labour, manage a flexible work environment, create organisational constellations and strike strategic alliances for regular exchanges of manpower and information among the constellations. Competitive pressure, changing social values and need of employees have encouraged organisations to bring innovative HRM. Except in some big private organisations, joint venture banks, multinational companies and INGOs, the role of HRM is not considered yet to be of strategic importance to attain organisational goals in Nepal. Yet, it is expected to play a strategic role in making Nepalese organisations competitive in the years to come.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 19, 2007

Zone Of Peace

PRIME Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has called upon the teachers to have faith in democratic practice and sit for dialogue to resolve the problems in the academic sector. Receiving a memorandum from the agitating teachers of private and boarding schools in Kathmandu Thursday, Prime Minister Koirala said that problems can be solved through dialogue in a democracy and called upon the teachers and others to follow democratic and civic practices. The remarks and request of the Prime Minster carry special significance at a time when the private and boarding schools have been closed due to the agitation of the teachers. The teachers in the private and boarding schools have launched the agitation demanding salary and other facilities at par with the teachers in the government schools. In response to the demand of the teachers and staff, owners of the private boarding schools had also threatened to shut down the schools as some of the private schools were not able to meet all the demands put forth by the teachers and other staff. As the owners and the teachers locked horn on some issues, the schools were closed from Thursday, which has made the future of the hundreds of thousands students uncertain. The owners and management also need to give serious attention to the just demands of the teachers in private schools.

However, teachers also need to demonstrate civic sense and behavour. Activities like pressure tactics, protests and school closure do not suit teachers. Moreover, no one has the right to play with the future of students. Teachers should be more responsible and sensitive towards the future of students. So they need to return to work and simultaneously initiate dialogue for resolving their problems. This is the right approach. Similarly, the government also needs to intervene and solve the problem as early as possible. Although the private sector has played a very important role in the development of education in Nepal, there are complaints about the exploitation of teachers in some schools. The government has failed to properly monitor the private schools and make sure that schools provided reasonable salary and facilities to the teachers and other staff. Most of the private schools charge exorbitant fees to students but provide little facilities to the teachers and students. So the government needs to intervene here. It is urgent that all the sectors, as observed by Prime Minister Koirala, demonstrated a civic culture and behavour in order to solve the problems in the academic sector and ensure peace in the schools.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 19, 2007

IT For Development

Information technology (IT) is the most important gift of science of the 20th century to humankind. This technology has brought in unprecedented comforts to the people by changing the world into a global village. Anyone with access to IT facilities can know what is happening in any part of the world within a few minutes no matter where he or she is living. You can listen to the sounds and watch images of any incident in front of a screen in your room. And if you happen to miss any of the programmes, you can watch them by just logging onto the Internet at any time. Indeed, Internet services have added further comfort to the people in the recent decades - you can send and receive messages from anyone from any part of the globe within seconds. Nepalese, too, have taken tremendous advantage from the boom in the IT sector. However, these facilities are confined mostly in the urban areas, and the people living in the villages are yet to take much benefit from it. Though we also made a tremendous progress in the field of information and communications, especially after the political change of 1990, they are still not enough, considering the population deprived of telephone and Internet facilities.

Before the change of 1990, many of the district headquarters even lacked telephone services. Today almost all the district headquarters and small bazaars have telephone services, although in some districts the services were disrupted when the insurgents damaged the communications towers during the decade-long violence. Today many people living in the district headquarters and nearby villages use mobile phones. In a least developed country like Nepal where more than 80 per cent people still lack access to electricity, expanding Internet services in the villages is not feasible. However, the villages could be connected through telephone services. The government has shown its seriousness in this regard. In a message delivered on the occasion of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day Thursday, Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara hinted that the government was preparing to extend telecommunication services to the villages within the next fiscal year. Certainly, the development of the IT sector is a must for the overall development of a nation, and the government has been giving top priority to its development. However, efforts of the government alone will not be sufficient in the proper development of the sector unless the people as well as other concerned stakeholders support the government in its endevour. Hope World IT Day will inspire all to work for the development and expansion of IT services in the villages.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 19, 2007

Global Warming And South Asia

Dr. Trilochan Upreti

GLOBAL warming refers to the increase in the average temperature of the earth and the oceans in recent times, and in the future. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) and water vapour are called green house gases, which are collected in the atmosphere like a blanket trapping the sun's heat that is radiated off the earth's surface. These gases have been contributing factors to global warming over the past 50 years, during which the average global temperature is said to have increased at the fastest rate recorded in history and is expected to keep increasing at a rate of up to 2 degrees Celsius in the next 50 years. This would eventually lead to a rise in the sea levels that will inundate the low lying coastal belts, even leading to many smaller islands being totally submerged. InundationThe Maldives will disappear along with many island nations; one third of Bangladesh will be under water and, likewise, low lying belts of many coastal states would also be inundated. Consequently, there would be other disastrous effects. For example, there would be frequent incidents of extreme weather conditions like floods, heat waves, droughts and hurricanes that would trigger natural calamities, making human life more difficult than ever.

There have been no dearth of scientists and politicians who maintained that global warming is part of a natural process that occurs due to non-human causes like solar activity, volcanic emissions and so on. However, after the landmark report of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose drafting was marked by an angry row, the argument blaming nature for global warming has lost its trust and credibility, and the world community has unanimously blamed human intervention for the issues. This is an interesting shift in the mind-set of the global community concerning the issue.The IPCC has strongly suggested that countries ought to adopt strategies to mitigate global warming through measures such as energy conservation and shifting to renewable sources of energy to displace carbon fuels and, thus, reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. As a result of such concern, the Kyoto Protocol was drawn up. The protocol is an agreement made under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. By 2006, 169 countries, responsible for 61.6% of emissions, have ratified it except the USA and Australia.

The USA, which is the largest economy of the world and contributes 25% of the global emission, has not ratified the Convention arguing that allowing unfettered emission levels to countries like India and China is unacceptable and that the USA has adopted effective measures for combatting global warming issues on its own. Whereas the developing countries are directly blaming the developed countries for the global warming, they are also maintaining that they first need to develop their own economy, a process which would be hampered by compliance with the instrument at this juncture in time. Those responsible for the irreparable damage due to climate change and problems associated with it should reverse the impacts through their own effort. Thus, global warming has remained a threat to the existence of the earth and its inhabitants, including the flora and fauna.The IPCC report predicts that billions of people will face water scarcity and hundreds of millions will likely go hungry, mainly in the poorest regions least to blame for spewing the fossil fuel pollution that is driving up temperatures. Likewise, glacier meltdown and ice sheet erosion will accelerate, which would impact the sea levels, causing devastating impacts on the coastal states. Similarly, upto 30 per cent of the planet's plants and animal species will become extinct, if temperatures rise by 1.50C to 2.50C.

The poorest regions and continents will suffer the most - tropical countries, African continent and the SAARC region. That means the melting of glaciers and Himalaya in Nepal would adversely affect the entire SAARC region and its weather pattern, causing abnormal drought and floods, which will contribute to the scourge of famine upon one billion people. One third of Bangladesh and huge swathes of Indian coastal territory would be inundated, inviting extraordinary problems of human survival in the entire South Asian region. Numerous problems not yet identified would emerge, leaving no space for easy resolution. These nations are already witnessing huge problems for their economic development, and tackling the issues of poverty will have to confront additional formidable problems. Eventually, it would invite inconceivable conflicts amongst communities, states and nations making it extremely difficult to find a point of resolution.One must study its impact at the national level by recalling that many bridges and one hydropower plant were washed away when one glacial lake caused by a retreating Himalayan glacier in Solokhumbu district burst a few years ago.

What would be the effect when glacial retreat and melting of the Himalayan peaks occur at the same time? We have huge human settlements near the banks of rivers, and most of the fertile lands in the hills lie on the banks of rivers. When such catastrophes occur, it will wash away people and inundate and fill up adjoining agricultural lands with sand and boulders.No one can even predict the magnitude of its implication for India and Bangladesh, where huge devastations and disasters will wash away millions of people and waste millions hectares of agricultural land. Towns and cities will be transformed into graveyards. Clean hydropower should be developed and used by the needy countries by adopting an equitable sharing of the benefits of the immense water resources of the region. In this context, this time could be the best for resolving every outstanding issue on sharing and utilising the huge water resources in the SAARC region by addressing the past grievances and also accommodating the future needs of all nations on an equal and equitable basis. Blame gameRather than blaming each other, the developed and developing countries like China, India and Brazil should comply with the provision of the Kyoto protocol by involving themselves in the resolution of the problem and making space to exist for future generations. The developed nations should assist them wholeheartedly for obtaining this global objective.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 17, 2007

Running Local Bodies

THE local bodies have been without elected representatives for years. As a result, people have been facing tremendous problems. The civil servants are now running the local bodies, which is not in line with democratic practices and the concept of decentralised governance. After the success of Jana Andolan II and restoration of democracy, an all-party democratic government was formed at the centre. People had thought alternative measures would be taken to run the local bodies. However, no decision has been taken to run the local bodies. In the absence of people's representatives, some major development-related decisions have not been taken. It is obvious that civil servants often hesitate to take any bold decision at the local level. Thus, local development activities have been affected. Against this background, the political parties, civil society and local people have been demanding that some alternative arrangement be made to run the local bodies. Since an all-party government is functioning at the centre, a similar exercise can be carried out at the local level as well. Local self-governance enhances democracy at the grassroots, as it empowers people to take decisions for their needs.

Local bodies function vibrantly in a democracy. The local bodies not only cater to the needs of the people but also act as a genuine agent for development at the grassroots level. In the absence of local authorities, the people's problems cannot be addressed. The best alternative is to hold election to the local bodies. But in the present context, election to the local bodies does not seem possible as the country is making preparations for the election to a constituent assembly. The election to the local bodies can be held only after the constituent assembly writes a new constitution. The election to a constituent assembly and writing a new constitution will, however, take a long time. Thus, election to the local bodies may not be possible in the next couple of years. It is not good to keep the local bodies without people's representatives for years. Thus, alternative arrangements must be made to run the local bodies by the people's representatives. For this, the eight parties need to discuss seriously and arrive at a common ground for running the local bodies. Since it is the issue of the people, the political parties must not think which party gains and which party loses. They should decide taking into account the overall interest of the people and the nation. This is the spirit of a democratic and coalition culture.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 18, 2007

Eye of the needle

The Melamchi drinking water project, much touted to meet the needs of the water-deficit Kathmandu Valley, has been pending for nearly two decades for one reason or another, though a pretty sum, Rs. 4 billion, has already been spent in its name. The management of water distribution in the Valley was to be awarded to a foreign firm, Severn Trent Water International (ST), the only bidder for the contract. The Asian Development Bank (ADB), the main financier of the country’s biggest drinking water project, attached the loan conditionality that the Valley’s water distribution be transferred to ST, a controversial firm said to have an unsatisfactory record of performance in other countries. But the CPN-Maoist’s entry into the newly formed interim government, with the ministry concerned headed by its representative, seems to have upset the original plans.

Minister Hisila Yami has let pass the May 15 deadline ST gave the government to sign a contract with it, otherwise threatening to opt out. With the minister having second thoughts about allowing a foreign firm to manage the distribution, ADB’s loan pledge of $120 million for the project is now in serious jeopardy. ADB has threatened to end its commitment if ST does not get the contract. But Yami is reported as saying that its pullout would throw open new possibilities. The fees for the management contract, which ADB is supposed to pay ST, would stand at $8.5 million for a six-year term. The minister says she wants to go over the ST contract afresh before deciding.

Some argue that the government could not run the Valley’s water distribution satisfactorily from 1990 to 1999 despite the infusion of $100 million worth of aid, loan and technical support. ADB thought Nepal needed foreign expertise. ADB’s loan would go into the construction of the project’s costliest component — the 26.5-km diversion tunnel linking the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchok district to Sundarijal in Kathmandu — as well as into improving the Valley’s bulk distribution system. According to the state-owned Nepal Water Supply Corporation’s estimate, water waste through leakage alone stands at 40 per cent of the total supply. But the very premise that the problems of water management are one of lack of expertise is deeply flawed. It is rather one of intention, of accountability, of failure to crack down on corruption. The government agencies, including ministries and departments, and public sector undertakings face similar problems, as anybody with some familiarity with this area in Nepal would know. If one were to accept the foreign-expertise contention, one would also have to accept that many other donor-funded projects and programmes are in need of the same shock treatment. Strangely, little attention has been paid to the optimum utilisation of the available water and the existing water sources, and all attention seems to have been concentrated on mega projects costing many billions of dollars. One wonders if this has no deeper meaning and a better management of the current supply alone would not relieve the problem significantly.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 18, 2007

Educational Reform Plan : Opportunity And Challenge

Devi Prasad Bhattarai

The Ministry of Education and Sport (MOES) has introduced a Three-year Interim Education Policy in the school system in light of the changing landscape in national and global education. The policy attempts to bring changes in the school education system to meet the recent policy gap after Jana Andolan II. The policy is crucial because of its response to the existing problems in education, in particular, and the transitional period the nation is undergoing, in general.Since the establishment of democracy in 1990, with the soar in people's aspirations, the education system has been criticised for its standard, said to be poorer in comparison to that of other countries, especially the SAARC countries. Indeed, the new policy tries to address the fundamental issues of education. But implementing it may be a challenging endeavour.

Future outline

The policy has attempted to revisit various aspects of school education. It has introduced some significant changes for pursuing the educational plan for the next three years as an interim and transitional plan. The policy has not only addressed the present needs of the country but also sketched the future outline of the education system. The policy has been prepared to respond to a sustainable and progressive education system commensurate to a democratic society. For this, it has prepared a long-term strategic vision, which is a continuation of the vision of the 10th Plan in education. Under this long-term vision, it will continue with the policy of devolving public schools to the community. Furthermore, it has sought an improvement in the existing school structure to make the system more relevant with the prevailing school systems of the world.According to the proposed structure, basic and primary education encompasses eight years (1-8) and secondary education four years (9-12). Therefore, total schooling will be of 12 years. For the effective implementation of the programmes, the proposed interim plan has introduced a strategy on curriculum development, teacher training, examination and quality improvement. The policy has introduced a system that will allow students to shift from non-formal, technical and vocational education to appropriate grades in the formal education system and vice-versa.

Overall, the major strategies concern: decentralisation of education, inclusion of ethnic and disadvantaged groups, integrated implementation management, capacity building programme, application of information technology, improvement in school investment and grant system, curriculum development and implementation process, and student evaluation and validation. To execute these strategies, the draft has mentioned various programmes and schedules. These programmes are to be implemented by focusing on the ongoing and special programmes. They include Literacy and Income Based Programmes, Alternative School Education (Distance and Open Learning), Pre- Primary Education/ Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, Secondary Education, Vocational Training and Technical Education, Higher Education, Quality Development in Education, Sports Development Programme, Youth Development and Scouting Programme, Physical Construction and Re-Construction Programme, And Educational Management. Depending upon the distribution and volume of these programmes, it has allocated estimated expenditures for their implementation for each of the years.

On the downside, the policy is less aware of the possible hindrances to implementation. The striking challenge is the possibility of a stern lack of professional expertise in curriculum designing, materials development, and monitoring and evaluation at the local level as the policy proposes handing over part of these responsibilities to the local level. Effective implementation of the policy will largely depend on the technical, administrative and academic competency of the local people. Therefore, the problem of capacity building at the community and school levels could lead to strategic failure in action. As the proposed structure in education demands improved and upgraded physical infrastructure, the proposed policy in this regard is insufficient. For example, a primary school that provides education up to Grade 5 needs to improve its physical and human resource to cater to an 8-year primary education. On the other hand, managing education widely in the mother tongue is praiseworthy, but its success largely depends on effective teacher education programmes based on the native languages. The policy is not clear about curriculum development in the native languages.The programme of providing scholarships to all the disadvantaged groups is noteworthy, but simply providing them to the communities may not always attract them towards schooling unless the parents of the children can change mentally. For example, scholarships are misused by the parents, and the money is used for purposes other than education.

In higher education, the policy has given continuity to phasing out the intermediate level in Tribhuvan University. The policy is not new because such efforts were made in the past. Unless initiatives are taken to effectively phase out the intermediate level from the university, it will only hamper the educational programmes to be implemented for improving higher education. Absence of a fixed policy in higher education in the past has resulted in the dual system in education at present - higher secondary education and the intermediate level of TU serve the same purpose. On the other hand, developing an umbrella act for universities is praiseworthy, but the policy of providing autonomy to the campuses will be a challenging task due to the extreme politics that take place in the campuses. So a strong commitment and respect by the political parties and their sister organisations are desirable at the campus level. In higher education, the government has been providing budget for the teacher's salary and not sufficiently funding research and professional development so important to sustain higher education and enhance quality education.

Impediments

It is, thus, desirable to analyse and envisage the possible challenges and impediments to implementing the policy. Donor nations and agencies should be asked to assist in the country's transformation in education. The policy should not be rigid so that changes can be brought from time to time to address any lapses. Similarly, there must be strong commitment to policy implementation on the part of the government. For this, there must be motivation among the stakeholders, continuous monitoring, supervision and evaluation in running the programme. Based on the feedback, there must be effort to improve the policy and programmes. Should this happen, the policy will be a watershed in the history of education.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 18, 2007

Oil crisis: Management of financial resources

Raghab D Pant

It is now clear that the occasional shortage of oil and oil products in the market followed by the long queues at the petrol pumps is due to the inability of the government to adjust domestic price to a change in world prices as well as its hesitation to release adequate funds to the concerned institution to maintain such artificial domestic price, fixed by administrative whim, rather than by market supply and demand. As a result, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), a government-owned enterprise with monopoly on oil import, is virtually bankrupt with no resources to import oil except on credit that one creditor, namely the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has refused to provide without part payment of past dues — a reasonable, if not very soft, demand.

This means, in effect, there will be adequate oil in the market if (i) the import trade is only on cash basis; (ii) the import payment is made in accordance with the agreement reached between NOC and IOC; (iii) the domestic price is adjusted regularly to meet import price, and (iv) the government reduces the tax it has imposed on import of oil and oil products by NOC. In the latter two cases, NOC will be able to run its operation with huge profit.Unfortunately, the government has decided not to change the domestic price of oil before the election to the Constituent Assembly or to take any other measures on the domestic front — there have been customary long talks of involving private sector in the import trade of oil — to solve all the current problems once and for all. The government, on the other hand, has unnecessarily provided the issue a “cover of national crisis” and, as expected, the PM called the Indian ambassador for his help “in getting full supply of petroleum products resumed to Nepal,” though the Government of India has nothing to do with the crisis whatsoever except that IOC is also a government enterprise with a written business deal with NOC.

It is now safe to assume that the intensity of the problem may lessen only if the IOC decides to provide oil and oil products on credit to its bankrupt colleague. It will, however, further deepen the financial crisis of NOC as it is obliged to sell the goods at a price which is substantially less than the cost it has to incur. The Government of Nepal will, of course, benefit, firstly, by solving the current problem characterised by the shortage of oil and oil products and its low national reserve and, secondly, by an increase in government revenue from the tax paid by NOC on the import of oil. The only loser will be IOC and if I were its executive director I would definitely not sell goods to another enterprise that has difficulty making a part payment of Rs 240 million on a loan of about Rs 6000 million.

The government has often used the generosity offered by the Indian government for political purposes, in particular, to maintain the distorted domestic price structure that cannot be sustained in the long run or in the absence of assistance from India. The price of oil and oil products is the current example. Similarly, the exchange rate of the Nepali currency vis-à-vis Indian currency has been maintained at an artificial level by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) by selling its US dollar to the Reserve Bank of India for the Indian currency, for which it has no adequate reserve to meet the public demand at the fixed rate of NRs160=IRs100; in the first six months of the current fiscal year, according to press reports, NRB has boughtRs 50 billion worth of Indian currency by paying US dollar. In addition, the import payment of about 91 commodities from India is made in dollar. It appears that such a misuse of the generosity provided by the friendly country has given the false impression to the public with a negative feeling about the concerned country itself.It is difficult to understand the national financial management in a unified method. NOC has difficulty making a part payment on its past dues, as stated earlier. The Government of Nepal, on the other hand, has no shortage of resources — the unused cash reserve of the Government of Nepal at the NRB in mid-April, 2007, totals Rs 18 billion — as its capital expenditure in the first ten months of the current fiscal year totals just Rs 11 billion, or 25 per cent of the allocated budget.

The government’s inability to use available resources for development has been instrumental in creating “stagflation” in the country, an economic situation characterised by stagnant income in real terms and rising price level. In fact, the government, if it so desires, can provide financial resources to NOC to clear the outstanding loan of IOC. There would be no reason to panic if the government managed the available resources with proper coordination within and among the ministries — a rare commodity for Nepal. The whole crisis can be solved with a minimum but intelligent effort.Dr Pant is executive director, Institute for Development Studies

High Time To Sort Out Differences

Prem N. Kakkar

THE country is going through a transition phase, which is considered difficult times by any standard. There are records of other countries having immense hardships on the way to lasting peace and political stability. Yet, the case of Nepal is totally different from other such countries where third party mediation was necessary. It goes to the credit of the Nepalese people that they themselves chose to solve their own problems. If that had not been the case the story would have been different.

Return of democracy

The success of the April uprising proves that the people cannot take brutal rule for long. The bubble has to burst, and it did a little over a year back. It was a time to rejoice at the achievement, the return of democracy and reinstatement of the House of Representatives. Of course, things are different now with various contentious issues coming up in recent times. The eight parties that were instrumental in bringing the country to the present state are once again at the centre stage. The interim government was formed, and the legislature parliament is there. But the past agreements between the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists have not been adhered to fully. This is quite unfortunate. In fact, the hurried pace at doing many things can be cited as the root cause for many of the problems that we see today.

It has been a long time since the leaders of the eight parties have sat down to sort out thorny issues. In the meanwhile, the legislature-parliament proceeding have been disrupted due to disgruntled lawmakers. The Speaker of the parliament tried his best to get the House proceedings to move smoothly by holding consultation with the leaders of the various parties, including Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, but to no avail. Wednesday's proceeding was adjourned even before it could begin. The next meeting is scheduled for May 24 by when the Speaker hopes matters would be resolved.The other day, too, Prime Minister Koirala had a meeting with the lawmakers from the Terai who have put up many demands. It is reported that the prime minister was positive to the concerns of the Terai MPs. It was just an attempt to break the deadlock. The stalemate in the legislature parliament is costing the country dearly because several bills need urgent clearance, including some concerning the constituent assembly elections. But as the proceeding have not taken place, the delay has only lengthened. The same leaders who want greater speed have actually slowed the process down.

The eight-party meeting has not taken place since the Election Commission (EC) said that the CA polls cannot be held by mid-June. Despite Premier Koirala's meeting with several of the eight-party leaders, nothing concrete has developed so far. It seems that the Maoists are distancing themselves as they want a republic to be declared by the parliament itself, which is not backed by the Nepali Congress. This seems to have created a sense of mistrust, which must be removed at all cost.The unity of the eight parties is very crucial in giving a safe passage to the country. This has been stressed time and again. It is consensus that has made the country rebound in the past several months and that is what is needed at present. Not seeing eye to eye cannot be beneficial to any party, let alone the people. An important thing is that the management of the Maoist cantonments must be undertaken as soon as possible. The living conditions of the Maoist combatants deserves attention if the second phase of the verification process is to continue.

Unity

There are many tasks ahead that need to be addressed so that the eight-party unity can continue. The unity is needed because without it there are dangers that the regressive elements, according to many political leaders, will topple the achievements made so far. The leaders know well that the genuine problems of the various agitating groups have to be resolved so that the political situation is conducive to holding the CA polls. When they all realise this, they should come forward to sit together and discuss the issues and possible solutions. That is the only way out through a consensus. But for this to happen, flexibility is the key requirement as their moves are not for themselves alone but for the Nepali people in general.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 18, 2007

Truly topmost

The newly-formed Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction (MoPR) has said government property worth Rs 5,110 million was destroyed during the ten-year long conflict and that it would take at least three years to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. According to the statistics, the Home Ministry suffered the biggest loss (Rs 2,428.6 million) as police stations and administrative buildings were the main targets during the insurgency. The MoPR along with the National Planning Commission and the Ministry of Physical Planning and Works is now preparing the cost estimates for the reconstruction job.Now that the country has a separate ministry for reconstruction, it can be expected that all rebuilding works would be completed within the stipulated time period. And, for this, the government is preparing to hike the national budget. Donor agencies and nations have so far committed aid to the tune of Rs 320 million to the Peace Fund created for this purpose. The ADB, too, under its Rural Infrastructure Peace and Rehabilitation Programme, has pledged financial support for reconstruction of the damaged rural infrastructure. Unfortunately, however, vandalism and destruction of public and private property worth millions is taking place in the country even today. No reconstruction and rehabilitation work can kick off in a hostile environment and amid ongoing violence. So, establishing a truly lasting peace should be the topmost priority of all the political forces in the country.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 17, 2007

Unacceptable

Prachanda and his rag-tag army committed the first blunder by declaring an armed rebellion back in 1996. Even if we agree on their claim that they raised awareness in the rural areas, the loss of human lives, infrastructures and economic deterioration do not justify the so-called people's war. The compulsion they confronted to join the mainstream politics also proves the point. Thankfully, the obdurate king helped them by not inviting the political parties until things turned unmanageable. The Maoists would have, otherwise, joined the mainstream in much weaker position. Alas! Even after joining the government at equal strength as that of UML, the Maoist leadership has not realized its myopic vision in handling the home-grown goons called Youth Communist League (YCL) which is ruining its political achievements, and also risking the sovereignty of this country. So, the second blunder the Maoist leadership has made is the unleashing of YCL.

Comrade Prachanda and his followers are turning deaf ears to the fact that the YCL activities are not directed at cleaning the society but at cleansing rules, norms, system and civilization of this country. The manhandling of chief district officers, vandalizing of district administrative blocs and attacking on other government officers are nothing but sheer highhandedness, disrespect to the rule of law, and typical to an autocratic and criminal mindset. The YCL cadres have gone beyond control. Not only in Mahendranagar, they have committed such crimes in various other districts and even in Padma Kanya College. Their assertion has been unabated because they have won the psychological war with the leadership. These people are taking the advantage of fissure in the Maoist leadership. Prachanda and Baburam look timid and helpless in controlling YCL because they do not want to lose them to the trio -- Kiran, Badal and Gaurav -- who is growing strong within the party.

If the Maoist leadership has consciously unleashed YCL to do whatever and attack whomever, their strategy is absolutely wrong and will have a detrimental effect on the Maoists themselves. Maybe, they are trying to manage the level of fear that general public had on them before they laid down their weapons. But if they achieve that goal, the CA elections will not take place. If they fail to achieve the goal, they will land on their face in the CA elections. Their acts will also cost the country dear because the feeble administration is simply unable to cope up with the pressure from separatists, fundamentalists and criminals operating in terai. It is high time the Maoist leadership reconsidered its stance and mulled seriously over the future of this country. At the moment, the YCL activities are unacceptable and the Post strongly condemns them.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 17, 2007

Negative intentions

It is unfortunate that the proceedings of the interim parliament (IP) have remained obstructed for a month in a row. MPs from the various political parties, including the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML, and the NC-D, have vowed that they will not allow the parliamentary business to resume until the demands of the Tarai are addressed first. The Maoist MPs tried the same tack for several days but for different reasons. However, CPN-Maoist central member C P Gajurel said on Tuesday that his party would now not disrupt the House. Dinanath Sharma, chief whip of the Maoist parliamentary party, earlier tried to explain that their obstruction had been not over the issue of republic but for demanding a poll date for the constituent assembly (CA), judicial inquiry into the Gaur carnage, proper management of the Maoist cantonments, and corrections in the constituency delimitation commission (CDC). The Maoist MPs from the Tarai region, however, have not gone along with the Madhesi MPs of the other major parties. When MPs even from Prime Minister Koirala’s party are at it, who’s to blame whom?

Though belatedly, Koirala has given a hopeful sign by saying that he will take the initiative to end the impasse by discussing the issue with the eight political parties. The Maoist disruption was not desirable, either, but at least, one knew that its MPs behaved the way they did on party’s orders. But the parties like the NC, the CPN-UML, and the NC-D owe it to the public to explain whether their Madhesi MPs have in theory been defying the party whips. If they have taken a path of defiance, is it not the duty of the respective party leaderships to take disciplinary action? If they are toeing their parties’ tacit line, the leaderships of the parties may be seen to be hunting with the hounds and running with the hares. The public is likely to receive wrong signals from these ironies — the utter lack of party discipline or suspicion of the entire show being stage-managed. On Wednesday, too, the attempt to resume the House business fell flat, leading to its adjournment until May 24.

Blocking the House business, particularly so long, is not a healthy practice. Those Tarai MPs’ demands include a new commission to replace the CDC, which has already submitted its report, and a fully proportional representation system in the CA polls. The intrinsic merits of their demands may be debatable, but most of those MPs who are currently styling themselves as the champions of the Tarai people were conspicuously silent when the delimitation commission work was in full swing. This gives their present activism a ring of mystery. As for the Maoists’ demands, they can be resolved through talks. The in-house agitators should understand that if they continued to push their demands through an obstructionist strategy, tomorrow other MPs who are against, say, a fully proportional representation system, might follow suit. Where will all this lead the country to? The IP is the outcome of Jana Andolan II. If everybody is to hold the parliament hostage to their demands, the CA polls may well and sadly be sidelined.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 17, 2007

Dependency syndrome: Issues for economic adjustment

Bishwambher Pyakuryal

Nepal’s remoteness and underdeveloped small consumer population has been wrestling with developmental dilemma to expand trade and investment and utilise tremendous geographical and ecological diversity. In the past and more so in the so-called post-conflict Nepal, whatever infrastructure development has been made, it is inadequate and inefficient. The task was completed at the expense of investment in direct production. The result is average growths of less than 3% most likely by the end of the Tenth Plan (2002-2007).Nepal’s dependency syndrome has weakened the development capability of the governance. Soaring external debt level and poor investment climate is likely to further affect macro-economic stability. Aid has failed to address wider inequality in income and mass poverty but the debt service ratio remains around one-third to one-fourth of the annual regular expenditure.

India’s policy influence in determining Nepal’s growth has necessitated a debate to find out if Nepal is India locked or India linked. The opinion may differ. There is, however, no debate that Nepal’s economy is irrevocably tied to India. When there is a misunderstanding between the two countries, the penetration of Nepali goods into the Indian market becomes difficult. The trade and transit dispute of 1989, for instance, resulted in 1.5% decline in Nepal’s economic growth. On the contrary, there was a dramatic growth in trade with India during politically stable times. For instance, after signing the Nepal-India Trade Treaty in 1996/97, the trade shot up from 25.9% in 1996/97 to 48.1% in 2001/02.

Currently, Nepal’s share in total trade with India is import dominating. In 2005/06, as against the export of only 25.9%, the import constituted 74.1%. Out of Nepal’s total import of Rs. 175108.0 million, the import from India alone was Rs. 109305.9 million, whereas it remained at Rs. 65802.1 million from other countries. Interesting characteristics has been emerging in the trade front. First, the ranking of Nepal’s priority exports to India such as zinc oxide, vegetable ghee, toothpaste, copper wire rod, M.S. Pipe, and mustard and linseed is declining dramatically. As an example, the export of vegetable ghee in FY 2004/05 was Rs. 4635.9 million but it declined to Rs. 3861.7 million in FY 2005/06. Secondly, the import has excessively increased and remains constant but there is a greater degree of export vulnerability reflecting a declining trend. Nepal should seek technical assistance to facilitate trade by eliminating non-tariff barriers in the existing trade regime. Efforts are also needed to design and negotiate on the provisions of the proposed Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with India for enhancing mutual investment benefit.

The widely discussed advantages of lower wages in Nepal are actually offset by low labour productivity necessitating the need for competitive exchange rate and higher labour productivity. As Nepal’s competitiveness in terms of price, quality and supply potential is weak, she has bad experience in locating proper market of the manufactured goods in India. The country needs to capitalise on her strength offered through economic reform programmes. For instance, Nepal with an access to cheaper raw materials is one of the open economies in the LDCs in general and South Asia in particular, which has an average tariff rate of about only 14%.Nepal has relatively satisfactory banking services, improved telecommunication facilities and enabling environment for foreign investors. In specialised fields such as hydropower generation, there is an opportunity for foreign investors to supply goods and services and technology. Provided the defunct Power Exchange Committee between India and Nepal is reactivated, there is a big prospect for India’s involvement in large-scale projects such as Upper Karnali (300 MW) and Pancheshwar (6,480 MW).

Although India has rescued Nepal in critical periods, Nepal’s increasing dependency has spoilt the innovativeness of the Nepali entrepreneurs. Not much success has been made in tourism sector, mineral exploration and exploitation, ICT, and infrastructure development. This is because of the unresponsive nature of socio-political and economic structure.World growth rate can be raised only if the increased incentives for innovation in leading countries are not counteracted by the loss of too many innovation sectors to the lagging countries with which they trade. The non-developmental market with limited demand around consumer electronics, fine textiles, fancy foods, and toiletries among affluent Nepali urbanites, contributes to persistent inequality and divergence. This necessitates reorientingeconomic planning to improve the incentives for investment and innovation through strengthening the institutions for addressing priority projects as the country’s own long-term self-interest.Dr Pyakuryal is professor of Economics, TU

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 17, 2007

Indian Maoists urge Nepali Maoists to wield arms

TILAK P POKHAREL

KATHMANDU, May 15 - The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-M) has once again warned their Maoist comrades in Nepal to withdraw from parliamentary democracy and return to armed struggle. In an interview of CPI-M General-Secretary "Ganapathy" circulated by CPI-M Spokesperson "Azad" on April 24, Ganapathy said his party is in having debates with the Maoists in Nepal on these questions.

"We are telling them not to have illusions of parliamentary democracy," he said. "We believe there is serious danger of diversion of the people's war in Nepal after the CPN (Maoist) took the stand of multi-party democracy in the name of 21st century democracy."
Urging Nepali Maoists to "firmly" carry on the armed struggle to "final victory", Ganapathy has argued that Maoists can never achieve their aim of putting an end to "feudal and imperialist exploitation" by entering parliament in the name of multi-party democracy.

They will have to either get co-opted into the system or abandon the present policy of power-sharing with the ruling classes and continue armed revolution to seize power," he added. "There is no Buddhist middle way. They cannot set the rules for a game the bourgeoisie had invented."
While urging the CPN-M to withdraw from their agreements with the government, a perturbed Azad, in a statement issued on November 13, had asked the former to "rethink their current tactics".

CPN-M leader, CP Gajurel, had claimed in February that both the Maoist parties of Nepal and India, which share the common communist ideology of seizing power through armed struggle, had patched up after troubled relations for months.
The latest fury toward their Nepali comrades shows that Indian Maoists - also called "Naxalites" - are still not happy with the CPN-M's participation in the government and parliament by leaving the armed struggle.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 16, 2007

Maoist cadres break Kings' statues

The statue of late King Birandra at Dhamboji Chowk in Nepalgunj has become the latest target of continued vandalism carried out by the Maoist-affiliated Young Communist League (YCL).
Tuesday morning, a group of activists of the YCL and All Nepal National Independent Student Union (Revolutionary) dismantled Birendra’s statue. They also announced to erect statues of martyrs in place of the late King’s statute. Last week, YCL members had brought down the statue of late King Tribhuvan in Nepalgunj. Police arrested Bhakta Singh Bohara, Kalu Pandey and Ram Kumar Gupta in connection with the vandalism. The YCL members also vandalised the statues of King Birendra in Ram Bazaar and Birat Chowk and King Mahendra's statue in Ratna Nagar in Pokhara Tuesday morning. Similarly, the Maoist cadres also brought down the statue of King Mahendra at Kalimati Chowk in Kathmandu today.

Meanwhile, CPN (Maoist) chairman Prachanda and CPN-UML leader Bamdev Gautam held discussions in Pokhara this morning on a broad range of issues including establishing a republican set up and forging a leftist alliance. In the meeting, the Maoist supremo requested UML leader Gautam to garner support for the republican proposal that Maoist MP’s tabled at the parliament Sunday and intensify homework for a leftist unity. Gautam is learnt to have taken this request by Prachanda in a positive light and has promised that he would put this before his party’s high command.

Prachanda had left for Pokhara yesterday evening on a personal visit while the UML leader is there to attend a party function. After the meeting which went for half an hour, Prachanda along with his wife and few aides left for the idyllic village of Ghandruk in Kaski where he will remain for the next couple of days. The talk of forging unity between Nepal's left parties is gaining momentum of late as they have become united in their criticism of Nepali Congress (NC). Despite differences between the Maoists and CPN-UML, they have lately agreed to align and form a joint committee to sort out and solve the problems among their cadres at the grass root level.

Source: Nepal News, May 15, 2007