Poor man’s pal

The pay of the 93 attorneys appointed by the court — from the Supreme Court to the district level — to fight on behalf of the litigants too poor to hire lawyers on their own is shamefully low, even for a part-time job. For half a century, the practice has existed of hiring legal practitioners, called appointed attorneys in the court circles, on contract for up to two years. There are two categories of them — the pleaders who are required to possess no more than a Proficiency Certificate in Law get only Rs. 2, 000 per month and the advocates who have to possess a Bachelor’s degree in Law, only Rs. 2, 500. This, too, after their salary increase of Rs. 500 in January.

These attorneys are recognised as civil servants and get much less than even the basic salary of a peon, that stands at Rs. 3, 700 per month. And they are supposed to be defending the rights of the poor people in all three tiers of the judiciary while private practitioners charging individually for the cases make an incredibly high income, not to talk of those whose monthly pickings run to lakhs of rupees.This raises several questions. One is that though the government may say it has looked after the interests of the poor litigants, in practice it amounts to doing so only for the sake of form. On such a salary, who would be willing to take a job other than fresh, often hard-pressed, graduates with just a licence in hand to plead? When they are just completing their ‘internship’ their contract lapses, bringing in a new crop of young people barely out of college. It is also questionable that these attorneys can do full justice to the cases they take up, with experienced, high-charging lawyers arrayed on the other side of the dock. It is also time a study was made of the success rate of the ‘poor cases’ undertaken under the government’s free legal service. But, whether the government may decide to appoint experienced or raw people as attorneys, though the latter would clearly be preferable, the salaries must at least be respectable.

Even more galling is the fact that the Cabinet fixes or changes these salaries. Though the concept behind the system may not be a full-time one, the nature of the job undoubtedly is. For instance, an attorney at the Supreme Court is reported to have dealt with 160 cases in a year. The plight of the appointed attorneys also raises a moral question for the government: How can it expect others in society to honour the minimum wage principle while it itself metes out such an injustice, of all people to those supposed to defend the citizens’ rights. However, a silver lining for these hapless attorneys is a report prepared and recently submitted by a committee headed by apex court judge Anup Raj Sharma. The report recommends treating pleaders as section officers and advocates as under-secretaries. Besides, as the job is contractual, the attorneys are deprived of all the perks and facilities given to regular employees. Because of this it would not be unfair at all if these attorneys received a salary only slightly more than the basic pay of their confirmed counterparts.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 7, 2007

State restructuring: A case for policy choice

Bishwambher Pyakuryal

Nepal is not the only country that faces challenges of restructuring the state. Over the last decade, more than 150,000 large enterprises in 27 transition countries have encountered such revolutionary changes in their political and economic environments. Restructuring is both the quantitative and qualitative change in socio-political, cultural and economic structures. It is a challenging task since restructuring is also linked to globalisation, characterised as the internationalisation of socio-economic phenomenon.The ideal case for restructuring should involve distinct sequencing. The initial question is the forces and constraints for change — the Why? Secondly, it is the paradigm shift required — the What. Thirdly, it is the implementation process — the How, and finally, it is the problems awaiting solution — What is next? Nepal’s restructuring should revolve around these sequences.

The global experience has shown that the escalation of risk is higher if peace is temporarily restored through conflict prevention without simultaneously focusing on economic reforms. Even accelerated growth is meaningful only when it is sustained. The possibility of sustaining growth arises when political reform is backed by socio-economic adjustments. This is necessary since it takes time to transform fragile institutions with illegitimate power structures into peacetime institutions that intend to promote socio-economic interactions among all the actors of development. The vulnerability of externally orchestrated state restructuring should be assessed, especially with regard to the varying capacities of state systems to cope with regional and global forces.

Studies have shown that the fact that the majority of the people do not bother to vote was the reflection of their inability to influence decisions. In Nepal, a field-based study reveals that the government was too far to understand people’s everyday life. People’s hardships were not realised even after the ceasefire. The local communities and vulnerable groups were not included in the decision-making institutions. This is the reason why the majority of the affected communities believe that it is not possible to influence the government and the parties without exerting unconstitutional methods. The post-conflict Nepal should guarantee uninterrupted power of the people to exercise their authority without fear. This is based on the core concept of power that power can change and expand. Power and power relationship can change indicating that if power does not change, empowerment is not possible. Establishing such system may avoid the possibility of today’s majority remaining as tomorrow’s majority.

Accommodating social, economic and political indicators into a composite index of empowerment develops Nepal’s human empowerment index. Out of the three, the political empowerment index is 0.406, which is the highest compared to the other two. As political empowerment has not rescued the people from wider income inequality, there is a risk to interpret higher voter turnout and candidacies per seat in local election as the only indicator of overall development. The restructuring under the proposed federal structure should, therefore, consider recognising local preferences, needs and constraints by accommodating socio-economic and political factors. The analysis of such inter-linkages and execution of interdisciplinary policies is important to restructure conventional assumptions. The policy under federalism should seek to find out what is that justifiable extent of inequality that the individuals would accept.

Most Janajatis and Dalits fall below national average and well below the Brahmins, Chhetris and Newars. Although some Janajatis such as Gurungs, Magars, Rais , Sherpas and Thankali are better off in terms of education and income, but less empowered in joining the civil service. An assessment of inequality and formulation of policies should be the priority. The big challenge is the institutional reforms that will have measurable effects on improving the status of the target populations. Promoting civil self-governance is the fundamental form of democracy. The objective of civil self-governance is to enhance local decision-making and extend range of services to strengthen the future of local democracy. New electoral arrangements are needed for making it easier to vote locally and restructure the ways in which local elected bodies operate. The community should be aware about who is making decisions.Democracy should not be aligned with a single indicator. For the economists, if maintaining macro-economic stability was possible through democracy, the question is why democracy could not then reduce poverty and inequality? Federalism should, therefore, be designed to achieve a greater degree of integration based on a combination of self-rule and shared-rule to justify the continuation of agreed principles of democracy.

Source: The Himalayan Times, May 7, 2007

YCL challenge

Whether or not the Maoist leadership accepts it, the Young Communist League (YCL) can make or break the party, CPN (Maoist). Soon after its inception by comrade Prachanda on February 1 this year, the Maoist leadership has been hell bent to impose YCL in every aspect of people's life. The leadership is not willing to hear anything against the highhandedness and illegal acts their youths are being involved in. Comrade Prachanda even roared from various podiums that the media was trying to pose YCL as terrorists. It is understandable that the Maoist leadership does not wish to irate the YCL because it is comprised of not only militiamen and supporters but also the guerrillas who have been deliberately kept out of the cantonments. The only thing they have failed to understand is, if so many of the young people remain unemployed, and without any source of income, they are destined to become corrupt and disillusioned by the ideology.

Prachanda and Baburam have conceded many a time in their interviews that their party had been overwhelmed by the new members at a point of time, when goons, gangsters, hooligans and mobsters all entered into the party. The criminals and opportunists did so to take benefit of the party's strength to terrorize and extort the general public. Now the same thing has happened to YCL and they are acting innocent. In the name of expanding the party network, the YCL leaders have welcomed local gangsters with open arms. So, knowingly or unknowingly, the YCL has attempted to provide security umbrellas to all sorts of criminals and local goons. The direct interference in people's lives, the illegitimate attempt to discipline the public, forceful takeover of others' property, encroachment in revenue collection mechanism et al have made the Maoists unpopular. At the same time, the seven-party leaders and foreign forces have been apprehensive that they (Maoists) are creating a parallel government and attempting a forceful takeover.

Not that the YCL members are involved only in wrongdoings. They have been involved in many positive aspects like cleaning localities, cleaning rivers, planting trees, managing traffic etc. And they are also into somewhat debatable works like widening of the roads, demolishing houses, mediating in social feuds etc. If the Maoist leadership really wishes to make YCL popular among the people, it has to segregate the criminal elements from the League. The criminal elements will leave the party if they are devoid of the opportunity to extort money. In order to do so, the YCL should be employed only in pure social works, which will heighten the image of the party among the public and the criminal elements will also slip off from the League. Moreover, the income and expenditure of the League should be transparent so as to win the heart and mind of the people.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, May 6, 2007

Maoists all set for action replay

Dina Nath Mishra

It would have surprised me if Maoists of Nepal had not behaved as they behaved in the first week of May 2007. A small group of Nepalese policemen was surrounded by hundreds of Maoist gorillas at night in Suiya village in mid-western market district of Bankey and the ill armed policemen were taken captive. They smashed doors and windows and torched furniture. They were lead by a local Maoist leader Nand Kishore Pandey. It revived memories of days before peace pact of November 2006. This attack left Nepal in tatters and raised doubts over the success of India and UN aided peace process.

It may be recalled that the peace treaty was signed by seven political parties and the Maoists in November 2006. Maoist violence has continued in Nepal for about a decade. Only on April 1, 2007 Maoists joined the Government in Nepal and within a month on May 1, 2007 Maoist president Prachand thundered that they would burst in the Cabinet, in the Parliament, on the streets and also into the cantonment. They demanded that Nepal be declared Republic immediately else they would start urban-centre agitation and bring about the rule of the labours to demolish the monarchy. The May 1 rally and attack by the Maoist gorillas happened on the same day. They did it to make the threat look real, but Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's establishment did not take it seriously.

The Koirala Government's response to the Maoists demands look reasonable. It said that it is only the Constituent Assembly, can declare Nepal a Republic, his Government is not empowered to do so. Let elections be held and let the elected Constituent Assembly declare as they decide and deem fit but the Marxists have adopted the policy of brow beat and dictate. They have their own agenda. Those who have even little knowledge of Marxist history can hardly believe in Maoists intentions of entering into the peace treaty. Marxists of any variety CPI, CPM, Naxalites, Maoists in India or anywhere in the world believe in violence. In West Bengal, they killed large number of Congress leaders. In Kerala they killed hundreds of Sangh Parivar workers and the killings still continue. The Nandigram massacre too continues. They adopt joint front strategy and then start marginalisation of their allies by any means including violence. Umpteen numbers of examples may be cited from the history. In fact anywhere in the world, this strategy has been worked out. Now the same is being practiced in Nepal.

The UN in Nepal has been established at the request of the Government and the Maoists for the peace process and disarming Maoist gorillas. The first phase of disarming them is over. Still, Maoists possess high quality armaments, as these have not been fully deposited in the cantonment under UN observer. The Maoists complain of ill maintained cantonments and put pre-conditions to hoodwink Nepal and the UN. They want early elections as they believe that with the help of gorillas they would out number the political parties. The UN in its report has said that a little delay in holding elections would not be a disaster. Meanwhile, problems of deprived people may be addressed, that is the problems of Madhesis. In terms of population Madhesis account for about 50 per cent. Their contribution to the revenues of Nepal is much more than proportionate. Most of them are not Nepali citizens. Their representation in Army, police and Government establishments is negligible. They are the most neglected in Nepal.

Recently Madhesis revolted against their poor conditions. Most of the political leadership, which is responsible for their plight, is now lending their ears. Their independent leaders have risen to the occasion and they look more united. Meanwhile, the UN has said in its report that their grievances and demands may be addressed before elections. This reason alone may take a lot of time but unless it is done, including settling the question of citizenship, no worthwhile representation of these people is going to be there. As far as the monarch is concerned, he has been stripped of his powers. In no way is he a threat to the present establishment. Declaring Nepal a Republic at this stage appears to be the Maoists alibi for an agitation. Unless the Maoists are fully disarmed and the elections are free and fair, the UN is bound to fail in its objectives. But Maoists are not in a mood to listen to the reason.
The US annual report on nations has declared the Napali Maoists as a terrorist organization. Their terrorist activities are still fresh in the minds of the people. General public has gone cynical. The Maoists are a terrorist group and they can't lead democratically. The UN has a Herculean task. The threatened Maoist agitation may further deteriorate the already complicated political scenario.

Source: The Dail Pioneer, May 6, 2007

Former Maoists declare war on Indian gang

Kathmandu: A group of former Maoists have declared war on an Indian gang preying on businessmen in the border towns of Nepal, warning that they would attack gang members lodged in a key prison if it did not stop criminal activities.
The Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM), a band of former Maoist guerrillas that was recently banned as a terrorist organisation by the US government, has decided to take on the gang of Indian warlord Chhotelal Sahani, that has been unleashing terror in Nepal's frontier town Birgunj and its neighbouring areas.
Though Sahani was captured by the Indian police and is now behind bars in Bihar's Motihari district, people calling themselves his henchmen have continued to extort businessmen, resorting to broad daylight attacks on those who refused to pay up.
Last week, a Birgunj businessman of Indian origin, Vijay Shankar Hada, was shot by miscreants. He is currently under treatment in Kathmandu's Maharajgunj Teaching Hospital.

A month ago, Hada is said to have received threatening phone calls from a man calling himself Sanju Baba, allegedly the right hand of Sahani.
Most of the extortion calls are made from mobile phones with Indian numbers.
Though the beleaguered businessmen have been urging both the Nepal and Indian governments to crack down on the marauding gangs, the security situation continues to be lax in the border towns.
A private radio station, Himalayan Broadcasting Corporation, Sunday said more than 20 businessmen had wound up their activities in Birgunj and shifted either to India or capital Kathmandu.

With the government failing to combat the menace, the JTMM, who are demanding an autonomous state for people of Indian origin in Nepal's southern terai plains, has now taken it upon itself to play Robin Hood.
Pahal Sinha, a JTMM leader in Birgunj, has issued a warning asking the Sahani gang to stop its activities in the town, the radio station said.
Else, it has warned that it will take revenge on the gang members awaiting trial or imprisoned in Birgunj jail, the report said.
The plummeting law and order situation in the plains last month caused Nepal's Election Commission to say it would not be possible to hold the elections for a constituent assembly on June 20, as promised by Nepal's eight-party government.
Though Nepal's 10-year Maoist insurgency formally ended last month with the Maoist guerrillas joining the government, criminal gangs, bands of former Maoists and other armed groups have kept the plains simmering.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service