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

Motion In The House

THE Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoists) has registered a eight point motion in the legislature parliament calling, among others, for the declaration of republicanism from the parliament itself. Moreover, the Maoist legislators presented a collection of over one million signatures to the Speaker of the Parliament to build the strong case in favour of republicanism and also press for declaring the country a republic. While presenting the collection of signatures, Maoist legislators pointed out that the country is making major strides towards republicanism and there is no point in keeping delays to declare Nepal a republican state. The stance of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) has always been to fight monarchy which it labels as a vestige of feudalism and create a republican state without monarchy or the institution of Kingship. The party fought the people's war over a decade with a view to smash feudalism and take the country to the era of republicanism. The party strategy defines the contradiction between feudalism and Nepalese people as the principal form of conflict and it can be resolved, according to it, with the establishment of republicanism in the country.

Not only the Maoists but other democratic party leaders have been talking time and again about what is said as the antithetical relationship between the monarchy and democracy in Nepal. It is argued that the monarchy has consistently maintained its hegemony in the political and social arena of the country and it cannot go together with democracy and human freedom. There may be several arguments for and against monarchy in the present context of Nepal and the national Parliament will definitely scrutinize the pros and cons of monarchy in this country since the motion to this effect has already been registered in the national parliament. What need not be overlooked is the fact that the interim constitution sets forth that the first meeting of the constituent assembly shall take decision with respect to monarchy. It would be prudent to wait till the election to the constituent assembly is held and let the first meeting of the constituent assembly decide about the destiny of monarchical institution. As it is a sensitive and delicate issue of a sovereign concern of the people, an elected and popularly mandated institution should take decision regarding this subject.

Source: The Rising Nepal, May 15, 2007