HERE UNDERSTAND CHINA BETTER

Could you please highlight some achievements of the 18th SAARC Summit?

The summit, which issued 36-point declaration, is a big success. Framework Agreement on Energy Cooperation is one of the major achievements. The issue of migration has been included in the declaration for the first time. SAARC leaders promised to collaborate and cooperate for orderly and responsible management of labor migration from South Asia to ensure safety. Member states agreed on the issue of security and wellbeing of their migrant workers in the destination countries outside the region.

Furthermore, SAARC leaders emphasized on linking South Asia with contiguous regions, including Central Asia, and beyond by all modes of connectivity.

Why could not be motor-vehicle and railways agreements signed?

Some of member states were yet to complete preparation for signing those agreements. The meeting of the transport ministers is reported to be held within next three months to finalize and approve the remaining two agreements.

Please talk about the role of SAARC observers.

Of the nine observers in SAARC, China, South Korea, European Union, Japan and Australia play active role. China has been supporting to the SAARC Development Fund. China this time pledged donation of US$ 550,000 for SAARC’s capacity-building. Australia and European Union are supporting the SAARC in agriculture sector. Japan and South Korea are providing support to various programs of the SAARC.

In fact, one of the biggest achievements of the summit is to give better role to observers. Now, they have been given role to develop a concept paper for finalizing projects in which they want to invest. These concept papers will be circulated to all member states. If member states agree on the proposal of particular projects, observers and

member states will sit together and finalize the projects. The identified areas of the projects include energy, agriculture, public health, connectivity, environment, and so on.

What is your opinion about the innovation of the regional centers?

SAARC members agreed to close down three Regional Centers and merge four centers in order to set up SAARC Environment and Disaster Management Centre. Some of those centers could not perform as expected. So, member states decided to form new regional centers to cut down the huge financial burden.

I expect that the newly merged and established centers will perform better in the days to come. Member states are ready to make the centers effective and result-oriented.

The SAARC is criticized for moving in a slow pace, why?

Yes, in some quarters, SAARC is moving very slowly and not doing well as other regional bodies--European Union and ASEAN. But given the history and experience of SAARC, I would say it has been making good progress so far. We are going to do many things to make it more dynamic. I am very much optimistic about SAARC’s future.

Ways to make SAARC more dynamic

After the 18th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu on November 26-27, Mr. Arjun Bahadur Thapa, the Secretary General of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), told APD his comments on the Summit and its future. Excerpts:

ISSUE 17 | DECEMBER 2014 | 8 PAGES | RS. 5.00 In association with

Picture this: After watching the morning news on a Haier-brand TV, a foreigner packs up his Lenovo laptop and drives his Geely car to his job at an overseas subsidiary of a Chinese private company. This vision is likely to become a common occurrence on foreign soil soon, as Chinese firms are eyeing expansive and specialized outbound investment abroad.

“The year 2014 marks another milestone for the ‘going global’ push after China’s entry into the World Trade Organization [WTO] in 2001, as outbound direct investment [ODI] is expected to outpace foreign direct investment [FDI] for the first time ever this year,” Huang Mengfu, honorary president of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said at the inaugural meeting of the China Outbound Forum held in south China’s tropical city of Sanya last weekend.

Nearly 5,000 Chinese firms invested in 154 countries and regions in the

first ten months of 2014, with ODI by non-financial firms rising by 17.8 percent year on year to 81.9 billion U.S. dollars, while FDI in the Chinese mainland dropped 1.2 percent year on year to 95.9 billion U.S. dollars, the Commerce Ministry said last week.

The State Council, China’s cabinet, on Nov.30,

released a much shorter list of ODI projects needing government approval to encourage enterprises to enter the international market.

“A more comprehensive national support strategy and mechanism for going global will soon be in place, as evidenced by efforts by the government to further relax regulations relating to outbound investment and the

pushing ahead of regional cooperation initiatives,” Huang said.

However, the roads to foreign lands are not paved with gold. Transactional and operational failures haunt many Chinese firms due to a lack of trust with local stakeholders, fierce competition and ignorance of the local regulatory and cultural environment, said U.S. law firm Covington & Burling LLP.

“You have to do your homework before venturing overseas, and it takes time, talent and technique to build trust with local stakeholders,” Long said.

Meanwhile, in-fighting among domestic competitors rushing to undercut each other is to blame for much of the overseas anti-dumping accusations, Long said.

“You have to play by the rules of the local market and honor transparency and fair competition,” said Cao Dewang, chairman of Fuyao Group, a global leading automobile glass maker with investment in about ten countries.

New wave of “going global”

While once enjoying a well-oiled fleet of government vehicles, county officials in Xinyu city can now be seen walking to work.

Among them is Zhou Minsheng, deputy secretary general of the Xinyu City Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in east China’s Jiangxi Province.

As a veteran working 25 years in government, he enjoyed a chauffeur-driven commute for the last 10 years. Earlier this year, reforms led his branch to auction off 80 percent of their government vehicles. “Now I have to walk to work,” he said.

On Dec. 4, 2012, CPC leaders introduced an eight-point rule to fight against corruption and bureaucracy. The campaign requires officials from various levels

to minimize meetings, cut government spending and follow strict housing and vehicle standards.

From June 2013 to September 2014, the CPC initiated a “mass line” campaign, calling for officials to renew focus on the public. Part of the campaign included eliminating more than 114,000 government vehicles, 95.5 percent of the target number.

In March, reform on

government vehicles was included in China’s State Council government work report for the first time. Zhou describes the reform as one “with the most decisive resolution.”

In Xinyu, 130 vehicles, or one sixth of the previous amount, were kept. These vehicles are now equipped with a positioning system that allows travel routes to be tracked by the public.

Pedal to the metal on vehicle reforms

GADHIMAI FESTIVAL SEE MORE PICTURE ON PAGE 4

Mr. Arjun Bahadur Thapa

2 OPINION

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Prologue: On 14 November 2014, “Department of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies”, TU, Nepal and Frederick Elbert Stiftung, Germany, organized an interaction on “Emerging Trends of Nepalese Diplomacy”. This author had a paper entitled “Shift of World Order and Its Nexus to the Republic of Nepal”, in which, it was recommended that SAARC Summit 2014 should elect China as its full member. During the floor discussion, one lady argued that China is not a South Asian country, if to be implied also, even the name of SAARC needs to be changed. This author realized that there is a dire need of acknowledgement to academia, and leadership in SAARC countries, that those looking for the answer of the interrogation of why China must be a member of SAARC.

Geo-proximity perspective The last member of SAARC

is Afghanistan. Afghanistan does not belong to South Asia, but Central Asia in Western perspective; and West Asia in Far Eastern/Japanese perspective. Afghanistan’s entry to SAARC did not compel this organization to change its name. So, China’s entry also doesn’t propel SAARC to change its beautiful name. Secondly, China is a huge landscape. It is directly connected to South Asia, because, China, out of 8 SAARC countries, borders to five of in the region -- Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Bhutan. China has a 2,000KM long border with SAARC giant India, and more than 1400KM with the SAARC

Capital country Nepal alone.

The World soft power paradigm

China is not only Asia’s soft power, ahead of Japan and India, but also of the whole world. Significant to Nepal and SAARC are two banks-Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) founded on 24 October 2014 headquartered in Beijing and BRICS International Development Bank headquartered in Shanghai in parallel to WB, IMF and ADB. Both banks range a capacity of US$ 50bn each. China deserves a special position and say in both AIIB and IDB. This is a privilege for SAARC.

In President Xi’s words, “China’s economic growth serves as a main engine for global economic growth, and China is one of the largest contributors to the G20’s comprehensive growth-strategies.” Considering this attitude of the Chinese leadership, a question comes to mind, why, only due to India’s unwillingness, SAARC members should be excluded from the ripe economic opportunities?

Regional soft power conclaveIndia must confess that China

already is a soft power in South Asia. She is already having trade of more than US$ 150bn with SAARC countries, whereas, India has export to South Asia of US$ 17.3bn and import from it 2.45bn only. China has a trade of nearly US$15bn with 2nd power of SAARC Pakistan alone. Similarly, Indian export to the world is of US$ 312bn whereas India imports from the world of the cost of US$ 450bn. The target of Sino-Indian trade for 2015 is US$ 100bn and the Trade Deficit to India is nearly of US$ 31bn. These data reveal that China is already in South Asia.

Comparatively, for India, China alone is the larger market than ASEAN countries having trade volume of US$ 73bn/a. On the other hand, China is supporting Modi’s “Diamond Quadrilateral”-Chennai-Kolkata-

Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai high speed rail tracks starting from Delhi-Chennai, the world’s 2nd longest of 1,754KM with 300KM/h speed train system costing US$ 326bn. On railways development, India has 11,000KM of Rail Tracks in 67 years but China, in 2013, the operating lineage possesses 100,000KM. Thus, even though, the 3rd largest soft power of Asia, India is already benefiting from China. Therefore, barring China in SAARC is counter-productive to smaller SAARC members.

Further to it, China is investing US$ 30bn, and providing US$ 20bn in the form of concessional loan to South Asia. Also not to forget that China provides 10,000 scholarships and 5,000 youth training programs for next five years to South Asia besides a support of US$ 550,000 to the SAARC Secretariat.

The Connectivity approach China and India have come

out as they rose to power. Xi’s THEZ (Trans-Himalayan Economic Zone) and Modi’s HIT (Highways, Information Ways and Transmission Ways) both appeal the dimensions of connectivity in South Asia. This author’s breakdown of Him Canal, Him-Rails, Him-Highways and Him Air Ways all need huge investments to make South Asia the hub of 21st Century.

India must realize that she cannot do the herculean task alone. Therefore, China is a “must” member as the development-partner in South Asian endeavor. China has already done the 8th Wonder of the World to the North of South Asia i.e. Karakorum Highway- the “Silk Road” and the 21st-Century Maritime Route to the South-East, South and West of South Asia. Thus, the “Deeper Integration for Peace and Prosperity”, envisioned by the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu, is not complete without Chinese presence in the organization.

Why China Must Be A SAARC Member?

BY BINAY PAJIYAR

A new wave of change has gained momentum in the southern plains. Despite the land’s glorious history, representatives of the Madhesh failed to reach to the grassroots level and make people realize that the major issues of Madhesh are ‘colonial suppression’ and ‘racial discrimination’. People of the plains, who are rightly called Black Buddhas, had and still have great expectations from Kathmandu. Several Madhesees sacrificed their lives for democracy, which they anticipated would guarantee their right to participate in all state levels and organs.

As Adam Smith in his popular books ‘Wealth of Nations’ and ‘Theory of

Moral Sentiments’ clarifies about the veil of ignorance. This veil of ignorance among the Madhesee people made them suffer from hatred and discrimination.

The Madhesh uprising of 2007/08 scattered the feelings of nationalism among the Madheshee people encouraging for resurgence of Madheshee identity at the national and international level. The major demands of the movement were to establish Madheshee identity at all levels, and proportionate inclusion of Madheshees in all state organs. After the martyrdom of 54 Madheshees, an agreement was signed between the representatives of Madhesh and the government. Though the agreement couldn’t address the sentiments of the Madheshees, they, however, rejoiced with the thought that suppression,

discriminatory behavior would end.

Dr C K Raut, in his book “History of Madhesh” mentions the colonial rule on Madhesh terming it as ‘harsher’ than the British imperialism. Rather than addressing the sentiments of the Madhesh movement, the government went on suppressing the voices of the Madheshees. Several youths have been killed in the name of encounter.

James A Robinson in his book “Why Nations Collapse” blames non-inclusive institutions and nepotistic approach by the ruling class as the major factors behind a state’s failure. He mentions, in his highly acknowledged book, that countries like Somalia and Nepal are on the verge of collapse.

(The writer is the Director at Help Madhesh Foundation)

Resurgence of MadheshBY SAPHALA PRADHAN

Cleaning the holy river

Bagmati River once hailed as ‘clean, pristine and holy’ has turned into a stinking open sewer. There was a time when citizens of the Kathmandu Valley used to take a holy dip in the Bagmati River, conducting early morning prayers and worships with the belief of cleansing all their sins. This seems distant history now.

Anthropologists believe Bagmati River as the source of Nepalese civilization and urbanization. The holy river now faces serious environmental and ecological challenges with its waters losing purity and freshness with the deterioration of quality and integrity.

“The Bagmati River has huge cultural and economic value for the people of Nepal but it is suffering badly from rising demands for fresh water and serious pollution, which has left it biologically dead in the Kathmandu Valley,” said

Arnaud Cauchois, Senior Water Resources Specialist in ADB’s South Asia Department.

What can be seen as a silver lining is that some people have shown intense concern to the degradation of Bagmati’s dignity and quality with equal importance from the media. Social workers, intellectuals, youths and local organizations

are making efforts in the name of Bagmati Safai Abhiyan, a weekly cleaning program, which has crossed more than 78 weeks.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan and grant assistance of $30 million to improve and manage Nepal’s stressed

Bagmati River Basin. ADB’s funding will also finance river bank beautification from Gokarna Temple to Sinamangal Bridge including river walls, and walkways using traditional Nepalese architecture and materials. If the plans that are in place are actually implemented, the river will see a facelift for sure.

BY DR BISHNU HARI NEPAL

In 1411 Chinese Admiral Zheng He erected a stone tablet- translated into Persian, Tamil and Chinese, near the Sri Lankan coastal town of Galle, with an inscription appealing to the Hindu gods to bless his efforts to build peaceful world based on trade and commerce.

And, now after six hundred years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is espousing a similar goal. For this, unlike Zheng He, President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang are relentlessly working in appealing political leaders throughout Europe and Asia to advance their cause.

Xi and top level Chinese officials are emphasizing that the goal of the Silk Road economic initiative is to revive ancient ties of friendship in the contemporary globalized world, rooting in the growing prosperity gap between eastern and western China.

At present, in China the economic activities are concentrated on the cities and special economic zones in the east. This has generated energy supply and environmental constraints that are hampering China’s ability to achieve the sustainable and inclusive growth. The government hopes that Silk Road initiative will make China’s west and southwest regions the engines of the next phase of the country’s development.

In September of last year, Xi in his speech at Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University announced the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” a new foreign policy initiative aimed at boosting international cooperation and joint development throughout Eurasia. To guide the effort, Xi identified five specific goals: strengthening economic collaboration, improving road connectivity, promoting trade and investment, facilitating

currency conversion and bolstering people-to-people exchanges.

Coincidently in mid-September this year, Xi was busy in making state visits to Tajikistan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India to open a new chapter for China’s neighborhood diplomacy that features amity and cooperation.

For this, Xi signed more than 60 cooperative documents with these four countries as they are the pivot points of the “One Belt and One Road” initiatives (the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road) with which China has historic ties and interwoven contemporary interests, and all of them are expected to ride on the fast train of China’s development to fulfill their dreams as well.

Most of the four countries, along with the members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), have pledged to actively participate in constructing the “belt” and the “road”.

For instance, Xi’s Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa welcomed his “Maritime Silk Route” development doctrine to be implemented in this “Pearl of South Asia” country as it echoes with Sri Lanka’s idea of building a maritime shipping center in the Indian Ocean.

And, Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom hailed saying the initiative will more closely linked Asian nations with each other. However, on the other side even to get tacit nod from other Asian countries, especially with some ASEAN members have come up a great headache.

Due to maritime disputes. China’s diplomacy still has a long way to go to materialize its “One Belt and One Road” grand dream.

(The author is the Past Founder General Secretary of Young Philosophers’ Society)

China’s “Belt and Road”

BY TRILOK SHARMA

READERS’ FORUM

3ECONOMY

Firstly could you elucidate Nepal’s current national economy and the financial situation?

With numerous problems, Nepal is one of the least developed countries. The income level here is low, but development and investment cost is high. Despite all these, we have been managing our economy in a satisfactory manner. Our overall macro situation and deficit is under control. Our debt level is low. We were able to maintain 5.2% growth last fiscal year and we do expect to achieve 6% growth this year. However, due to the huge landslides and floods this year, the country’s agriculture may not yield as expected. Our main objective is to attract investment as much as possible to boost our export level. Therefore, our major challenge at the moment is to promote export by inviting infrastructural investment, especially in hydro, agriculture and tourism.

What is your impression about Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2014 held on November 11-12?

The theme of the summit

‘Accelerating Investment in Infrastructure’ was appropriate and timely. The government is giving high emphasis on infrastructure development. Nepal, as I said earlier, has numerous problems, including power shortage, poor road network, lack of international airports, and irrigation systems. The major objective of the conference on infrastructure development was to attract investment in these sectors. Fortunately, we received positive and encouraging response.

Foreign Aid is very important for Nepal. How about its utilization?

Utilization of projects is going on very well. Of course, some projects are not doing well. Actually, it depends on the situation, participation, commitment and the nature of the project. Some projects are delayed at the implementation level due to contractual problems, performance of contractors, and other factors. But as a whole, Nepal’s performance in foreign projects is improving.

Corruption is also a challenge. How does the government plan to

rein in it?Corruption is getting worse.

The government is putting best efforts to address this problem. The anti-corruption body, CIAA has been empowered with resources. This watch-dog has initiated action against corrupts and financial irregularities. The Prime Minister has ‘zero tolerance’ policy, and the government will not tolerate any form of corruption.

What is the biggest challenge for you as finance minister?

The major challenge is how to meet the rising aspirations of Nepalese people within limited resources. There is a huge challenge for development, to push the country into a higher growth trajectory. For this, you need to make huge investment from public and private sector. Therefore, finding investable resources and good projects are some of the major issues.

What is your opinion on Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)?

Immediately after China

announced its intention for AIIB, China’s Deputy Minister invited us. We instantly gave our consent and we are happy to be a part of it. We believe that it will help in the integration of Asian economy and to tackle the problem of infrastructure deficiency. Since our infrastructural need is enormous, this bank will support in financing the projects. We are pleased that the bank will be operational by 2015 end.

Some people think that AIIB will challenge Asian Development Bank (ADB)?

I don’t believe there is any competition between these two banks. It is complementary more than competition. Asia needs huge investment in infrastructure projects. We have only one regional bank which is not in a capacity to invest in the infrastructure. Therefore, if we can have another bank of similar size, it can be complementary. ADB is worried that the new bank may not observe the same level of good governance and safeguard environmental and other financial factors. But, we are fully assured that the new bank will maintain the internationally

accepted standards.What should be done to make

best use of Nepal’s strategic location?

Nepal is situated between the two huge economies within a population of about 2.7 billion. Both India and China are huge investment centers and we want to benefit from them through tourism and investment. For this, we need to develop our infrastructure. We also expect Indian and Chinese investors and huge number of tourists coming to Nepal.

What are the reasons of Nepal’s trade deficit?

We are not competitive. We have not exploited our hydro resources at its fullest. Once we develop our hydro potentiality, we will be in a position to export surplus energy that will address our trade deficit. Similarly, we have also not been able to promote tourism. Our export competitiveness is very low. We need to invite more investment, raise productive manpower, and adopt modern technology to produce goods and services.

We expect to achieve 6% growth this fiscal year.

Nepal fails to develop hydro potentiality and to promote tourism.

Corruption is getting worse, hurting the economy.

AIIB is complementary with ADB more than competitor.

Nepal’s performance in foreign projects is improving.

How to meet people’s rising aspirations with limited resources?

Talking exclusively to APD recently, Minister for Finance Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat expressed optimism towards pushing Nepal into a higher growth trajectory. Excerpts:

While many of his colleagues were hunting new job or intending to go overseas after graduation, Abhibandu Kafle had other things in mind. The 21 year old information security enthusiast, along with some of his intimate friends started his own company called “Entrust solutions”.

The firm works on vulnerability assessment, penetration testing and information system audit, and the clients include some of the reputed business players in Nepal including Surya Nepal and Civil Bank Pvt. Ltd.

“Initially, the days were tough. While many of my friends got easy job and remuneration, I had to earn with struggle. There was no other way,” he shared. Six people started the enterprise and three more joined in a couple of months, making it a strong team of nine.

Abhibandu argues that entrepreneurship is about creating a value in the society, not just about solving the problems of unemployment.

Jiwan Khatiwada, 23, also started his own company few months ago. His firm, E-Web Tech Pvt. Ltd works on web development and software solutions. “Till now, we have created and maintained websites of half a dozen INGOs and other reputed organizations. We are

also working on our own product,” Jiwan shared his experience.

Starting a company is tough at the beginning but it gives a great pleasure in a long run. “You become master of your own fate,” he exclaimed.

Jiwan suggests youngsters being very careful in choosing partners with whom they create a syndicate. A good entrepreneur is a combination of marketing, management and technical skills.

“Teamwork and the habit of respecting others are mandatory,” mused he.

A simple idea may lead to a great innovation. Decades ago, Facebook was also a university project but nobody would have thought that the social networking site would one day gain a huge surge of popularity and thus become an integral part of everyone’s lifestyle. Indian entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani started his business with one rupee in his hand but today Reliance – company, the

great man founded in 1966 – is regarded as one of the biggest business ventures in the world.

In Nepal, the concept of

entrepreneurship is at very premature stage. Here, we

still believe in going to the universities,

receiving higher degrees with good marks and

getting a lucrative job, preferably on civil

service. “Youths have to be taught

in such a way that they turn into job creators, not the job seekers,” Jiwan argued.

It’s not that all startups get to the top. Some of them succeed straightway, some take a bit of time and others collapse immediately. “There is nothing called “easy” in the world of business ventures,” Jiwan pondered.

Be job creators, not job seekers BY SHIVA BHUSAL

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The operation of Rasuwagadhi custom point certainly facilitates Nepal- China trade by reducing dependency on Tatopani route, minimizing logistic cost, transportation cost and expanding market access easily.

Now there are many actions to be done in order to facilitate the trade with construction of dry port, warehouse, quarantine laboratory facility, road construction and maintenance, bank, and providing efficient service to tourists visiting Nepal and China. The Rasuwagadhi route will have positive impact on tourism as well as on local economic development by providing employment to local people, building up people to people relationship and local market development for income generation of local people.

The expansion plan of roadways

and railway upto Kerung will further create opportunities in trade promotion. Nepal can get cooperation from Asian Infrastructures Investment Bank for its development.

Besides the opportunities, there are also some threats to Nepal .The trade deficit may escalate further. Nepal cannot immediately improve export strength significantly but Chinese exporters have easy market access to Nepal. Though transportation curtailing is problem in Tatopani area, it will remain at Rasuwagadhi too that escalates transportation cost.

The officials of both the governments and local chambers should cooperate and show interest in controlling unauthorized trade at the border point. There is a need of capacity building to take benefit of zero duty facility offered by China for export promotion of Nepal

Now the ball is in the Nepalese court.

BY PANCHA RATNA SHAKYA

Opportunities and challengesOpportunities and challenges

China and Nepal jointly inaugurated the Jilong Integrated Check post of China and the upgraded Rasuwagadhi Customs Point of Nepal on Dec.1.

Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat

4 PHOTO FEATURE

GADHIMAI FESTIVALTEXT/PHOTOS PRATAP THAPA

Gadhimai festival is a month-long Hindu festival that is held once every five years at the Gadhimai temple of Bariyarpur, in Bara District, about 175 km south of the capital Kathmandu in southern Nepal, near the Indo-Nepal border. As the world’s second largest sacrificial slaughter, the event involves approximately 100,000 animals including water buffaloes, pigs, goats, chicken and pigeons–with the goal of pleasing Gadhimai, the goddess of power.

About one million people participate in the festival, in which 70% of the devotees are the people from the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Devotees believe that animal sacrifices for the Hindu goddess Gadhimai will end evil and bring prosperity.

5SPECIAL REPORT

The Gadhimai Mela, which is the second largest in Southern Asia after the Kumbh Mela in India, is known to some as the “festival of murderers” and the largest animal sacrifi ce in one place in the world. The location of the festival, a remote village in rural and impoverished Southern Nepal creates a host of logistical problems for the organizers of the event. Sanitation is almost nonexistent with participants using fi elds and streets as raw open sewers, and people moving about barefoot on a dirt ground mixed with bodily fl uids, feces, trash and mud.

“Major troubles include sanitation, accessible and safe drinking water and dirty, unpaved and narrow roads,” stated Manoj Patel, our local guide at the event, who works closely with the organizing committee and has been coming to the Gadhimai Mela since he was a boy. While walking to the site from the local school we were staying at, we were packed tightly into crowds with people trampling over one another, pushing, pulling and screaming and with the occasional leper begging in the middle of the road.

With all of the diffi culties, locals at the event are extremely excited for the festival. “I am very, very excited,” exclaimed a man I stopped to speak to. Another local told me that the Gadhimai Mela is over 500 years old and has been passed from generation to generation. When asking a local about the good luck the sacrifi ces bring to the faithful, they replied that killing the animals can bring “good luck in your exam, good luck in your job, good luck in many other things.”

Sia Madra, a local I spoke to while he was turning a wheel used to sharpen blades for the sacrifi ce, said that Gadhimai is a “top level ma (mother goddess)” who is very powerful. “[I am] very, very happy” he exclaimed while a group began to coalesce around us. He was curious to see a foreigner at the event, as were the other locals sharpening their large blades in preparation for the sacrifi ce the following day.

Hindus were not the only ones at the event. “It is very important” said Moien Alam, a young Muslim man who was surrounded by friends. When I asked him why people sacrifi ce animals here he said; “They worship to make the god happy. They think their dreams will be success[ful].” When questioned whether he would be sacrifi cing he said “No, I am from Muslim culture. I don’t believe in this.”

All during the day on November 27th, locals and devotees prayed and offered thanksgiving to the goddess while bringing shaking and famished water buffalo, some having traveled over one hundred kilometers, to the brick walled arena close to the main temple. Some of the buffalo collapsed from exhaustion with some smaller ones being carried into the arena by locals. Others were seen carrying pigeons or moving he-goats around the fair grounds.

This year for the fi rst time ever, local offi cials at the event had sold all of the expected 10,000 buffalo to a Nepalese meatpacking company and distribution center who acquired the meat for an estimated 15 million Nepalese Rupees. According to sources, the company also had plans of distributing some of the meat to Chinese meat packing companies.

The Gadhimai festival was not without controversy and protests. Some have condemned the Mela for distorting religion and simply becoming a big business, with one offi cial saying that renting space for the event for a stall and business costs 500 Nepalese Rupees per meter. Buffalo meat was also priced at over

1,000 NPR per kilo. There was also intense competition amongst locals to be elected to the Gadhimai Trust, which now offers lucrative incentives since the fair brings in millions of rupees in business.

I spoke with Manoj Gautam, currently the president of the Animal Welfare Network Nepal and close friend of famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall. He was there with a small ground protesting the event and hoping to stop it before it began. “Hinduism is all about ahimsa, non-violence and paropakar which are helping others. Respect to life forms, all life forms that is Hinduism for me. I think that says it all.” He, along with other activists and religious leaders, tried until the early morning hours to convince the local offi cials and head priest to stop the sacrifi ce but they were unable to and the sacrifi ce went on as scheduled.

Early in the morning on November 28th, the local priest was gathered with family members and

other religious offi cials to begin the sacrifi ce by offering fi ve animals to the goddess herself. People jeered as locals started to cut the buffalo’s head off which ushered in the 2 hour death sentence for almost 4,000 buffalo. The macabre scene was reminiscent of something seen in more primitive times with the modern arena serving as a contemporary coliseum.

Pandemonium broke out as locals tried to scale the tall red brick wall built to house the buffalo with police offi cers hitting those who attempted to climb with long sticks and short rods. Shouting, whistle blowing and blood shrieking cries of “Jay Gadhimai Ki” were heard throughout the area, as people clamored to see the blood spectacle which started around nine in the morning. The arena of slaughter eventually drew so many people who continued to scale the walls despite threats and beatings, that police, visibly frustrated at the unmanageable and unwieldy crowd and tired from beating devotees back, eventually

allowed locals and spectators to sit and watch the gory unfolding.

There were approximately 500 men authorized to slaughter the animals and registered with the local committee. While in the beginning the men swung their khukuris, or Nepalese curved knives, with precision cutting the animals’ heads off with one or at most two swings, as time went on the men grew tired and many of the buffalo were maimed and suffered multiple blows before fi nally dying. Towards the end, the remaining buffalo were locked into a dance of death with a few butchers chasing after them. Others helped the locals in subduing and cornering the animals to fi nish them off.

Some of the headless carcasses still gasped for air while others continued to thrash about for minutes after decapitation. Air escaped the lungs of the water buffalo making crude whistling and gargling sounds as it met blood and other bodily fl uids on the way out.

Standing in the arena towards the end of the sacrifi ce, one could smell death. The putrid atmosphere was revolting. Worshippers still milled about and prayed, offering pujas and prayers to the goddess. However, after the gory spectacle had ended, one could sense a period of refl ection as people turned away to go about their days and enjoy the festivities while the fi eld slowly turned into a cesspool of rot and decay.

As the sun started to set on the 28th, thousands of carcasses were left rotting in the blazing heat and sun, strewn about on the arena grounds. They had yet to be collected or even properly stored and had already started to decay with fl ies swarming and bodily fl uids and feces still coming out of the animals.

Offi cial sources say that the company has rescinded its offer after only around 4,000 of the estimated 10,000 buffalo were slaughtered. The fi nancial blow to the Gadhimai organizing committee will have repercussions for the future festival in fi ve years time.

Finally on the 29th, the animal carcasses were carried away into trucks by hide collectors with the heads and internal organs remaining on the arena grounds. Estimates of the water he-buffalo slaughtered varied from 10,000 to just under 4,000 with most estimating approximately 5,000 buffalo were killed. Sources now say that it was between 3,000 to 4,000 buffalo, far under the approximately 18,000 buffalo sacrifi ced at the previous Mela in 2009.

The future of the Gadhimai Mela remains uncertain as international and local activists pressure the Gadhimai Trust and organizing committee to cease all animal slaughter. One thing is certain, the amount of animals sacrifi ced this year pales in comparison to the amount of animals slaughtered in previous Melas.

(Christopher Helali, a freelance journalist who now studies philosophy at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China.)

Religion of non-violence sees some 100,000 animals slaughtered

BY CHRISTOPHER HELALI

PHOTO/PRATAP THAPA

6 HEALTH

63 million children under-five being stunted in SA

“South Asia is at the epicenter of the global stunting crisis with over 63 million children under-five being stunted. In our region, one third of women are underweight, anemic or both, two-thirds of young children are fed diets that do not meet the minimum requirements for healthy growth and development, and 40% of households practice open defecation. We must take action now” said Karin Hulshof, Regional Director at the UNICEF South Asia Regional Conference on Stop Stunting concluded on November 10-12, 2014.

Child stunting remains one of the greatest development challenges to South Asia. Stunting results in slow growth velocity, stunted physical growth, and poor cognitive development.

Aging service industry embraces golden age

China has entered a rapid population-aging period and its aging service industry is also embracing a golden age for development, said Wu Yushao, deputy director of the China National Committee on Aging at a forum on Dec.2.

According to Wu, the country’s elderly population is expected to reach 260 million by 2020, which means demand for aged care, medical and health services and rehabilitation nursing will increase persistently.

Meanwhile, China’s economic transformation and upgrading and policy support will also promote development of the aging service industry, noted Wu.

Breakthroughdiscovery to fight malaria

Australian scientists have made a breakthrough discovery in a new way to destroy the malaria parasite, which kills more than 500,000 people every year.

Scientists from the Australian National University (ANU), working with other research groups, have found that certain molecules are capable of disabling a molecular salt pump on the surface of the malaria parasite, and this in turn causes the parasite to fill up with salt and burst.

NEWS DIGEST

What is the main problem that the Health Ministry faces?

It has so many problems. Health Ministry is given the least priority compared to other ministries. It is due to coalition governments in the past that remained unstable. Health ministry always fell in the hands of small parties. The parties all the time are busy for their own wellness but rarely worked for the nation’s wellness. But we have been working hard to address these problems by bringing different policies.

What has happened to the health sector since you became the minister about 10 months ago?

After 22 years we have formulated New Health Policy and we are about to bring out Immunization Policy, New Population Policy soon. In a few months we formulated Blood Transfusion Policy and Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Action Plan. Since long Bir Hospital under National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) had no any CT-Scan machine, we have set up CT-Scan machine in the government hospital now. After a long period, we organized NAMS senate meeting and we are organizing first convocation of NAMS very soon after 13 years. We are going to establish Pokhara Health Science Academy (PHSA) and Kidney Centre. Nepal has been able to become WHO executive board member for the first time. In addition we are formulating Urban Health Policy for the first time.

What significant changes in New Health Policy recently brought?

Universal Health Coverage is our fundamental guiding principle in the policy and it is set to make health services reach to remote and rural people who are deprived of it now. We are making vital registration process in urban areas to bring poor people in health statistics which are lacking in the context of districts or regions already declared fully immunized. We are planning to establish some regional trauma centers besides Central Trauma Centre inaugurated recently in Kathmandu. Health centers are located at rural areas but people are migrating to cities. The new policy will provide health services on the basis of population density. New policy has provision of a 25 bed well equipped hospital for thousands of people and within the reach of 15 minutes distance. We have planned to invest

maximum Rs. 900,000 for each patient of Kidney, Alzimer and Parkinsonism diseases.

It is reported that service provided by government hospitals is very poor.

The real situation is not disclosed. Media have made them show worse in the voice of private hospitals and stakeholders. If we go to private hospitals, we can see no hospital has multidisciplinary treatment system as in the government hospitals. Private hospitals refer serious cases to government ones. They have rumored about their public competitors. They are cheating and exploiting patients. Only some private hospitals are doing well. We have formed a body to check cheating attitude of private hospitals.

If what you said is true, why our leaders including PM Sushil Koirala, K.P. Oli go abroad for their treatment?

I am very serious about this fact. We have set up VIP and VVIP wards at Bir Hospital separately. We are hopeful such overseas treatment will definitely decrease in future. In fact Nepal lacks modern and sensitive treatment equipments.

What is the annual budget for Health Ministry?

Very minimum budget is allocated for health ministry, just below 6% of the total budget despite that in different international conventions Nepal’s government promised to allocate at least 9%.

Where do the foreign health funds/grants go?

Some foreign grants are directly spent on the field without our touch; we are trying to make them come through the ministry. Some grants come as medical goods (vaccines, drugs, etc.). Limited funds are provided for confined areas. Those funds are not invested in the health infrastructure development. WHO, DFID, USAID, etc. are funding with this strategy.

What causes Nepalese people suffer most in the health field?

Besides lack of health insurance system, dangerous diseases of kidney, heart and cancer are the major challenges.

How do you analyze the health status of Nepal?

Neonatal death rate has

decreased to 23 per cent from 32 per cent. Quality life and health conscious level of people have upped, number of medical institutions have increased, and medical education has been standardized. Three hundred five doctors are enrolled directly with the ministry for service, 2,250 sub-health posts have been promoted to health posts. Previously doctors used to ignore the government but now young health professionals are showing good interest to work with us. Our life expectancy has reached to nearly 70 from 42 years. Anyway, we are progressing and is about to meet millennium development goals by 2015 despite crunch of resources.

While talking about health, women and children are more suffered?

We are working through safe motherhood program. We have established birthing centers, and given token money to encourage safe delivery at hospitals. We have also provisioned to needy patients in remote areas by using air transport.

Does the government put concern to develop our traditional health practices?

Nepal is rich in altitudinal quality herbal medicines. Recently Nepal has signed MoU with India to develop traditional systems of medicines like Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Naturopathy, Unini, Yoga, etc. We are seriously planning for it. We have also setup 91 Ayurveda hospitals throughout Nepal.

Why only India? Why don’t we approach China for assistance?

I met Chinese ambassador to Nepal twice recently and asked him for further remarkable Chinese assistance in health sector of Nepal like B.P.Koirala Cancer Hospital in Chitwan and Civil Service Hospital in Kathmandu. He is positive.

Why isn’t government monitoring the expensive medical education and frequent conflicts in medical intuitions?

Most Nepalese people are uninformed about the real prices of medicinal drugs and we are working for a mechanism to solve it. We are formulating some strict rules to make medical education cheaper. We have provisioned some scholarships in intuitions to make poor and deserving students to get access of medical education. Regarding conflicts, medical institutions come under education ministry and we have no major role to play on it. We have talked to Nepal Medical Council (NMC) to play a vital role to minimize conflicts.

What were the health issues in 18th SAARC summit?

As the first country in SAARC region to vaccinate children by injective polio vaccine, Nepal was praised. I raised the issue among SAARC standing committee members to make health service of unitary standard and health education cheaper in whole SAARC region.

Health Ministry overlooked, government hospitals demoralized

Health is of key importance, but the Ministry for Health and Population is of little importance among all 26 ministries, according to Minister Mr. Khagaraj Adhikari who received APD exclusive interview recently. Excerpts:

Mr. Khagaraj Adhikari

7BOOK

EVERY FRIDAY

ANALYTICAL NEWS AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING

VIEWSYOUR PERFECT

WEEKLY COMPANION

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote a review on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s new book on governance, saying the book offers the world a better understanding of China’s development.

“Xi Jinping: The Governance of China” contains speeches, answers to questions and instructions by Xi from Nov. 15, 2012 to June 13, 2014. It has been published in at least nine languages since September.

“A book like this will help foreign readers to gain a better and more objective understanding of China from historical and other perspectives,” Schmidt wrote.

Schmidt said it was a regret that the Chinese leadership has always had a better understanding of the West than vice versa. The publishing of Xi’s new book represents a positive attempt to change the status quo.

The book reveals the philosophy

adopted by China’s leadership and the strategic guidelines on which China’s direction of development is based.

The new generation of Chinese leadership with President Xi Jinping at the core also needs to deal with the important, strenuous and complicated tasks brought about by high-speed economic development, he said.

President Xi will pay special attention to problems caused by corruption, environmental pollution, illegal occupation of land, labor disputes, and threats to food safety,

the former Chancellor wrote.

He also pointed out several major issues facing China such as pollution, aging population and the household registration system reform.

Schmidt said Confucianism is making a return as a philosophy embedded within the Chinese minds, citing the interpretation of Confucian principles by President Xi in the book. He said during the 5,000-year course of Chinese

culture, there has rarely been any trace of imperialist thinking, and China has always honored peace above all else.

“Often times the West finds it hard to suppress the impulse to act as a lecturer with regard to China and its leaders, which usually results in failure stemming from ignorance and arrogance,” Schmidt wrote.

“The West needs to apply more common sense, abandon its condescending attitude, and let fair play apply,” he said.

Just when 18th SAARC has taken place in 2014 in Nepal, it is worth recollecting socio, economic and cultural relations among Nepal, China and India in relation to Tibet in 1930s. Then all the three countries were under the grip of feudalism with their own specifics and variant stages of development. In Nepal the oligarchic rule of Ranas was prevalent. China had yet not completed new democratic revolution. India was still being ruled by the British.

It was in 1950, my late father Dharma Ratna Yami, a political activist jailed for opposing Rana regime wrote Reply from Tibet in the prison. It is an epic poem based on his memoir of seven years stay in Tibet as an assistant to Nepali merchants. Then my father Yami was only 15 years old when he first travelled to Tibet.

In 1930s, it took more than one month to reach Lhasa (capital of Tibet), unlike today when

one can take direct flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa within one hour. Then trekking route to Lhasa was not only physically torturous, climatically unreliable with freezing cold, but also frightening. Travelers were fearful of being victims of looters and dacoits who could even kill them in scuffle.

Reply from Tibet is a collection of poems describing the dignified and cordial breakup of a love story between a Nepali boy and a Tibetan girl. It first describes interesting travel, slowly unfolds economic, social and cultural relations and finally asserts pride of being a Tibetan woman.

Reply from Tibet consists of four parts. In the first part “Journey to Lhasa”, the poet describes his journey to Kalingpong, Pedong, Sikkim and finally to cross juncture, one leading to Ladhak, another to Lhasa. In Pedung Yami met enlightened Lama who gave him glimpses of Tibetan social, cultural life which is simple, egalitarian and gender sensitive, compared to caste based complex Aryan culture of Nepal. He then describes how he and his team narrowly escaped death when in Jara, a notorious jungle infested with dacoits who started attacking them for robbery. Finally when he reached Lhasa he

recalled a saying “A woman is no woman if she has not given birth to a child; similarly a man is no man who has not travelled to Lhasa”.

The second part “Introduction to Lhasa” describes the richness of cultural confluence of Nepal, China and India in Tibet. He describes how 1400 years back a king named Shrong Tsang Gampo who ruled

Tibet and turned Lhasa into a highly developed, magnificent city by inculcating the rich treasure of literature, arts and religion from Vrikuti, the princess of Nepal and Chung Ling, and the princess of China, both were married to him.

Yami enriched himself by learning bits of Tibetan, Chinese, Hindi and English languages while learning politics, social science, culture, religion, history and literature from scholars and monks. He was impressed to see that there was no disparity between men and women in Tibet.

In the third part “Culmination of love”, Yami describes his love towards Hisila, a 19 years old Tibetan girl. Impressed by her chirpiness, frankness and jest for life he became more poetic, trying to learn more, not only Tibetan language but also the writing skill so that he could express his feelings through poems. Yami was himself aware of his class position. He being an assistant to his Nepali master knew of cases in which such assistants had been ruthlessly punished when they were found falling in love with Tibetan women.

The last part Reply from Tibetrepresents the culmination of poems. Yami desperate to get Hisila on his side started writing

poems dedicated to her one after another in Tibetan language. But alas Hislila replied to Yami’s poem by taking sad but firm stand against the marriage proposal. She replied: Whenever you come here it is to earn money and eventually you leave for Nepal, taking away wealth and leaving behind us women. If son is born, he becomes a subject of Gorkha relegated to “Komakhoti”; and if a daughter is born, she remains a subject of Tibet without claim to property. And if she is allowed to join her husband in Nepal, she is treated as Bhoteni relegated lower creed. She then asserted her own identity as Tibetan woman who would rather stay in her own motherland which had nourished her, sheltered her than live uncertain life with uncertain destination.

Thus the love affair culminates to cordial breakup of relation, being transformed to brother and sister relationship. This way the Tibetan lover Hisila enlightened Yami to respect the dignity of oppressed class, gender and nationality.

Today in Nepal there is crying demand to include agenda of oppressed class, gender and nationality in constitution through Constitution Assembly. Reply from Tibet stands still valid for Nepal.

BY HISILA YAMI

“A man is no man who has not travelled to Lhasa”

The Governance of China

Chinese leaders understand the West better than vice versa

Chief attraction of Reply from Tibet

Reply from Tibet was originally written in Newari, which has been

translated to Nepali and of late Chinese language. Now it is being translated into English and Hindi

languages.

8 TOURISM

BY SHIVA BHUSAL

Over the past two decades, technology has had a massive influence on almost every sector of the society or world. Tourism can never be an exception to this technological uprising, with the hospitality industry in many of the developed parts of the world relying largely on computer-based solutions.

It’s not that everything in Nepal is based on primitive techniques of hospitality management. “Almost all the five-star hotels have implemented online booking systems where you can get detail information of the cost and the type of service from your own PC or a simple hand-held device,” argues 23 year old Suraj Pandey, a computer engineer and also an android application developer, “Number of hospitality

industries implementing an IT solution is growing at a rapid pace. Even small hotels and restaurants are following their bigger counterparts, which is fascinating news for developers like us.”

“I wish there were an online payment system in Nepal, just like Paypal,” he says, “Sometimes, great ideas strike our mind but unfortunately, lack of legalized payment gateway becomes a hindrance.”

While many of the developers have developed so many products at a prototype level with most of them being experimental, only few of them have been successful in real implementation. According to Pandey, tourism in Nepal is an area often ignored and untouched by the developers like him.

Since technology allows continuous communication and streamlines the guest experience, from reservation to checkouts, a tourism-based firm

implementing IT solutions will obviously surpass the one indulged in primitive systems.

Government bodies can implement software based methods in sending prior information to the visitors during emergencies like landslides, floods and avalanches. A simple application like bulk mobile SMS can save someone’s life. But, implementing such a kind of system in the mountainous region like ours and during the emergencies could be challenging for the developers with the mobile network being unreliable at the time of bad weather.

Many of the freelance tourist guides in Nepal have preferred using their personal websites as a tool of marketing for attracting the visitors, in terms of cost and also in terms of services. Online brochures and interactive videotexts, integrated with the websites, can be used in order to fascinate the visitors.

Tourists can enjoy the advantages offered by mobile applications dedicatedly built for android, IOS and windows based devices. “Applications like Tourist Eye, World Mate, Wikitude, Gate-Guru etc. could be very useful for the international visitors,” says Pandey. Even a simple Google map could be handy during a long travel. “Though mobile application doesn’t always mean cheap video games,” he argues.

There is an application called N-Locate, being developed in Nepal that helps people in finding the location of a particular hotel, restaurant, school or any other institutions around a specific place in Nepal. The visitors can get largely advantaged by such applications to find and reach to their destination in time.

Nepal Government has to realize the essence of implementing modern solutions and should start spending more money for the advancement of services provided by tourism industry.

“We have already spent many years in a primitive loophole. Now, it’s time to rise up,” Suraj adds.

Modern technologyModern technology serves Nepal’s tourismserves Nepal’s tourism

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Millions of other city dwellers in the mainland, has had a growing interest in overseas travel in recent years. According to official data released by tourism authorities, overseas trips by Chinese surpassed 100 million in the first 11 months of this year.

The number marked a historical record. In 1998, total overseas trips made by mainlanders stood at only 8.43 million. Since then,

travel has expanded by more than tenfold.

Asian countries and regions accounted for 89.5 percent of Chinese overseas travel destinations, followed by 3.5 percent to Europe, 3 percent to Africa, 2.7 percent to the Americas, and 1.1 percent to Oceania, according to NTA data.

Meanwhile, China’s Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan accounted for 70.4 percent of total overseas trips from the

mainland during the period. Six countries -- the Republic of Korea (ROK), Thailand, Japan, the United States, Vietnam and Singapore -- received over one million Chinese tourists each during the first 11 months of the year.

President of China Tourism Academy Dai Bin said that surging travel to neighboring countries is due to cultural proximity, lower costs and convenient

transport.Dai predicted

that the tourism market in neighboringcountries will have even greater growth potential as a result of China’s diplomaticallyand strategically important Silk Road initiatives, which involve

building a land-based belt from China via Central Asia and Russia to Europe, and a maritime Silk Road through the Strait of Malacca to India, the Middle East and East Africa.

“As China’s new diplomatic strategies and measures, the initiatives will boost cooperation in multiple fields such as politics, economy and culture. They are also poised to boost cross-border tourism,” Dai said.

Chinese travelers to neighboring countries surge