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#43 18 - 24 May 2001 20 pages Rs 20

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BINOD BHATTARAInywhere else in the world a schoolshutdown that prevents nearly amillion children from attending

classes would be a national crisis. Here, itis just politics-as-usual.

Everyone agrees that Nepal’s educationis a mess. Constant tinkering andexperimenting with reforms since 1975 hasresulted in politicised government schoolswith falling standards. Most private schoolsthat moved in to fill the demand are runlike businesses. The result: a school systemridden with inequities.

Since the government wasn’t doingmuch to reform education, student unionsaffiliated with three left parties, includingone controlled by the Maoists, haveentered the fray. They want to changeovernight what took 30 years to wreck.Further complicating matters is the factthat the three unions are competing witheach other to appear more radical.

Last week, armed members of the All-Nepal Independent Student’s Union(Revolutionary) attacked in broad daylighttwo private schools with Indian affiliations.They vandalised property, set vehicles onfire, doused one principal with kerosene,and physically abused another. “Thisgovernment does not listen, so as awarning, we had to carry out the attacks onschools that are run with foreign capital,”said the general secretary of the pro-Maoistunion, Purna Poudel. The Maoists havealready closed down many private schoolsin the districts where they are active.Among them, the Japanese-run NotreDame in Bandipur closes next week. (Seebox, p.7)

The government said it would providesecurity this week, but private schools weretoo spooked to open. The Ministry ofEducation made some last-minute attempts

be implemented. Our students are onlydemanding a reduction in fees, but byhow much can only be decided after athrough study.”The Maoiststudents areadmant that thegovernment mustreduce private school fees by halfand provide free education inpublic school before they will evencome to the negotiating table.

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Essay p. 6Hurt, frustrated and hopeful

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EU pulls outThe European Union has put the$13 million Gulmi-Argakhanchi RuralDevelopment Project (GARDEP) onindefinite hold after a project vehicle wastorched by Maoists on 8 May. The attackcame just as the project’s second phaseto build roads, schools and drinking waterprojects in the two districts was gettingunderway. Most half-done constructionof schools and roads have beenabandoned. The Maoists haven’t yetclaimed responsibility for the attack, andthere had been no overt threats. Localofficials said the torching was notplanned, and was the result of localMaoists suspecting that a projectpersonnel was using the car’s radio.They say EU over-reacted, and arelobbying for the project to resume. SaidDDC chairman Kausal Pokhrel: “This isreally unfortunate, it will set usback many years.”

Tibetans warnedDays before Chinese premier ZhuRongji’s visit Chakra Prasad Bastola toldthe press that Nepal would not allow itsterritory to be used for anti-Chinaactivities. And he meant it. Threegovernment agencies sprung intoaction—the Ministry of Home Affairs, theoffice of the Chief District Officer and theHanuman Dhoka police office. All had onesimple message for Kathmandu’s Tibetancommunity: “Don’t be seen, and don’t beheard. Or else you will be deported.”There are 60,000 Tibetans living in Nepal,and lately the government has becomeintolerant of even Tibetan culturalactivities. Said one Tibetan resident: “It issad that after 40 years of being here, westill have to be quiet.” Now that Zhu’sgone, things may be more relaxed. p. 7

A classless society?

he race to supply the Royal Nepal Army with a newgeneration of rifles and carbines to replace its ageing SLRsis going into its final lap. The main contenders include the

German G-36, US-made M-16s and Israeli Galils, and they are allneck-to-neck in this high-stakes deal which could total some $ 50million over the next five years. All are assault rifles that useimported 5.56mm calibre, “double base” ammunition that have akilling range of up to 600 m.

According to military sources, the G-36 which had been afavourite because of intense lobbying is now falling behind after ahigh-level field test showed defects with its sophisticated opticalsight. The rifle optical sight needs zeroing every time it is jerked,and is not battle-tested.

The G-36 is made by the German company, Heckler &Koch which is partly owned by British Royal Ordnance. The G-36was reported to have an edge over its rivals because themanufacturers had won a $ 5 million deal to set up amaintenance and repair facility for the rifle. The maintenance deal

Jumping the gun?t was finalised before the rifle was

selected. Nepali media has taken akeen interest in the deal, and therehave been reports that the Germancontract is linked to the army’sdecision to purchase the RJ-100 jetlast year. That deal was scuttledbecause of media pressure andintense lobbying by rivals. A well-known Nepali commission agent isthe representative in Nepal for bothHeckler & Koch (Royal Ordnance) andBritish Aerospace.

Complications arose because BAehad already paid its commission to theagent on the RJ100 deal, and the G-36 repairshop was offered as a swap. Said the source: “With apurchase of this scale, any other manufacturer would

have given the maintenance workshop for free if we hadbargained hard.”

It is standard operating procedure to pay a salescommission to the manufacturer’s agent, and whatever gun thearmy buys there will commissions involved. But informedinsiders say this should not be an excuse to push through aninappropriate gun, just because some past deal didn’tmaterialise. The other issue is weapons standardisation.

The army presently has a requirement for 50,000 guns,which include assault rifles, light machine guns, grenadelaunchers and carbines. Most officers and rank-and-file soldiersseem to prefer weapons like the M-16 which they have usedwhile on UN peacekeeping duty and of which the army alreadyhas some 4,500 units. Still others find the Israeli Galil even moresuitable because it is lighter, and more durable because of itssolid body parts.

The gun purchase has a sense of urgency because thearmy is thinking of passing on its Belgian SLRs to the ArmedPolice Force that the government is setting up to fight theMaoists, and for internal peacekeeping. Many would debatewhether one of the world’s poorest countries should bespending so much on guns. But if they are needed, then theyhave to be the right equipment at the right price.

to negotiate after minister Amod PrasadUpadhyaya was flayed by media for nottaking the issue seriously. On Saturday,government officials met Maoist students,parents and private school representativesbut failed to reach a compromise. Then thegovernment made a blunder by arrestingtwo Maoist student leaders as they left thetalks. They have since been released, butthe action torpedoed chances ofcompromise.

The list of demands by the threestudent unions are long, confusing, and

some of them would need decades toimplement. But to summarise the mainpoints, they include: 50 percent reductionin private school fees, ban on singing thenational anthem, ban on compulsorySanskrit, ban on re-admission fees and anincrease in investments in public schools.

The main opposition UML’s StandingCommittee member and the party’s

education commisar, Jhala NathKhanal, told us: “The 50 percentreduction in school fees

demanded by Maoists cannot

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A million Nepali children couldn’t go to school for aweek because adults were playing politics.A million Nepali children couldn’t go to school for aweek because adults were playing politics.

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STATE OF THE STATE by CK LAL

22222 EDITORIAL 18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

Time to goIt is time Koirala the citizen and Koirala the president of the rulingparty asked Koirala the prime minister to step down.

MAYDAY, MAYDAYAnalysts have come up with many analogies to describe the present state of thenation: a patient in intensive care, a village on a volcano, a boat that has sprung aleak, a truck falling off a cliff. But the best one we have heard so far in the cocktailcircuit is a jet with a major systems malfunction that is diving towards the ground,while the captain and co-pilot are busy punching each others’ faces, as a hijackerbehind them holds a gun to their heads. Go figure out who is who.

Pretty soon, at the rate we are going, there will be nothing left to fight over.Here we are, confronting one of the most perilous times in our nation’s history andour elected politicians are behaving as if it is plunder as usual. At a time when weneed a national consensus, we are at our most divisive. At a time when we needdecisive leadership, we have vacillation and a twiddling of thumbs. At a time whenwe need transparency and accountability, the looting has gone into high gear. At atime when we need to be delivering health care and education on a war footing,we are footing a war. And there is even a sickening scramble on to pocketkickbacks on the paraphernalia to fight that war.

The main opposition UML, squeezed by the Maoists who have commandeeredtheir cadre and a stubborn government that refuses to go, have started collectingtyres for street pyres. Then there is that most intractable quarrel: between GirijaPrasad Koirala and Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and/or Koirala and Sher BahadurDeuba. The latter both had started rubbing their hands in anticipation of the powergrab when Koirala’s resignation was deemed to be imminent.

Now, we hear rumblings of dissent even within Koirala’s inner circle. SushilKoirala, the mysterious behind-the-scenes confidante of the prime minister, loathesMahesh Acharya, Khum Bahadur Khadka, and Govinda Raj Joshi. Deputy PrimeMinister Ram Chandra Poudel can barely stand Joshi and Jaya Prakash Anand andAcharya, and they heartily return the favour. Acharya and Mahat can’t get along,and both have problems with Arjun Narsingh KC.

If you thought that was bad enough, look at the Koirala family: Prakashhates First Daughter Sujata who hates First Neice Shailaja who hates actressManisha. Auntie Nona, for her part, is disgusted with Sujata and Sushil whoreciprocate the feeling.

What’s with Nepal’s bahuns? Just because they can’t get along, do they haveto drag the whole country down with them? Not that the high priests in the otherparties are any better. Our Communist Party has the distinction of being the mostsplintered of any communist party in the world—from blood red to pale pink allconnected loosely in shifting alliances and vying to outdo each other in closingdown schools, calling three-day bandhs, torching public property and launchingvitriolic attacks on each other through theirmedia mouthpieces.

We have a situation here.The captain and the co-pilothave knocked themselvesunconscious. The hijackeris in command, but can hefly the plane? Quick, whatdo we do...

Nepali Times is published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Editor: Kunda DixitDesk editor: Anagha NeelakantanDesign: Swosti Rajbhandari, Kiran [email protected], www.nepalitimes.comMarketing: Anup Adhikary [email protected] Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor,Pulchowk, Lalitpur GPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalTel: 543333-7 Fax: 521013 Printed at Jagadamba Press: 521393

he Nepali bourgeoisie is angrilydemanding the resignation of PrimeMinister Girija Prasad Koirala.

Capitalists of the capital are up in armsin the name of corruption. The chatteratiwants Koirala out on grounds ofmorality. The elite wants Koirala kickedout because they find him too arrogant.Others hate Koirala because they thinkhis nose is too long. And yet, there isKoirala, still in the eye of the storm,unruffled like an old banyan amidst theswaying trees. Or as his detractors put it:stubborn as a mule.

But the political longevity of Koiralahas nothing to do with his strength andstamina. His survival is a damningindictment of the Nepali bourgeoisie.Despite seeming to be at the nadir of hiscareer, Girija Prasad Koirala is still thetallest among the political pygmies ofNepali politics and society. For the get-rich-quick bigots in the bourgeoisie andthe hypocritical NIMBY elite, Koiralacontinues to remain the least unaccept-able option. The least rotten of theapples in the barrel.

Despite a bout of motorcycle burningand a threatened three-day nationalshutdown next week, the UML has failedto fire the imaginations of Nepalis. Theparty’s once-admired apparatchiks standnaked out there, shorn of their working-class pretensions. Let us remember thatcorruption did not start with the NepaliCongress. In fact, UML ministersinstitutionalised it during their briefstints in power. Today, the UML is therichest political party in the country, andtheir leaders are models of upwardly

mobile bourgeois prosperity—complete with pot-bellies, Pajeros,

palmtops and palatial mansions.When the comrades ask for Girija’s

head, many Nepalis compare it with

the ploy of a fox preaching a bull thevirtues of vegetarianism, and hoping forits hump to fall off so that it can relishthe meat.

The clamour for Koirala’s head in asection of Nepali press is based on anaccusation that is almost impossible toprove in a court of law. A politically-motivated media is flogging the dead-horse of a controversial aircraft lease toattack the prime minister, but is sullyingitself in the process. This obsession withKoirala and Lauda has exposed themedia’s partisan string-pullers likenothing else in recent times. It has triedto be the police, prosecutor, judge andexecutioner all rolled into one. Bymuckraking, the media is bringing up itsown slime.

Our constitutional organs aremanned (not a single woman in them) byformer bureaucrats who cut theiradministrative teeth during thedictatorial regime as hatchet men of thePanchayat era. When they go after theprime minister with their barely con-cealed axes, it is Koirala who gets thepublic sympathy. Pontifications byformer panchas about political moralitylack credibility. Remember the naked

display of political promiscuity duringthe shameful days of coalition govern-ments recently? By asking for Koirala’souster, the Panchas do him a favour.

And of Koirala’s detractors within theparty, the less said the better. Unwillingto fight, incapable of taking defeat withgrace, and unable to chart anindependent course, NC dissidents havejoined the chorus of the oppositionparties. Antagonism betweenseptuagenarians can be attributed to aclash of the hubris that seeps in withsenility. But why do “youth leaders”waste all their youthful energy in thisinternecine war of self-destruction?Perhaps Shailaja Acharya is right—theNepali Congress really does have nofuture. This man is not going to resign indisgrace. Leave him alone, and he justmight.

Slandering Koirala is the favouritepast-time of social-climbers withintellectual pretensions. To prove thatyou are a true-blue satin socialite—andnot just another Kazi-come-lately—youmust indulge yourself in the game ofcharacter assassination with each sip ofred wine and every puff of cigarello.Koirala is easy prey for crude caricaturesby budding commentators. Writers withmore ambition than talent piggyback onhis popularity and pillory him for instantfame. Koirala is right in his prognosis. Ifhe capitulates to the clamour of anotoriously selfish and vengeful bour-geoisie, no prime minister in the futurewill be safe from such blatant bullying.

But his prescription is all wrong. Hiscontinuation in the prime minister’s chairis not the right answer. The solution liesin devising an honourable exit as soon aspossible. It is time Koirala the citizenand Koirala the president of the rulingparty asked Koirala the prime minister tostep down. But the bourgeois takeover ofNepali public life is so complete that noone has the strength of character to forcehim out. Koirala may not be a quitter,but he has passed the stage of having toprove himself. After all, despite all hisfailings, Girija has never lost an election.His control over the party apparatus isnear-total, and he still enjoys the supportof the majority of the ruling partylawmakers.

And it is for these very reasons thathe must now leave Baluwatar. Winnersdo not quit—they fade away gracefullyafter having worked themselves out of thejob. An even more glorious way to bowout is to make way for a worthy successormore suited to the challenges of thetimes.

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18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES 33333NATION

L E T T E R SMAPSIt was very interesting to read thatRamesh Shrestha (“Maps in adifficult terrain”, #39) from theHimalaya Map House blames thelack of copyright ethics in Nepal,because his company has beencopying our maps.Karto-Atelier is thecompany that didthe first highquality maps ofPokhara andKathmandu. Atthat time there wasno good mapbase and noinformation aboutinfrastructureavailable. We didall the researchourselves—hundreds of hotels, restaurants,shops, ministries, temples andinfrastructure. The Pokhara CityMap of the Himalaya Map House isabsolutely identical to our map. InEurope, the sale of such productswould be forbidden by law. The

“new” Kathmandu Map of ShangriLa Maps is proof of this thesis.Bidur Dangol is using our mapcontent, but he is afraid ofadding more information to makea better map because otherscould copy him! Without

copyright there is no progresspossible. Cartography is a seriousprofession, just making a copy ofthe Schneider Annapurna map isno cartography.

Arne RohwederKarto-Atelier, Switzerland

MULEKunda Dixit is right that primeminister Koirala is not a quitter(“Going going…” #41, and “…notyet gone” #43). He is as stubbornas a mule. And yes, it does notreally matter to the rest of thecountry if he goes or stays becauseeither way, the nation is headingtowards disaster. “Morality” doesnot seem to exist in his lexicon.But he has 50 years of experiencein politics and understands Nepaliminds. It is meaningless to showhim the CIAA’s sealed letterbecause he didn’t see anhonourable exit when it was staringhim in the face. I suppose we justhave to wait, since the unofficiallaw for the truth seeker is patience.Optimistically yours.

Sudan ShresthaDharan

PARASA long time ago was talking aboutParas Shah. Your paper carriedarticles about his involvement inan accident in which a musician

CORRECTIONS Due to a layout error, several

words were missing from the firstparagraph of “…not yet gone”on page 1 of #42. The firstparagraph should read asfollows:

“Last Wednesday, GirijaPrasad Koirala got his ChiefSecretary to draft hisresignation letter. His aidescleared out their desks. Theprime minister was at peacewith himself: he had made uphis mind to quit.”

The picture accompanying“Maoists in the mist” on page1 of #42 was by SagarBudathoki.

ot since the restoration ofdemocracy has the nationfaced a crisis of the

magnitude and intensity that itdoes today. The list of woes islong: plummeting governmentrevenue vis-a-vis expenses,stagnant economic growth, risingunemployment and dwindlingforeign investment, and the mostserious crisis of all: security. TheMaoists have taken over completecontrol in many mid-westerndistricts, and have sowed fear andinsecurity throughout thekingdom. People who resist,especially Nepali Congressworkers, are threatened, abducted,or slain. The Maoists are active ontwo fronts: furthering the armedstruggle, and carrying out a socialrevolution Robin Hood-style. Anymove to counter the Maoistmovement has to come to termswith this duality. The Maoistshave been building up theirstrength, and at this rate the daysof totalitarianism are not far.Many people are openlywondering if that honest abider ofthe constitution, His Majesty theKing, should not take a more pro-active constitutional role as thecountry sinks into anarchy.

The government has finallywoken up to the reality of theMaoist movement and started totake some measures to counteractit. The National Security Councilis mobilising the army in Maoist-affected areas, and simultaneouslylaunching the Integrated Securityand Development Package(ISDP), which would beimplemented initially in seven ofthe most seriously Maoist-affecteddistricts of Nepal with the armyproviding security. While theISDP has been approved by mostordinary citizens, left-leaningpolitical parties especially theUML and the five-left combine,have rejected it. And despite thebrouhaha over the Army Chief’sstatements, it is now clear that hisremarks about consensus wereblown out of proportion.Apparently, it was not theintention of the chief to seek

Girija must take the leapby AJIT N S THAPAOPINION

political consensus as aprecondition for the mobilisationof the army. But it is importantthat the government start seriousdialogue with all the politicalparties and the people before theISDP is implemented.

On the political front, theleft has been capitalising on theLauda Air deal to push for theprime minister’s resignation. Andwithin the party, unsatisfiedelements are waiting impatientlyfor his departure. Girija Koiralavacillated over his much-awaitedresignation, but has now decidednot to leave and to fight to thefinish. He is being egged on bysupporters, who in a mannerreminiscent of the Panchayat, aremisusing state-controlled mediato bolster the beleaguered primeminister. He could be makinghistory if he turned away from theadvice of his self-serving coterieand used his own conscience andjudgement in the interest of thenation and the party. But, alas,he is a prisoner of his ownindecision.

Koirala is determined not toresign under opposition pressureover the Lauda Air deal. And theopposition is hell-bent onreplicating an Estrada-styleouster. In a televised address lastmonth, Koirala said he would notstay in his chair for a singleminute if the Committee for theInvestigation of the Abuse ofAuthority (CIAA) or the SupremeCourt hinted at his involvement.The prime minister went againsthis own words after he receivedthe CIAA’s sealed letter byhanging on to his chair as if thenation’s life and the future ofdemocracy rested on hispremiership.

The Maoists have laid downsome conditions for a resolutionof the crisis: formation of an all-

party government, election of aconstituent assembly to draft anew constitution, and nonegotiation with a government ledby Koirala. But these provisionsare unconstitutional, and wouldnot be acceptable under normalcircumstances. The question is:are these normal circumstances?The lack of decisive action tocurb the Maoist movement hasstrengthened the hand of the

rebels. Koirala is under pressurefrom the opposition, the army isreluctant to go to Maoist areas,and the Maoists will not negotiatewith the prime minister. So, itlooks like the political stalematewill drag on as long as Koirala isin power.

Herein lies the challenge forthe Nepali Congress: can theparty break the impasse? The NCParliamentary Party must becalled immediately to evaluate thecrisis. If the meeting finds thatGirija Koirala’s voluntarywithdrawal from the partyleadership would pave the way fora fresh round of talks with boththe opposition and the Maoists, itwould be in order for him to

voluntarily step down. Koiralawill certainly understand thatreal victory will be in persuadingthe Maoists to join the main-stream. Being, or not being,prime minister is only a means,not the end. He might lose abattle, but he has the chance towin the war. And if that happens,Koirala can always stage apolitical comeback if he wishes.Resolving the present crisis bybreaking the deadlock is moreimportant for the party andnation than the prestige of theparty leader. After all, politics isthe art of the possible.

The alternatives are: steppedup street protests by the leftopposition, a stalled budget

Girija Koirala must step down and hand over to ayounger generation of leaders. Time is runningout. The party must act swiftly and prudentlyin the national interest.

session of parliament, Maoistslaunching offensives in areas wherethe Army has not been deployed,the possibility of the Army beingdragged into the conflict. Adeteriorating law and ordersituation, worsening economic andsocial conditions and continuingdisruption of the Houseproceedings might eventually forcethe prime minister to recommend toHis Majesty the King to proclaim astate of National Emergency. Thiswould curtail freedom and civilliberties and would be a majorsetback for our fledging democracy.

A midterm election is anotheralternative, but may yield a hungparliament, or the left partiessecuring a two-third majority in

parliament, with the possibility ofmaking dramatic changes in theconstitution, including even theabolition of the institution ofmonarchy.

It is the duty of everyresponsible NC lawmaker topersuade Girija Koirala to stepdown and hand over to a youngergeneration of leaders. Time isrunning out, and the party mustact swiftly and prudently in thenational interest. Otherwise, itmight just be a party with aglorious past and a bleakfuture.

(Ajit NS Thapa is a GeneralCommittee Member of theNepali Congress)

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was killed (#5). Since then, nothing.Why no follow-up? What was theoutcome of the report the king askedthe prime minister to make?

Rolf Schaefer by email

BUDDHAExcellent writing on the Buddha byRajendra S Khadka (“2,545 yearslater…” #41). Very relevant, timelyand thought provoking.

KR RaiEngland

EXPAT=EXPERTJust thought I’d share this with you.In UNDP’s recently published“Nepal Development CooperationReport 2000” under the “KeyDefinitions” section the word“Expert” is defined as:

“A long-term (12 months ormore) expatriate resident of therecipient country filling a positioncreated and/or funded by anexternal donor.” It looks like you don’tneed expertise.

Name withheld on requestby email

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INDIAN TOURISTSCK Lal (“Nepal fizzles as Indiasizzles”, #42) has rightly pointedout that without Indian tourists,Nepal’s tourism industry will bein grave danger. Similarly,unless Indian investors come toNepal, industrial activity cannotget a boost. But I disagree thatwe can look forward to Chinesetourists because Beijing hasrecognised Nepal as anoutbound destination. I thinkthe Chinese would preferThailand, Malaysia andSingapore to Pokhara,Pashupatinath or Chitwan.

R P ChaudharyKalimati

Your columnist CK Lal is right inquestioning the possibility ofsuccess of the Nepal TourismBoard’s Festival of Lightspromotion programme in India.As things stand, no Indian in hisright mind will think of vistingNepal which is protrayed as anISI-infested country by the Indian

media. Nepal must strive harderto create an environment moreconducive to Indian tourism andinvestment if it is to groweconomically.

Rakam RaiDelhi University

44444 NATION 55555NATION18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES 18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

t’s bound to happen sooner or later. And it will be bloody. An encounterbetween the opposing forces in the hills of far west Nepal could takeplace innocently, or by design. Both sides are well equipped, motivated,

purposeful. They’re pursuing their respective missions with single-mindedzeal. Once they run into one another, perhaps along a riverside trail or in ahitherto obscure village, all hell with break loose.

I could be talking about the Maoists and the army but I’m not. Thehills of this fair land are alive at the moment with squadrons of foreignjournalists in search of a story. Nepal has hit the big time of world conflictreportage, and the rogues’ gallery has arrived. Hell hath no fury like a front-line, battle-loving, hack beaten by the competition. That’s the new war thatthreatens to destabilise the increasingly “liberated” western Middle Hills. Ifthe Washington Post and the New York Times should fall afoul of eachother, or, heaven forbid, the BBC and CNN, then stand back and selltickets. It’s the Rumble in the Jungle. Just the BBC alone can usuallyprovide a battle or two among its own hacks jostling for position on themain news bulletin. Trust me, I know.

Of course, as usual, the BBC has beaten CNN to this story but there’sstill potential for a serious confrontation. The Australians beat all of us, asKathmandu-ites are seeing at venues around town, with their documentaryfrom 1998, Nepal’s Secret War. Pedestrian and cliché-ridden, perhaps, butfirst off the mark and therefore of great merit. I can exclusively reveal toreaders of the Nepali Times that plans to make a documentary for the BBCprogramme Correspondent that same year had to be abandoned whenthe man in charge—me—put his back out. “No walking on roughterrain or driving long distances on bumpy roads,” my doctor told me.You can see why we had to cancel. But spare me no sympathy, a well

planned film that’s never made is right up there with almost scoring agoal, or kissing your sister.

Now that the question of “first” is out of the way, the competitionamong visiting hacks will be for colour, access and insight. Those of uswho pay for our technology on a daily basis are at somewhat of adisadvantage here.We need to get in, get the story and get back so the meter stops running.

That’s why portable, locally knowledgeable journalists will always be at anadvantage. As I found out at the beginning of this month, it’s not easy tomeet actual insurgents if you don’t have the time. You can go to theaffected area, but you must be prepared to wait. And wait, and wait. Thosewithout time, or money, will either make do with what they can get, ormake something up. As we saw in Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistanand other places, a breed of media person—we call them “war junkies”in the trade—always pops up and makes free use of the resources andhospitality of others.

Stories about the insurgency will start to appear with monotonousregularity now in the world’s media. And Nepalis and foreign residents willprobably be perplexed, should they come across one of these. They may notrecognise much. Because something tells me that a lot of our visitors will gohome with a more complex tale than they’d hoped for, and to be quitefrank, we’re not a breed that handles complexity well. Shades of greydon’t sell or get past editors. So there’ll be a bit of blackening andwhitening going on.

Having the heavyweight hacks on your turf is at best a mixed blessing. Astory on a big media outlet—even one that shows how bad things are—canbe oddly gratifying at first. They’re paying attention to us, perhapssomething will change. But in the end, the sad truth is that your conflict isjust content to fill the spaces in a publication or news bulletin. It’s thatsimple. So welcome to the big time. With luck, we won’t stay long.

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by DANIEL LAKHERE AND THERE

Nepal has hit the big time of world conflict reportage. Welcome.With luck, we won’t stay long.

Hacks in the misti

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Buddha was born hereAnd we thought the debate about where the Buddha was bornwas over. Not so for an Indian diplomat who recently visitedLumbini. Ashok Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission at the IndianEmbassy, told a gathering at Lumbini last week that"Siddhartha was born in Nepal, and the Buddha in India".Kumar’s logic: Siddhartha attained Buddhahood in India,while he was physically born in Nepal. His thesis apparentlydidn’t go down too well with those in the audience who took itas more example of Indian hegemony. Quippedone: “It’s like saying MohandasKaramchand Gandhi was born inIndia, but Mahatma Gandhi wasborn in South Africa.”

International conservationexperts, based on excavationfindings in Lumbini, havedetermined that the Buddhawas born in Tilaurakot,Lumbini. Some Indianarchaeologists, however,claim that he was born inPipprahawa in India,about 600 yards southof the Nepal-Indiaborder and four milesfrom Tilaurakot.

Of course, Nepal and India in their current geopoliticalconfigurations did not exist-two-and-a-half millennia ago, soit would seem this argument is an exercise in sophistry.

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Women move mountains They’re warming up. Nearly a decade after mountains wereplaced on the international agenda at the 1992 Earth Summitin Rio de Janeiro, and after the World Conference on Womenin Beijing in 1995 called for special attention to mountainwomen, African, Asian, European, Latin American, and NorthAmerican women descended on Kathmandu last week tofinalise a plan of action to develop a mountain women’sagenda. Their plan: holding a global meeting in Kathmanduin May 2002, the International Year of the Mountain, bringingtogether 300 participants—"mountain entrepreneurs", NGOs,researchers, parliamentarians, funding agencies and womenfrom the world’s major mountain ranges.

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Anti-Maoists demoPerhaps for the first time, villagers in Nepal have expressedtheir displeasure against Maoist tactics. Angry villagers ofChatara, Bayarban Bazaar in east Nepal organised anti-Maoist rallies three days in a row after a group of insurgentschopped off the hair of students at a higher secondary school.Among the victims of the Maoist "People’s Action", was amarried woman accused by the Maoists of colouring her hair.Younger students were not spared. Following the rallies, thevillagers say the Maoists retaliated by issuing a round ofgunshots in the jungles north of Bayarban. They’re notscared. The village has submitted a protest letter against theMaoists at the local Village Development Committee andlocal youth have volunteered to assist a beleaguered policeforce carry out security patrols. Villagers in Gulmi andArgakhanchi are also angry at Maoists for torching an EUvehicle prompting the organisation to suspend a bigdevelopment projects in the two districts.

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Red alertSales of Red Potatoes, imported from India, have dropped inNepal as a result of a recent scare that began in Biratnagar.The spuds are supposed to contain high quantities ofchemical fertilisers and pesticides like DDT. The reports areconflicting—some say they’re contaminated, others saythey’re not. Just to be sure, consumer groups and Biratnagarmunicipality officials sent potato samples to be tested at thelocal Food Laboratory. They tested negative. But consumersare still on red alert.

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RPP’s conceptThe two-day (19-20 May) Central Working Committee meetingof the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) passed a resolutiondemanding a ‘general national consensus’ on six nationalissues. The consensus was demanded for the formulation ofa working plan to resolve the Maoist issue, ensure economic,social and political development, good governance, and thecontrol of corruption, the establishment of a code of conductfor political parties, and the improvement in election system.The nine-point resolution suggests that the consensus bereached through all-party discussions and stresses theinvolvement and approval of the king in its consensus.However, the statement cautions that the demand for anational consensus should not be interpreted as RPP’swanting a share in the government.

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RAMYATA LIMBUepal’s first company toget permission to uplinkvia satellite was to begin

transmission on Nepali NewYear, 14 April. Space TimeNetwork had announcedtransmission schedules, eventaped interviews to fillprogramming slots. Suddenly,two days before broadcastswere to begin, the Ministry ofInformation andCommunication (MOIC) toldSpace Time’s Channel Nepal itcouldn’t uplink because of“incomplete tests of

equipment”. More than a monthlater, Space Time’s chairman andmanaging director Jamim Shah isstill waiting for permission, and isrunning out of patience.

“I’m losing Rs 100,000 everydaypaying for renting thetransponders,” Shah told us. He haswritten 18 letters to the ministryasking for reasons for the delay.The standard reply has been thatthe files are now gathering dust onthe table of minister Shiva RajJoshi. “If they don’t give uspermission soon, we’ll uplinkprogrammes from outside thecountry,” Shah said curtly.

We asked Shree Ram Poudelsecretary at the ministry tocomment, and he answered inbureaucratese: “We’re looking intothe process. I don’t want toexpand on that.” However,Poudel had earlier informed theParliament’s DevelopmentCommittee that his ministry sawno reason to stop transmission ofChannel Nepal as the network’sdocuments were in order. Amember of the committee, RaghujiPanta of the main oppositionUML also saw no problems.“We’ve reviewed the case.Everything, all the documents, tax

papers are in order. Thecompany has paid Rs 90 millionin taxes so far. There’s no validreason to stop transmission,” hesaid. Despite the committee’sdirective to the MOIC to allowsatellite broadcasts immediatelyafter completing equipmenttests, the green light fromgovernment has yet to come.

So, what is holding thingsup? The delay has strengthenedreports that the government isunder pressure from India whichhas expressed security concernsabout Space Time. Jamim Shahhimself figured on a list of

Nepalis that Indian intelligencecharged of being on the payroll ofthe Pakistani Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI) in a reportleaked to an Indian magazine.India is said to have leaned on thegovernment during the visits heretwo months ago of former Indianambassador to Nepal, KV Rajan,and of the veteran Indian actor,Amitabh Bachhan. Sources saideven the Indian prime minister’spowerful security adviser, BrajeshMishra, casually questionedseveral government officials onthe decision to allow Jamim Shahto go on air.

Lost in Space and Time

Space Time’s plans to go into orbit with Nepali first satellite programming hasfallen victim to behind-the-scenes Indian pressure.

“The technicalincompatibility of ChannelNepal’s satellite equipment is justan excuse to keep the networklingering so they’ll lose heart andpull out,” confirmed one ministryinsider. “The real story is Indiandispleasure.” But Shah isdetermined not to give upwithout a fight, he says he hasbeen arbitrarily singled out. “Whydon’t they worry about technicaltests of say all the 13 V-SAToperators, after all they are alsousing satellite. If they cancel mypermission, I will go to court. I’veinvested so much already,” hewarned.

Asked if he is fronting forPakistan, or if his network wouldpromote anti-Indian sentiments,Jamim Shah denies theaccusation. “They’ve been tellingme that for the last eight years.Look, this is not about India,China or Pakistan. It’s not aboutJamim Shah or Space Time. Thisis about 24 million Nepalis. Thisis Nepal’s voice and it can’t bestopped,” he says. ChannelNepal’s satellite footprint wouldextend from the Gulf, acrossSouth Asia to Thailand andMalaysia. It would therefore beable to reach Nepali-speakersoutside Nepal, and Nepalimigrant workers in the Gulf andsoutheast Asia. Those who knowJamim Shah well say thatwhatever dealings he may havehad in the past with his Dubaifriends, he is now trying to makemoney from his satellite venture,and that is all he is interested in.But his bravado and blunt talk doesnot endear him to the Indians.

Nepali television viewerstoday watch mainly Indianchannels through their dishantennae or through cablenetworks like Space Time. Shah’scable network has more than50,000 households connected inKathmandu alone, and a fewthousand more in other urbancentres. And for someone who is

DHAKA WEAVES

accused by the Indians of being aPakistani spy, Shah’s networkoffers mainly Indian movie, musicand news channels. It was onlyduring the Hrithik Roshan riotsthat Space Time suspendedIndian programming for a week. Ifhe gets his satellite license,Channel Nepal would be beamedto 52 countries in Asia.

Ever since Nepal became thefirst country in South Asia togrant licenses to independentradio in 1997—satellite up-linking permission was given in1993—there has been no lookingback. “We can only moveforward,” says Narhari Acharyaformer NC minister and chairmanof the task force that drafted theNational Communications Policy1992 that made the licensingpossible. “Of course agovernment always has to lookafter the nation’s interest but inthis case I think it’s the vaguenessin policy that has allowed spacefor such contentions.” Acharyafeels that ten years later, it is timeto review the policy.

Despite the early pioneeringwork with private FM and cable,the development of electronicmedia in Nepal has been stagnantcompared to the print mediawhich has gained professionalismand stature in the 1990s. Anuneasy truce exists between thegovernment, the licensing andmonitoring authority, andindependent broadcasters, whosetechnical and professional know-how still needs improvement. TheMOIC is entrusted withimplementing the law, but it hasbeen unpredictable and arbitraryabout the terms and conditions itimposes on licensees, which havechanged with the whims of thesitting minister.

So, whether or not SpaceTime will get the green signal isfor the politicians to decide, andfor the give-and-take that takesplace at that level. “Whenmatters take a political turn, youcan’t deduce by logic,” says theMOIC insider. Withparliamentary committees nowscanning through MOICdecisions, he foresees the battleerupting into another politicalhot potato. What started off as

differences between two individu-als, now has the eyes of all:parliamentary bodies and themedia and it is spiced up withinnuendos of Indian high-handedness.

Space Time Network initiallyreceived a license to operate cablenetwork and to transmit viasatellite in 1993 when BijayaGachhedar, was minister in thefirst elected government of theNepali Congress. Even licensing atthat time was hush-hush: therewas no bidding. The government

quietly licensed Shah’s companyand another one by the name ofSouth Asia Broadcasting touplink via satellite. South AsiaBroadcasting still exists in theministry files, even though it hasnot done as much preparation asChannel Nepal to actually beginbroadcasting.

Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta,another NC Communicationsminister, revoked Space Time'slicence in January on groundsthat the network had not paid itsdues. Shah announced he wasgoing to court but was laterabout to get his licence re-issuedby another NC Communicationsminister, Shiva Raj Joshi whojoined cabinet in February. Againthere was no bidding. Gupta whohad been shifted to the Agricul-ture and Cooperatives ministry inthe February reshuffle resigned toprotest Joshi’s decision.

Many MOIC insiders suspectthe delay in allowing Space Timeto go ahead with its transmissionreflects a business dispute withinthe Koirala inner circle, betweenthose who are piggybacking onthe Indians and those who arenot. Some are even said to havebusiness interests in Shah’sChannel Nepal.

And for this purpose, delayingSpace Time using a security bogeyis a good ploy, says onegovernment source. The govern-ment may have yet another reasonto delay private satellite broad-casting: the state-owned NepalTV is also planning to beginbroadcasts via satellite by June.Interestingly, no one has heard oftechnical tests of NTV’s equip-ment similar to the ones de-manded of Space Time, norquestions about financialviability.

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18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMESNATION66666by PUSKAR BHUSALSOMEWHERE IN NEPAL

iven the way our politicians arebeing subjected to calumnies ofall sorts for strictly adhering to

the principles of their profession, thecountry may not be far away from anational calamity: an entire leadershipclass up in arms against the people.Our leaders have been patient enoughfor a decade to let reality dawn on thepeople. The language of politicscontains an equal measure ofprevarication and posturingirrespective of the nature of the polityin place. If we still fail to grasp thispremise of political reality, we do so at

our own grave peril. When interimprime minister Krishna PrasadBhattarai, days after taking office in1990, announced in public that itwould only be a while before prices fellby a third since multiparty democracyhad finally been restored, our saintlychieftain was only following the book.When ministers representing the right,centre and left in his cabinet startedpromising to turn Nepal into aSingapore, they were trying to be alittle more specific than the panchas,who had long pledged to place thecountry in the ranks of the more

advanced Asian societies by the turn ofthe century.

Things haven’t turned out thatway, because they weren’t meant tobe. The accumulation of falsepromises, vital to the nation’s smoothtransition to a truly participatorydemocracy, represents just a fractionof our frustrations. As we try torecover from the collective traumainduced by misplaced hopes, perhaps alittle dose of realism might help. Howlong do you think the interim cabinetin 1991 would have survived had itstarted by warning us of themachinations a hung parliamentwould engender and the socialpolarisation the Pajero culture wouldinstitutionalise?

That’s why while delving intohow corruption has skyrocketed withthe advent of political pluralism, weneed to view the matter from a broadnational perspective. To begin with,the panchas could afford to acceptsmaller commissions because it wasvirtually a winner-takes-all deal. Allthe “anti-social” elements that couldhave given the votaries of partylessnessa run for their money were eitherlocked up in jail or were languishing inexile. Granted, elections used to beexpensive then, too. However, makingprudent investment decisions was

easier. If your fortunes were not securein several power centres, no amount ofmoney could guarantee you a seat inthe unicameral national legislature. Inessence, your limitations were laid outfor you and your options were clear.

Next comes the humanitarianaspect. Don’t you think our leadersare entitled to reparations for theiryears of incarceration just because theyrefused to believe that politics couldever be complete without parties?True, the Political Sufferers Fund setup after the People’s Movement was apositive move. However, it couldn’tdo much to ease the pain of newlyliberated leaders and activists. For onething, the case officers began bycounting the limbs, fingers or toes youlost in the anti-panchayat struggle.Then they started pounding you withquestions about your politicalaffiliations, casting occasional glancesfor any traces of bodily torment.Adding humiliation to the physicaland psychological scars of the newpower elite, the fund soon startedhanding out money to someprominent ex-panchas incompensation for the few months ofsuffering they had to endure beforethey eventually signed pledges ofloyalty to the partyless system.

We must not lose sight of the fact

that the business of politics hasundergone a vast transformation in thepast decade. Those seeking to enterpublic service today have to makeclear investment choices all the wayfrom capital budgeting to funds flowanalysis. A candidate’s election budgethas to carefully allocate resources forevery contingency, including bribingcompetitors to stay out of the race andmustering enough strength tomanipulate the mandate in swingconstituencies. The competitionunleashed by the proliferation ofparties has enshrined such tactics ascapturing booths and stuffing ballotboxes as crucial elements of measuringthe people’s preferences. And let’s notforget that these itemised expenses donot include the wads of cashcandidates have to spend on pamperedsupporters who refuse to budgewithout a bottle of beer.

The fluidity of the political sceneraises additional liquidity concerns.MPs don’t have a clue whether theycan expect to serve out their five-yearterm even under a majority parliamentthese days. When they can’t evenhope to break even in terms of thecapital they have put into gettingelected, you can’t blame them forbecoming pals with the commissionagents they find hovering around them

the moment they take their oath. Formany of our politicians, corruption is acompulsion. Blame the system, like weused to do in the bad old days, if youthink it would help. From a macro-economic standpoint, take a closelook at the cost of living index and thecomposite of leading economicindicators, and do the math. In termsof constant 1990 rupees, the LaudaAir commission money turns out tobe peanuts after deducting expensesfor your party conventions andallocations for your own coterie. Inreal terms, the millions today’spowerful politicians appear to amassmay actually amount to less thanwhat the panchas hoarded. Well,you would say, the panchasrepresented a filthy culture, which iswhy the people sent them packingin 1990. (Actually, not all walkedout the door. Some of them stillform the third largest force inparliament and are trying to forge anational consensus on whatcorrupts Nepali politics.)

So the burning question of theday boils down to something like this:politicians in a multiparty system arenot supposed to lie or get involved incorruption. To be fair to ourpoliticians in the Nepali Congress andthe erstwhile United Left Front, thatwas a promise they made during thePeople’s Movement that they knewthey had to break to bolster ourhard-won democracy.

This is the paradox of democracy in Nepal: you have to becorrupt to uphold the system of multiparty elections.

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The political economy of corruption

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by SAUNDARYA THAPA

Godavari

OPINION

Hurt, frustrated and hopefulWhere do we draw the line between

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a s I sit to write this letter of protest, one thing bothers me: the

present state of Nepal. Is the abusing of its innocence

and vulnerability what Prithvi Narayan Shah pictured for

Nepal’s future when his dream of unifying the country came

true? Terror and intimidation surround us. We fear going to

work, or to school or even walking on the street because of

‘bandhs’—forced closures that compel you to agree with

someone’s expression of dissatisfaction (or power)?

We, the people, are being treated like dirt in the game of

politics. History suggests politics is a game for

power. But somewhere, there have to be some

hidden good intentions. Politicians must want to

develop and improve their nation and not ruin it

to suit their interests. The degree to which present

day politics revolves around selfishness and power

is not just pathetic but also frightening. No one

bothers to ask us what we want. Where do we draw the line

between anarchy and democracy? Or does that not even

matter anymore?

With time comes development and change in everything,

including education. There are great inequalities in our society, and

it is not fair that the disadvantaged are not provided the opportunity

for quality education. So what do our great revolutionary politicians

do about it? They close down private schools. Now, how does that

benefit anyone? Not only do the disadvantaged not get a quality

education, but nobody else does, either!

Yes, the governments we have had are undoubtedly responsible for

the sorry state we are in. There would not have been a need for private

schools if government schools provided a first-class education. Most of

the time teachers in government schools aren’t there to teach but to do

politics: and once again, it’s us, the people, who suffer

because some greedy, amoral politicians are playing

games with us. In the last session of parliament, the

government was planning to pass an education bill to

have three categories of

schools: government,

private commercial,

and private non-profit. The

private commercial schools would pay taxes just like

any other business, and the money would be used to

subsidise quality education in government schools. At

present, we know that the education provided in

government schools and private schools do not match

at all. The SLC results say it all: private schools get

90% of the total successful results. That is not fair. But

it is also not fair that private schools are to be closed

and hundreds of thousands of us are to be deprived of

the quality education we have the right to, and we are lucky to get.

The education bill never got a chance to be passed or even debated

because of the house boycott.

It is pointless closing down private schools when those who actually go

there find the quality is good value. If we thought the fees were exorbi-

tant, or the quality was not up to mark, we’d go elsewhere. This is our

democratic right of choice. We choose education in private schools, and

we want to sing our national anthem because we are

proud of our nation and respect our king. I don’t see

anything wrong in feeling loyal and proud about

our country and the symbol of our nationhood.

That’s my opinion, but I don’t force it on anyone.

Hiding behind the mask of politics thugs are

abusing democracy. Whatever happened to

hunger strikes, and rallies without the threat of violence that

don’t force everyone to agree with you? Before asking us to give

up the very thing that is going to affect every part of our future,

can whoever you actually are who are trying to close down

schools, assure us students that we are going to get the same

kind of education we have chosen, and are getting? Convince

us, before you start vandalising schools. Explore the possibilities

at least. (One question has been nagging me: where do the sons

and daughters of Maoists leaders study?)

If you look through all the propaganda and intimidation that

surrounds us, this isn’t even about education. If it were, then why

is the party in power not doing anything about it, and why are the

parties who claim to want to bring reforms only waiting to get to

power? It’s true: politics is all about power, isn’t it?

If you want to reform education, start with the schools that

need it. Be constructive in your protests, not destructive.

Bringing down the quality of all schools to the level of

government schools does not solve the problem. Raising the

quality of state schools will.

We love this country. It’s ours, remember? So let’s start doing

something about it. Maybe all this is happening because we, the

people, have never been asked. Maybe we have never said what

we really want. Maybe it is time we raised a voice. For how long

do you want to remain silent? Don’t close schools, not for a week,

not for a day. It’s about time we showed that we care. I do, and I

know you do too.

Saundarya Thapa is a 15-year-old student of grade nine, andwrote this as a class essay.

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ROBIN PIYAAfter the district headquarters shifted to Damauli in 1968, Bandipur became a ghost town. Theeconomy collapsed and the whole demographic profile changed. Most people migrated toplaces like Narayanghat, Dumre, Kathmandu, and Damauli. The revival of Bandipur came inthe form of a missionary school called Notre Dame opened by Japanese nuns in 1985. Theschool provided quality education for over 15 years. But it has been forced to close downbecause of threats from the Maoists. Bandipur now has an uphill battle ahead, the future of thelocal economy and even the town are uncertain.

Notre Dame School had 609 students, half from Bandipur and the rest are fromneighbouring towns. The school provided full and partial scholarships to about 120 students,and fees were affordable. Maoists demanded that the school close down citing three reasons:it was an attempt to “colonise” students, it was private, and it was a for-profit institution.

Notre Dame is indeed a private institution, as are so many other schools. But there is noattempt at “colonisation”—adherence to Christianity was not an obligation. As for it being abusiness venture, the heavily subsidised fees meant the school ran at a loss—up to Rs 80,000a month--which was covered by donations from abroad.

The school actively gave back to the community, while holding the Bandipur economytogether by the mere fact of its presence. There are eight hostels in the town accommodating200 students and there are many who rent flats. The presence of Notre Dame has allowedpeople in Bandipur to invest hugeamounts of money in hostels, shops,dairy farms, orange farms etc, and manywholesale shops rely on their productbeing purchased by the hostels. Theresidents of Bandipur were hopeful theirtown would grow again, thanks to astrong economy.

The school helped locals honeanimal husbandry and dairy farmingtechniques. The support staff are allfrom the area, usually underprivilegedpeople like widows who wouldotherwise find it hard to make endsmeet. Children around the school didn’tneed to send their children to Kathmandu or a below-par government school which, as it turnsout, will now be unable to absorb all of Notre Dame’s students.

Teachers—Nepalis—will lose their jobs. With schools outside the Valley closing down,chances of teachers and merchants finding new avenues are none too bright. After the closure,unofficial estimates say migration out of Bandipur will decrease the population by 30 to 40percent. Because the school was there, there were three bus connections a day betweenKathmandu and Bandipur—without it, who knows. The school brought telephone lines andnewspapers. The only thing left now will be the slate quarries and the orange orchards. Peoplein Bandipur do not want Notre Dame closed.

Bandipur’s sorrow

This could be posturing, but it is clearthat the climate is too polarised for ameeting of minds.

Minister Upadhaya now seems torecognise the gravity of the situation,but is torn between not wanting tonegotiate with students under threatsof violence and the need to assuage theprivate schools. “We are always willingto talk about education reforms. Butthe unions can’t bring politics intotalks just to embarrass thegovernment. The student leaders havenow been released, I am confidentthere are now no obstacles to talks,”he said Tuesday.

For the Maoists, this week’s strikeis a major foray into the capital and anintegral part of the strategy of makingthe rest of the country notice their“peoples’ war”. Maoist students say itis not their short-term interest to closedown schools, but admit that in thelong term, they do want to nationaliseall private schools and introduce a“people-oriented education”. Maoistleader Chairman Prachanda’spronouncements on educationrecognises students as the “reserveforce” in a future “mass uprising”, astrategy the party adopted in Februaryto buttress its armed struggle.

ProgressiveThe student wing of the Maoists is atthe forefront of destabilising thegovernment through a crisis ineducation. Another Maoist leader,Baburam Bhattarai, wrote recentlyabout schools: “…the old, reactionary(system) must be demolished tobuilding anything new andprogressive”. Private schooladministrators argue that if theMaoists want to reform educationthey should start with pressuring thegovernment to improve the quality ofpublic schools.

But the Maoists have seized on apopular dissatisfaction with the wayschools are run. And this is somethingon which everyone from BaburamBhattarai, parents, Nepal’s donors,and even the government agree.However, instead of pushing thegovernment to reform governmentschools all three student unions havetargeted private schools to make theirpoint. They think it is a populist movesince most parents complain abouthigh fees, but some analysts say thatbecause of the sheer numbers ofparents involved the agitation couldbackfire on the left if the strike isprolonged or indiscriminate. Many areconvinced the Maoists don’t reallycare about what happens toeducation, this is just a plan to sowpanic, embarrass the government.

Private schools provide betterSLC exam results, they have bettermotivated teachers, and in most casesensure better all-round developmentof the child—and they are also moreexpensive than public schools. Says aprivate school principal inKathmandu: “We agree that not allprivate schools are genuinelyinterested in quality, but will shuttingthem all down improve education?”Without trained teachers, resources,curriculum and infrastructureupgrading there is unlikely to be anyimprovements in the public schoolsystem.

More than anyone else, it should

be Baburam Bhattarai himself whoshould know about the qualityprovided by private schools. Abrilliant student, Bhattarai toppednationwide grade ten exams at themissionary-run Amar Jyoti JanataHigh School (or Luitel School) inGorkha. He should also know howmuch motivated teachers can make adifference: his guru was a selflesslydedicated educationist from Kerala.Ironically, Bhattarai’s student warriorsare targeting missionary schools andIndian principals. After he graduated,Baburam’s alma mater, Luitel School,itself fell victim to another radcial“reform”—the Panchayat’s NewEducation Policy—and its quality hasgone down steadily since.

Things were not as bad untilabout a year ago when the schoolused to collect annual admission feesfrom its 700 students. But theMaoists forced the school to returnthe fees, and today it is nearlybankrupt. “I tried request them notto make us do that, but they wouldnot listen,” says Guna PrasadNeupane, headmaster of LuitelSchool told us in Gorkha.

TragedySt Joseph’s in Gorkha (set up in1994) had 500 students. The highestfee it charged was Rs300 a month ingrade nine. It had 45 scholarships andtook in students from the indigenouskumal (potter) group for just Rs 100a month. Another school, St Mary’sGorkha, was teaching 275 girls. Itstenth graders paid Rs 374 a monthand it also had 175 scholarships forunderprivileged locals. Bandipur’sNotre Dame had 609 students, andthose in the highest fee-payingcategory paid just Rs 320 a month.Contrary to Maoist claims, all threeschools were non-profit, and in factsuffered losses that were subsidised.All three schools are now closed.Says a dejected educationist inKathmandu: “This is the tragedy:the three schools that come closestto what the Maoists themselves saythey want to do withpeoples’education are the ones tobe closed down.”

And this is where thearbitrariness and indiscriminateattacks on private schools will hurtthe most: in the Maoists’ inabilityor refusal to distinguish betweennon-profit schools run with

dedication and vision, and schoolsrun as pure businesses. Closing privateschools will also send Nepali schoolsstudents flooding back to hill stationsin India, which used to be the casebefore quality schools started openingin Nepal. Already, flights to Bhadrapur(gateway to Darjeeling) are bookedbecause of parents flying out on receetrips. Some schools have been issuingabnormal numbers of transfercertificate to students who want to goto India.

Said one principal: “This is theirony, by attacking so-called Indianschools in Nepal, the Maoists willdrive Nepali students to India tostudy.” A large chunk of the Rs 5billion that is spent by parents insending their children to privateschools could end up in India if theagitation drags on.

School administrators blame thegovernment for not standing up to thepressure and threats from the leftiststudent unions, and say the problemcould have been resolved if only quickdecisions were taken. For their part,the UML, ML and Maoists unionsare vying with each other to win overstudents and parents with theircampaign for free reduction. They aregambling on the fact that middle classparents will be thankful to anyonewho will bring down fees. And as forthe Maoists, by admission of theirown leaders, this really not abouteducation at all, but part of a long-term strategy to prime students fortheir forthcoming “hammer and anvil”offensive in the cities.

Explains sociologist ChaitanyaMishra: “The long term goal of theadvocates of free education is todisempower communities and makethem disinterested in the system,which will happen once governmentstarts playing the role of the giver.They will then cease to demandquality and education will go to thedogs.” Mishra says free educationbenefits those that can pay forschooling more than those thatcannot.

In the quiet corridors of a privateschool in Kathmandu this week, theprincipal showed us emptyclassrooms, and said: “We are waitingto see what happens. We may have tocut fees, but we can’t go beyond acertain point where our school ceaseshave its soul.” with reports by Shree Bhakta Khanal inGorkha and Tanahu

We don’t needno education?

from p. 1

Baburam Bhattarai (extreme left) with classmates at Luitel School in Gorkha.

Notre-Dame School in Bandipur.

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ECONOMIC SENSE by ARTHA BEED

18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

BIZ NEWS

i t is difficult for your Beed to beamusing this week. It seems to meas if the vendetta against an un-

governing government has found inschools one of its most singular andeffective targets. This is terriblydepressing—here we are, banking onan educated generation to come so wecan all move on in tangible,important, necessary ways, and this ishow we have been safeguarding anddeveloping our resources. Are thedevelopments of the last few weekswhat it takes to shake us out of ourcomplacence and make us realise thatthose conditions that makeeducational institutions an easy—andalmost defensible—target of Nepal’srevolutionaries are the very ones thatwould have failed us anyway, in ten,fifteen, twenty years.

Private education isn’t some new-fangled institution we don’t knowwhat to do with. Until thegovernment intervened in theseventies and the eighties, it was theonly kind there was. Of course, whatthe state’s intervention really did, dueto the ineffectiveness of the NationalEducation System Plan, wasencourage the growth of privateschools. In 1984 the ratio of publicschools to private schools was 30:1 atthe lower-secondary level and 5:1 inthe secondary level. This is now 1:1.

As this dependence grew, privateschools mushroomed virtuallyunregulated. No five-year plans dealt

Private education, public diktat

with them and they inspired no policytomes concerning their number or thequality of education they offered.People will often say to this “Ah, butyou see, the growth of private schoolshas helped in keeping resources withinNepal that would otherwise haveflown out with our students.” This is afine sentiment, but let’s be a littlehard-nosed: at what cost to the qualityof education was this happening?

A cost far too high to justify.Private education is a sellers’ market,and even parents who would like toform associations and engage withtheir children’s schools on these andother issues are scared to imperil theirchildren’s school careers by appearingto be nosy troublemakers. Everyadmission season parents must callanyone they know, including thisBeed, and anxiously keep at them tohelp in their children’s admission.Parents—the customers in theeconomic sense—can’t ask for aprice-cut. Once again it is the issueof regulation. Of course I also knowof schools that charge high fees, butalso incur high costs and afterbeing in operation for a decade, stillbarely break even.

If schools are to be run likebusinesses, then they ought at least berun like good businesses. The feestructure should be determined on the“rate of return” principle. If a privatepower developer is asked to assume acertain rate of return on its

investment, why shouldn’t animagined school-fee structure besimilarly regulated. Regulation andscrutiny would ensure schoolscouldn’t charge lab fees or computerfees in the absence of either. At leastfly-by-night private operators wouldhave to realise that they are heldresponsible for the delivery of animportant social service.

And it isn’t just the fate ofstudents at risk, also the investmentsin over 8,000 schools. Even at anaverage of Rs 2.5 million per school,there’s an approximate investment ofRs 20 billion in the sector as a whole,not even beginning to count thefinancial institutions, service providersand intermediaries linked to it.

There simply must be an end tothis impasse. There must beregulation by the government and self-regulation by associations. We needto finally talk about minimumstandards of quality and facilities, andwhat constitutes a reasonable fee. Theaspect of charges of fees needs to beaddressed and of course the system ofdiscouraging rampant mushrooming ofschools. And private schools need tometamorphose from family enterprisesto socially responsible institutionswith avenues of public participation,whether in the form of trusts, or evenpublic equity participation.

Readers can discuss issues [email protected]

The conditions that make educational institutions an easy target forNepal’s revolutionaries are the very ones that would have failed usanyway, in ten, fifteen, twenty years.

by PAUL D. GROSSMANOPINION

ince my first visit to Nepal in1991 I have not seen a level ofdiscontent with the current

political and social environment as Iam seeing in the last year andespecially the last six months. In thelast week alone I have seen bandhswhich closed traffic and the entirecity, and attacks on schools,individuals and police. there appearsto be an overwhelming need, oftencompetitive, to demonstrate andconsolidate power among politicalgroups in a negative and destructiveway. Obviously, there isoverwhelming anger and frustration,but these are negative ways of dealingwith this: strikes and bandhs whichdemonstrate no positive vision, noeffort, and result in…nothing.

Attacks which are violent anddestructive prove that the actingparties are frustrated and have gainedsome power, but that is all. Strikesaffect all people, but considering thatthe communist groups’ greatestsupport comes from rural areas andthe poor who live hand to mouth as itis, these actions have a profound effecton those they are intended to help.Being unable to work for one daybrings them one day closer todisaster. Crippling the economy isnot a viable method of bringing thecurrent administration to its knees.Members of the government are theleast likely to be affected whilemembers of the police force, forexample, who are not rich orpowerful and likely have taken adangerous job to support theirfamilies, will be affected greatly.

A viable political movement mustact not only out of negative impulses,but also according to their values andin a manner which demonstratessomething about their ability to usepower. It is about character. It isabout “walking your talk”, brothers

To whom it may concernIt is easy to destroy. Harder, and moreimportant, is building a vision for thefuture and acting on it.

and sisters. Imagine a political groupcalling a nwe kind of bandh as anact of positive change: cleaning upKathmandu’s streets, a musicconcert in which the proceedsbenefit some worthy group or area,repainting schools, plantinggardens, a bicycle repair workshop,a day of repairing auto rickshawsand motorcycles to make them lesspolluting. Such actions are notconcessions to the government,they are acts of leadership and civicmindedness. A true leader is onewho sees what needs to be done anddoes it, one who does not wait forconditions to be perfect or expectsit to be easy, or waits for others tobegin first. Someone who actsaccording to their values anddemonstrates strength and visionthat others can believe in. Some ofthe greatest leaders of the last 40years—Gandhi, Martin LutherKing, the Dalai Lama—havedemonstrated this through lifetimesof positive action. What do Nepal’sleftist political organisationsdisplay? A predilection for destruc-tion.

It may be true that agents ofmeaningful change must necessarilybegin with demonstrations ofdiscontent and expressions offrustration. But such things aremerely an early stage. After that,organisations must move ahead withthe far harder work of creatingsomething new. The powerachieved is far more solid andprofound. Anger is a deep yetfleeting emotion, but the forces thatdrive positive change are vision,

willpower and tenacity, elements ofcharacter, not temporal emotionslike anger or frustration. If a dayshould come when the currentpolitical landscape includesrepresentation or government fromcommunist groups, they will haveto contend with the far greater taskof providing for a constituency witha completely destroyed economyand much-reduced foreign aid. Andthat will be difficult to handleunless they start building a positiveagenda and demonstrate thatpublicly now.

In fact, there has never been abetter opportunity for politicalparties to demonstrate positivepolitical will and leadership. Noone wants Nepal to become a blankspot on the tourist map likeKashmir, or be like Bangladeshwhere too-frequent bandhs havebecome a barrier to foreigninvestment. But that may be thefuture. Destruction is an easy wayto temporarily feel the power andpotential that we have when weorganise into groups. My interestand one I believe is shared by allpolitical movements, is creatingpositive social change. I have nointerest in which movements gainpower and lead this country; only inthat whoever does so leads Nepaldown a positive path in accordancewith their values and with thelegitimate support of theirconstituents. We need leadershipbased on a persuasive vision for thefuture, not on fear, violence,coercion, destruction and short-term thinking.

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Stocks tumbleCommercial bank shares took a downturn last week, causing the Nepal Stock Exchange Index(NEPSE) to fall by about 20 points to 331.7 on 18 May, down from 351.1 the week before.Commercial banks are the most heavily traded stocks on the NEPSE and so any change inprices is directly reflected in the NEPSE. The only bank whose prices did not fall was theNepal Arab Bank. Brokers say one reason for the drop in prices and demand for bankingsector shares is the new regulation that comes into force mid-July (NT # 00). Among others,the regulation requires banks to hold more money as provision for losses and capitaladequacy. The prices of banking stocks were bearish since an earlier central bank directiverequiring banks to increase paid-up capital to Rs 500 million, which most banks met byissuing bonus shares. Investors bought bank shares because of the possibility of gettingbonus shares and also because of the low interest banks offered on savings. Banking sectorshares dropped by a total of almost 30 points last week. The NEPSE last took a similar fall inearly March when insurance and finance companies—the other major group traded—went intoa tailspin and caused the index to fall 22 percentage points. The group continues to remainlow, and dipped one percent last week. The manufacturing group did not fare better—its indexdropped three points.

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Aqua vs Aqua SmileA battle royal is brewing between Aqua, one of Nepal’s most successful bottled watercompanies, and a rather cheeky new competitor that has begun selling a product with a namemany find too similar to the older brand, to be a coincidence. The new entrant, Aqua Smile,also claims to use a similar purification technology—the reverse osmosis that Aqua promotesin its ads. Sources at Aqua say the company, which has spent millions on publicity is so angryat the government for permitting a new product with such a similar name, that they might suethe government for losses. KB Ghimere, managing director, of Asian Drinks P, makers ofSmile, is unconcerned. “Aqua is generic for water and our brand has a Smile, that’s how weare registered,” he says.

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Visit Nepal for a MarutiThe Nepal Tourism Board has changed gears. Lookat this ad which appeared in the Times of India on18 May, and you’ll know what we’re talking about.Maruti is offering a free holiday to Nepal to anyonebuying a Maruti 800 paying IRs125 a day—thatsomething about the financing plan it offers. Good start NTB.

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Shangrila hotel

18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES 99999NEPALI ECONOMY

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SALIL SUBEDIvery Saturday in atraditional Newari houseon Jochhne, sixty-

something Shanta DasManandhar listens, reads andlaughs with 20 schoolchildrenwho share their poetry, prose andessays. The children take theirwork home and to variouspublications, and Shanta Das,

writer, translator, illustrator, andpublisher of Bal Koseli publicationsestablished in 1979, waits for thenext weekend. “Nepali kids havebeen denied both respect and booksfor long,” says Manandhar. “Theeconomy doesn’t support children’sliterature and we lack a readingculture,” he says. Even so, he agrees,things are rapidly looking up.

The last few years have seen

the demand for children’s booksgrow across the country.Awareness campaigns, thepromotion of informal educationand teacher training programshave all helped. But the singlelargest factor have beenexhibitions of children’s books in18 towns across Nepal organisedby Bal Sansar, a not-for-profitclearinghouse run by the HimalAssociation. “In most placespeople had no idea so manybooks were published forchildren,” recalls Dadin Pandey,marketing manager of Bal Sansar.The organisation says some70,000 books worth Rs 500million changed hands as a resultof its 2000/2001 exhibitions.“Distributors in places like Dang,Bhairahawa and Surkhet now sellover Rs 8,000 worth children’sbooks a month,” says Pandey.Nepal has twelve children’sliterature publishers and around170 titles from all these housesare available through Bal Sansar.The organisation has also puttogether a children’s book bankwith more than 300 titles—virtually all the children’s bookspublished in Nepal in the lastninety years. Govinda Shrestha ofRatna Pustak Bhandar, one of theoldest private publishers in thecountry says his firm activelyreviews books once a year,discarding some, and adding sixnew titles.

Unsurprisingly, for anindustry not known for itsproduction values,straightforward prose is the most

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A new generation of Nepali readers, writers andillustrators are prodding publishers.Caught readingCaught reading common genre. “More than 80

percent of the trade books forchildren are collections of storiesor of poems and songs,” saysManesh Shrestha, coordinator ofBal Sansar. Forget about buyingyour children books with essaysor about science, or travel—subjects like these are ignored,with only two travelogues forchildren written in Nepali. As forillustrated books, a staple ofchildren’s publishing in otherplaces, Shiva Shrestha of theHimalayan Book Centre says:“Children love colourful booksand comics and that is what I sellmost. But all in English orHindi.” Shrestha remembers apretty popular attempt atproducing Nepali illustratedbooks 15 years ago—the lowquality two-colour comic bookspublished on leftover paper fromthe stock acquired for educationalmaterials by the government-runtextbook publisher JanakSikchhya Samagri Kendra.

Part of the reason the marketis so dismal is that writing forchildren here is generally awashwith narrow and outdatedportrayals of ethics, morality andbeliefs. “We need to producegood writers and illustrators andensure quality. Most Nepalichildren’s books are sexist,classist and too didactic. Why allthe heavy moralising and boring‘messages’?” asks Bimal Nibha, aresearcher at Bal Sansar. To thisend, Bal Sansar is reviewing itscollection to resurrect good titlesand banish the bad. And to ensure

ON NEWSSTANDS NOW

better books in the future, itorganises training, interaction andnetworking programmes forauthors, illustrators andpublishers. Other organisationsare doing their bit: the NepalChildren’s Literature Society(NESCIL) has an annual award forchildren’s writers and illustrators,Akhyan gets children excited aboutbooks via performance art, and theHatemalo Sanchar has built anetwork of young readers across thecountry through its magazine. RamBabu Subedi, a Nepali teacher andpoet, has been looking closely at thedevelopment of the industry as well aschildren’s reading habits. “I’d guessthat around 15 percent of childrenbetween standards four and seven areregular readers and purchasers ofbooks directed at them,” he says.Subedi adds that increasingly, parentsare also encouraging their children toread in Nepali.

General consensus is that amarket good for Nepali childrenwill also be good for writers. “Wehave the latest technology here.There are already benchmarks forquality printing in Nepal. Nowwe need to develop a culture ofbooks here,” says GovindaShrestha, of Ratna PustakBhandar. “And”, adds ShivaShrestha of the Himalayan BookCentre, “to aid in this, publishersmust do their bit like is done inIndia—there you can get qualitystory books for Rs 25.” The waythings are going, distributorswon’t desperately have to wait forbooks coming in from Banarasanymore.

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1212121212 TECHNOLOGY 18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

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JAMES MEEKJAMES MEEKJAMES MEEKJAMES MEEKJAMES MEEKhe British inventor of theworld wide web, TimothyBerners-Lee, has been

awarded fellowship of the RoyalSociety, the UK’s highestscientific honour, in a movesuggesting Britain’s mostexclusive club is heedingcriticism that it is out of touch.Professor Berners-Lee, nowbased at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology in theUS, invented the web’s addresssystem and layout inSwitzerland in 1990,revolutionising the way

Finally…

The UK’s Royal Society is getting lessstuffy—this week, they admitted theinventor of the Internet and a very popularscience writer.

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information is presented andaccessed. Yet the 360-year-oldRoyal Society, notoriouslyrigorous and traditional in itsdetermination to admit only theelite, failed to consider him formembership. In March, the newpresident of the society, SirRobert May, complained thatthe organisation had givenProfessor Berners-Lee a medal,but it had not occurred to anyof its members to put his nameforward for the ultimateaccolade of fellowship itself.

Prof Berners-Lee is among43 fellows whose election to theRoyal Society was announcedearlier this week. The citationsays that his work has“revolutionised communicationvia the Internet, enablinguniversal access to informationplaced on the web, and has hada profound economic impact.”This is not the only sign thatthe Royal Society is takingmore account of scientist’ssuccess in catching the publicimagination, as well as theiracademic prowess. BiologistRichard Dawkins, author of TheSelfish Gene, will also be awardedfellowship, along with IanStewart, the mathematician andexpert in chaos and complexity.

Professor Dawkins, whoholds the chair in the publicunderstanding of science atOxford University, said he isdelighted. “I’m grateful for whatis still a genuine honour, onewhich has not been devalued,as, for example, knighthoodshave by honouring the likesof Elton John and CliffRichard.” (Guardian)

t

DHL NEPAL PVT. LTD. DHL HOUSE, NAYA BANESHWORKATHMANDU, NEPAL

TEL: +977-1-496427/496248/495861(NAYA BANESHWOR), 223222(KAMALADI) 264259(THAMEL),545870(PATAN), 061-28730(POKHARA), 02121730(BIRATNAGAR)

FAX :+977-1-477859 Email: [email protected]

Use our advantage to yours

1313131313WORLD 18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

GUMISAI MUTUME

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IN WASHINGTONEuropean parliamentarycommittee hit a brick wall thisweek in their efforts to

question US officials about allegedeconomic spying. The group was inWashington to investigate theexistence of an electronic spyingnetwork codenamed Echelon. TheUnited States denies its existence, butAustralia has admitted to being apartner in the effort, which reportedlyalso includes Britain, Canada andNew Zealand. The network allegedlymonitors global telephone, fax, andemail communications.

The committee had been eager totest suspicions that intelligencegleaned this way is passed on to UScorporations to enable them to beattheir European competitors tobusiness contracts. Carlos Coelho,who headed the European delegation,charged in a statement that the

group’s meetings with the State andCommerce departments werecancelled at the last minute, and thatUS intelligence officials declined tomeet the committee althougharrangements to do so had beenmade in advance.

The Central Intelligence Agencydenied the accusation. “There wasnever any commitment with the CIAto meet with them,” CIA spokesper-son Anya Guilsher said. “The USintelligence community has basicallysaid everything that it can say on thisissue and would not want to go into itany further with a foreign committee.”Officials at the US National SecurityAgency (NSA), however, confirmedthat they had refused to meet theEuropeans because they had nothingnew to say on the matter. “We believethat [NSA Director] General[Michael] Hayden’s testimony beforethe US intelligence oversightcommittees last year provides a

synopsis of the NSA’s position on theissues at hand,” the agency said.Hayden told a Congressionalintelligence committee last year thathis organisation collects informationonly for foreign intelligence purposesand provides it only to authorisedgovernment recipients.

Last August, however, USCongresswoman Cynthia McKinneytold Britain’s Oxford Union debatingsociety that Echelon indeed monitorsglobal communications. McKinneyacknowledged that EU fears about theuse of Echelon for corporateespionage were founded and thatinformation gathered by the networkhad been used “to defeat an Airbusbid to supply jumbo jets to SaudiArabia in favour of a Boeing tender.Boeing won the multi-billion-dollarcontract thanks to stolen informationsupplied by Echelon.” On thestrength of similar admissions andnumerous investigations, theEuropean parliament mandated a 36-member committee last year to verifyEchelon’s existence, determinewhether Echelon contravenesprivacy laws, and assess the risks toEuropean industry.

“The Europeans probably knowmore than enough already aboutEchelon,” said US author WilliamBlum, who has written about thenetwork. “And there is no questionthat the US is using it for commercialadvantage, but the Europeans aredoing it too.” According to theEuropeans, Echelon monitors theinternational telecommunicationssatellites used by telephone companies

in most countries, regional communi-cation satellites, and land-based andunder-sea telecom systems. Thenetwork is said to monitor trafficrandomly and zero in on conversa-tions and messages containingkeywords programmed into Echelon’scomputers. Those conversationsand messages are then recorded andforwarded to the countries doingthe spying.

The US and Britain haverepeatedly denied the existence ofsuch a programme despite admissionsby another member of the group,Australia, that its Defence SignalsDirectorate forms part of thenetwork. The NSA was required toreport on the legal basis for Echelonand similar activities under a lawenacted by President Clinton. But theagency’s subsequent report gave fewdetails about the system’s operationsand legality. In a series of studiesreleased last year, the EU noted thatunlike many electronic spy systemsdeveloped after the Cold War,Echelon was designed primarily fornon-military targets, including“governments, organizations andbusinesses in virtually everycountry.” Because most economicinformation is now exchangedelectronically, privacy protection isof increasing concern. Almost everyadvanced nation practisesintelligence involving the covertinterception of foreigncommunications, experts say.Echelon is widely believed to be thelargest effort of this kind, followed bya programme run by Russia. (IPS)

Electronic espionage and the EUAfter the Cold War comes Echelon, anelectronic spying network.

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World Bank’s Tower of BabelWASHINGTON - Citizens’ groups are deriding a World Bankeffort to build the Internet’s premier portal on poverty andsustainable development. The website, scheduled to open inJuly, will encompass over 130 topics and be the mostprominent web entry point for people interested in develop-ment issues. That is the problem, say civil society groups:the project threatens to drown out smaller developmentplayers whose resources don’t allow them to rival the Bank’sweb presence. What’s more, says Alex Wilks of the London-based Bretton Woods Project, which monitors the Bank, theproject risks becoming “an electronic tower of Babel” by tryingto involve everyone and everything related to development.The Bank has got governments and the private sector onboard and is now luring civil society groups in what many seeas an attempt to lend credibility to an initiative that will cost$7-10 million annually. The site aims to draw five millionvisitors a month by 2003. The Development Gateway willfeature electronic bookstores, electronic marketplaces for thesale of goods and services, and a system to announce andaward contracts. Last year 300 organisations joined Wilks’sin asking the Bank to address certain questions. They saythe Bank ignored their issues, including the concern that theGateway will not be run independent of the Bank. CarlosBraga, director of the programme, says the initiative will berun by a separate foundation. Founding members—all donorgovernments—will be expected to contribute at least $5million to the project for a seat on the board and won’tinfluence the project’s editorial policy, he adds. The Bank’scritics also question the institution’s fitness to assume theposition of principal provider of development informationresources. The lender’s record in poor countries, detractorssay, hardly qualifies it as an expert in the field. (IPS)

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Asylum in central Europe?PRAGUE - Central European coutnries, which until 1989were exporters of refugees, now receive increasing numbersof applications for asylum. The Czech Republic, which hasreceived about 34,000 requests for asylum during the lastdecade, had 2,018 recognised refugees in October 2000.About 1.5 percent of the applicants in 2000—134 people—were granted refugee status. Like Poland and Hungary, alsocandidates for EU membership, the Czech Republic is seenmore as a “transit country” both by asylum seekers and so-called “economic refugees”, rather than a destination country.“Unofficial estimates put the figure of those who leave after acouple of weeks or months at 60-70 percent,” says PavelTychtl, director of Prague-based NGO Organisation for Aid toRefugees (OPU). Provisional UNHCR numbers for 2000show Hungary received over 7,500 requests for asylum in2000, while in 1999, the year of the Kosovo crisis, the figurestood at 11,499. Tychtl has no idea when the “transit” statuswill change. “It usually happens when the country goesthrough an economic boom and has a strong tradition of agood social system,” he says. Although part of the EU, Spainand Italy are also considered transit countries. Citing aGerman secret service document, a recent issue of DerSpiegel reported an estimated 200,000 refugees in theCzech Republic are planning to enter the EU illegally via theCzech-German border. NGOs fear tougher measures couldlimit refugees’ access to the asylum procedure. “The refu-gees have to have access to the asylum procedure,therefore, they have to have access to the territory,” Tychtlsays. “If they don’t, there’s no point in having a goodreception and integration system for asylum seekers andrefugees.” (IPS)

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Cannes conscienceCANNES - The Cannes Film Festival was denounced by theRev Jesse Jackson earlier this week. “The cultural apartheidhere reflects money rather than talent. There must be moreAfrican-American films here—there are none this year. Andthere must be a greater commitment to those small andpoorer nations who have great stories to tell but limitedmeans to tell them,” said Jackson, founder of the RainbowCoalition and still the most prominent black voice in USpolitics. Jackson, 59, came to Cannes for the world premiereof the film The Country Preacher: Keeping Hope Alive, avideo diary about a year in his life from 1999 to 2000. Itincludes footage from his days as a student leader 40 yearsago. While organisers will be aware that not one of the 23films up for the Palme d’Or is made by a black film-maker,Jackson’s attack on Cannes was widely ignored in thiscitadel of privilege. European, American and Asian cinemaare well represented at Cannes, but black filmmakers arenot. Still, the festival can’t be accused of peddling tritecinema on well-worn themes: Iranian Abbas Kiarostami’sdocumentary about AIDS in Uganda was screened for thefirst time here last week as was Claude Lanzmann’sSobibor, October 14, 1943, about the only successful upris-ing in a Nazi death camp. And finally there was the worldpremiere of Hijack Stories, a “social” film made by a whiteAfrikaner set in Soweto. (Guardian)

he United Nations calls AIDS the “worst infectious disease catastrophesince bubonic plague”. US President George W Bush last week pledged$200 million to a UN fund to combat AIDS globally. The money will go

into a $ 7-10 billion kitty UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is putting togetherfor HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. But scientific data do not support theview that what is called AIDS in Africa has a viral cause.

Let’s start with a few basic facts about HIV, AIDS, African record-keepingand socio-economic realities. What are we counting? The WHO defines anAIDS case in Africa as a combination of fever, persistent cough, diarrhoea, and a10 percent loss of body weight in two months. No HIV test is needed. It isimpossible to distinguish these common symptoms—I’ve had all in Somalia—from those of malaria, tuberculosis, or the indigenous diseases of impoverishedlands. In North America and Europe, AIDS is defined as 30-odd diseasesoccurring in people who test “HIV-positive.” Dressed up as HIV/AIDS, oldsicknesses have been reclassified—since 1994, tuberculosis has been consideredan AIDS indicator disease in Africa. The Global Burden of Disease Study saysAfrica maintains the lowest levels of reliable vital statistics for any continent—1.1percent. When experts are asked to prove actual cases of AIDS, terrifyingnumbers dissolve into vague estimates of HIV infection.The most reliablestatistics on AIDS in Africa are in the WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record.The total number of AIDS cases reported in Africa since 1982, when AIDSrecord-keeping began, is 794,444—starkly at odds with the latest scare figureswhich claim 2.3 million AIDS deaths in 1999 alone. More reliable local statisticsrarely exist. I asked Alan Whiteside of the University of Natal, a top AIDSresearcher in South Africa, for details of the alleged 100,000 AIDS deaths inSouth Africa in the last year. “We don’t keep any of those statistics,” he said.

And South Africa is more advanced than most African countries in that itconducts HIV tests in surveys of about 18,000 pregnant Africans annually andthen extrapolates the HIV-positive numbers. There are two problems with this:The women are given a blood test called ELISA, which frequently gives a “falsepositive” result (pregnancy can trigger a false alarm). Secondly, many endemicinfections trigger the same antibodies that cause positive reactions on HIVantibody tests. Beauty Nongila, principal of a rural school in north Zululand,said to me that having more toilets would improve the health of her 408students. She struggles to provide her underfed kids with a spartan lunch oneight cents a day. As for the AIDS crisis, she believes dental problems, respiratoryillnesses, diarrhea, and chronic hunger are far more vexing.

Figures about children orphaned by AIDS also bear closer examination. Theaverage fertility rate among African women is 5.8 and the risk of death in

AIDS by any other name

Wearing red ribbons and“condomising” the continent will dolittle for the health of Africans.childbirth is one in three. The African life span is not long—50 for womenand 47 for men—so on a continent of 650 million people, it is possible thatover 10 million children have lost their mothers before they reached highschool age. Long-standing ailments largely the product of poverty areblamed on a sexually transmitted virus. Zealously but without evidence,condom manufacturers and AIDS fund-raisers attribute those symptoms toan “African sexual culture.”

Wearing red ribbons or calling to condomise the continent will do little forthe health of Africans. A 1998 study of pregnant, HIV-positive women inTanzania showed that providing them with inexpensive micronutrientsupplements was beneficial during and after pregnancy. AIDS activists need toconsider the non-contagious, indigenous-disease explanations for “AIDS”. Butdysentery and malaria do not inspire headlines or fatten public health budgets.Infectious “plagues” do. Traditional public-health approaches, clean water, andimproved sanitation can tackle the underlying health problems in Africa. Theymay not be sexy, but they will save lives. (The Globe and Mail, Tornoto)

Dr Charles Geshekter is a three-time Fulbright scholar and adviser to the US StateDepartment and several African governments. He is an African history professor.

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by CHARLES GESHEKTEROPINION

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1414141414 ASIA 18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES

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KHANAK PAREKHebatpur, Gujarat, India -Gambhirsinh Rajput proudlypoints to a muddy pit. It is not

easy to locate immediately—manysimilar pits pockmark the bottom ofwhat was once a pond. He picks up arusty tin container. Tying a string toit, he lowers the can into the hole anddraws out some water. It is so muddy,dirty and polluted that only a verythirsty person would drink it.Gambhirsinh Rajput does.

“This is how we get water,” hesays with a chuckle. It will takeanother hour or so for the water to bereplenished from the springs. Thistraditional method of obtaining waterfrom a dry river or pond by diggingpits is called virdo. It is a slow

process—only a few litres arecollected at a time. Rajput’spredicament epitomises life in thevillage of Hebatpur, three hours byroad from Ahmedabad inprosperous Gujarat.

Large parts of Gujarat’s Kutchdistrict were devastated by anearthquake 26 January, killing over20,000 people and attracting muchinternational aid and media attention.But Gujarat’s current drought, theworst in 100 years, which isparticularly affecting the regions ofSaurashtra and Kutch, has not hit theheadlines. The state government’smuch-publicised response, theSaurashtra Pipeline Project, passesbarely five km from Hebatpur, whosepopulation of 8,000 lives on a few tin

Laughing their woes awaycans of water everyday.

Once an agricultural community,the people of Hebatpur can no longergrow crops or look after their fewhead of cattle. “Since our troublesbegan we have been writing, meeting,demanding, even rioting at the officeof the Water Supply Board at Barvala[the nearest town with governmentoffices],” says Madarsinh. “We askedfor water to be supplied by tankers,but nobody pays any attention to ourproblems. Until last year the Boardsent us two tankers of water [per day]for the entire village. On paper theyshowed five. Our politicians havedisappeared. Not even media personscare to come here.”

Sixty-year-old Kanjibhai points toa disused plastic pipe at the edge ofthe pond. It was installed bygovernment engineers from theSaurashtra Pipeline Project and meantto bring water. This forlorn pipe sumsup the situation in the village.Officials of the Gujarat Water Supplyand Sewerage Board claim thepipeline provides them with as muchas 50,000 litres of water per day.“This they say is 50,000 litres ofwater! It flows like cow’s urine,” saysKanjibhai, pointing at the pipe andbreaking into uncontrollable laughter.The drip-drop from the pipe lasts foran hour or two—maybe once a day ormaybe once a week, no one really

knows. With no other source of waterin the vicinity and no livelihoodpossible, thousands have migrated withtheir families and cattle to otherregions of Gujarat in search of water,food and perhaps work. One way toaccess water is to travel 10 km to thevillage of Devpara where the pipeline isbreached and water leaks continuously.The accidental water-hole serves as anoasis where people fill up pots withclean water and, every now and then,engage in the luxury of bathing andwashing. Even here, the wait for watercan be long and tedious.

Water is not the only scarce thingin Hebatpur. Anything one commonlyassociates with a village of similar sizein a country like India is absent here.There is no approach road to thevillage—only mud tracks leading tofarms. Electricity is rarely, if ever,available. A village telephone remainsan elusive dream. There is no primaryhealth centre, and no bank. This is avillage with a long list of no’s. Still, theone thing Hebatpur does not lack isthe ability to laugh. Referring to themuch worse conditions in villages suchas Mingalpur, Jhankhi, Bhangadh andBavaliyala, lying in the east towards theGulf of Cambay (Khambhat), onevillager said, “We can at least shaveand change. There they looklike pre-historic people or evenworse.” (Gemini)

by DAVID WALLANALYSIS

PYONGYANG: The most predictable thing about North Korea is itsunpredictability. One day last week saw the son of its Dear Leader Kim Jong Ilarrested while entering Japan on a false passport (supposedly to take his son toTokyo’s Disneyland), the next day brought a promise to maintain itsmoratorium on missile testing until 2003 as well as continue sales of missiletechnologies to countries like Iran. But there is asecond, unchanging element in North Koreanaffairs: its basket-case economy.

One million people may have died in theNorth Korean famine of 1995 to 1997. Now theWorld Food Program fears another is looming—the country’s agricultural output will likely fall to1.8 million tons of grain, far short of the 4.8million tons needed to supply the meagre rationof seven oz a day (half the daily allowance forthose in UN refugee camps) ordinary NorthKoreans receive. National food stocks ran outin January and South Korean food aid will runout this month.

While the World Food Programme feedsNorth Korea’s six million children, 17 million adults must fend for themselves.(A “military first” programme diverts most supplies to the country’s hugestanding army and bureaucracy.) To survive, many North Koreans forage foredible roots and leaves and make soups from cabbage stalks and vegetable waste.Those who survive will be more malnourished than ever, and the percentage ofchildren whose growth is stunted will increase from today’s two- thirds.

North Korea’s next mini-harvest, not due until late June, will not even be asgood as last year’s abysmal one. At the same time, South Korea will reduce theamount of fertiliser it provides for rice planting from 300,000 tons to 200,000tons. Even the reduced aid was disputed by people in Seoul who argued forconditions on improved North/South relations.

This appalling situation results from North Korea’s bizarre form ofsocialism, juche. Kim Jong Il, North Korea’s current leader continues to promotejuche, his father’s brainchild, in almost 900 books and articles. Despite shunningMarxism/Leninism in favour of juche in 1967, Soviet subsidies kept NorthKorea’s economy above water until 1991. After the collapse of the USSR theeconomy went into a tailspin with floods and droughts in 1995, 1996 and 1997.He avoids talking about it at home, but Kim may now believe that juche is alosing philosophy. So he’s turned to China for advice.

During his first of two missions to China last year, Kim Jong Il askedPresident Jiang Zemin about how to move towards a market economy yetmaintain an authoritarian dictatorship. My pleasure, said Jiang. First, firmlysuppress political dissent as soon as it emerges. Second, examine our stockexchanges and special economic zones. On his second trip to China, which

Missiles, Mickey Mouse, and North KoreaNorth Korea’s appalling conditions owe a lotto the country’s bizarre form of socialism,but can asking China for advice help?

followed Kim’s historic meeting with PresidentKim Dae Jung of South Korea last June, NorthKorea’s leader was taken to Shanghai by PremierZhu Rongji and shown its stock exchange and thevast Pudong development zone No one doubtsthat Jiang Zemin knows how to maintain anauthoritarian regime. But is he the best source ofadvice on how to revive North Korea’s economy?Probably not: the policies that transformed Chinaover the last two decades are unlikely to workin North Korea. It will be along time before theDear Leader can convince his followers that astock market, with its demand forcorporatisation, even privatisation, is at allconnected to the primary stage of juche.

Convincing themselves that reform was unavoidable was one of the majorfeats of China’s leadership under Deng.

In China, economic zones—especially the five Special Economic Zones andthe Pudong area of Shanghai—work because they were envisioned aslaboratories with a controlled environment for economic, social, even politicalexperiments. Deng Xiao Ping, who gave the zones the go-ahead, understood thatopening China’s economy to the outside world to improve the welfare ofordinary Chinese would inevitably attract “mosquitoes.” Mosquitoes did fly in,bringing corruption, criminal activities, progressive and liberal ideas and anawareness of what life is like in the rest of the world.

Life in North Korea is hermetically sealed. The only radios permitted inNorth Korea can only be tuned to North Korean stations. Few North Koreansare allowed to visit Pyongyang, whereas millions of Chinese travel and studyabroad each year. When North Korea approached Swedish academics to requesttraining in business management, they insisted it take place in conditions as nearto those in North Korea as possible. So the training will take place not inStockholm, but in communist Hanoi.

Unlike Deng, North Korea’s leadership from Kim down shows littleawareness of such “mosquitoes”. They will not find them acceptable. Cabbagestalk soup and grass salad are likely to dominate the diet of long-suffering NorthKoreans for a long time. (Project Syndicate)

David Wall is senior research fellow for Asia at the Royal Institute forInternational Affairs.

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Conditions in drought-hit areas of Gujaratare so bad, that many villagers findlaughter the most appropriate response.

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The lungs of the worldJAKARTA - Desperate to stem the alarming logging in Indonesia,environmentalists want donors to make a moratorium on industriallogging the prerequisite for fresh borrowings. Indonesia’s donorshave already been asking the government to take action—whendonors pledged $4.8 billion in loans for Indonesia’s 2001 budget,the government promised a moratorium on primary forestconversion, ending illegal logging, restructuring the woodprocessing industry, decentralising the forestry sector anddeveloping a forestry programme. But even forestry ministerMarzuki Usman admits the government has failed to carry out thesereforms. Indonesia’s forests, considered the world’s lungs, havebeen shrinking by 2.4 million hectares in the past two years, morethan in previous years. 72 percent of Indonesia’s tropical forestshave vanished, and over half the remaining 28 percent arethreatened by illegal logging. The country suffers an annual deficitof $2.5 billion from the forestry sector on lost revenues from illegallogging, say NGOs and government agencies. The overcapacity ofIndonesia’s wood processing firms is one reason illegal logging isrampant. International environment groups accuse donor countriesof indirect support for Indonesian pulp and paper facilities, which inthe 1990s were responsible for widespread deforestation, thedestruction of local people’s rights to land and livelihood and thearmed suppression of dissent. Indonesia can learn from itsneighbours. Thailand banned all logging in 1998 after years ofblockades by rural communities seeking to protect their forest-based livelihoods, and following devastating floods and landslideslinked to logging. China banned logging in its remaining nativeforests in 1998 after major flooding in lowland areas near theYellow and Yangtze rivers. In 1999, the government of Papua NewGuinea placed a moratorium on the grant of new loggingconcessions due to social and environmental problems. (IPS)

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Ethnic row in MalaysiaPENANG – As in many places, university admission in Malaysiadepends on grades, involvement in sport and in student societies—and ethnicity. Now, there’s a growing controversy over ethnicquotas for university admissions that mandate a ratio of 55bumiputra (ethnic Malay and other indigenous communities) to 45Chinese and Indian Malaysians. Of Malaysia’s 24 million people,bumiputras are 60 percent, Chinese Malaysians 25 percent, andIndian Malaysians about eight percent. Earlier this months aneducation ministry official said intake into universities had dippedby 15 percent due to a shortfall of qualified bumiputra sciencestudents. A few days later, Prime Minister Mahathir announced thegovernment was prepared to abolish the quota policy if that waswhat the people wanted. Then the same official produced newstatistics showing that all available places in public localuniversities were filled and there were over 10,000 eligiblebumiputra pupils who failed to secure admission. Finally, EducationMinister Musa Mohamad said the government was consideringraising the bumiputra quota to 66 percent to reflect the latestethnic composition of Malaysia. Only a few universities closelyreflect the 55:45 formula, while the bumiputra intake in otherinstitutions may be higher. Statistics are difficult to obtain, and feware prepared to probe deeper into the woes of Malaysia’seducation system. These include low teacher morale caused bypoor salaries, and lack of opportunities for promotion. Many topstudents who fail to enter public universities and cannot affordprivate education locally are offered scholarships abroad. Manywork and settle overseas—a brain drain Malaysia can ill afford.The debate sheds little light on how far these policies have helpedeconomically disadvantaged groups—the rural and urban poor, theOrang Asli or indigenous people, plantation communities andsquatters. (IPS)

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What not to eat in Sri LankaCOLOMBO - Sri Lanka has a brave new regulation—a sweepingban on any type of geneticallymodified (GM) food, organism,culture, additive or preservative.Foods that may now only beimported with a permit includesoybean and its products, cornand maize flour, tomato andtomato products, potatoes,cheese, beet sugar, bakers’ andbrewers’ yeast. There’s a majoromission, though: wheat. SriLanka’s agriculture is largely rice-based, but fewer Sri Lankanmeals revolve around rice today.People are turning to a cheap andconvenient staple, breads madefrom refined American wheat flour. Health Ministry officials saythere’s no overwhelming evidence of GM contamination in wheatcrops and that imposing restrictions on wheat could seriouslyaffect food supply to the country. The world’s most startling andcontroversial genetic modification ‘successes’ were reported incorn, maize, soya and tomato. The WHO will release its report onGM food and testing by 2003, by which time Sri Lanka will be readyto review its ban. But genetic modification has already arrived inSri Lanka— a type of GM carp has been introduced to its inlandlakes. This carp’s huge appetite, dominating size and feedinghabits, environmentalists fear, will soon see other types of fishdisappearing from their natural habitat. (Gemini)

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1515151515FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

THIS PAGE CONTAINS MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE NEPALI LANGUAGE PRESS


Committee (DDC) and another at themunicipality but there is one whodoes not have an office to go to.Sources say the secretary of thePathari VDC, Surya Mahatara, hasnot reported to Bhojpur where he isposted but is staying put in Pathari.Our source asks, “if the regional officeof the local development ministry inBiratnagar, cannot place one VDCsecretary, what is the point of havingsuch an office?”

Meanwhile, Khadga KumarBasnet, Chairman of the MorangDDC, has asked the prime minister toresign and come to Biratnagar tocollect his old age allowance. About10,000 people are listed for theallowance in Morang, but they havenot been paid since November.Despite repeated requests the DDCsays the concerned ministry has notdisbursed the money.

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Which gun?Ghatana Ra Bichar, 9 May

The government has already decidedto mobilise the army against theMaoists in some districts. The armedforces need modern arms andammunition and there are many armsdealers who are happy to oblige.Rather, they will do almost anythingto bag such a profitable contract.

Rohini Thapaliya is one of the largestarms suppliers in the country. Peoplein some quarters say Thapaliya’s offerof a deal has been rejected, but heisn’t giving up without a fight.Thapaliya, the local representative ofa German arms company, is using allthe pressure and influence he canmuster. The crown prince, whoapparently tested the weapon inChitwan in the presence of hissecurity personnel, is said to haverejected it, but Thapaliya’s file is stillsitting on Defence Minister MaheshAcharya’s table. The weapon inquestion is the German G-36 rifle.The defence minister cannot rejectthose weapons or simply ignore thefile because of the huge commissionsthat will come with a delivery of theguns. The German weapon costs$735, but another group of armsdealers want to supply a differentweapon, made in Israel, that costsjust $540. Kishor Bhakta and RaviBhakta Shrestha are the local agentsfor the Israeli company and are usingall the political influence they have toclinch the deal. Even the Israeliembassy is helping. The Israeli offerseems a little more attractive thanthe German one. The Israeli firm’spackage promises to buy oldweapons of the Royal Nepal Armyand Nepal can pay for the new onesover a 10-year period. They are alsoto toss in a Puma helicopter. Sourcessay the army chief is also in favour ofthe Israeli guns. The prime minister’sprivate secretary Gokarna Poudel islobbying on behalf of Thapaliya, whowas also involved in the army’s(aborted) atempt to buy a RJ100 jet.

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No food in HumlaNational Daily Naya Sadak,Wednesday 16 May

Humla district is once again facing afood shortage. Long dry spells andhailstorms destroy the food cropthere every year and push the peopleof Humla to the edge of starvation.The people of Humla, Jumla,Kalikot, Dolpa and Mugu districts,all in the Karnali zone, face foodshortages and starvation every year,and countless people have died. Dueto the high altitude and the coldweather, only a few food crops canbe grown here. Add to this thelimited space, their produce does noteven last five months. The only wayfood can be transported to theseregions is by air because there are noroads in Humla. In the past years thegovernment provided a subsidy onfood flown in from the tarai, but thiswas stopped three years ago. Afterthe government started the long termagricultural policy, all food depots ofthe Food Corporation in the regionhave been shut down because therewas no reliable way to supply food.The long-term agricultural policywas implemented, but it lacked aclear vision and goal. The policy,which aimed to produce enoughfood locally to meet the needs of thecountry, could not provide farmerswith improved species of seeds, orteach them advanced farmingtechnologies. In a district wherefood production is low, people willstarve if alternatives measures arepromised, but no is delivered. Ifthe ratio of fertile land to thenumber of the people dependingon that land is skewed, govern-ment plans will probably fail. Thegovernment must resumetransporting food until the long-term agricultural policy reaches itsgoal. Otherwise, it must takeresponsibility for people dying ofstarvation.

Naya Sadak, 14 May

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

I haven’t met with Babu Ram Bhattarai and Prachanda. But in the process of getting the government and theMaoists to come to talks, if it becomes essential that I meet them, I will surely meet them.

– Padma Ratna Tuladhar Jana Bhawana National Weekly 14 May.

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Endless strugglesJanadharana National Weekly,10 May

Demands for the prime minister’sresignation and the struggle to reformthe education sector will affect lifethis Jestha [mid-May to mid-June].We will have a lot of bandhs. TheUML, with the four left parties plansto shut down the country from 27-30May because they want the PM toresign. The Jatiya Morcha, which isclose to the Maoists, is calling for abandh on 31 May, calling it a “BlackDay.” The student group theANNFSU is calling for reforms in thefield of education and demands thatschools be closed 14-20 May. Thestudents’ wing of the ML is doing thesame from 20-31 May. Despite allthese calls for bandhs, schoolshutdowns, struggles and agitation,the government does not seem to bedoing anything.

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PM, get your cashNaya Sadak National Daily, 10 May

In Morang district there are 65Village Development Committees(VDC) but 68 government appointedVDC secretaries. One of them isposted at the District Development

Government-Maoist Talks: After its huge success and repeated requests from theaudience, the grand show will be put on again.

...We have now listed the problems faced by schoolsand have taken up the struggle. Government schoolsare very disorganised, have poor standards and notattractive anymore. They have failed to developbecause because of many problems including the lackof quality teachers, proper guidance, resources, andmotivation, and finally, a lack of commitment andresponsibility. Because of these problems, privateschools have mushroomed in towns and cities, andeven in villages. The government has not opened anynew schools, and since the number of children who wanteducation has shot up, private schools stepped in to fillthe demand. The main problem with the privateschools is that they have not been set up with a sense ofduty or responsibility (as government schools are), butto make a quick buck. As a result, they do provideeducation, but at too high a cost. How can poor citizensof a very poor country afford such expensiveeducation? It is vital to address the complex questionof what sort of education we need and how it is to beprovided. That is why our organisation, the All NepalNational Federation of Students’ Unions (ANNFSU) hastaken up the cause.

Abolish tuition fees in government schoolsThe government promised to abolish tuition fees

up to the high-school level but has not taken any stepsin that direction. But schools have been chargingadmission fees. Is it not the responsibility of the State toprovide education to citizens. Education is thefundamental building block of any country. Without aneducated class, no nation can move forward. But in ourcountry, the government is just not concerned. It is anirony that education is both expensive and beyond thereach of the people in a country where over 50 percentare illiterate. Left as it is, education will remain theprivilege of only the rich few. Since the nation needsand utilises educated people, it should also takeresponsibility for their education. We realise that rightnow Nepal cannot afford to provide free education atall levels. We only demand that free education beprovided until middle school. We have presented ourdemands in a very responsible manner and if thegovernment does not take note, then the outcome willnot be good. Why can the government, which canspend billions when it comes to security, not invest in agood education system?

Reduce the high fees in private schoolsThe motive of private schools is to earn high profit

in a very short time. Only a small percentage of thesefunction with a sense of responsibility. They hookparents under some pretext or the other and thefacilities they provide do not match the fees theycharge. The students are also burdened with beliefsthat do not reflect our society, our environment or ourculture. They ape Western culture and society, and thatmakes our youth shun their responsibilities. Parents arehappy when their children speak in English, evenbroken English. Ability to speak in English is thestandard against which education is measured in ourcountry. It is time these institutions changed from profit-making machines to responsible society members

providing quality services. Government schools cannotmeet the demand for education and it is also verydifficult to imagine all private schools beingnationalised immediately. So we only demand thatprivate schools be regulated and their fees reduced.

Abolish compulsory SanskritThe truth is always bitter, but it must be accepted:

The youth are not interested in Sanskrit. People maylearn Sanskrit because they have to but they do notenjoy doing it. We are not letting our children developproperly if we force on them such a subject. It is a deadlanguage. Despite whatSanskrit scholars might say,mass propagation ofSanskrit is unlikely tosucceed.

Abolish the NationalAnthem

Our national anthemis inappropriate. It actuallysings praises of a personand encourages the growthof cults of personality. Italso advocates populationgrowth when what we needis family planning. It saysthe population shouldcontinue to growuntrammelled. This songdoes not make thestudents nationalists orpatriots, or responsible andresponsive towards the needs of the nation.

Increase government funding for educationThe government should open more schools. The

schools are already overburdened having to serve toomany students. The government has been unable toinvest in infrastructure and quality teachers. It shouldtake an active interest in schools for improving which,investment is crucial. On the one hand you haveparents who can’t pay fees, on the other, you have anindifferent government.

Fulfil the 46 demandsWe all agree the quality of education in

government schools is getting from bad to worse. Thiscan be reversed by investment in the education sector--producing qualified teachers, infrastructure and goodstudy materials--then things will start improving. After therestoration of democracy, our organisation hadsubmitted a list of 46 reforms concerning the educationsector to the government. The students’ union, withgreat restraint and responsibility, continues to ask thegovernment to fulfil them. We have also put forward thesolutions. We had given the government until mid-Mayto find solutions. Now we will have to take matters intoour own hands and punish those schools and schoolprincipals who refuse to act responsibly. If the educationsystem does not still improve, the union will devise abigger and more powerful agitation. (Khim Lal Bhattaraiin Budhabar, a weekly said to mouth the UML line)

Schools: The UML LineBudhabar Saptahik, 9 May

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Nepal’s TalibansKantipur, Tuesday, 15 May

More than 8,000 private and boarding schools around the countryshut down after the ANNFSU (Revolutionary), the ultra-left studentbody affiliated with the underground Maoists called for their closure,leaving uncertain the future of one million students and 75,000teachers. Businesses catering to the needs of the schools, likestationers and food suppliers have also been affected.

Some points of the 15 demands that the ANNFSU (R) has putforward are valid. Parents have been raising the need for uniformityin the education standard and discontinuation of annual re-enrollment fees. Of course, dialogue can be held regarding thediscontinuation of the National Anthem and teaching of Sanskrit inschools, but is the ANNFSU (R) serious about talks?

The criminal nature of their actions—vandalising two schoolsand trying to set the principal of one of the schools on fire even as

talks were inprogress—clearlyreflects theirintentions.Parents havebeen compelledto send theirchildren toschool in India.Also ANNFSU’sdecision to closeschools duringthe ChinesePremier’s visitand attempts toantagonise Indiaby targetingeducationalestablishments

run by Indian nationals just before his arrival can’t only be acoincidence. China has already indicated that it does not support theMaoist movement.

By arresting the representative of the ANNFSU (R) who hadcome for negotiations, the government is also open to criticism—itflouted widely accepted norms and principles that create anenvironment for dialogue. But even that does not compare with thedeplorable ANNFSU “action” against Rupy’s International andElite’s Co-Ed.

Coinciding with the school closure, the Maoists have closed theGARDEP Project in Gulmi. They have announced a dress code forwomen. In short, the Maoists, in the name of the movement, haverevealed they are anti-education, anti-development and in favour ofthe oppression of women. These lead to the question: Are they goingthe Taliban way?

The support Maoists’ have gained for thier stand against social,economic and regional inequalities and widespread corruption isfaltering. They have begun outdoing government in human rightsviolation, there’s no sign that the Maoist leadership is takingconcrete steps to stop the crimes associated with the insurgency.The silence of the leadership about the parallel programmes of theMaoists—extorting money from school managements and closingthem down—reflects either their helplessness or support...

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JOHN HARRIShe Lennox Lewis-HasimRahman rematch saga took yetanother twist this week when,

as expected, Mike Tyson filed alawsuit against Don KingPromotions seeking $75million indamages and a guarantee that he begiven the right to fight Rahman forthe WBC title as the topchallenger. Lewis took similaraction last week, filing a lawsuit totry and force King to arrange arematch against Rahman, as agreedin the original contract for the fightin April. The American knockedLewis out in the fifth round of theirbout in Johannesburg to claim theworld heavyweight crown. To hisimmense delight, King has re-entered the heavyweight fray asRahman’s promoter, replacingCedric Kushner. Rahman seemscontent for King to call the shots ashe weighs up a number of options,but Tyson is determined to have hissay in the courts.

Tyson claims that as therecognised WBC No.1 challengerhe has a legal right to a title boutagainst the champion by 11November. According tofightnews.com, the formerundisputed champion is alsoclaiming “injunctive relief,” whichin America means that Rahmanmust “cease and desist fromengaging in any title defence of hisWBC championship againstanybody but Tyson.” WBC rulesstate that Rahman must defendagainst the No.1 challenger, and

Tyson is using the courts to defendhis rights. Lewis has already losthis right to a rematch againstRahman for the WBC beltbecause, after a lawsuit filedearlier by Tyson, the WBCdecided that under nocircumstances would theysanction an immediate rematchbetween the former undisputedchampion and Rahman for theirtitle. There is not much love lostbetween King and Tyson who arealready suing and counter-suingeach other over previousallegations of mis-management.Meanwhile, King is back in a veryinfluential position in theheavyweight division. He controlsRahman, the WBC and IBFchampion, as well as WBAchampion John Ruiz.

However, Tyson couldcircumvent King by not dealingwith him and waiting untilNovember when the WBC rulesmake it certain that the No.1

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False start and you’re outTriple Olympic championMarion Jones has branded aproposal to disqualifysprinters after one falsestart as “ridiculous.” Jonesfalse-started once in lastweek’s Princeton meetingbefore going on to win herfirst outdoor 100 m race ofthe year. But under a changethe International AmateurAthletic Federation plans totest this year to discouragefalse starts, Jones would nothave had a second chance.Jones said: “I’ve signed apetition totally against it,”and her signature is alongside those of Olympic 100 m men’s champion Maurice Greenand Ato Boldon. “If you knock the bar down in the high jump they don’t kick you out of thecompetition,” added America’s golden girl who won the individual 100m and 200m eventsin Sydney along with the 4x400m relay. “So why are they doing this in the sprints?” Doubleworld 100m champion Jones did not offer a cautious second start as an explanation for anuncharacteristically slow time of 11.12 seconds. “I’m not making excuses,” she said afterseeing Olympic bronze medallist Melissa Morrison disqualified from the 100m hurdlesearlier in the meet for two false starts. Jones won support from US Track and Field ChiefExecutive Officer Craig Masback who said: “There’s definitely a need to look at changesand innovations. Personally I think the change in false starts is not one of the changes Iwould like to see.”

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$400,000 for Sri LankaCOLOMBO: FIFA chief Joseph Sepp Blatter announced a grant of $400,000 (SLRs 36million) this week to develop soccer on the island. FIF’’s partial sponsorship has comeunder its “goal project,” under which it funds schemes to develop the game across theworld. Calling for a new awakening in Sri Lanka, a somewhat somnolent soccer nation, heasked the youth of the country to get into the game. He was speaking on the occasion of theinauguration of the new headquarters of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).“Football House”, the new headquarters in the heart of Colombo, will house the FFSLoffice, dormitory facilities, auditorium, library, audio-visual centre and a gymnasium. Blatteralso laid the foundation stone for a national football training centre at Beddagana in Kotte, asuburb of Colombo. The centre will cost SLRs 60 million and be the first of its kind on theisland, said Manilal Fernando, organising committee chairman and vice-president of theAsian Football Confederation. It would comprise a football ground, accommodation for 100trainees and a swimming pool, he said. Speaking on the occasion, Sri Lanka’s sportsminister Lakshman Kiriella said FIFA’s grant is a “vote of confidence” in Sri Lanka. Heasked administrators and players to aspire to qualify for the next World Cup. (PTI)

Tyson sues Kingas saga grinds on

Mike Tyson

tchallenger, Tyson, fights thechampion.

Nonetheless, if King arrangesanother challenge for Rahman, andRahman loses, then the newchampion could put a whole set ofnew obstacles in the way of Tyson.How Lewis must be kickinghimself. It was all so simple back inApril when the Briton was theundisputed champion, Tyson was ahas-been, and King could onlyreflect on the days when he used tocontrol heavyweight boxing.Rahman’s right hand in the fifthround could probably be describedas “the punch that changed worldheavyweight boxing.” And took itback to the 1980s.

111117777718 -24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMESCULTURE

by DESMOND DOIGSAVING FAITH

hecho, sat astride the old traderoute to India, wears a well-to-do-look of prosperous farmers

living in prosperous houses butconservative enough to have so farshunned concrete. The stout brickhouses that line each side of the roadare built one against the other, theirwindows carved of wood, their eaveshung with garlands of vegetables andchilies. The buildings standrespectfully back from the road, orperhaps they keep the bustle and dustat arm’s length. But no Newari farmerwill waste good land, so between roadand houses are a continuous line ofsmall temples and, shrines, mostlyBuddhist. There are some incrediblyfilthy water tanks in which womenwash clothes and cooking utensilsthat look remarkably clean after theordeal. I asked my driver if his wifeused the likes of these village pondsto wash his belongings. He repliedabruptly that he would beat her up.Sheep, dogs, fowl, and duck weave

their way through knots of peopleidly sunning themselves outsidetheir front doors. Women naked tothe waist, oil themselves and theirnew born infants as they take in thesun and leave it to elder relatives tohoosh cameramen away.

Thecho was founded in thesixteenth century by a Malla king ofnearby Patan who designed it as aConvenient shield for his city. Atfirst, stout farmers resisted invadersor gangs of dacoits using the roadfrom India. But it was not longbefore the village, almost largeenough to be a town, prospered anddeveloped a character of its own.How it began no one knows andeven legends are at variance, butThecho became renowned for itsdance troupe. At one of their

earliest performances, a greattantric sage caused the manymanifestations of the goddess Durgato possess the dancers. Imagine thescene. Lithe masked bodiessuddenly charged with the awesomemajesty of the mighty goddess.Human arms multiplying, papiermâché masks becoming divine faces,tinsel costumes transformed to theraiment of heaven.

Then leaping and swirling, thesebodies possessed, danced through thefields to Patan and the very palaceitself. The king, a great patron of tiledance, was so awed, deeply moved, heinvited the dancers into the mostsacred courtyard of the palace andthere for one holy, unforgettable nightthe goddesses danced. Ever after, thedancers of Thecho perform once a yearat Dashain in the Mul Chowk ofPatan’s old palace.

In search of these famous dancers,I was unexpectedly shown into a housewhich I had been told was closed to allvisitors. We mounted a narrow darkstairway and entered a room heavywith the scent of incense, wax, decayand damp. There, by gutteringcandlelight, I was shown a collectionof masks hung on a smoke-blackenedwall. They were smeared with saffronand vermilion and I believed blood,and imagination-on-edge gave themlife, so that sightless eyes and painted

mouthslooked stern,pathetically sad, angry,demanding and lustful. Thegoriest was the mask of Durga herself,like a decapitated head washed in itsown blood, its eyes still seeing, itsmouth gaping open. An old drumhung from the rafters. I was told it wasthe drum of the death of tengenerations. When I asked whatexactly that meant, my question hungunanswered as if my informant hadbeen mesmerized. But after a while hetold me in a harsh whisper that thedancers who wear these masksbecome so possessed by thegoddesses they represent, they drinkthe blood of sacrificial animals.

Village of theDancing Durga

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Once in ages past, they consumedthe blood of human sacrifice.

Was it then that the drumsounded? The women of Thechoapparently still threaten their childrenby saying that the Nava Durga will getthem if they are naughty.

Near the temple of the NavaDurga is a dilapidated oil press filledwith a luminous gloom and the smellof freshly ground mustard. Themachinery is primitive and much of itI suspect, once belonged to anantiquated car whose shell still hangs

in a corner. The press once belongedto a single family but is now owned bya commune. Thecho today has sometwenty oil presses and oil goes mostlyto Patan. So mustard oil, pressed fromthe gloriously yellow fields that reachin terraces about the village, replacethe riches that once flowed up anddown the old trade route. And thereare, of course, the dancers.

(Excerpted with permission fromIn the Kingdom of the Gods,Harper Collins, 1994.)

by MANJUSHREE THAPANEPALITERATURE

Depicting women locked always into one particularrole, and as a one-dimensional symbol of a certainsentiment, rather than as an individual, misses thecomplexity of women’s identities.

Perhaps the most well-loved verse on motherhoodin Nepali literature comes from Gopal Prasad Rimal,known as the father of Nepali free verse. In ‘AMother’s Dream,’ translated below, Rimal depicts thetraditional mother-son bond in Freudian terms—themother seeks from her son the means to fight thetraditional powers, she seeks from her son an equalpower, or, in Freudian terms, the phallus. (In the Nepalioriginal, it is clear that the child is a son, something notapparent in the English translation). In this case,however, the son is sickly and weak, and unable toprovide his mother the power that she seeks:

A Mother’s DreamMother, will it really come?Yes my dear, it’ll come.Like the morning sunit’ll spread brilliance as it comes.You’ll see a weaponglittering like mist at its waist;with this it will fight impiety.When it comes you’ll first take it for a dreamYou’ll start feeling about, but it will bemore effortless to touch than snow and fire.Really, Mother?Yes, I’d hoped to see its shadows inyour tender face when you were born,its beautiful reflection in your endearing smile,its gentle tones in your childish lisp;but that sweet song didn’t turn you into its flute.Through all my youth

Gopal Prasad RimalA MAN ON MOTHERHOOD

I dreamed it would actually be you.But no matter what, it will come;I’m a mother, becoming the voiceof all creative energy I can declareit’s coming, this isn’t justan idle dream I’m seeing.After it comes you won’t remaincurled at my lap like this;you won’t listen, stuck like a magnet,to that truth as you listen to stories;you’ll be able to see it for yourself,bear it yourself, take it upon yourself;Instead of my offering you patienceyou’ll leave for the battlefieldoffering consolation to a mother’s heartwhich refuses a hundred thousand explanations;I won’t have to keep patting your hairas one does for an invalid.We’ll witness it—it’ll come like a gale,you’ll become a leaf and rush after it.Long ago, when it alighted from the living worldand overflowed like the moon,all in stupor began to stir, dear;it’ll come, and then you’ll rise.Is it coming Mother,the thought that it’s coming tickles methe way the soft dawntickles the throats of birds.Yes, it’ll come,Like the morning sunit’ll spread brilliance as it comes.Now I’m getting up, I’m going—

Yet through all my youthI dreamed it would actually be you.

Undoubtedly a remarkable work that echoes thesentiments of many Nepali readers, this poemhowever puts forward a particularly male view onmotherhood. For it grants the son a special place ofpower (at least in terms of the mother’sexpectations) which corresponds to the traditionalview that a woman may ascend to power onlythrough a man—her father, husband or son. Lacking, inherself, the phallus (again in Freudian terms), she reliesin this case on her son; and with the failure of the son,she remains forever frustrated from her dream of“fighting impiety”. The poem thus denies woman anyindependent capacity to engage in moral battle, even bytaking up traditional Hindu identity as the generator ofshakti, or female power. Indeed, many of Rimal’s poemascribe to women the remarkably passive role ofwaiting for warrior men to return triumphant from battle:women’s own ethical duty is, then, to nurture men.

That this poem’s view of motherhood has not beenchallenged by women’s own writing on motherhood is aserious issue which bears critical examination, andwhich reveals, in my view, a hesitation on the part ofwomen writers to lay claim to their own experience. It isnot unfair to say that motherhood in Nepali literatureremains the pet topic of men writers. In most of thewriting by men, motherhood is presented in purelysentimental terms, and in largely cliched terms: there isthe suffering mother, the selfless mother, the devotedmother, the mother whose love knows no bounds.Mother’s milk is a symbol of pure, immeasurable love.The body of the mother is as sacred as the soil of thenation. Infertility is represented as a punishment forwomen who are not feminine enough; or a woman whois not a mother is incomplete. Motherhood in Nepaliliterature is thus heavily romanticised.

What is glaringly missing in Nepali literature is thebodily experience of motherhood, a perspective thatwomen writers can best provide. But to discuss thebodily experience of motherhood, women must bewilling to write openly on sexuality, something rare inNepali literature. That motherhood is inextricablylinked to sexual experience, desire, and fulfillment—

or lack thereof—cannot be overlooked by Nepaliwriters; motherhood is not just exalted sentiment,but also the movement of fluids, the play ofhormones, the changes of a body in the grips ofnature. The experience of pregnancy, in all itsstages, is also absent in Nepali literature, as arefertility and infertility as bodily experiences, theexperience of miscarriage, birthing, andbreastfeeding.

Also missing in Nepali literature are the darkeremotional aspects of motherhood. The ambivalencethat all mothers surely experience, postpartumdepression, the experience of unwanted pregnancy,the selfish, resentful or reluctant mother, the carelessmother, the single mother, the woman who is happy tonot be a mother—all the subtle and difficult emotionsattached to motherhood are absent in Nepali literature.

Additionally, motherhood is also an economic andlegal issue, but it is rare to find any literature writtenon these aspects. The lack of citizenship rightsthrough mothers, women’s lack of inheritance andownership rights are aspects of motherhood whichremain beyond the representation of Nepali literature.Other social and cultural aspects of motherhood alsobear examination.

Finally, the independent woman is missing inNepali literature’s depictions of motherhood. Andthis is where Rimal’s poem, above, fails. Womentake up a slew of roles throughout their lifetimes,sometimes shifting identities from week to week,day to day, even moment to moment. Theirindividuality remains alive through these shifts. Tomiss this fact, and to depict women locked alwaysinto one of their many roles—to depict a mother asa one-dimensional symbol of a certain sentiment,rather than as an individual—is to miss thecomplexity of women’s identities. It is not that mencannot write insightfully about experiences suchas motherhood. But it may be time for Nepal’swomen writers to voice the many rich physical,psychological and social aspects of women’sexperience.

The goriest was the mask of Durga herself, likea decapitated head washed in its own blood,its eyes still seeing, its mouth gaping open.

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KATHMANDU

Thanks to a build-up of low pressure over theIndian desert state of Rajasthan, cloudscontinue to pour in over the Himalaya from theTibetan plateau. This is likely to keep the airclearer and cooler than usual this time of yearover Nepal. And since these are moistureladen clouds, expect thunderstorms andmonsoon-like drizzles. Accumulatedafternoon snowfalls have given more thanusual snow cover on Himalayan passes. Thejet stream is now migrating northwards, andthe circulation is starting to build up from thesoutheast. With a month or so to go for themonsoon, heavy rain is still some ways off.Afternoon thunderstorms in the tarai andlower midhills will be of lower intensity nextweek. Greater cloud cover will stabilize themaximum temperature and raise the minima.Radio Sagarmatha

P.O. Box 6958, Bakhundole, Lalitpur, NepalTel: ++977-1-545680, 545681 Fax: ++ 977-1- 530227E-mail: [email protected]

Mon-Fri 0615-0645 BBC World TodaySat 0615-0645 BBC Science in ActionSun 0615-0645 BBC AgendaDaily 2045-2115 BBC g]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfDaily 2245-2300 BBC g]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jfg]kfnL ;]jf

on FM 102.4

For inclusion in the listing send information to [email protected]

For insertions ring NT Marketing at 543333-36.

MOVIESMOVIESMOVIESMOVIESMOVIES Children of Heaven by Majid Majidi, Iran, 1998.

Sunday 20 May, 5pm Russian Cultural Centre, Rs 100.Inter-Cultural Film Society. [email protected]

EATING OUTEATING OUTEATING OUTEATING OUTEATING OUT Padharo Hukum Rajasthani Food Festival,

traditional dances and music. Chefs Kanwarni andKanwar Vijay Singh Bedla of Udaipur. Complimentary starters. 18-27 May, 7-11.45pm, FarPavilion, Everest Hotel. 488100 Singapore Food Festival Special artists, entertainers, and musicians will perform. Daily

draw for a couple—free trip on Singapore Airlines, two nights complimentary hotel stay. 24-27May, Hotel Yak and Yeti. 248999 Wet & Wild Summer Swimming in a cool pool and a buffet lunch. Saturdays at Godavari

Village Resort. Adults Rs 600, children Rs 350. Taxes extra. 560675, 560775

MUSICMUSICMUSICMUSICMUSIC 1974 AD The Club, Bhatbhateni. Saturday, 19 May, 7.30pm. Entry Rs 200.

DANCEDANCEDANCEDANCEDANCE Bharatanatyam recital by Alarmel Valli. Passes from 14 May at: Embassy of India,

Lainchaur (413174), Nepal-Bharat Sanskritik Kendra, (243497, 255414), Bhartiya GorkhaSainik Niwas, Thamel, (413785, 414283), Indian Airlines, Hattisar, (429468), Chez Caroline,Babar Mahal Revisited (251647, 263070), Nepal Association of Fine Arts (411729), and theIndigo Gallery, (413580). Friday, 25 May, 6pm. Royal Nepal Academy Hall Organised by theIndian Centre for Cultural Relations and the Embassy of India Spring Waltz Dinner and ballroom dance workshop. May 19, 7pm, Durbar Hall, Hotel Yak

and Yeti. Rs 1200 per head. 248999.

EVENTSEVENTSEVENTSEVENTSEVENTS Stress Free Weekends Overnight stay at the Hyatt, dinner for two at the Rox Restaurant,

use of pool, health club, spa and outdoor jacuzzi, ayurvedic massage for two, weekendbrunch, late check out Sunday. Rs 9000 plus tax. Hyatt Regency, Kathmandu. 491234 Pheri Jaun Hai Pokhara Free airfare, room, breakfast, airport transport, use of health

club and lots more. Rs 1500 for Nepalis, $45 for expats. Shangri La Hotel & Resort;[email protected], 435741 Spiny Babbler Museum Readings and presentations of contemporary Nepali

literature and art Sundays 5-6pm Kathmandu Guest House, Thamel; Tuesdays 4-5pmKathmandu Environment Education Project, Thamel; Thursdays 7-8pm Bamboo ClubRestaurant, Thamel, Saturdays 5-6pm New Orleans Café, [email protected]. 542810, 546725 Friends of the Bagmati River Meeting to discuss bringing life back into the waters of

teh Valley. Tuesday, 22 May. 479488

EXHIBITIONEXHIBITIONEXHIBITIONEXHIBITIONEXHIBITION Mani: Jewelled Words of Tibetan-Buddhism on Flags, Wheels, and Stones

Fulbright Scholar Katherine Anne Paul’s research on the popular use and manufactureof Tibetan religious artefacts in Nepal. 20 May-2 June. Bamboo Gallery, Panipokhari.412507 Nepal Vision II Paintings by Roy Breimon and Vaclav Pisvejc on exhibition. Breimon

uses a technique called “reverse image”, acrylic on Plexiglas. Until 29 May, 8am-6pm,Indigo Gallery, Naxal. Dhaka fabric and products Exhibition and sale. Dhaka Weaves, Kupondol. 20 May

10am—5pm. 525095

SPORTSSPORTSSPORTSSPORTSSPORTS Himalayan Hash House Harriers Starts beside the Bajrabarahi Temple east of

Chapagaon at the south end of the Valley. 19 May, 4 pm. [email protected] St. Xavier’s School Golden Jubilee Walkathon Postponed from 19 May to 26 May.

Participation open to all. St. Xavier’s School Jawalakhel. 26 May 8am. Reporting time7.45am.

MARTIN CHAUTARIMARTIN CHAUTARIMARTIN CHAUTARIMARTIN CHAUTARIMARTIN CHAUTARI What can be done to improve the research scene in Tribhuvan University? Dr

Bidyanath Koirala, Dept of Education, TU and Dr Lokraj Baral. Tuesday, 22 May, 5.30pm,Martin Chautari, Thapathali. Unless otherwise noted, presentations are in [email protected]. 246065

CLASSIFIED

BOOKWORM

Courtesy Mandala Book Point, Kantipath

Buddhism in the Western Himalaya: A Study of the Tabo MonasteryLaxman S. ThakurOxford University Press, New Delhi 2001Rs 1,112A multi-disciplinary study of the Tabo monastery in Himachal Pradesh, India, historicallyimportant as a centre of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. The study covers 1,000 years, and tracesthe evolution of Buddhism against the backdrop of the economy and culture of the region.

Origins and Migrations: Kinship, Mythology and EthnicIdentity among the Mewahang Rai of East Nepal Martin GaenszleMandala Book Point and The Mountain Institute, 2000Rs 650The first anthropological monograph on Kiranti mythology in its social and historicalcontext. Based on fieldwork in the Arun Valley, it examines the narrative tradition of theMewahang Rai and its intrinsical links to the idiom and practice of kinship—detailingethnographically an identity that is multi-layered and contextual rather than monolithic.

Ladakh: Culture, History, and Development between Himalaya and KarakoramEds Martijn van Beek, Kristoffer Brix Bertelsen and Poul PedersenAarhus University Press, Denmark, 1999.Rs 1,200A compilation of the proceedings of the Eighth Colloquium of the InternationalAssociation for Ladakh Studies at Aarhus University, June 1997. A comprehensiveselection of essays including studies of the Tibetanisation of European steel stoves,Muslim-Buddhist relations, the observation of solar and lunar eclipses, language, gender,modernisation and change.

Nepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the PeripheryNepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the PeripheryNepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the PeripheryNepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the PeripheryNepal in Crisis: Growth and Stagnation at the PeripheryPiers Blaikie, John Cameron and David SeddonAdroit Publishers, New Delhi, 2001Rs 800The result of a research project supported by the British Ministry of OverseasDevelopment, this volume is a socio-economic study of the west-central region of Nepal,with special reference to the effects of road construction. It goes beyond this to exploreissues of dependency that hold between the First and Third Worlds, and within asingle country.

by NGAMINDRA DAHALNEPALI WEATHER

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1919191919ADVENTURE

BUDDHA FOR ZHU: Patan mayor Buddhi Raj Bajracharya gifts a symbol ofpeace, a bronze image of the Buddha to visiting Chinese premier Zhu Rongjiduring his visit to Patan on 15 May.


TOM YUM YUM: Hotel Hyatt celebrated a well-atended Thai foodfestival with ingredients flown in from Bangkok. behind the scenes, chefs(above) are busy doing the needful with their woks.

THIMI THEME: The closing day of the Thimi Exhibition as the mayors ofThimi, Kathmandu and Banepa break into smiles at an exhibition oftraditional jewellery on 13 May.

HAPPENINGS

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Carlsberg

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SAMUEL THOMASafting, kayaking, mountainbiking, canyoning, trekkingand hiking, all in one place.

This is one of the most exciting andunexplored adventure destinationsin the country—Borderlands on theupper reaches of the Bhote Kosi,along the border with China. It iswell situated, a good four-hourdrive from the capital, up thehistoric Arniko highway.

It is arguably one of the bestrafting sections anywhere in theworld and the site for an annualriver festival that brings in riverrunners from all over. And threeyears ago Borderlands pioneered

canyoning in the deep gorges andravines cut by the river throughsteep valley sides. Canyoningrequires a variety of skills, inaddition to peak physical fitness,like navigation, abseiling,swimming, jumping, wading, andclimbing. Out here are alsotrekking routes yet to be exploredto their fullest—a couple run toBhairav Kund near LangtangNational Park and to Dugunagadi, afort built during a Nepal-Tibetskirmish in the mid-19th century.Other reconnaissance trips to findalternative routes have been carriedout to the areas around Langtangand Gauri Shankar. Upstream is

Kilroy’s

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Kosi also located Nepal’s only bungy

jumping site. The resort isdiverse—there’s also a “learningcentre” where Nepal’s corporateand development worlds come forprofessional developmentprogrammes and adventure. Theactivities are relatively expensive,but operators say the emphasis onquality, professionalism and

good safety equipment makesoperations costly.

Plans for a power plant nowthreaten to destroy the best part ofthis brilliant site. Many fear theupper Bhote Kosi project will turnthis multi-use river segment into a“dead stretch”. “We are not againstexploiting Nepal’s water resources,but there has to be a judicious

balance between power projects andtourism on Nepal’s rivers,” saysMegh Ale, co-owner of Borderlandsand founder of the Nepal RiverConservation Trust, committed toconserving the wild rivers of theHimalaya. The river is alreadydammed at two places—upstreamat Chaku and downstream at LamuSangu. But in between, there is an

entire ecosystem and a thrivingtourism industry.

Just when entrepreneurship hashelped diversify the tourismpotential of the region and createdopportunities for the localeconomy, it looks like the future ofthe best stretch on one of theworld’s most beautiful rivers maybe damned.

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18 - 24 MAY 2001 NEPALI TIMES2020202020

by Kunda Dixit

Under My Hat

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End of the ceasefire

Thompson

NEPALI SOCIETY

a sta Raj Bajracharya is a cornerstone in the unwritten history ofneo-classical architecture in Nepal. There were once manyartisan-masons like him who moulded with their bare hands some

of the most intricate and extraordinary designs in the Valley’s palaces,gardens, memorials to rulers and other institutions. “There are only six ofus left,” says Asta, who is in his mid-sixties.

Some of his most prominent works are the big peacock window at

Asta’s world the RNAC building, the cement cow standing on the logo of the SocialWelfare Council building, and the six-foot high Saraswoti idol at the cityhall in Biratnagar. In 1991, he and six other Newari artisans got togetherto create a miniature Swayambhu in Gyompa town in Japan.

Asta was born in Ikhache in Patan to a family of traditional artisanswho had a special place in the houses of the ruling class. “I don’t knowhow I got into this—a family thing, I guess,” he says. He spent quitesome time as a wandering artisan, working on the summer and winterhomes of kings, princes and other influentials who were enamoured ofEuropean neo-classical architecture. At one point hadn’t been home inthree years. He spent that time working at King Mahendra’s palace in

Gokarna, by the dam on the Trisuli river and who knows where else.Asta feels strongly about his traditional building arts and the

traditional crafts of the Valley. He’s encouraged his only son, Surendra,to pursue metalwork. And he’s really happy to see a new interest indifferent kinds of architecture, especially when artisans like him are indanger of dying out. And, at the end of the day, he’s content to just sitback, in his own space. “I have seen a lot of big palaces, big dams,houses and lots of shapes and designs. But what I like best is the smallcourtyard of my home in Patan,” says Asta. He plans to spend the restof his life with old friends, telling stories of the past. And recallingmemorable monuments.

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we have a high-level foreign dignitary on an officialvisit to Nepal. Here is something that Shitall Niwasmust start working on right away without muchado around the bush. It must send out officialinvitations to leaders of all countries great and smallto visit Nepal at their earliest convenience. Heads ofstate must start rolling in. Then all we have to do ispick 52 confirmations a year to fill up the yearplanner wall chart at the Ministry of Mostly-foreignAffairs. (Dispatcher at MOMA ReservationControl: “Sorry sir, we cannot accommodate HisExcellency the President of the Democratic Peoples’Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for the thirdweek of April 2004, we already have the state visit of

the Prime Minister of Sao Tomeand Principe. Nope, June is alsotaken, we have Queen Amidala ofNaboo slotted in already.”)

The Ministry of Potholes andHard Labour is now coordinatingwith MOMA so that it cansequence urban developmentprojects in time for each visit:

July 2001: State visit of CountDracula to the Kingdom of Nepal.Project: Finish paving the stretch ofRing Road between Narayan GopalChowk and Sifal.

August 2001: Official visit of Gen.Voldemort of Hogsmeade at thefriendly invitation of whoever-is-in-power.

Project: Complete the Tin Kune Turnpike.September 2001: Visit of Their ExcellenciesBatman and Robin to Rid the City of Crime.Project: Deodorise the Bagmati with Lilly of theValley fragrance.

here is nothing like the visit of a foreign dignitaryto bring tranquillity and calm to our succulent yambetween two stones. To honour Zhu Rongji,

Kishunji called a cessation of hostilities with Girijaji.Deubaji observed an armistice. Madhavji suspendedthe barricading of Singha Durbar. All back-stabbingwas put on hold, 24-hour relay hunger strikers decidedto keep body and soul together for the time being,arsonists took a well-deserved holiday, chukkas wereunjammed for the duration of the visit, and schoolswere closed indefinitely in a spontaneous gesture ofgoodwill, friendship and amity between the peoples ofNepal and the peoples of the People’s Republic ofChina. Kathmandu has not seen internal peace and

harmony breaking out on this scalesince the Royal Visit of QueenElizabeth and the Duke of Edinburghin 1961.

The other great advantage ofofficial visits is that things actuallyhappen. Ghanta Ghar is paintedlavender for the first time since theGreat Earthquake of 1934, garbagealong the main thoroughfares getscollected and is dumped along thenot-so-main thoroughfares, roadcavities get temporary fillings, 25-yearprojects like the Eastern TundikhelAutobahn gets telescoped into fivedays before the distinguisheddignitaries arrive.

We may have inadvertently hit upon the answer toall our woes in one swell foop here: the cure-all for thiscountry’s chronic problem of political instability andlack of development. All we have to do is to make surethat at any given time in our country’s glorious history

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