Glimpses of Nepali Syndrome

After a longer than expected dormancy for this blog, I am prompted to add a few hastily written lines because of all the glimpses of Nepal in the experiences of other countries. While our political circus doesn't seem to end, the bigger problems that afflict us aren't going away. In the meantime, there are examples of future burdens from others' to hark back to Nepal. 

Here are two bits that I came across today. The first an obvious parallel of the Nepali situation from a NY Times article on globalization and aging: 

Today, nearly 12 percent of Spain’s population is foreign born. Among the arrivals are hundreds of thousands of Ecuadoreans (many of them female caregivers for elderly Spanish) whose absence at home increases the median age of Ecuador’s population. More than one in 10 Ecuadoreans has left in search of work, and the loss of so many of the country’s youngest and most enterprising workers means Ecuador has little chance of developing. Recently, its president initiated the Welcome Home Program to lure emigrants back with tax breaks and money to start businesses.

And the second article about the basket case of Europe, glorious Greece, which is less obvious in its relationship to the Nepali situation. Yet, I recognized how the professions trying to maintain their monopoly power over certain basic services hinder economic growth. In Nepal's case the resistance to market-based economy also happens to come from transportation syndicates, that try to monopolize the trucking markets and routes, at the expense of the consumers and businesses.

That is what happened this summer when the government took on the trucking industry. Greece has issued only a few new licenses for truckers since 1970, though Greece’s economy has more than tripled in that time. This created a hot market for the licenses, which have sold at prices approaching $500,000. Not surprisingly, experts say, trucking costs in Greece are far higher than anywhere else in the European Union.

The IOBE report found it was more expensive to truck something from Athens to Thebes, about 45 miles, than from Athens to Rome, a distance of more than 600 miles. Businessmen say it is cheaper to ship goods here from China than it is to move them from Athens to the island of Rhodes, 285 miles away.

Gagan Thapa Does Journalism

As we are passing through another critical period (oh lord, how many more of these do we have to endure???) of our history again, the media is replete with gossip and behind the scene "news". There are opinions galore. There are myriad suggestions and advice. There are people writing nonsense. There are reporters reporting clueless junk.

Mostly, there are countless reports of straightforward what happened journalism. And these days what happened amounts to: the top leaders of the parties met; they met again and they met again. Or they didn't meet today as they said they would. The news is basically a routine, a schedule of meetings. You can count on the leaders meeting everyday; and as such you can count on each and every meeting reported as another data point, another piece of the puzzle. There is a lot of heat of the moment reportage.

What is missing is any ray of light. Nobody asks anybody what are the issues of contention? There is no real political research to figure out what is causing the bottleneck. Yeah, we do hear occasionally about some vague horse-trading on the identity of the next prime minister; or the number of PLA members to be integrated; or the easiest analysis of all: because India said so.

So depending on the media to do journalism and ASK QUESTIONS is futile. They are too busy reporting exactly when the next meeting is to be held and what the leaders said after the meeting. Who do we turn to for political research, analysis and genuine journalism of asking and answering the actual issues that divide the parties this way? 

It turns out, at least for this one instance, a politician is doing the journalist's work. 

Gagan Thapa, the only actual youth leader of Nepali Congress (a party replete with creaky old "youth" leaders such as Sher Bahadur, Ram Chandra and oh, my, Shekhar Koirala, the ultimate youth leader!) has published a must-read article in eKantipur.

For a politician this is a not an article about insider gossip or ideology masquerading as a newspaper column. Thapa's piece is a straight up report on the actual points of disagreements between the two major political parties in the Constituent Assembly. This article is the political research and analysis of the first order for all the readers to see beyond the daily back-and-forth,  daily meetings and the gossip. 

According to Thapa, there are 11 points of ideological, philosophical, and political differences between Congress and the Maoists in regards to the articles of a new constitution. It is safe to assume that the A-Ma-Le sides mostly with the Congressi position. So we have the crux of the debate highlighted in one article. For ordinary Nepali citizen, these 11 issues and others that are to be decided in the CA, are of utmost importance. We need to be ready to discuss and argue on the points of contention that is raised in this article. What kind of a future country and society do the Nepali people want? Do we want the Maoist (Socialist) vision or are we more comfortable with the Congressi (Republican) vision? That is the main debate, isn't it? Going through each of these 11 points that Thapa has presented, as a Nepali citizen and a reader, I have an opinion, I have questions, and I need a moment to reflect and try to understand the implication of each position. As an informed reader, I can make up my mind for or against either party's position on each of these issue. 

But until I read this piece of journalism I had no idea what to think because no journalist had taken the time to research on these differences and report the findings like this yet. They were just content to "report" when the next meeting was taking place, as if they were the personal sectaries of the political parties tasked with setting up the daily schedule. Inasmuch as the Nepali political turmoil is caused due to the ineptitude of the political leaders, they are equally aided and abetted by the lack of hard-hitting and informative research journalism from the mushrooming media houses.

Needless to say, quantity hardly equals quality.

Dr. Gautam's Take on Nepali Optimism

In response to my previous post, Prabaas commented to bring to my attention a wonderful article enumerating the "sins and virtues of new Nepal" by Dr. Kul Chandra Gautam. It is a must read. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. The article clearly distills the ills and the achievements of the past twenty years of social turmoil and political change. So I thought the article deserved a post of its own. 

While the "sins" (I rather like the word "ills" instead of "sins" in this context) as identified by Dr. Gautam seems to be quite evident to every Nepali citizen. All we do nowadays is: rail against the tyranny of a hyper-politicized culture while eagerly participating and contributing to it; cynically blame the government and the leaders for the culture of impunity and lawlessness; and rue the disregard of the economic and development matters because of the political feuding. We have became a wholly cynical society and we accept our common cynicism as a badge of Nepali honor. 

However, the seven virtues of the new Nepal that Dr. Gautam identifies aren't highlighted as often. For all the limitations and distortions of the last twenty years' worth of historical political changes, there have been many areas of growth and progress. Dr. Gautam lists seven areas of optimism. 

It is imperative that we constantly remind ourselves of the many virtues and achievements in our long journey on a very uneven and incomplete road to progress. 

More on Nepali Optimism

As stated on my previous post, I am quite optimistic about Nepal's evolving political, social and economic situation, especially so when considered in the context of the rapid changes in the last twenty years. Needless to say, all the progress that has been made could be stopped or even partially reversed if some dramatic event (military coup, another civil war, or major ethnic violence) were to send the country into extreme chaos. But, an objective observer has to acknowledge that the recent period has accorded the Nepali people with  greater access, ability and opportunity. Bikalpa Paudel (via mohammad.tajim) has a wonderful rundown of all the positive changes that has occuredd since the restoration of democracy in 1990. 

The reason everyone feels so pessimistic and cynical about the experience of the last twenty years is that all the progress has been achieved not because of the wise leadership of the government or the political parties, but despite them. So most of us only rue the continuing political turmoil and ignore the progress achieved in the social and private sector despite the best efforts of our political class. The progess has clearly been due to the fortuitous amalgam of many  reasons.

First, the systemic change from the closed and autocratic Panchayat system to the relative openness in the political, social and the economic life of democracy set the stage for Nepalis to take important steps towards progress in many areas, especially in media, communications, education and travel.

Second, the tremendous rise of India and China influenced Nepal's trade and economy. The sudden rise of our next door neighbors clearly provided the Nepali people with many examples of progress in various areas and also gave us the opportunities to tap into their innovation and experiment. Due to our own openness, we could no longer ignore our neighbors material, cultural, and intellectual exports.

Finally, globalization played a major role. With globalization and its attendant dispersion of information and communication technology, cheap and easy transportation, and open flow of information and labor helped us get a foothold in the global economy. Of course, the only major export that we have been able to make is our labor force but if it were not for globalization not only would we be bereft of the remittance money but also from the ideas and innovations from the rest of the world. 

So it has to be said that even despite the ineptitude and constant feuding by our political leaders, the Nepali people, the private sector and the civil society have made tremendous progress in the most unfavorable conditions. If the situation were to remain the same, in the next twenty years we may be still be able to realize similar progress. As stated earlier, if the situation deteriorates drastically, much could be lost. 

But imagine, how much we could achieve if the political quagmire were to end and result in a modest period of stability? The Nepali people do not need a whole lot from their political leaders  and their government. If the current flux were to end by producing even a mediocre constitution which gives way to a modicum of political stability, a lot of the pessimists would see the real prospect of continued progress and durable change. 

  

Optimism on the Day of Reckoning

Finally, May the 28th is here. Of course, due to our national habit of procrastination, our leaders are trying to forge a consensus on the last minute. While they had two full years to work on all of the major issues, the sticking points on this day are minor. They are not arguing about the nature and features of the new constitution. They are not disagreeing about the system of new government. They are not fighting over the constitutional words that would govern a new era of federalism. The disagreements on this day actually have nothing to do with constitution at all. The fight is about who gets to be on the driver's seat when we finally, hopefully, get around to actually drafting a new constitution. 

Needless to say the Nepali people are pessimistic about the prospects. And our pessimism is not just due to the inability of the political parties and their representatives to draft a new constitution in time. Our pessimism runs deeper. We have been cheated and waylaid countless times in the last twenty years of our experiments with democracy. Of course, the situation was no different during the prior 30 years of Panchayat autocracy, or the preceding 100 years of Rana dictatorship. Naturally, we see the glass as more than half empty. Understandably, as the daily needs - electricity, water, work - of the populace are not met, and while the state seems to be in a constant state of flux, we see no light beyond the horizon, no silver lining behind the dreary, historical dark clouds.

Manjushree Thapa says that for many decades the Nepali people have been waiting and waiting for things to change, for the basic needs to be met and for some form of stability and progress. Of course, there is going to be no stability today as the deadline passes. Even when the parties finally come to a compromise, there is going to be no stability in the near term future. The entire task of starting and completing the constitution remains, which is the bigger battle. No one can blame us for being pessimistic on this symbolic day of our morbid futility.

Cable Car Statism

One of the most successful private enterprises in the last twenty years, aside from the mushrooming banking industry, has been the Manakamana Cable Car service run by the Chitwan Co-E. It is exactly the kind of innovative, technological and social model of development that Nepal needs. While the political instability has taken a periodic toll on the cable car's business model, over the years the company and its operations has been wildly successful. Millions of Nepali and foreign travelers have enjoyed riding on Nepal's only cable car to pay a visit to the Manakamana temple. Although, I haven't been able to find any study of the project's impact, surely, the local economy of both Kurintar, Manakamana and the surrounding areas have seen the positive effects of the cable car. Not only does the service promote tourism but also enhances the economic benefits to the region.

So it is especially maddening to read (sorry, can't find the news link now) about the bureaucratic red tape faced by a new request made by Chitwan Co-E to build a new cable car operation in Pokhara. The request has to first go through the Ministry of Development, which formed a committee to decide if it was a good idea. After their prolonged preliminary report is completed, the request is passed on to the National Planning Commission which again forms its own committee to give its blessing before the project is finally approved by the government.

In a country where nothing moves without government meddling, this is a clear example of such practice. The fact is that neither the ministry engineers nor the planning commissioners have any experience building, running and maintaining a cable car operation. So why do they have to take such a long time and make the company, which has the experience, know-how and the will, to jump through hoops just to get their project approved? 

Another fact that is so bothersome is why does the company have to go the central ministry and the planning commission for approval? If the project is to be built in Pokhara, shouldn't the local municipality or the district government be given enough jurisdiction to decide on the request to build in their town? If there is one thing that a smartly designed federalism can do, it is to provide just such a jurisdiction to decide on the local level without having to go back to the center for any little agenda. The costs of the top-down governmental, social and economic structure of the Nepal is apparent with examples of state-overreach like these.

This case of Chitwan Co-E is just a minor example of the state hindering the widely beneficial economic activity by the private sector. One hopes that when the whole rigmarole of the current crisis is over and the constituent assembly finally gets down to drafting a new constitution, a federalism based on economic viability forms the core of new Nepal. 

Good News on the Unity Front!

Muse~Nepal's (now Aaraniko) only claim to fame--a minor blip, really--came with the two articles (here & here) I wrote explaining and divulging the scam that was Unity Life Assurance Company. That was almost a month ago. So it is finally some good news time today to read that the erstwhile irresponsible government has suddenly sprung to action and caught up with some of the fraudsters and their company assets. I only hope that they have some money to pay back the victims. Of course, like any other fraud a large portion of the ill-gotten gains may have already left the country. Yet, I hope that the victims might be able to recover at least some of what they paid.

A Victory for the Civil Society?

It was heartening to watch the peace rally organized by the civil-society to pressure the Maoists after a brutal week of May Day banda. It is the testament to the budding democratic norm of people's power after the last twenty years of continuous political turmoil that the rally itself was so successful. The fact that the show of force had the intended effect of the Maoists taking back their street protests is important. In the aftermath, however, it must be emphasized that the victory of the civil society is not as thorough as claimed and remains quite hollow and incomplete.

Before asking why the civil society has not been very effective, it is necessary to understand "who" the Nepali civil society is composed of. In a country where political affiliations to the parties is so strong and so deep across all the sectors of the society, it is hardly a surprise that there seems to be no visible, un-affiliated, groups of people that could form a truly independent base of civil society. After all, in every nook and cranny we find groups of competing party apparatus: from the student unions of all the parties in the colleges, to the workers affiliated to specific parties, to the farmers, the teachers, the government employees, each group have various political party organizations that claim their loyalty. So where is the true base of independent civil society loyal to the entire country and its people? 

Hearing the list of organizers of the "peace rally," it seems that the main block for the support for civil society were the educated, urban, businessmen and professionals. After all, those who represent and are members of FNCCI and PAPAD are the "sukila-mukila" of Nepal; indeed Prachanda's formulation was quite apt. But where Prachanda made the mistake in his characterization is that he seemed to be talking only about the organizers of the peace rally and not the actual attendees. Really, there is one major characteristic difference between the attendees at the peace rally and the Maoists supporters who descended on the valley: the simple urban/rural divide. 

Thus, so far the "civil-society" movement is largely a urban (which, by default forms the Nepali elites) phenomenon. The Kathmandu elites are the ones who were most inconvenienced by the Maoists' blockade: they could not ride their cars and motorcycles, they could not shop at the shops and malls, they could not use the ATMs and the banking services, they could not attend their private schools and colleges; simply they they could neither work nor play. Compounded in the short term discomfort was certainly the growing sense of drift that has plagued Nepal in the last twenty years. People, both urban and rural, are tired and cranky after seeing such continuous tumult. Hence, they found themselves lined up on the opposite side of the geographical, societal and economic divide against one another.

Of course, this characterization of the urban/rural divide as highlighted by the Maoist protests and the "civil-society" counter protests is common knowledge. It is uncontroversial. There have been many news reports from the days of the banda which clearly establishes this conflict as fact. The plight of the poor and downtrodden Maoists protesters have been documented as well. See here and here for some representative samples.

So now we see why the so-called "civil society" is so ineffective in the larger matters of the nation. Their block of support (urban, educated, professional) the least represented in the parties and the parliament. They have no real base outside of Kathmandu and other city-centers. Finally, they seem to be in no hurry to make them more relevant outside of their comfort zones. How does the intellectual, elite civil society establish its bonafides as the true independent voice of the people which can guide and force the parties to better policies and more cooperation for the greater good? 

Reading Ashutosh Tiwari's most recent column, I felt like he was wresting with the same questions as I was. And in a way, his suggestions would be a good place to start. 

The Links

Some of the interesting things that I read today: 

Prashant Jha in "Struck down" goes through a list of options that the Maoists have now that they have taken back their daily protests in the Nepali Times. Over at Nepalnews.com guest column, Jeevan Baniya responds to the familiar and foolhardy Nepali lament that Nepal needs a strong dictator and still argues for democracy imperfect as it may be.   Finally, in the Monday Interview in the Kathmandu Post, Biswas Baral talks about the dire state of the macroeconomic situation with Bishwambher Pyakuryal, professor of economics at TU.

When will our "Roadmap" come?

The current Maoist protests in Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal are curiously similar to the onoing Redshirts protest in Thailand. While the specific political scenario might be unique, the aim, character, and effects of both these protests are errily the same. A class of citizens led by a political faction have turned on the capital - protesting, singing and dancing on the streets - in hopes of toppling the government. The Nepali Maoists even share the red color of the Thai Redshirts. They are mostly bussed in from the countryside. They have worked hard to put a positive face and limited explicit conflicts with the government.

So it is interesting to see that it took 54 days for the Thai Redshirts and the government to arrive at a compromise roadmap, which will lead to the political solution of the crisis.

How many more days will our Reds last?

The Plight of Bhutani Refugees

In the early 1990s more than 80,000 Bhutanese citizens were forced out of their country. These Nepali-speaking Hindus—whose forefathers settled Southern Bhutan in 1880s—had been systematically persecuted by the authoritarian government of King Jigme Singye Wangchuk and the Dzongkha-speaking Northern majority. Arbitrary rules, such as mandating universal adoption of the traditional Northern clothes and customs, and forbidding the official use of the Nepali language, were imposed. New citizenship laws classified most Southerners as non-citizens paving the way to eventual usurpation of their properties. Peaceful protestors of the unjust policies were imprisoned. Many were tortured. The Southerners, fearing their survival, fled, and were settled as refugees in Nepal by the local government and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Though the Bhutan government painstakingly tried to hide the fact, subsequent research by Amnesty International has established the fact that it was a case of meticulously planned religious, cultural and ethnic cleansing.

After almost twenty years, the Bhutanese refugees are still languishing in those makeshift camps in Eastern Nepal—battling difficult living conditions, suffering from mental and physical ailments, and subsisting in handouts from aid agencies—with no hope of ever returning to their homes. Their children were born and raised never knowing life outside the confines of the camps. In the tragic saga of the Bhutanese refugees, the injustice of the repressive government of Bhutan is matched in equal parts by the hypocrisy of India, the ineptitude of Nepal, and the indifference of the international community.

India claimed that the refugee crisis was a bi-lateral issue between Nepal and Bhutan. Their stance was not just inaccurate but also irresponsible for India, a country which sees itself as a regional leader, and besides controlling Bhutan’s foreign policy, also serves as the chief economic benefactor of the Bhutanese government. When the refugees fleeing from Bhutan’s security forces landed on the Indian soil, they were mercilessly nabbed by the Indian police and escorted all the way to Nepal’s border to be released. Such action punctures India’s hypocritical claim of respectable distance from the issue and shows whose side India took. For twenty years, India never used its considerable influence both in Thimpu and Kathmandu, to mediate or help resolve the Bhutanese refugee crisis.

Unity को सनजाल

In my previous post, I tracked down the shady companies that form Unity's pyramid. Now here is a graphical representation of Unity's web of fraud. First, what you see below is a photo from Unity's Website purporting the way to produce diesel from Jatropha plant. As I wrote before, Crystal Bio Energy Nepal, a company owned by Unity, goes around the country asking unsuspecting farmers to buy their seeds and pay for "technical expertise" to harvest Jatropha plants in their fields. Think for yourself if what is seen in this picture seems scientifically possible...

Of course, not. It is easy to see. Now why did Unity set up this bogus company called Crystal Bio Energy Nepal? To understand that look at the following picture depicting Unity को सनजाल:

Now you can see the reason why Crystal Bio and its impossible business of Jatropha diesel exists is to lure unsuspecting new people to give money to Unity's fraudulent Scheme.

How does the Pyramid Scheme of Rs. 600 करोड Work?

(Thank you to all the readers from Sajha. Hope you will browse around and leave comments to share your ideas. -mG.)

(Update on 4/28: Thanks to Khusbu Sarkar for pointing out that Rs. 6 Billion is actually equal to 600 crores and not 60 crores. As you said that is ten times as troubling! I have corrected the record.Thanks. )

Republica has a stunning report on a Nepali company called Unity Life International (ULI) which is apparently making some very, very big noises within the country and abroad. The sheer number on the headline - Rs. 6 Billion (600 करोड !!!) - is enough to attract attention. The full details of Unity's activities that Milan Sharma, the reporter, describes are frightening to read. So it turns out Unity has found its mojo in Nepal selling bogus products like life and health "assurance" plans (these sort of function like the energy drinks in the Quixtar/Amway scheme). Also Unity claims to have opened hospitals to build a network of providers for its health insurance.
Clearly the company is a pyramid scheme and Sharma commendably doesn't hesitate to call it that. Anyone in America who has been involved in the Amway or the Quixtar knows what a pyramid scheme is -- the idea is to use the promise of an easy but wildly profitable business venture (Quixtar sells daily use consumer products) to suck in a network of people whose only way of gaining profit is to help bring in more people to build a bigger and bigger network. The whole thing collapses in the end because the underlying business is a scam.
Sharma mentions in passing that: "Awash in cash, the company is now venturing into any field you care to name, from real estate to airlines to department stores to Direct to Home Satellite TV." So I decided to do a little bit of snooping to fill in the gap. What I found scared me further. Turns out there are not one, but already a extending web of numerous scam/fraud companies under this pyramid of fraud!
First here is Unity's website. Why is the life "assurance" company's first image on its website showing a picture of a rafting boat for a travel and tours company? What has travel and tours got to do with "life and health assurance?" Of course, it is not a crime to have various companies under one roof but why are the they marketed at one place?

नेपाली को हो?

I have been thinking about what is "Nepali." More than ever, I think this question is a vital one for our country.  Not only officially for the legitimacy and effectiveness of a new constitution but also for the social, cultural and national unity, we need to discuss, reflect upon and discover what it means to be a Nepali.

So it was a nice surprise to read the special edition of Himal Khabarpatrika where a number of articles start that discussion in an effort to try and answer what "Nepalipan" is. Must read for all Nepalis everywhere. Of the many gems from the articles, this from C K Lal: "नश्लवाद (रेसिज्म) नेपालीपन अवधारणासँग जोडिएर आउँछ। सोच-प्रयोगका लागि एकछिनलाई कल्पना गरौं; केन्याली बाबु एवं नेपाली आमाको कुनै सन्तान जनकपुरमा जन्मिन्छ र परिबन्दले उसको पालनपोषण जकार्तामा हुन पुग्दछ। नेपालीपनको जति नै उदार व्याख्या गरे पनि त्यस्तो व्यक्ति कहिल्यै नेपालमा बाराक 'वामा बन्न सक्दैन। नेपालमा त्यस्तो व्यक्तिले कर्म गर्दै फलको आशा राख्ने होइन, पुनर्जन्मको प्रतीक्षा गर्नुपर्ने छ।"

The Rinpoche and the Kumari

While the buzz on the Nepali online community was all about the PBS documentary, "The Buddha" for allegedly reporting that Buddha was born in India, I was much more taken in by the Independent Lens feature shown immediately afterwards in our local station.

The feature titled "Unmistaken Child" follows the story of Tenzin Zopa, a young Tibetan Buddhist monk from Kopan Monastary in Kathmandu, as he journeys to small villages and hamlets of Tibet in search of a little boy. Zopa's guru Geshe Lama has passed away due to old age and now the devotee is tasked with finding the reincarnation of his guru.

It is a arduous process of walking from village to village and performing tests on each little boy between the ages of one to one and a half that Zopa finds. While the villagers are generally helpful, the young boys, shy or even afraid of the stranger (and of course the camera crew of foreigners), only succumb to the test when bribed with balloons or toffee.

The test to determine true reincarnation, hence the "unmistaken," basically involves asking a boy to choose among a couple of prayer beads. Most children are more enamored of candy to pay much attention to the beads. So the Zopa continues his search to the next village and the next in the elusive search. When he finally finds a boy who he believes to be the reincarnation of his Guru, the story changes from a search to the tale of accommodating the little kid to his new role of a famous guru at the ripe old age of a year and a half.

It looked to me that the one characteristic that determines who gets chosen is the fortitude of character. The new Rinpoche shows a hardiness and fearlessness when he first meets the Zopa. He is curious and less shy that the other boys. And he wants the shiny beads, along with the toy cars and other trinkets.

Overall it is a good enough story, especially because of the exhaustive privilege of access enjoyed by the filmmakers (they get to film the scene where the Dalai Lama blesses the little boy as the new Rinpoche). The parts where the parents are asked to give up their young son to the monastery is so truly heart touching that no amount of invasion by the camera is able to cloak the basic grief in the mother and father's eyes.

At the end of the documentary, we leave the little boy, now about four years old, to his daily life of service and prayer and play, with the Lamas at Kopan, far away from his home in the tiny Tibetan hamlet, away from his mother, father and beloved grandma. Although he is too young to know it now, his whole life is changed merely by a chance encounter. I couldn't help feeling lonely for him.

The institution of the Kumari is much more well-known compared to the story of baby Rinpoche. When watching how the little boy was installed as the reincarnation of a Lama, I immediately made the connection to  the tradition of Kumari. (The journalist Deepak Adhikari elegantly describes one slice of that story in "The Goddess' Exam.") Of course, seen as the social and religious practice of installing a child to be a surrogate for a deity, the Rinpoche is the natural kin of the Kumari. So it is not surprising that both the traditions are linked to the Buddhist heritage in Kathmandu and Tibet.

GPK's Death and the Politics of Personality and Informality

(Thanks to Surath for spurring me to write after some absence.)

The recent death of Girija Prashad Koirala and the subsequent sense of vacuum in Nepali politics brought to fore the innate problematic nature of our political culture: the system of patrimony. 

Rishikesh Shaha in one of his political histories of Nepal, recounts how the the patrimonial elites have ruled the country through a politics of personal influence, proximity to the center of power, and informality. Shaha was describing the scene after the takeover of the country by King Mahendra on 1950 and subsequently as the Panchayati politics of chakadi and bribery flourished. The national politicians competed mightily to become closer to the palace, near the ear of the king, who in turn rewarded or punished public officials based on little more than his personal whim. This corruption of public power through informality extended from the king all the down to the local Panchayat leaders. 

Of course, these features of informality and unchecked power of personality in the political realm are derived from the same cultural notions in the larger society. No wonder, the same modes of behavior has continued to this day, two decades after the fall of the Panchayat System. In every level of society we can find the similar disregard for laws and norms in favor of informality. Whoever occupies a formal position, commands the level of power and influence that his personality and circumstance accords. Thus, legitimacy of action is provided not by the position held, but the personality holding the position.

Hence, it is not a surprise to see the emerging disputes in the Nepali Congress Party in the wake of GPK's death. Despite Ashutosh Tiwari's posthumous prescriptions about how to ably manage succession in the future, one suspects the party leaders vying to fill Girija's position are hardly in a advice-taking mode. Rather, all three potential successors, Deuba, Paudel and Koirala, are acting as rational actors by trying to flout their personal influence and seek support of the party members through informal channels. If our society was run by rules and laws and not by men like GPK, there would no issues with succession, the members of the party would simply vote for the person they trusted to be their leader.

अफ्फनो गाऊ अफ्फै बनाऊ!

In a recent Strictly Business column, Ashu Tiwari laments the case of missing local government in Nepal. For the last 9 years, there have been no local representatives in office. Their roles and responsibilities have been handed to hand-picked bureaucrats from the central government. 

That reminded me of the old A-MA-LE slogan:  अफ्फनो  गाऊ अफ्फै बनाऊ! And that slogan is not really a bad policy. Actually, I would like to extend Tiwari's argument. Why do we have bureaucrats from the center in every district office? In every organ of the state functioning in the districts--be it the education, water, roads--the managers, the हाकिम are the outsiders. They suffer from the same apathy towards their jobs and their postings as do the appointed representatives now. 

Of course, it would take a long time for Nepal to totally have decentralized public administration for each region and district. However, it should be mandatory that any official who aims for high office should come from a pool of locals as much as possible. That way, their expertise would help their own place. They may even be more responsible and strategic in their activities.

Philippines Sickness - Nepal's Future?

The most optimistic near term future for Nepal include the following three events: the PLA integration into Nepal Army; drafting of a compromise constitution (a few years behind deadline); and institution of a rough federalism model. All these would be monumental achievements as seen from the dire prospects of the present. However, those success may not come close to securing the Nepali dream of a functioning, responsive government and a developing nation. The most certain outcome is that even then Nepal would suffer from the sickness engulfing the present day Philippines. 

Banyan's analysis of the upcoming elections in Philippines highlights the cultural ills of that society, all of which are intimately familiar to any Nepali: "shortage of political commitment to the public good"; "violence embedded in the political system"; corruption; absence of policy from political campaigns; administrative and political gridlock. Also the brightest spot for Philippines are its people who work abroad to send back remittances, just like in Nepal. 

It is evident that the culture of political gridlock and absence of any policy discussion during campaigns will not be solved simply because a new constitution is written in Nepal. That means the system is not the culprit by itself. It is the culture of our political sphere that needs rewiring. Banyan's hope that the swelling population of emigrants would effect the domestic elections might be possible in Philippines. In Nepal, unless the new constitutions mandates voting rights and privileges for Nepalese abroad, even that possibility of change is dim.

In one respect Philippine politicians are different than their Nepali counterparts? There are no avowedly "pro-business" leaders in Nepal. We have numerous leaders and parties and constituents representing the failed Communist ideology, as well as those representing each and every ethnicity. But there is not a single leader or party, distinctly in favor of business, growth and capitalism. Without advancement in private investment and business, there is no development. But where is our pro-business leader? 

"What happened" vs. "Why this matters"

For one of the best commentators of Nepali politics, CK Lal's recent switch to become a media commentator, starting with a column on Lohani's death (if memory serves), could be a loss to his readers. However, there are many, many political prognosticators around and hardly any analysts dedicated to the task of watching the watchdog. Lal's astute observations and criticisms would surely benefit the Nepali media culture.

Development in the mass media sector is no doubt one of the brightest spots in Nepal since the restoration of Democracy in 1990. Going from complete government control and near-complete ownership of most print and all broadcast medium during the Panchayat rule, Nepal's media scene has exploded in the last 20 years. 

I still remember seeing the advertisement for "Kantipur Daily" near Sundhara as they were publishing their first issues. Then came the FM stations when everyone in the valley seemed to be walking around with a FM radio. The satellite TV stations from Hong Kong and then from India. Then came the private TV stations at home. And multiple dailies, numerous weeklies and monthly magazines.

No doubt that this flourishing of media has been a boon to Nepal. However, the media culture is still nascent. What the audience seem to want from the news sources is just basic information, which the reporters and editors are providing to some level. However, what the audience may not demand, or rather would not know to demand, and the journalists are not savvy or dedicated enough to provide is the quality of news that sustains a democratic culture. Nepali media does a good enough job of telling "what happened." They do a very poor job of explaining "why it matters." 

CK Lal's most recent "Fourth Estate" column goes to the heart of the matter. I agree with him that Nepali media operate as storytellers. However, I am not sure if I buy his rationale for the reasons why. Lal thinks the dearth of actual investigative journalism results from lack of resources, namely time and money. I rather think it is journalistic incompetence stemming from having scant role models of good journalism. And that goes back to the issue of the nascent culture of journalistic practices.

Of course, the way media has expanded in the last 20 years there is hope that sooner rather than later Nepali journalists evolve into deliberate practitioners of "why this story matters" journalism. And it is respected voices like Lal's that will guide the journalistic profession to that higher level. So his decision to focus on Nepali media scene is clearly a net gain for the readers. 

Countdown to New Nepal

In this first post at Muse Nepal (now called Aaraniko), I want to share the vision that prompted me to start this blog. These visions would also serve to establish the concerns and topics of coverage in this blog.

Nepali political culture is dysfunctional in many ways--the usual suspects of nepotism, corruption and institutional lack of democracy being the prime reasons. Nepali bureaucracy suffers from the same ailments. Actually, I think these corroding elements are pervasive throughout the society. When our leaders talk about development and prosperity, when they sell us the dreams of New Nepal, their words are less a vision of a changed society and more like daydreams. So far, our political or civic leaders have been unable to even identify the source of these problems, much less tackle them. 

The heart of the issue, as I see it, is dearth of diverse ideas. The problem is that Nepalis have very short history of wrestling with ideas of governance, democracy, and development. Even when we have been engaged in debates, our ideas have been limited in focus to the events of the day or wildly fantastical daydreams about changing the face our motherland overnight. We have scant institutional, social or academic practice of honest intellectual debates. There is essentially no marketplace of ideas to speak of. Yet, it is true that finger-pointing is easy; it is especially easy to find faults from the comfort of foreign soil. 

My attempt at Muse Nepal will be not just to keep track of the current developments in Nepal but also try to extend and enlarge the debate beyond the day-to-day events to the larger and more basic intellectual ideas, essentially to extend the marketplace of ideas to ask some fundamental questions about the nature of Nepali society, the history of our political system, and the shape of our shared future. I will try to engage in the intellectual underpinnings of change in our society. The hope is to offer some optimism about the prospect of change and improvement. Hence, the countdown to New Nepal. Also, the muse, motive and subject is Nepal and Nepalis--therefore Muse~Nepal.

While these decidedly lofty aims are primary, on the day-to-day scrum, I will highlight, engage and share any sundry observations, ruminations and thoughts that draws my interest. Hope some readers (when/if they join) would find them of interest as well. 

Jai Ganesh!