#253 24 - 30 June 2005 16 pages Rs 30

Weekly Internet Poll # 254. To vote go to: www.nepalitimes.comQ..... Should there be a foreign arms embargoon Nepal?

Total votes:754

Weekly Internet Poll # 253

Q. Is it now time for the Maoists to give upviolence and join the political mainstream?

ISSN

181

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Press Freedom forPeace and Democracy

ive months later, everythingeveryone wished wouldn’thappen has come to pass.

Within Nepal and outside manywished the king and partieswould unite but the gap widened.The parties should have reinventedthemselves to prevail butwere marginalised by militarisedforces. On 1 February, even thoseskeptical of the king’s move wantedto give him a chance to restorepeace but the country has sincebeen sucked ever deeper into avortex of violence. We have evenstopped counting the daily dead.

Individually, the parties, king andrebels are incapable of resolving the

How much longer?Five months after February First, Nepalis are still waiting

crisis. But neither are they able tofinish each other off. This is anindecisive deadend and the peoplecan do little else but waithopelessly.

The parties are being pushedand pulled in a direction they don’twant to go–it is against their valuesto partner with an armed group. Inpast weeks, the parties havemoderated their agitation, possiblybecause they think it may get out ofcontrol. They still swear by aconstitutional monarchy but aredragged by a radicalised cadre.

The king has emerged in thepast five months as more of a rulerthan a constitutional monarch.Despite saying the right thingsabout democracy and rule of law,inside and outside Nepal there are

ANALYSIS byRAJENDRA DAHAL

Fdoubts he actually means it. Byrepeating the rhetoric often enough,he may hope to turn it into a cliché.His choice of ultraloyal technocratsrather than meritocrats to run thecountry prove he’s in it for the longhaul.

Despite strong pressure, theking is in no mood to give theparties space and roll back. Facedwith international isolation, hisgovernment is making a show oflooking for alternative financial andmilitary support. The idea is tocrush the Maoists, whatever thecost to the people and the economy.And in case the Maoists do looklike they may win the king isconvinced that the Americans,Europeans and Indians will step into prevent it.

This may be why he doesn’tsee talk of an alliance betweenthe parties and the Maoists as athreat, and he seems in noparticular hurry to find aresolution. The strategy seems tobe to use the next three years tocraft a polity that suits the role hesees for himself. All this is makingeven pro-monarchy moderatesseriously worried about the future.

The Maoists are now not justplaying partiesagainst each otherbut playing themagainst the palace.The gap betweenthem has neverbeen wider and this gives therebels the confidence to makegrand gestures like promisingnot to kill unarmed civilians. Theking’s policy of keeping India atarm’s length has also softenedNew Delhi’s stance towardsthe Maoists—a very welcomedevelopment for the rebelsat a time when everything elseseemed to be going againstthem.

Editorial p2From warfareto welfare

ROYAL MOTORCADE: King Gyanendra (driving blackJaguar) and Queen Komal arrive atJawalakhel on Thursday afternoon towitness the Bhoto Jatra ceremony.

KIRAN PANDAY

2 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253EDITORIAL

STATE OF THE STATECK Lal

GUEST COLUMNRabindra Nakarmi

T hey are beating the drumsand chanting the slogans.The denizens of cyberspace

come together in blogs and fora toponder the future of a kinglessNepal. The optimism of therepublicans is limitless. They seethe monarch as the chief obstacleto lasting peace and stability.

‘If only the king voluntarilyrenounced his throne and theMaoists joined mainstreampolitics, democracy wouldflourish again!’ There are twomain flaws in this logic. Therepublicans see the king as thechief source of instability in ourdemocratic system. The monarchis portrayed as a hungry lion in aweak cage that must be fed at alltimes from our taxes.

‘How can a lion be happy in acage? The lust to rule the junglewill never be quenched. If Nepaliswant to live as citizens, notsubjects, they must unite inridding the lion.’ Would ourdemocracy be safer without aconstitutional monarch?

Let us go back to the jungle.Who gains most when the lion ischased away? Won’t the hungrywolf packs come out? By securingthe loyalty of the army, themonarch has acted as a bufferbetween the armed forces and thepolitical leadership in the post-1990 polity.

Sure, the Defence Ministryshould have more control over themilitary and the parliament musthave the power (with 60 percentof the votes) to overturn the king’sveto. But it is not difficult to see

The lion kingThe perils of republicanism and naivety

Nepal descend into militarydictatorship without a monarchto keep the institution in check.

The other fallacy that ispeddled by intellectuals (eventhose who do not press for arepublic) concerns the ease withwhich the Maoists can beaccommodated into our politicalsystem. The theory is that theMaoists will champion the issuesof the minorities and the poorwho have been ignored by themainstream parties.

How do the Maoists intend toimplement this lofty goal? Saythe Maoists win 30 percent of theseats in parliament and form acoalition government. Are we tocheer them on when they revealtheir four-year ‘democratic’ plansto feed, clothe, and educateeveryone? Can we trust the peoplewho kill campus chiefs andabduct children to run ourschools? Imagine the economictremors that will be unleashedonce the keys to the FinanceMinistry is handed over to thosebarbarians.

Violence is not the onlymethod by which a leader caninflict damage on its citizens. Isnot Mao Zedong responsible forthe worst man-made famine inhistory? More than 30 millionpeople may have died during1959-61 as a result of the terriblymisguided Great Leap Forward.Amartya Sen showed thatdemocracies have never sufferedfamines, but by blocking orreversing the process of economicliberalisation, a democraticallyelected Maoist government (oropposition) will only push morepeople into poverty.

The ultra-left in India is

already planning to spoil thatcountry’s recent economicachievement. With barely sevenpercent of the votes, they arepushing their allies in power topass the National EmploymentGuarantee Scheme which is justanother Marxist economic planthat will cause more harm to thevery people it purports to help.

Economics aside, one has towonder if Maoists bound to aconstitutional framework willrespect civil liberties, religiousfreedom and private property.How can one expect peoplewho slaughter bus passengers,force innocent civilians topartake in senseless projects,maim and murder anyone whodoesn’t agree with them to runthe affairs of the state?

It is more important thanever before to keep our eyesopen to the dangers we mightbe inviting by allowingourselves to go for peace atany cost. The Maoists cancause just as much damagewithout their guns. Pragmatismdemands that once its military isvanquished, the Maoists have nochoice but to assimilate into themainstream left party. If we wantto restore peace and stability, thisis our only option.

Rabindra Nakarmi is the pen nameof a political analyst.

FROM WARFARE TO WELFAREDuring the six-month ceasefire period in 2003, Nepal’s donors spentmuch money taking our politicians, human rights activists andjournalists to Sri Lanka to observe the Norwegian-brokered peaceprocess between the Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankangovernment.

That fragile ceasefire is still holding and there are some lessonsthere for Nepal—that a break in the hostilities even without actualpeace building is still better for the people than war. But ourpeaceniks would have learnt much more if they had studied SriLanka’s JVP uprising in the south instead.

In 1988-90, this extreme Marxist neo-nationalistic insurrectionclaimed tens of thousands of lives. Sri Lanka then had two full-scalecivil wars going on at the same time: the separatist conflict in thenortheast and the insurgency in the south. Both were much morevirulent than what we see in Nepal today. From 1984 to 2002, nearly100,000 people lost their lives.

The JVP uprising was finally quelled in 1991 when an intelligencebreakthrough led to the capture and execution of five of its topleaders. The rebel group that once believed in the inevitability of anarmed struggle then joined mainstream politics. With its populist andflag-waving nationalism, the JVP won four parliamentary seats in the1993 elections and now has 31 of 225 seats in the current parliament.It even had four ministerial portfolios in President ChandrikaKumaratunga’s UPA government which collapsed last week when theJVP withdrew its support. It opposed the president’s proposal toshare over $3 billion in tsunami relief with the Tamil Tigers.

By giving up violence, the JVP was able to wield much morepower than it would ever have attained through force. Kumaratungaalso made the emotionally difficult choice of forging a politicalpartnership with the people who assassinated her charismatichusband, Vijaya, in 1988. Still, the government and rebels showedstatesmanship in responding to the wishes of a war-weary people.

There are many lessons we in Nepal can learn from the history of theJVP in Sri Lanka: A counterinsurgency war can’t be won by adding guns, artillery,

helicopter gunships and by doubling troop strength, what is critical isthe quality of intelligence The government must demonstrate that it is a credible alternative

to the rebels by protecting its citizens and delivering basic services True and lasting political power comes from the ballot, not the

bullet Violence only begets more violence and pushes the country

toward the self-destructive path of militarisation, further delayingsocial and political reform

By now, it must be self-evident to our own rulers that weaponsacquisition is not only unaffordable, it is also not going to win thiswar. Maoist leaders, on the other hand, just need to look at their SriLankan comrades to see how easy it is to become politicalkingmakers by giving up violence.

n an insurgency-ravaged country, deathsare statistics. Loss of one life ceases tobe a human tragedy, just another notch

in the axe. After every brutality, theviolence is denounced, apologies are madeand activists condemn the killings. Mediareports the numbers with dispassionateobjectivity. But life goes on. Until the nextmassacre.

For a nation numbed by recentslaughters in Chitwan, Kabhre and Kailali

thesuicideofDinesh

Chandra Pyakhurel went almost unnoticed.The self-annihilation of a water-supplyengineer and top bureaucrat representedthe state of society itself. Regimeinstability fuels frustration among civilservants. After February First, governancehas been arbitrary, amendments of lawsthrough ordinances are commonplace. Theconstitution itself has been repeatedly re-interpreted to suit the interests of peoplein power. In the ensuing uncertainty, themoral-legal compass directing thebehaviour of individuals has become non-functional. An authoritarian regimelurches towards anarchy without centralcontrol. The sight of this speeding monster

is frightening to innocent bystanders but itmust be even more apocalyptic forinsiders.

Since the royal takeover, peopleunwilling to jump on the directionlesstrain have got out of its way. Somejournalists have lapsed intosilence, other professionalshave just given up and left.Several bureaucrats havetaken voluntary retirement.Dinesh chose to take his ownlife. His manner ofwithdrawal from life itselfstands for all those who haverefused to ride this train tonowhere.

Surveillance,interrogation and repressionare the tools used byauthoritarians to cling topower, to force theopposition into submission.They employ propaganda asforce-multiplier. The publicity machineryof ‘constructive monarchy’ has beenrunning a concerted campaign to defameeveryone with democratic persuasion.People with the strength of principles havetaken the criticism in their stride butpragmatists have made peace with power

and turncoats, as always, survive.Value-neutral professionals can neither

stand the storm nor bow easily. So they arethe first to fall when rules are thrown outof the window. Dinesh was a professionalof the Panchayat era but had adapted to

post-Panchayat competitionwith great felicity. He was oneof the very few engineers torise to the level of secretary tothe government. But when theroyal regime treated himshabbily, throwing him into a‘reserve pool’ with neitherauthority nor responsibility,he lost the will to live. Hisdeath is a symbol of thecountry’s own dead-end.

Dinesh was also a victimof witch-hunts characteristicof authoritarianism. The RCCCis neither constitutional norunconstitutional—it is extra-constitutional just like the

regime that spawned it. You can’t reasonwith instruments of bias because all you’llget is indifference, if not contempt. Youcan’t even bargain with it—a tradingrelationship implies equality. But an extra-constitutional authority doesn’tunderstand anything other than either

complete domination or total submission.You can’t hope to coexist with itpeaceably because your very existencerepresents either a threat to the regime oran opportunity for exploitation. It forcesyou to either prostrate or perish.

Faced with the prospect of beingharassed endlessly, death must havelooked like an alluring alternative toDinesh. Throughout his life, the engineerworked on the assumption that two-and-two makes four. Dinesh found thearithmetic of life in the past two monthstoo dissonant to bear.

In the heat of weighty matters like theboycott of municipal elections bypolitical parties, the controversy overappointment of the new chief justice, thearmy’s procurement of weapons from theglobal bajar, few have time to reflect overthe death of an engineer. But in one wayor another, all of us are guilty.

It is our passivity and apathy thatkilled Dinesh Chandra Pyakhurel. Wehave suffered so much neglect for so longthat we have lost the ability to mourn.Tears do not flow easily these days, thatperhaps is the most frighteningrealisation. A storm is quietly brewingwithin. When it bursts, no embankmentwill contain it.

Death of an engineerDinesh Chandra Pyakhurel’s suicide is a symbol of the country’s own deadend

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Published by Himalmedia Pvt Ltd, Chief Editor: Kunda DixitDesk Editor: Abha Eli Phoboo, Aarti BasnyatDesign: Kiran Maharjan Web: Bhushan ShilpakarAdvertising: Sunaina Shah advertising@himalmedia.comSubscription: P Sharma, subscription@himalmedia.comSanchaya Kosh Building, Block A-4th Floor, LalitpurGPO Box 7251, Kathmandu, NepalTel: 01-5543333-6, Fax: 01-5521013Printed at Jagadamba Press, Hatiban: 01-5547018editors@nepalitimes.com, www.nepalitimes.com

324 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253

LLLLL E T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R SE T T E R S

HM ON FMThe Secretary of the Ministry ofCommunication and TelecommunicationLokman Singh Karki has made a falsestatement in ‘HM on FM’ (‘From theNepali Press, #252) by saying that FMstations in foreign countries are notallowed to broadcast news. Here, in theUK, almost all FM stations have hourlynews updates and the news range fromlocal to international, social to politicsand crime to entertainment. Programsare also interrupted to inform the public ifsomething important happens.

Sandesh, Leeds, UK

SLCI don’t quite agree with CK Lal (‘Howabout those who didn’t pass?’, #252) thatwe overdo the garlanding and vermilion.In fact, I think we don’t recognise theachievements enough. Lal’s distaste ofrecognising people stems from the factthat we don’t do anything for those whodid not achieve the same feat as thosewho did. While I understand hisconcerns for those who did not succeed,it does not justify giving less or norecognition to those who did. I don’t thinkthe examiners failed a majority of thestudents just for the heck of it. There hasto be a certain standard everyone mustmeet in order to pass. I am not sayingthat the present standard is good. If thestudents do not meet certainexpectations, then I don’t think there isanything morally wrong in ‘failing’ thosestudents. Let’s face it: passing andfailing are facts of life, it starts from theday you are born until you die. Lal hasproposed an alternate system but I don’tsee how it would favour the‘unsuccessful’ ones. In this competitiveera, over time, I don’t see how ‘need toimprove’ in maths would be any differentfrom ‘failed’ in maths. I am not sure ifsuch semantics will make any differencein the long-term. Rehabilitating ‘SLC-failed’ school dropouts is indeed muchmore challenging. As Lal says, SLC-failed does not mean that they areincapable of doing anything in life.Rather, we need to set a standard that iscompetitive with the standards ofneighbouring countries like India. Wemay need to focus more on vocationaltraining so students get skills that theycan cash in in the marketplace.

Name withheld, email

IRONIESIt was ironic to read Bijen Jonchhe’s‘Ironies abound’ (#252) because thewriter ironically found more ironiessurrounding the political parties than thecurrent government. He miserably failed

them. Stop this nonsense at once, stoppunishing the people for your powergames. Otherwise we’ll give you bothred cards.

Deepak Sapkota, Patan

TREESThe trees are struggling to live despitebeing chopped down (#252). Help themsurvive. Bring back the trees. We needthe greenery, use the rainy season togive the saplings a boost.

Rabina Rachalica, Green TeamJagati-8, Bhaktapur

I understand that the trees inPulchok were removed for securityreasons. However, if I were a Maoistcommander and wanted to remove localsecurity forces, I would certainly knowwhere to find a large group of them.They are all huddled together under theshade of the few small trees in Pulchokthat escaped the ‘tree slaughter’. Aperfect target! I, too, have been tryingto understand this much discussedquestion that was asked in the SLCexams: ‘What sort of composition doesthe present government have? Presenta brief evaluation of its functioning?’ Itoccurred to me that maybe the govern-ment was taking a secret poll to providesome answers on how to proceed in thefuture by asking the smart young mindsof Nepal to provide answers.

Bonnie Ellison, email

MASKSSince the hardcopy edition of NepaliTimes doesn’t reach me in Seoul, I havebeen reading it on the Internet. But lately,I notice Kunda Dixit is wearing masksand not hats in his column Under My Hat.What’s up? Is it a metaphor? Has he runout of hats? Is he ashamed to show hisface? A mask means that a person isplaying a different character, especiallyhidden, negative personalities.

Pabitra Mani Bhandari, Seoul

LETTERSNepali Times welcomes all feedback.Letters should be brief and may beedited for space. While pseudonymscan be accepted, writers who providetheir real names and contact detailswill be given preference. Email lettersshould be in text format withoutattachments with ‘letter to the editor’ inthe subject line.

Email: letters@nepalitimes.comFax: 977-1-5521013Mail: Letters, Nepali Times, GPO Box7251, Kathmandu, Nepal.

to express the more pertinent ironies facingour society these days, about the staterepeating the rhetoric of democracy andconstitution while continuously keepingpoliticians, journalists and human rightsactivists in prison without formal charges.He also failed to mention the irony about theestablishment of the RCCC while a similarbody CIAA is in existence. I can understandthe omission of yet another irony about thegovernment harping on anti-corruptionagenda while one of its own leaders isreportedly blacklisted for not paying theloan he ‘forgot’ he took.

Sunil Sharma, Teku

Rather than being the capital of afriendly neighbour, New Delhi has become apilgrimage destination for most Nepalipolitical leaders, even terrorists(‘Comrades in Delhi’, #251). Everyone getsa pat on their back from their masters.Koirala’s visit was of a similar naturedespite it being named a ‘medical visit’.Looks like he spent more time payinghomage to his masters than in hospital.From Delhi he gained enough support forhis seven-party alliance, also possibly withthe Maoists, to strengthen their movementin making Nepal a democratic nation. Hefails to understand that it was his inter/intraparty politics, negligence and badgovernance that led to failed democracy inNepal. He should be concentrating oncorrecting himself rather than on buildingalliances. Having been PM a number oftimes in the last seven years, he is moreresponsible than others for the nation’s illfate today and the rise of the Maoists, amajor setback in Nepal’s history. At thesame time, how can a terrorist organisationsupport a democratic movement in Nepal?At 86, Girija Prasad Koirala should finallygrow up.

P Saria, email

It is amusing that Dipta Shah thinks heought to be alarmed about India’s actionsagainst its own security interest (‘Outside,looking in’, #251). If it is one thing that NewDelhi knows really well, it is how to protectits own interests and that is what drivesIndia’s participation in Nepal’s insurgencycrisis. This means only two things forNepal: Delhi’s interest is inunarming the Maoists with orwithout democracy and that it willdo so with or without the king(therefore the perceived‘ambiguity’). To attribute EU’s‘luxury of maintaining aposition that ignores SouthAsia’ to its distance is arather weak argument and tobe fair, one that is equallyapplicable to the US.

Whatever EU’s motives may be, perhapsDipta should catch up on various ways theEU is shaping the world as we know it(including environment laws that would giveUS exports a severe blow) in order tounderstand fully why its position differsgreatly from the US.

Sarahana Shrestha, email

Villagers in some parts of Nepal arebeing armed to fight the Maoists but thearmy spokesman denies the army’sinvolvement. (‘Walking withoutunderstanding’, #251). So who is? And ifthe villagers are getting arms themselves,then isn’t that illegal? Are these villagersbeing armed by landlords or warlords?Either way, the result will be anarchy. Thisis a serious mistake that will lead to lootingand indiscriminate killings. The Maoistswere allowed to grow beyond control, nowthis.

Dinesh Rai, Naxal

The fact that the authorities find itacceptable to shut off roads of the capitalfor the king’s arrival home yet againdemonstrates their utter contempt for thewelfare of the country’s subjects. Tens ofthousands of commuters are stuck inmonster traffic jams at rush hour breathingin foul exhaust fumes with hardly apoliceman in sight. Why not take ahelicopter to the palace? I suppose it istoo much to expect Nepal’s rulers to carefor anything other than their self-interest.Yours anonymously for fear of beingbooted out of the country.

A concerned expat

The government and Maoists are bothplaying foul. Despite their assertions (‘Weare not terrorists’, #251) the Maoists arecreating more victims and the governmenthas abdicated its role in taking care of

SUBHAS RAI

4 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253NATION

his year’s SLC results said itall: 80 percent of studentsfrom government schools

failed their exams.It wasn’t just the students that

failed, the government failed tooin managing the school system.Now, the success of public schoolsthat have been handed over tolocal communities is a beacon ofhope.

The rot set in with thenationalisation of locally-managedschools in 1971. It was anexperiment that failed miserablyand brought down the quality ofinstruction. Now, goaded bydonors, the government is poisedto hand them back.

Just as with communityforestry, community radio andcommunity health care, it lookslike the way to go is todecentralise the management ofschools. This way, teachers aremore accountable and show greaterresponsibility. And because theschools are locally-managed, theMaoists don’t interfere as much.

Some 2,200 schools have nowbeen handed over to localcommunities and in a few years27,000 more schools nationwidewill be transferred, making Nepal aunique education model in thedeveloping world.

t is a 45-minute drive down a long dirt road from the highway to thevillage of Singraha in Kapilbastu near the Indian border. Villagersare mostly dalits and Muslims and there is only one school: the

Chunda Kumari Primary School (pictured, right). It may not look likemuch but schools like this give hope for Nepal’s future because itshows what can be done if villagers are allowed to run their schoolsthemselves.

It has four small classrooms and a bathroom that no one uses. Theteachers not only teach but also go house-to-house asking villagers toenrol children.

“Having the community involved means parents are involved withthe school and they will look after its well being,” says Yagya BikramShahi of the Community Owned Primary Education Program (COPE)of the UN, “many times the Maoists tried to close down schools butdue to community pressure they have remained open.”

Kapilbastu’s teachers like this one at the COPE-supported RamJanaki School (below) have also learnt a lot. They now want to sendtheir students not just to school but are aiming at colleges when theygraduate.

Uma Kant Mishra, Kapilbastu’s DEO is full of praise for COPE.“They taught us that female teachers are probably better, showed ushow to promote primary schools with local help,” he says. In addition,because parents were part of the school management committee theschool was forced to pay attention to quality.

Sugarta Nau whose daughter Anita studies in Chunda Kumari,says, “I have gained knowledge by being a part of the schoolmanagement committee, I am not educated but I want my child to beable to read and write.”

For a district where less than half the children are enrolled, lessthan a quarter of the teachers have any training and 80 percent of theeducation budget is spent just on teachers’ salaries, COPE hasbrought drastic change. And no one knows this better than BishnuKala Panday, headmistress of Chunda Kumari. “Earlier girls were notallowed to go to school,” she recalls, “parents distrusted maleteachers, we made the effort to go house-to-house asking people toenrol their children. They now trust us.”

Still, it’s an uphill battle in an area steeped in patriarchy. A girl issent to school only up to the time she is married, and there are manychild wives.

Bhagwat Dayal’s daughter goes to Chunda Kumari, but she tellsus: “She will study till class five and that’s all, after that she will go toher husband’s house. I don’t think I would want my daughter-in-law tostudy once she comes here either.” On the other hand, a few yearsago parents here wouldn’t even be sending their daughters to schoolin the first place.

The UN pays 94 percent of the funds for schools and the VDCsprovide the rest. Buoyed by the success, the UN is launching COPE 2to use the same model for municipality and higher secondary schools.The project has set up 120 schools in 83 VDCs in six districts andnow wants to replicate the model elsewhere. Aarti Basnyat in Kapilbastu

ight years ago, Save the Children US, in partnershipwith local organisations, started the first of itscommunity-based Early Child Development (ECD)

centre in Siraha. By 2000, nearly 300 graduates went directly into classone in local government schools. Eighty-six entered a pre-primary class, 16 jumped immediately to class two and onestarted in class three.

A survey showed the children were excelling andpassed from class one to class two at double the rate oftheir peers. But do they continue to do well? Internationalresearch shows children who attend early childhoodprogram tend to ‘fade out’ and after the first few years, theacademic gap between these children and others tends toclose.

But in Siraha there has been no fade out for childrenfrom ECD centres. By 2004, 80 percent of the 2,000cohorts were moving through school with no failure orrepetition. Projecting these results, the children look morethan twice as likely to complete primary school within fiveyears as the average Nepali student.

Even more important is that the children stay in school,even if they fail a year. Over four years, only 14 of thecohort of 291 have dropped out of school, about one-tenth

of the national annual dropout rate. The most recent primaryschool completion rate for Nepal (2003) indicates that onlyhalf the enrolled students nationally ever complete gradefive—including all those who repeat along the way. Ifrepetitions are included, we project that over 90 percent ofthe ECD children will complete grade five.

The number of centres in Siraha continues to expand.SCF-US with the DEO and nine local voluntary groupssupport 234 of these community-based centres, benefiting

over 5,300 children aged four and five—about 12 percent ofall eligible children. In order to meet the demand, a shiftsystem has been initiated in some centres, so that twice asmany children can be served without increasingmanagement costs.

Over 2,700 children, not yet counting the current year,have successfully completed the program, and every year,all graduates have entered school. The centres becomeself-sustaining within five years with some support from thelocal district education office.

These ECD centres make a vital contribution toaddressing social exclusion in Nepal. Nationwide, girls stilllag behind boys in enrolment and they are more likely todrop out of school. But girls attend these centres and thengo on to school in the same numbers as boys.

More than a quarter of all those currently enrolled inSiraha are dalits, although they make up only 17 percent ofthe population there. Strong community-based andcommunity-managed early childhood programs are the mosteffective (and the most cost-effective) way to raiseenrolment, promoting caste and gender equity, preventingdropout and ensuring school success.

Udayalaxmi Pradhananga and Sheridan Bartlett

The most cost-effective way to raise enrolment

“In the past, the governmentappointed all teachers,” explainsRajendra Joshi of the World Bankin Kathmandu, “but once thecommunity took over it startedweeding out bad teachers.”

The initiative is spearheadedby the Ministry of Education withsupport from the World Bank andUNICEF under the CommunitySchool Support Program (CSSP)which gives grants of Rs 100,000to schools that used to have abudget of only Rs 10,000 a year.

“In the schools where it hasbeen tried, it has already brought alot of hope to achieve Nepal’seducation goals,” says UNICEF’sSanphe Lhalungpa who isespecially happy to see the highdropout rate reducing in the newlocally-run schools.

Retention of studentsespecially at the primary level hasalways posed a big challenge inNepal and this has to do withpoor motivation of teachers, lackof books and dingy classrooms.Even before the conflict, 70percent of children between six to10 dropped out of school, one ofthe highest rates in the world.

“You cannot blame theconflict for crisis in education,”says Helen Sherpa of the WorldEducation group, “but the conflicthas made it worse.” Governmenteducation offices have been

constantly under Maoist threatand last week the rebels blew upthe District Education Office inKhotang. Government teachershave been extorted mercilessly bythe Maoists, paying upto 20percent of their salaries as‘revolutionary tax’.

Educationists admit that justgiving away grants to schools willnot solve the problem, they thinkcommunity management can be aquality control factor. They admitthat some communities are notcohesive and dedicated but say ifdecentralisation works with forestconservation there is no reason itwon’t work to revamp education.

“This is not about undertakingtechnical responsibilities butknowing who is a good or badteacher,” says Joshi. Experiencewith existing community-managed schools is that theMaoists also leave them alone.

At the National PlanningCommission there is excitementin the air after a lot of gloom anddoom about meeting the UN’sMillennium Development Goal toachieve universal literacy by 2015.“Community management ofschools gives us the best chanceof achieving that target,” saysShankar Sharma but addscautiously, “it all depends nowon whether the conflictintensifies.”

From the grassroots upThe best news in education in a long time

Hope in Kapilbastu

NARESH NEWAR

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AARTI BASNYAT

AARTI BASNYAT

524 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253BUSINESS

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Nepali Times: How has your business evolved?Vaibav Dadha: We have been in automobile trading for thepast 30 years. We started off with Volkswagen in 1974.Today we are dealing with 10 brands including Nissan,Volkswagen and Audi. We recently set up a state-of-the-artcentre last year, which is one of the best-equipped in Nepal.

What has support from the government been like?It is a very volatile trade. It all depends on the government’spolicies. In fact last year there probably was a 200 percentincrease in the passenger vehicle sector with new Marutisjoining the taxi service.

What are the necessary changes needed?Information dissemination still needs to improve in Nepal.Anywhere else in the world, information is passed on aregular, monthly basis and a very transparent business isdone. But in Nepal it is not so, everything is hidden and it’snot a very free trade policy. There is no authentic data. Onlyone data comes and that is from Nepal Automobile DealersAssociation and this too is only once a year. That’s notsufficient. It should be transparent, more frequent and everyimporter or the government should provide details on acompany wise basis.

Has the market grown?With the opening of finance and banking sector in the lastthree to four years the market has drastically improved. It isnot very complicated for people who want to procure avehicle now to do so. The financing is fairly straightforward.That’s one of the reasons the graph is going up. There is ashift from motorcycle to four wheelers.

Will the competition especially from China be an influentialfactor in the future?Competition has been growing. There are more and more

brands coming in from China but Chinese brands for twoand four wheelers have suffered because of poor aftersales. As of now about 80 percent of the market isdominated by Indian brands. Subsequently I believe all theIndian brands are going to be doing very well here.

There seems to be a growing interest in Royal Enfieldmotorbikes?We have appointed dealers all over Nepal and are providingbackup with regard to servicing parts and easy financingfacilities to customers. Royal Enfield is a dream bike and ithas become easy for people to shift from a Bajaj or Hondato an Enfield.

Considering the present state of economy is there scope forgrowth in the luxury car segment?Nissan has been doing very well. In fact in the passengervehicle segment Nissan has been the number one for thepast three years. We have just started marketing Nissan inthe commercial segment where we are sure in a short spanof time we will do well. People are going to be surprisedbecause though the economy has not been doing well, salesin this category has been moving upwards. One of thesafest options to invest in for banks is higher purchase loanfor a vehicle. The money is very secure. I think that thefinance is going to open up more in the coming daysconsidering that they are asking for the guarantee of thedistributors.

Have you identified other sectors in Nepal where theindustry could grow?In Kathmandu Valley the sales has been on the up trend.However with the current scenario in Nepal for peopleoutside Kathmandu the situation has not improved to beinvesting in automobiles. The growth prospect istremendous.

The Dugar Group has beenrepresenting some of the leading

automobile brands for the last 30years. Chief Operating OfficerVaibav Dadha spoke to Nepali

Times about the changing scenarioand competition.

Autos and the upwardly mobile

arly this month, a buscarrying 150 passengers,including a few plain-

clothed military personnel, wasblown to bits in Madi. Thirty-eight people died and the restwere wounded in what was theworst attack against civilians in

Nepal. The next day, Maoistchieftain Pushpa Kamal Dahaladmitted that the attack was a“serious mistake”. But three dayslater, Dahal’s comrades bombedanother bus in Kabhre killing twocivilians, six soldiers and injuringmore passengers.

According to INSEC, 234Nepalis lost their lives to Maoists’explosives (11 were killed by thearmy’s) in the first quarter of 2005.While civil society punditsattribute Maoists’ murderous waysto rifts between political andmilitary factions, it’s time tosearch for other explanations. Isthere something structurallyclosed about the Maoist decision-making apparatus that allows itscadres to bomb civilians?

In a democracy with openlycompeting political institutions, aparty’s actions are freely reportedby the press. Those reports allowsupporters and critics to givefeedback, which the party uses toimprove the quality of itsdecisions. Indeed, one significantconsequence of democraticopenness, with its bundle ofrights, checks and balances, is thatthe parties’ positions settle not onextreme ends but around thecompromising middle.

Similarly, market conditionsact as one voting bloc for

STRICTLY BUSINESSAshutosh Tiwari

evaluating the decision-makingsystem of a private firm, which isnot democratic but hierarchical.No matter how cleverly cutting-edge the executives think theirstrategy is, if the market looks theother way, their firm will losemoney. To avoid that, firmsconstantly seek feedback fromcustomers, talk to employees andinvestors or hire consultants tohelp improve decisions.

But the Maoists face littleincentive to collect and injectdiverse and independent third-party feedback into their decision-making process. With ‘pro-poorsocial justice’ as an advertisingline, they use abduction to bringin new recruits. INSEC says thatbetween February 1996 and April2005, the Maoists kidnapped34,014 Nepalis. Once in, therecruits are to dream of a futurefree of ‘class enemies’ but survivein the present through the use offorce, extortion and violence.Their leaders keep the issues of‘justice’ and ‘enemies’ vague soanyone can define them any wayto justify any act of violence.

Meantime, those who strayfrom the party are punished for

being traitors and spies, alldisagreements are crushed. Theonly thing that’s fit to grow is anideologically homogeneousmindset that is hostile toinformation that contradicts itsworldview. To paraphrase Polishpoet Wislawa Szymborska, such amindset knows what it knowsand doesn’t want to know anymore. Ambitious recruits figurethat the only way to get promotedis to start by increasing theenemies’ body count.

Who was responsible forbombing the bus in Madi? Dahaldidn’t cite names. Given theexpenses associated withdeveloping recruits to executeacts of terror, it’s unlikely thatDahal & Co will push Maoistresources into inaction for long.What is likely is that as long asits business model is anchored byan insulated decision-makingprocess that has violence on thedefault mode, D & C’s associates,despite their leader’sopportunistically calculatedpromise to “not kill civilianseven if they are criminals”, willcontinue to lob explosives atinnocent Nepalis.

Mindless ‘mistakes’The decision-making apparatus in the Maoist party promotes violence

MIN BAJRACHARYA

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MDG alarm bells ringNepal is falling behind in targets to meet the UN’s millenniumdevelopment goals (MDGs) to halve poverty by 2015. With only 10years to go, the Maoist rebellion and political instability areholding back development, particularly in rural areas. “It will be adifficult task to achieve the targets due to the conflict and poorgovernance,” says development expert Mohan Man Sainju. Nepalneeds to cut poverty by half, reduce the proportion of peoplesuffering from hunger, attain 100 percent enrolment, reduce childand maternal mortality rates and halve the incidence of malariaand other preventable diseases.

The government says it reduced poverty by 31 percent overthe past five years but experts say this reduction is aconsequence of growth in remittances from Nepali migrant workersabroad. “This (poverty reduction) is a matter for debate.Remittances are not a sustainable and authentic indicator of howfar poverty has been reduced,” said Prerna Bomzan from RuralReconstruction Nepal (RRN).

Nepal’s maternal and child mortality rates are the highest inthe region. In September Nepal has to submit a progress report tothe UN in Geneva on meeting MDG targets. Activist groups,fearing the government may attempt a whitewash is preparing analternative report.

“It depends on the intensity of the conflict. Once there is peace,we could achieve about 75 percent of the MDGs,” says NPC Vice-Chairman Shankar Sharma. Indeed, the only silver lining seems tobe in education, where despite conflict enrolment rates are up (seep4). In a bid to ensure that the MDGs are achievable in Nepal, theUN has initiated the Millennium Campaign which plans to useNGOs and civic groups to help raise mass awareness of, andparticipation in, the development process. (IRIN)

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Reducing povertyWorld Bank has approved a $32 million grant for roadinfrastructure in rural areas. An estimated 36 percent of Nepal’s 24million people live more than a two hours walk away from thenearest navigable road. Lack of road access is much worse in thehills. About 15 districts are not connected by road. “Access toservices and economic opportunities have been among the topcasualties of Nepal’s ongoing conflict, especially in ruralhinterlands,” says Kenichi Ohashi of the World Bank, whichbelieves that poor access to markets and services in remote areaspose as main constraints to economic growth.

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World’s highest book and CD releaseAs the race to outdo each other onChomolungma, musicians are the latest to getinto the act. Ramesh Adhikari, lyricist, had hisbook of national songs Mero Desh and CDPeace and Life released on the summit.Summiteers Chhang Dawa Sherpa, 23 andTashi Lakpa Sherpa, 19 reached the top ofChomolungma on 30 May and carried out thelaunch ceremony.

KANAK MANI DIXIT

6 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

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Unnatural allianceEditorial in Nepal Samacharpatra,21 June

The three-way power strugglebetween the king, political partiesand the Maoists after sacking ofparliament for the third time, hastaken a new direction with therecent turn of events.Parliamentary forces are nowtrying to find ways to work withthe Maoists while the rebels,declared terrorists by thegovernment , have also officiallyexpressed their full support andcommitment in the agitation ofthe parliamentary forces. Thisturn of events has now created asituation where the triangularstruggle is now bipolar betweenthe monarchy and the partieswith the Maoists. Independentintellectuals have expressed theirdisapproval of this unexpectedalliance between parliamentaryparties and the underground

alliance with the Maoists unlessthey gave up violence. Since then,the Maoists have committed themost outrageous murders in their10-year history. It is strange thatsoon after 40 civilians were killedin a passenger bus in Chitwanand the wives and innocentchildren of security personnelwere brutally murdered in Kailali,the political parties should forgettheir former stance and ask forhelp from the Maoists. TheMaoists haven’t stopped thekilling of leaders and workers ofthe parliamentary parties either.The last resolve of the sevenparliamentary parties only lookslike a momentary venture to gainpower. The decision to form analliance with the Maoists is notonly wrong but also irresponsible.

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Mohan BikramSamaya, 24 June

Mohan Bikram has been talkingfrom his hideout about the riftsin the Maoist leadership. TheMaverick communist leaderdescribes it as an indication ofPrachanda’s “dictatorial style”and thinks many Maoist rank andfile are now in danger fromPrachanda loyalists. He saysBaburam should have challengedPrachanda but seems to think thatBaburam doesn’t have thefortitude. Mohan Bikram has beensharply critical of Baburam eversince the latter left his party tojoin Prachanda in the early 1990sbut this time he appears to havesoftened. He thinks feudalisticand fascist tendencies are on therise in the Maoist movement andhe believes that Baburam’s life isin danger. He is surprised thatBaburam was sent to India andsuspects he may have bowed topressure. He maintains theMaoists cannot win and reiterateshis stand that the Maoists willone day unite with the monarchy.He thinks the Maoist overtures

towards India are a part of an efforttowards a soft landing underIndian mediation. He adds: “Inthis way, the Maoists are nodifferent than the UML and NCwhich are always looking to Delhifor blessings. They are notrevolutionaries anymore.”

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NGOs in SallyanKapil Kafle in Rajdhani, 22 June

SALLYAN—NGOs in the midwestare worried by a new Maoist policyto allow only groups that registerwith them to work in their areas.The Maoist ‘Magarat AutonomousPeople’s Government’ has said itwill only allow NGOs to only workin roads, electricity, education,irrigation and health sectors. “Theytold us this one year ago but wehad managed to carry on ourwork,” said Dilli Binadi of Savethe Children Norway. Binadi sayshis organisation can’t register withthe Maoists because it has anagreement with the government.But Maoist district chief forSallyan, Bhaskar says his groupneeds to be recognised as thepower in the region. In fact,Bhaskar reprimanded ShobaGautam of the Human Rights andCommunications Organisationwho was here to train localactivists in internationalhumanitarian law. “You shouldhave only come after asking usfirst,” Bhaskar said in an aggressivetone. Gautam put up a spiriteddefence, arguing that as a citizen ofthe country she was free to gowherever she wanted. TilottamPoudel of the child welfare group,CWIN, says the only way tosurvive in Sallyan is to be totallytransparent. He says he tries toexplain to the Maoists that hisservices are needed by the region’schildren. The Maoists can’t kickout CWIN and RuralReconstruction Nepal becausethey know the villagers would notlike it.

Rajdhani, 22 June

rebels. The country’s problemscan’t be expected to be solvedwith the alliance of these twoforces that hold contradictoryideologies, strategies and workethics. The possibility of acoalition of parliamentary forces,who support constitutionalmonarchy and multipartydemocracy, and the Maoists,whose aim is to abolish themonarchy, is very bleak. TheMaoist problem was addressedwhen parliament was functioningwith democratic political partiesthemselves in power. However,the past has shown us that theparties used the Maoist issue toget to power while the Maoistsused the weaknesses of thedemocratic political parties todestabilise the parliamentarysystem. After February First therewas wide speculation thatpolitical parties might get close tothe Maoists. But back then, seniorleaders of the parties had openlydeclared that there could be no

Nepal, 26 June

Among the royal courtiers those who canbe called shadow politicians are: SharadChandra Shah, Sachit Shamsher JBR,Bharat Keshar Simha and Dr KesharjungRayamajhi.

Sharad Chandra ShahField Marshal Surendra Bahadur Shahmarried King Tribhuban’s niece and hisson is Sharad Chandra Shah. Sources sayhe has been close to King Gyanendrasince the Panchayat days. He played animportant role in mobilising Panchayatyouth workers during the 1980 referendumand later. Shah’s trusted people from thatperiod, Tanka Dhakal and Khadga BahadurGC, are ministers today.

Sharad Chandra Shah’s speciality isbehind-the-scenes power-brokering.

Power by proximity: the inner circleDuring the 1990 People’s Movement he wasthe vice-chairman of the PopulationCommission and was accused of using theSports Council to quell the revolt. Inrevenge, agitators burnt down his house inDilli Bajar. He then went to an ashram insouth India and later ran a restaurant inSingapore. In 1997, he returned and wasappointed to the Information TechnologyCommission.

He was always interested in sports butnow he has become a player in politics.“Sharad Chandra Shah is an administrativeman not a political figure, however, he has alot of influence among those in power,” saysRPP Secretary Shivahari Paudyal.

Sachit Shamsher JBRSachit Shamsher JBR is the brother of lateDamodar Shamsher, the mysteriousnegotiator between the palace and thecommunists during the Panchayat. Afterretiring as commander-in-chief 14 yearsago, this warrior has returned to thelimelight. He has served as ambassador toBurma in 1996 and returned to Nepal amidstdebate about the possible mobilisation ofthe army against the Maoists. He didn’t stayquiet like other former c-in-cs and openlyadvocated the army’s involvement incounterinsurgency. After the king’s OctoberFourth move, he publicly came out insupport of the monarch and was nominatedto the Royal Council and was instrumentalin organising various public felicitations forKing Gyanendra. “The real player in the

council is Sachit Shamsher,” says oneformer member of the Council, “thechairman is only a figurehead.”

The Royal Council conference headedby Sachit Shamsher proposed that theproblem could only be solved through theking’s direct involvement, which wasopposed by the political parties. “TheCouncil’s job is to provide advice andsuggestions when asked by the king, thiscannot be considered politics,” he saidthen. There are those who consider SachitShamsher’s words to be the official line ofthe palace and the army. He meets the kingoccasionally and says, “We only provideadvice when asked by His Majesty.”

Bharat Keshar SimhaRetd Major General Bharat Keshar Simhais also in the inner circle. As an honoraryADC of the king, his words are associatedwith the monarch. Simha is also thechairman of the World Hindu Federation(WHF) and has espoused monarchism andradical Hinduism. “I will not accept arepublic nor religious secularism even if itmeans death,” Simha has said. He hasserved as ambassador to Britain, and onreturn, worked his way up the WHFhierarchy. He was intrumental in honouringthe king as the ‘emperor of the world’sHindus’.

After the king took over on 4 October2002, he started becoming openly involvedwith pro-monarchy politics. Last year whenthe ‘anti-regression’ agitation by the parties

were at their peak, he said in an interview:“A stick is not enough, we need a JangBahadur.” At that time he maintained therecould be no talks with the Maoists, now hehas modified that to say: “Unless they giveup their weapons there cannot be anytalks.”

Kesharjung RayamajhiAfter his term as chairman of the RoyalCouncil expired on 18 February 2003,Rayamajhi is not officially a royal adviser.However he gives prophetic suggestions.At a program organised last year by theking’s niece, he suggested, “It is importantthat the king form an advisory councilunder his own chairmanship.” And that isexactly what happened. Palace sourcesdeny him being an insider but there is nodoubt he is a trusted loyalist. AfterFebruary First he has met the king onlyonce and reasons, “I’m trying for anaudience but perhaps because HisMajesty is busy it hasn’t happened.”

He famously defected from theCommunist Party of Nepal in the 1960sand has served the royals loyally since. Inthe interim government formed after therestoration of democracy, he wasnominated by the king to serve as theminister for education, culture and localadministration. He even fought an electionwith his own party Janata Dal but lost.Even while he was chairman of the councilhe admitted he had advised in favour of the4 October 2002 royal move.

“We strongly urge the international community to resolutely comeforward with an effective framework in curbing the financing ofterrorism.”

King Gyanendra in the Doha Second South Summit,15 June

Petrol pump: cconstitutional assemblyBus: Movement

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Why torment us?Himal Khabarpatrika, 15 June

The Home Ministry set up a taskforce to investigatedisappearances and when itbrought out a list last month,Machendra Limbu of Sunsariwent through it over and overagain. But he couldn’t find thename of his 22-year-old son,Uttam. Wiping tears from hiseyes, Machendra says simply: “Ithought I’d find him on the listthis time but my heart has givenup now.” Security forces hadpicked up Uttam at night fromhis home three years ago. Uttam’s56-year-old mother says, “I havecried so much that I have no tearsleft. If he is alive they should justtell us he is alive, if he is deadtell us he is dead. Why tormentus like this?”

Also in Sunsari, Dal Bahadurand Padam Kumari Magar last sawtheir son, 34-year-old Hari, on thesame night that Uttam Limbudisappeared. Dal Bahadur andPadam Kumari (pictured) weepopenly remembering their son.Hari’s 26-year-old wife Hari Mayasays, “My in-laws are old, I haveto take care of everything.”Sunsari’s CDO had told Hari Mayaas soon as Hari was taken awaythat he was in custody but thenext day when she went withsome of his clothes the districtadministration denied havinghim in detention. Harka Majhialso disappeared three years ago.His elderly mother lives in asmall shack and still waits forhim to return.

724 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253FROM THE NEPALI PRESS

Ghatna ra Bichar, 22 June

Tulsi Giri, known for being a piller of active monarchy, has beendrawn into controversy for not paying a bank loan he took years ago.After news of his blacklisting, people have been demanding hisresignation, some even satirising the situation by collecting pettycash to help him pay back the loan. Excerpts of an interview:

Did you take a loan for Himalayan Plastic?They appointed me as a shareholder of thecompany and when requested, I accepted to bepresident. But I had no hand in taking loans,spending it or such transactions.

But to agree to be a shareholder and president,then to deny responsibility in paying loans?I had resigned from being a prime ministerback then. Politics was not the way I wanted itto be so I didn’t want to be involved in itanymore. A person I knew came to me andrequested me to be a sleeping partner in hiscompany. I agreed. Whether that was wrong orright is a different matter. I have decided thatuntil the bank sends me a formal notice, I don’thave to pay anyone anything on the basis of

news published in the papers.

If the bank does issue a notice, how will you pay back? Apparently,you don’t own any property in Nepal.First let the bank complete its procedures, if it is proved that I have topay back, I will pay back somehow. I sold my house and property twodecades ago and left the country. I never thought that I would beinvolved in politics again. Circumstances changed, I haveresponsibilities but the political scenario is still not the way I want itto be.

What is the way you want it to be?When it is implemented, you will know.

That means you are dissatisfied even with present politics?Yes, this is neither a duck nor a chicken. I am not inclined towardsmoving this way. I believe that we must move straight ahead.

You want to lead the country on a more reactionary path?I don’t know what that is. I believe that the nation must be led towardsthe path that both the king and the nation want.

Not the path asserted by political parties?Haven’t you seen where the parties have taken the country? You wantto go that way?

You get a lot of flak for your outspokenness.I have thick skin like a rhino, criticism doesn’t make any difference tome.

“Thick skinnedlike a rhino”

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MEDIA8

PESHAL POKHREL

he scene is an editor’soffice complete withcomputer, phone andcluttered table. But

sitting at the desk is a soldier incamouflage fatigues scribblingaway. The sign on the door says:‘Editor-in-chief: In’.

Numerous editorials havebeen written about the loss ofpress freedom after February First.Columnists have heaped scorn atthe curbs. But that oneillustration by Nepal’s best-known cartoonist, Batsayan, saidit most eloquently of all.

His real name is Durga Baraland the 53-year-old artist lives inPokhara, which allows him adifferent perspective on theabsurd goings-on in the capital.The developments were ripe forridicule. But in the fear-filledweeks after February First,Batsayan remembers being not sosure about how far he could go.

“I didn’t want the editor to getinto trouble just because of me, soI held myself back,” he recalls. Butwhen he read the columns offellow-Kantipur contributor,Khagendra Sangraula and sawwhat Himal Khabarpatrika wasgetting away with, he decided tolet himself go.

Batsayan’s biting post-February cartoons boosted themorale of other editors andcartoonists. Playing cat-and-mouse with the censors,cartoonists started going furtherand taking more risks than writers.Budhabar cartoonist Basu Kshitij’sillustration comparing Bhutan’sdemocracy to Nepal’s raised thegovernment’s hackles and editorSurya Thapa was summoned tothe CDO to explain. Ramesh Bistaof Bimarsha Weekly had a cartoonready to go to press but themilitary ‘guest editor’ posted inthe newsroom had objections.Bista held his ground andthreatened that the space would beleft blank, so the censor relentedand the cartoon was printed.

Kantipur found two ofBatsayan’s cartoons too risqué toprint. One of them poked fun at

Toon timeToon timeToon timeToon timeToon timeThe very measures designed to curb media freedom

have allowed Nepali cartoonists to come of age

the editors writing absurdeditorials on ballet dancing andsmelly socks by portraying anewsroom scene in which aneditorial was being prepared andtitling it, ‘Delicious Momos,Possibilities and Challenges’.Uttam Nepal had a series ofcartoons poking fun at RameshNath Pandey and Kirti NidhiBista but his paper, Rajdhani,said it would be too dicey toprint them.

“There has been an offensiveto gag us and even my colleaguescouldn’t digest my cartoons,” saysNepal. But cartoonists didn’t giveup and have been taking the leadin probing the limits of what ispermissible. Rabin Sayami hassubmitted cartoons to HimalKhabarpatrika and Jana Aasthathat make readers bite theirtongues. One of them on 1Baisakh was of Tulsi Giri wishingeveryone, ‘Happy New Year 2017’.This was a reference to the sackingby King Mahendra of BP Koirala’selected government in 1960.Another shows the king and theMaoists playing chess withthe Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh looking over

TTTTT

CARTOON CHARACTERS:Rabin Sayami, Abin Shrestha,Batsayan and Rajesh KC gettogether to discuss their craft.

BATSAYAN

SUBHAS RAI

MIN BAJRACHARYA

24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253 9

both their shoulders.Rajesh KC of Kantipur mocked

the ban on mobiles with a cartoonof a garbage collector walking thestreets with a sack shouting,“Nokia, Ericsson, Motorola”offering to buy the sets by thekilo. Editors admit that part ofthe reason they have morefreedom with articles andcommentaries is because thecartoonists kept the door ajar. Oneof the taboo subjects has alwaysbeen the depiction of royalty.Even after 1990 and even on GaiJatra papers, when cartoonistsdrew prime ministers as nakedwomen, the royalty was strictlyout of bounds. But since FebruaryFirst, when the monarchdescended to the level of everyday

politics, the royalty is not spared.“If the king had remained aconstitutional monarch, I guess wewouldn’t be drawing him,” saysRabin Sayami.

It is not a cartoonist’s job tomake the subjects of their workhappy or sad, says Sayami, andadds that the UML’s MadhabNepal is livid about the way he isdepicted as a wimp in cartoons.One favourite of cartoonists isGirija Koirala, the politicianalmost everybody loves to hate.With his large nose, bad teeth andoutsized spectacles, he is acartoonists’ delight and appears oncartoons even when out of power.

If it appears that cartoonistsare more critical of the governmentthan the Maoists, it is only

RABIN SAYAMI

RAJESH KC

ABIN SHRESTHA

because they see that the press isbeing unnecessarily targeted as aresult of the February First move.They wonder why press freedomshould be the casualty when thereason for the royal takeover wasto crush the Maoists.

Abin Shrestha of Samayamagazine says cartoons need notalways be humorous, they canexpose misery, double-standardsand sadness. He has even drawncartoons of the terrorist attack onthe bus on Madi showing a Maoistcrocodile shedding tears, saying:“We are saddened by this incidentand like always we promisethrough this statement that wewill take every step necessaryto prevent it from happeningagain.”

RABIN SAYAMIBATSAYAN

ABIN SHRESTHA RAJESH KC

10 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253REVIEW

epal’s natural beauty has catapultedthe country’s fame as an artiste’sdelight and Prajwal Pradhan has

captured its many faces with his lens: asteppe eagle swooping over Kathmandu ona hot day, a plumbeous redstart that youhave to search for among rocks on ariverbed, an elephant taking a shower orstark white flowers against a deep bluebackground. It is flora and fauna caught intechnicolour.

In 1985, Pradhan received a scholarshipfrom the British Council to studyphotography and the audiovisual medium.It was then that his affair with the cameragrew. He returned to work with NTV and inthose years, Pradhan says he was unable toexplore his creativity, “I didn’t understandthe value of still photography then.”

Later, as a government employee hedabbled in advertising. Even then, he wastaking pictures of popular tourist spotsonly and converting them into postcards.It was only later as his interest in hissurroundings grew that Pradhan decided toexperiment with nature photography.

“I began to read more, flip throughmagazines such as the National Geographicand wonder ed how those photographerscaptured such beautiful colours,” muses

fter having acted with the likesof Sean Connery in TheLeague of Extraordinary

Gentlemen, Naseeruddin Shah willbe in Kathmandu to stage Dear Liarwith Ratna Pathak Shah. The duowill perform the play directed bySatyadev Dubay at Association ofSt Mary’s Alumnae Nepal’s(ASMAN) Supper Theatre this July.Proceeds from the event will go toAsman Art Fund which will providescholarships for talentedindividuals to attend GurukulSchool of Theatre’s two-yearresidential course.

Dear Liar is a play written in1957 by Jerome Kilty. It wasderived from a compilation of lettersthat George Bernard Shaw wrote toStella Campbell, an actress he was

Turning nature’s megapixels into art

romancing. The drama is an earlyexample of epistolary form of playwriting with straightforwardnarrations and not recreation ofevents. It chronicles the deepmutual admiration and love thatShaw and Campbell shared, thoughthey were both married but not toeach other. The play is set between1895-1939, that very significant erain history which witnessed not onlyinnumerable path breakingaccomplishments in theatre butalso the two World Wars and theend of the Edwardian era whoselifestyle was dear to people likeStella.

Shah, who portrays GeorgeBernard Shaw, is a Bollywoodactor known for his versatility,accomplishments and recent

Charting an era through Bernard Shaw’s letters

Lying still

Pradhan. But in the past seven years,Pradhan’s portfolio includes pictures thatmake viewers sit up and take notice.

“Nature is already photogenic but youhave to look for composition and colour,”says the artist,“to be able to capture it in allits hues is one of the biggest challenges.Almost 80 percent of the pictures I takehave to be discarded.”

The photographer’s eye is differentfrom other’s, it must see what others can’t,

the tones and textures and have thetechnical expertise to bring them out asaccurately as possible in print. The specificartistry of each photographer and eachphotograph depends on composition.

Composition is of great importance toPradhan. “Even here in my exhibition, I seechildren who come to see it areappreciative because of the visualaesthetics,” he says. Nature photographyneeds a lot of patience and research.

To be able to capture nature in all its hues is Prajwal Pradhan’s biggest challenge

achievement in Hollywood. He hasacted in movies like Umrao Jaan,Hey Ram, Bhopal Express, ThePerfect Murder and MonsoonWedding. Shah has alsoperformed in over 60 productionson the professional stage. For thelast 26 years, he has been runningthe Motley Theatre Company asdirector. Ratna Pathak Shah, whohas acted in several films and tvserials is also part of the theatrecompany. An accomplishedtheatre actor, she has performed inover 30 plays in both Hindi andEnglish.

Dear Liar ASMAN’s SupperTheatre at Soaltee Crowne Plaza,

1-2 July.9851023958

A

Pradhan explains that it is essential for thephotographer to not just know the types offlora and fauna but also understand theirhabitat. “But sometimes,” he adds, “It’sjust pure luck.” Aarti Basnyat

Flora and Fauna of Nepal.Photos by Prajwal Pradhan at Bluestar Hotel,Tripureswor.Until 30 June.pradhan@enet.com.np

KIRAN PANDAY

N

1124 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253NATION

ff the dry, dusty road nearNakhu jail, amidst the junkand machinery, serenely

pedalling through the air on theirtar bato is David Sowerwine withthe boys from his EcoSystemsworkshop. The contraption lookslike a ski lift, bicycle and SantaClaus’s sleigh sans reindeers, allrolled into one.

The front has two tandemseats for drivers with a bicycle’sgear, pedal and brake system.Behind are passenger seatsfollowed by cargo carriers. Theroute is fitted with poles throughwhich the cable connects, muchlike that of a trolley, so when thedrivers begin pedalling, thecomplete entourage lifts off andfollows the wire route.

“It would be great if we couldhave this at various places inKathmandu,” says David, “It doesnot pollute, is pretty cheap, doesnot need roads and would add tothe charm of the Valley.”

The ‘wire road’ was built byEcoSystems, a company thatDavid and his wife Haydi set upin Nepal in 1996 to work withenergy and transport solutions.The American couple have been afixture in the alternativetechnology sector in Nepal fornearly 15 years, but they are nowheading home. They leave behinda lifetime of work in setting upworkable and sustainabletechnological solutions to Nepal’stopographical barriers.

Building bridgesInstead of building walls we should build bridges, physically and figuratively

In the early 1990s, after theirefforts at solving the garbageproblem of the capital werethwarted by red tape, theSowerwines began to work on wirebridges (tar pul) for ruraltransportation. It wasn’t longbefore the people from Milche, avillage down Bagmati, heard oftheir work and walked for a day-and-half to Kathmandu to ask ifthey could have a tar pul.

“We weren’t very sure but theysent delegations again and againand finally, we relented,” saysHaydi, “they were so happy, onevillager even sang a song about ourbridge at the inauguration.” Twoweeks after the Milche bridge wasbuilt villagers from Gadi nearHetauda came asking for one “justlike that”.

“Gadi had a real problembecause the high school was acrossthe river and , the children had tocross it everyday. One of thevillagers was very determinedabout acquiring the bridge, hismother had drowned whilecrossing the river. But they didn’thave enough funds and neitherdid we,” says David. Help fromthe German and Canadianembassies has enabled theSowerwines to bridge distances atcritical points across the country.

The average cost of building atar pul is $15,000. “It is reasonableas it includes the direct cost oflabour, steel, safety measures andeverything else,” says David.EcoSystems has set up more than30 bridges all over Nepal, most of

them in remote areas such asRukum and along the KaliGandaki. “We do run risks withthe Maoists but we make it a pointto clarify things first,” says David,“our latest project is installing twobridges in Rukum for user groups.Getting to the countryside withthe insurgency is a problem for usespecially since the bridges needregular maintenance.”

The enthusiasm of the localpeople helps. “They are so eager,readily participating in buildingfoundations, getting equipmentsthere or contributing whateverthey can to make sure the work issmooth,” says David. One of theirlatest projects in Rukum connectsa village with a health post whichwould otherwise take a day toreach.

The tar pul technology hasevolved and the Sowerwines areleaving EcoSystems in the capablehands of coordinator Nanda LalBhandari and his group ofdedicated Nepali bridge builders.But even though they are leaving,the tireless couple are working onyet another project that could helpwith rural electrification. In theirgarage in Patan is a pedallingdevice that generates electricity tolight up a 100 bulbs that have thecut-off tops of plastic coke bottlesfor lampshades.

Says David: “The person whohas this can work like a powercompany and make moneygenerating electricity or rechargingbatteries for distribution. Withsome fine tuning, it’ll fly.”

ABHA ELI PHOBOO

ou hear the band on the street, the trumpets crooning aBollywood hit, the drums beating faster and faster. The trafficgrinds to a halt, the garland-bedecked rented car moves

through the narrow alley. It is the pre-monsoon wedding season andanother round of endless parties.

There are already a dozen or so wedding invitations on my desk,some from people I don’t even know. Several of them are for different

parties of the same couple. Andthese wedding invitations aregetting gaudier and brighter: oneof them is tabloid size and foldslike an accordion. Size seems to

matter in Kathmandu weddings these days.So there I go, round and round in circles inside the Ring Road

attending five parties in one day. A European acquaintance I run intoadmits he doesn’t know why he was invited. “I only met the groomonce,” he tells me. Same here. In the grand five-star ballroom, thenation’s movers and shakers are all there: political leaders, mediapeople, industrialists, celebrities, diplomats and socialites. Thelength of the guest list seems to matter in Kathmandu weddingsthese days.

Some of these people I had already run into at parties earlier inthe day. As we make eye contact, familiar faces look away with thatknowing smirk: “So you’re here again, too?”

By the end of the day, driving around Kathmandu’s traffic hasworn me out. Why do all Nepalis marry at the same time? Is itbecause pre-marital sex is taboo and we have our own matingseason? Or is it because the positions of the planets determine when

we tie the knot?Whatever.

The nextreception is undera tent. Out ofsheer boredom Imove with like-mindedcolleagues to thebuffet. The queuesnakes rightacross theshamiana andpeople are lined

up plates in hand like refugees waiting to be fed. Some look fed upalready. Others who got their food are stabbing at chunks of goat withthe unique multi-tasking cutlery that one only sees at weddingpalaces–the one that’s not a spoon, not yet a knife nor a fork butsomehow serves as all three. Paper napkins litter the sad grass,plates are stacked under the chairs, people are tripping over emptysoft drink bottles all over the place.

The next wedding is classier. A soft Narayan Gopal gazalenvelops the evening and guests are nursing scotches on the rockswrapped in white napkins. The discussion drifts to the pros and consof February First and no one had any extreme views either way. Thisis a civilised wedding in which the invitees are least bothered aboutthe wedding itself.

Suddenly, Narayan Gopal is replaced by an announcement. Aladies’ handbag had gone missing and guests were requested not toleave their belongings unattended. Silence. Over made-up andunder-dressed women look over their bare shoulders. Looks like ontop of being bored stiff, we risk being robbed at wedding partiesthese days. Was the thief in question one of the invitees? Didn’t staylong enough to find out. I went over to the stage to congratulate thebride and groom. They apologised for not being able to give me time.I said I understood, how could they when they had invited 1,500 otherpeople?

Now that the wedding season is finally over, I am looking forwardto the peace and quiet of a Kathmandu monsoon during which I hopeno one decides to get married.

Four weddings and a robbery in Kathmandu

Pre-monsoonweddings

NEPALI PANKapil Tamot

O

Y

MIN BAJRACHARYA

David Sowerwine withNanda Lal Bhandari(right) pedalling the tarbato at theirdemonstration site.

Students taking the tar pul inTheuwatar to go to school.

DAVID SOWERWINE

12 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253INTERNATIONAL

he Central Queensland cityof Rockhampton is over1,000 kms from Sydney but

its university, set up over adecade ago to bring tertiaryeducation to outback Queensland,runs a campus in a leased multi-storey building in Sydney todaythat has more students than itsparent.

While the Rockhamptoncampus of the CentralQueensland University has astudent body of about 4,000, itsSydney branch, marketed as CQU,has 4,490 students, of which 97.3percent are foreign, some of themfrom Nepal.

CQU is one of at least nineAustralian regional universitiesthat have set up campuses onoffice blocks and even in partlyrented hotels in Sydney to cashin on foreign students looking fora quick degree and perhapspermanent residency here.

A Bangladeshi studentoutside the CQU campus told us:“There are too many Indians, SriLankans and Indonesianshere. I don’t meet manyAustralians.”

While Australian studentsbasically get an interest-free loanfrom the government, known asthe Higher EducationContributory Scheme, all foreignstudents have to pay fees of up to$19,100 per year. Some 220,000foreign students (85 percent fromAsia) are studying inAustralia. To be sure, there aremany genuine universities doingquality academic work. But fly-by-nights have been attracted bythe boom in Asian education.

The success of Australia’sexport education industry isclosely connected to its foreignaid program of the 1970s and1980s, when university educationwas free here. By offering

scholarships to study inAustralia, mainly through theColombo Plan, the nation wasable to brand its educationservices with an internationalfocus. Today it is a $6 billionindustry and the ninth highestrevenue earner. In addition,students’ accommodation,living expenses and visitingrelatives, bring in billionsmore.

The government is alsoencouraging the publiceducational institutions to gocommercial and are usingAustralia’s immigrationprogram to attract fee-payingstudents from Asia to itscampuses. Aman Poonai,international students officer atthe University of TechnologySydney, says, “It’s easy to getPR (permanent residency) here,compared to the Green Card inthe US. That’s why a lot ofIndians come here to study. Inaddition, it’s cheaper here.”

A series of investigativereports in the Sydney MorningHerald recently found out thatsome universities have loweredentry standards to attractforeign students. Changes toimmigration laws making iteasier to gain PR in Australia ifyou complete a local degreeattracted Asian criminal

From outback to inside

syndicates, especially fromChina, which forge certificates toget students into universities inAustralia as a first step to getthem PR, reported the paper.

The University of Sydney’sfaculty of economics andbusiness has increased its incomefrom foreign students five-fold inthe last five years to $39 millionlast year. Some 40 percent of thefaculty’s 7,200 students are fromoverseas. Political economicslecturer Stuart Rosewarne toldthe paper that economic successhas come at a price becauseteachers have lowered theirmarking levels to cater tostudents with poor Englishknowledge. He said: “It’s anightmare trying to mark essays,so the way the faculty has dealtwith it is to get rid of essays.”

Australia’s success is beingemulated by others countries inthe region, such as Singapore,Malaysia, India and China. Thus,the flow of Asian students to thiscountry may already have peaked.Education Minister BrendonNelson’s response to thisargument is “Like our wheatproducers, our coal exporters—ifyou rely significantly oninternational markets and exportsfor your well-being and financialsecurity, in a sense you’reexposed”.

Australia’s ‘bush campuses’ cash in on foreign studentsKALINGA SENEVIRATNE

in SYDNEY

T

1324 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253SPORTS

TEE BREAKDeepak Acharya

arlos Rodriguez has seenthe future of women’stennis and it requires him

to look up. The diminutiveRodriguez is the long time coachof Justine Henin-Hardenne, whowon the French Open two weeksago and then lost her first matchsince March at the Wimbledonon Tuesday. But Rodriguezknows that the Belgian’s recordis not the only element that setsher apart from her peers.

At 5.5¾ ft, she is theshortest member of the top 20.“I’m not afraid for Justinebecause she’s grown up playingagainst these girls but I’m afraidfor girls of her size in thefuture,” Rodriguez said. Henin-Hardenne, for the moment, isthe last remaining link to atennis past when championspossessed exceptional talent andaverage height.

Maureen Connolly, theCalifornian, who in 1953 becamethe first woman to complete theGrand Slam, was not called‘Little Mo’ for nothing. She was5.4 ft. Billie Jean King, anotherCalifornian who rose to the topof the game, is half an inchtaller. Chris Evert, even with herexcellent posture, never stoodtaller than 5.6 ft. The same goesfor the three-time French Openchampion Arantxa SanchezVicario. And Martina Hingis, theSwiss who retired young afterreaching No 1 in the world andthen losing her edge, is 5.7 ft.Compare those numbers withthe top 10 last week, in whichthe seventh-ranked Henin-Hardenne was the only playerunder 5.8½ ft and the averageheight was a shade over 5.10 ft.

Ten years ago, the averageheight of the year-end top 10was 5.8 ft. In 2000, it was 5.9 ft.Now, it’s one inch taller againand the trend may not yet havepeaked. Nicole Vaidisova, therising Czech who will be seededat Wimbledon at age 16, stands5.11. Maria Sharapova is six feet.

“I don’t know how the girlsgot so tall,” said SerenaWilliams, the 2002 and 2003Wimbledon champion who wasupset by Sharapova in last year’sfinal. “I’m not nearly as tall asmost of the girls.” That is notquite the truth, but at 5.9 ft,Williams, for all herintimidating physical presence,does indeed find herself on the

In the tall grassWimbledon’s women get taller and taller

short side of the mean in thetop 20.

Nick Bollettieri, the coachwhose academy in Florida hasbeen a training ground forseveral generations of topplayers, including Williams,Sharapova and Vaidisova,said, “There are somedisadvantages in tennis tobeing tall but if I had a choiceI would certainly take a big,strong, flexible athlete over asmaller one.”

The rankings certainly bearthat out. The tallest person inthe top 10, Lindsay Davenport,also has been ranked No 1 forthe last eight months. The 6.2½ ft Davenport was the firstwoman of truly great height tobecome the world’s top playeras she won three Grand Slamsingles titles in the span of 16months from 1998 to 2000. Her

success helped set the tone forthe future.

But the players who reallychanged the nature of themodern game were Serena andher older sister Venus, whostands 6.1 ft. Not only were thesisters big and powerful. Theywere also remarkably quick andathletic. “I’m not convincedtall is always better,” saidRobert Lansdorp, thegroundstroke guru who oncecoached Davenport and PeteSampras and still works withSharapova. “I think if you getsomeone small who movesextremely well that can still bean advantage. I don’t think youcan be 5.2 ft anymore. But Ithink you can be 5.7 or 5.8 ftand be a great tennis player.”Nonetheless, the body ofevidence continues to point inthe upward direction. IHT

Frowning on gruntingFemale tennis players at Wimbledon may be banned from makinggrunting noises when they strike the ball at the tournament. AlanMills, Wimbledon’s chief official for 22 years who retires after thisweek’s tournament believes that coaches are teaching their playersto grunt. He says, “Many of the non-grunting players are unhappyabout the noise pollution and a kind of counter-grunt culture hasemerged in recent years whereby offended parties ape theiropponent’s noises.” Officials can only act if the player is shown to bemaking the noise on purpose to intimidate the opponent and that canbe a difficult matter to prove. Adds Mills, “As far as I’m concerned itis certainly a specific matter that the rule makers should address.Rules should be changed to crack down on the practice.”

C

A few years ago, I watched a golfer hit a great shot on a par three.The ball headed right for the tightly cut flag on the left side of thegreen and pitched perfectly next to the hole but it rolled on about fivemetres and found the water.

“What ball are you playing,” I asked him.“Pinnacle Gold, 90 compression,” he replied.I advised that he might have found himself right next to the flag

with a tap in birdie if he had been playing a softer ball. He frownedbut agreed.

Revolution in technology means that today we have a largevariety of golf balls to suit everylevel of play. Some say that thegolf ball today has reached anoptimum level and that, like intennis, there is a serious study

now to move back the levels of spin and speed (distances)achievable.

Did you know that the golf ball today actually flies 50 or moreyards further than those made some decades ago? Here’s aninteresting fact that I am sure many are unaware of: the first golf ballswere made from wood! A documented reference goes back to a JohnDaly (no, not the big hitter John of this era) playing with a woodenball in 1550.

In 1618, the Featherie, or feather golf ball was introduced andaround 1880, Guttie balls were being produced. In the early 1890s,many of the rubber companies including Dunlop began mass-production of golf balls, which killed off the handcrafted ballbusiness.

In 1898, Coburn Haskell introduced the one-piece rubber coredball, which proved so effective in the British and US Opens that theywere subsequently adopted universally by 1901. These balls lookedjust like Gutties but gave the average golfer an extra 20 yards fromthe tee. Around the same time, W Millison developed a threadwinding machine and Haskell balls were mass produced, makingthem more affordable. In 1905, William Taylor first applied the dimplepattern to a Haskell ball and this was when the golf ball took on itsmodern form.

Manufacturers continued to experiment with their design,including Goodrich who introduced the pneumatic ball in 1906.However being prone to expansion, this one soon died away.

In 1921, the R&A (Scotland) and USGA (USA) had standardisedthe size and weight tolerances of the ball. Between 1931 and 1990,both these organisations differed on the dimensions of the golf ball,which meant that the game played on either side of the Atlantic was

similar but different.Since then furtherconstraints have beenproposed which aredetailed in the Rules ofGolf. Nowadays, ballswith the samespecifications areplayed around theworld.

It was only in 1972when Spaldingintroduced the first two-

piece ball, the Executive, that the basic Haskell design wassubstantially improved upon. Antique golf balls of the last century areavidly collected and are becoming increasingly valuable. A dimplepatterned Guttie in good condition is worth about $500.

When I first started playing golf in 1981, I remember that theSpalding Company had produced their Topflite balls and those weremy favourites until the early 90s. Over the years, I have had differentpreferences of golf balls at different times. Certainly a golf ball thatyou like and which gives you a good feel will also help you performbetter. Today, I play the Titliest Pro V1x for its great feel, durability,distance and spin.

With such a rich variety of balls to suit the individual andcircumstances, a golfer has to evaluate their game, check out areasof weaknesses and strengths and get expert advice from a golfprofessional to choose the type of ball that will compliment theirgame the best.

On another note, most golfers in the know would have signed upfor the Gokarna Open 2005 and would be checking their tee times forSaturday morning. When the Star Cruise Holiday winner of thecompetition is announced, remind me to tell you what ball the champused.

Deepak Acharya is a golf instructor and Golf Director atGokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa, Kathmandu.

prodeepak@hotmail.com

A different strokeIt’s all about having a ball

14 24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253CITY

ABOUT TOWN

KATHMANDU AIR QUALITY

KATHMANDU VALLEY

by MAUSAM BEEDNEPALI WEATHER

Fri Sat Sun Mon Tue

29-19 30-19 28-18 28-18 29-18

With 100mm rainfall in Biratnagar on Monday,the delayed monsoon (by two weeks) finallystepped into Nepal from the east. By thetime you read this column, the first round ofburst of this year’s monsoon will already havecovered the country. As a great relief, themonsoon showers effectively brought downthe decade’s high temperature by three tosix degrees. This satellite picture taken onThursday morning shows the Bay of Bengalarm of South Asian monsoon in a fullyrecharged condition, pumping moisturetowards us. The present pressure patternsindicate a continuous inflow of rain-bearingclouds for the last week of June, which willbring more rains along lower hills and thetarai. Paddy farmers of Kathmandu Valleywho have been waiting for heavy showers toprepare their fields may expect adequaterainfall by mid next week.

The average value of fine particles smaller than 10 microns as obtainedfrom Putalisadak is more than twice the national standard. Similarly,the air quality in reference to PM10 around Patan Hospital is stillunhealthy and higher than the standard. But as with this week’s rains,the monsoon showers will flush down the dust and air quality will showimprovement in coming weeks.

FESTIVAL AND EXHIBITIONSTamas: The Darkness Performance art by Ashmina Ranjit at Gurukul,6PM on 25 June. 4466956Nature: Flora and Fauna of Nepal Photos by Prajwal Pradhan at BluestarHotel, Tripureswor, 1PM-7PM, until 30 June. ppradhan@enet.com.npFloral paintings in aquarelle by Neera Joshi Pradhan at Park Gallery,Lajimpat, until 30 June. 4419353Light and Life Photos by Kishor Kayastha, until 9 July at Lajimpat GalleryCafé. 4428549Raku Pottery by Gopal Kalapremi for sale at Lajimpat Gallery Shop,Rs 2,000-Rs 3,000. 4428549Mysterious and Inexplicable Phenomena of Lightballs Photos byHirokazu Kobayashi at Siddhartha Art Gallery, until 8 July. 4218048Quien Sabe Paintings by Max Miller at The Art Shop, Darbar Marg, until15 July. 4267063

EVENTSThe Sherpas of Khumbu by Frances Klatzel on 24 June, 9.30 AM atShankar Hotel, Lajimpat, Rs 100.Monsoon Masquerade Party on 24 June at Latin Quarter Salsa Bar, BaberMahal Revisited, 7.30 PM, Rs 750.How to heal unhappiness Talk by Anila Tenzin Namdrol on 25 June,10AM-4PM at HMBC, Thamel. 4414843Dear Liar ASMAN’s Supper theatre starring Naseeruddin Shah and RatnaPathak Shah, 1-2 July at Soaltee Crowne Plaza. 9851023958Selection from KIMFF Screening at Lajimpat Gallery Café this month,7PM, Rs 50. 4428590Intercultural Exchange Program Every Wednesday at Goethe Zentrum,Thapathali, 4.15 PM. 4250871Tai Chi Demonstration and group meditation at Swayambhu. 42566181905 Sundays Garage sale, pet practices and more. 4215068Fun in the Sun at Club Sundhara, Hotel Shangri-la. 4412999Art workshop for kids at Buddha Gallery. 4441689Rugby Practice Saturdays. 4435939, citygymktm@hotmail.comSanibar Mela Saturdays at Bakery Café, Dharara, 2PM and Chuchepati,Boudha, 3PM.

MUSICMexican Night at Moksh on 24 June at 7PM, Rs 150. 5526212Siddhartha Sandhya To celebrate monsoon on 26 June, 6PM at SiddharthaArt Gallery, Rs 250. 4218048Paleti Number 6 at R~sala on 1 July, 6PM, Rs 500, reservations required.5552839JCS Trio Saturdays, 8PM at 1905, Kantipath, free entrance. 4215068Live The Duo at the Jazz Bar, Hotel Shangrila, Lajimpat.Live music Courtney Preston and Agnes Quimpo at Indigo Gallery on24 June, 7PM. 4413580The Good Time Blues Band at Rum Doodle, Thamel, 7PM. 4701208Ladies Nights Wednesdays at Jatra, Thamel, with live acoustic music, onefree drink. 4256622Fusion Time Mondays at Jalan Jalan Restaurant, Lajimpat, 7PM. 4410438Live Music Everyday at Hotel de l’Annapurna, Darbar Marg. 4221711Jukebox experience Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at Rox. 4491234Jazz at Upstairs Jazz Bar, Lajimpat, Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7.45 PM.

FOODPakistani Food Festival at Hyatt Regency, 26 June-1 July. 4491234Great Dining Experiences with exclusivemenus at Hotel Yak and Yeti. 4248999Mango Masti Tempting tropical treats atSoaltee Crowne Plaza. 4273999Daily Delite Lunch at Shambala GardenCafé, Hotel Shangri-La, Lajimpat, Rs 399 onweekdays, Rs 499 on weekends. 4412999Crosskitchen European and Indian cuisineat Lajimpat. 9851083806Boire and Manger at Vineyard, Baber MahalRevisited.Bawarchi The Restro Bar for Nawabi cuisine at Lajimpat. 4436673BBQ Lunch at Le Meridien, Gokarna Forest Golf Resort. 4445550Barbeque lunch Saturdays at Club Himalaya, Nagarkot. 6680080Special Combo Burmese and Thai Menu at 1905, Kantipath.Momo Revolution Saturdays at the Tea House Inn, Nagarkot. 6680048Arniko Special Lunch at Hotel de l’Annapurna, Darbar Marg. 4221711Krishnarpan Nepali specialty restaurant at Dwarika’s Hotel. 4479488Barbecue Dinner Every Friday at the Summit Hotel. 5521810Exotic Seafood at Rox Restaurant, Hyatt Regency. 4491234Delicacies Pastas and snacks at Roadhouse Café, Jawalakhel. 5521755Earth Watch Restaurant at Park Village, dine with nature. 4375280Café Bahal Newari cuisine at Kathmandu Guest House, Thamel. 4700632The Beer Garden at Vaijayantha, Godavari Village Resort. 5560675The Tharu Kitchen at Jungle Base Camp. Junglebasecamp@yahoo.com

GETAWAYSOvernight Stay Breakfast and swimming for Rs 999 per person at GodavariVillage Resort. 5560675, 5560775Malaysia Dream Holidays Special offers. 2012345,malaysiaholidays_marco@polo.com.npStar Cruises Available in Nepal. 2012345, starcruises_marco@polo.com.npFun Free Stay one night get one Night at Shangri-la Village, Pokhara.4435742Jungle Base Camp Lodge, Bardia, special package and prices.junglebasecamp@yahoo.comShivapuri Heights Cottage Best time to be in Shivapuri.steve@escape2nepal.com

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Call 4442220 for show timings www.jainepal.com

John and Jane Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) are an ordinarysuburban couple with an ordinary, lifeless suburban marriage.But each is hiding something the other would kill to know—Mr and Mrs Smith are actually highly paid, incredibly efficientassassins—and they work for competing organisations. Mr andMrs Smith both discover a new source of excitement in theirmarriage when they are hired to assassinate each other—andthat’s when the real fun starts. The result is a total action spectacleas Mr and Mrs Smith put their formidable skills to work and theirmarriage to the ultimate test.

Hazardous >425

Harmful 351 to 425

Unhealthy 121 to 350

O k 61 to 120

G o o d < 60

Putalisadak Patan H Thamel Kirtipur Bhaktapur Matsyagaun

12-18 June 2005 in micrograms per cubic meter.Source: www.mope.gov.np

1524 - 30 JUNE 2005 #253

MUSIC IN THEIR SOUL: Abhaya Subba and Nirakar Yakthumbaperforming at Moksh to celebrate World Music Day on Tuesday.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

MIN BAJRACHARYA

VERTICAL CHALLENGE: Nepali congress supporters sneaked up to theparapet of Dharara during the seven-party street demonstration onFriday to unfurl their party flag and shout pro-democracy slogans.

KUMAR SHRESTHA/NEPALNEWS.COM

WIND INSTRUMENTS: The traditional Guruju Paltan flute bandwelcomes the Rato Machendranath chariot as it is pulled towardsJawalakhel on Monday.

t takes one artiste to recognise another. MangalKrishna Shrestha is a musician and painter with adifference: he promotes other people’s works not

his own.Mangal Krishna began his artistic career

painting landscapes in his bookshop in Basantapurwith his favourite music playing in the background.The combination of the three arts should have kepthim busy but it was not enough. His realisation thatNepali music would suffer with growing foreigninfluence prompted him to start his own productioncompany East Meets West (EMW) in 1996. Theintention was to promote Nepali classical and folkmusic and musicians. “There were so many goodmusicians but very few albums actually produced,”recalls Mangal Krishna.

By now his company has produced over three-dozen albums of various genres such as classical,folk, fusion and even spiritual. Heart Sutra, a fusionof Nepali folk and classical tunes sold over 13,000copies. “The album evokes Nepal and is a way toremember the country,” says Mangal Krishna.EMW’s latest releases are two English albums FreeYour Mind and The Answer by one of the mosttalented musical groups in the country, Full Circle.

Part of the trick is to make classical and folkmusic also glamorous. “People had the concept thatclassical music was meant only for the oldergeneration, now more and more people areconvinced that to forget our roots is to erase ouridentity,” he says.

The Kirateswor Sangit Ashram in Pashupati, ofwhich he is an executive member, not only holdsclassical concerts every full moon, it also conductstraining programs for young musicians and thoseinterested in learning the art. For the past 12 years

Mangal, the musician-maker

the ashram has run just on donations.Mangal Krishna plays the flute and madal himself

but does not aim to produce his own album. He stillcontinues to paint landscapes and semi-abstractworks but this is a rare person more willing topromote other people’s talent than his own. He says:“There are so many really good musicians who needto be heard still, there is no time for my own musicand paintings.” Maybe he’s saving it for hisretirement. Alok Tumbahangphey

I

KIRAN PANDAY

BEAUTY AND BRAINS: Past Miss Nepals and Runners Up pose at apress conference on Wednesday to announce the Dabur Vatika MissNepal 2005 Contest scheduled for 10 September.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

SMILE: 108 Japanese tourists on a peace tour of Nepal take pictures ofthe Buddha figure at Swayambhu on Wednesday.

MIN BAJRACHARYA

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CDO Regd No. 194/056/57 Lalitpur, Central Region Postal Regd. No. 04/058/59

24 - 30 JUNE 2005 #25316

UNDER MY HATKunda Dixit

s a part of the government’s laudable efforts to help the mediaindustry become more self-reliant, self-important, self-righteousand self-censored, the allocation of government advertisements to

various private publications will henceforth be resumed on a case-by-case basis. Which means journos willing to sell their souls will beeligible for compensation with a case of cash each.

The news has sent waves of jubilation through the Nepali mediauniverse which had been feeling the pinch because monthly payoffsfrom the ministry were cut due to budgetary constraints.

Within hours of the announcement, there was already a long queueat the Ministry of Information of eager editors willing to printhandouts in exchange for handouts.

Now, unlike some of our peerswe are not the type to take themoney and run. Our journalisticcode of ethics means we are true toour salt and committed to tow the

party line once adequately compensated.We intend to keep our end of the bargain and print any official

announcement, press release or notice without fear or favour. And thatbrings us to our commercial break with today’s installment ofgovernment ads. Stay tuned and don’t go away or else your license willbe revoked.

MISSINGSeveral hard disks from the mainframe servers of the TreasuryDepartment of the Rastriya Banijya Bank have gone missing. The diskscontain extremely sensitive top secret data on high-profile willfuldefaulters and could undermine national security if they fall into thewrong hands. Anyone finding the missing hard disks should keep it.They shouldn’t tell anyone about it, least of all, us. They should gethold of a heavy-duty sledge hammer and with a few deft strokes batterthe disks into smithereens since they are the only proof we have on thenon-paying asses.

His Majesty’s GovernmentMinistry of Hard Knocks and FloppiesLost and Found Department

PLAY GOLF, MAKE FRIENDSThe Royal Nepal Golf Diplomacy Club, an HMG Undertaking, announcesa drive to enlist new members from the Kathmandu diplomatic corps,loyal members of the drooling elite, sections of the military industrialcomplex and other interested parties. Whether one plays golf or not, themessage is the same: to exploit bonds and forge personal links withleading decision makers in the country and let them score birdies.Slogan: ‘Restore Democracy after 18 Holes’.

INTERNATIONAL TENDER TO CLIMB MT EVERESTIn an effort to boost revenue, His Majesty’s Government has decided toauction climbing permits for Mt Everest through international bidding.Sealed tenders are invited from interested expeditions desirous ofbreaking records on the world’s highest mountain for the AutumnSeason 2005. Applications should list the activities they wish toundertake while on top and how much extra they are willing to pay forit. Tick one: Land Hot Air Balloon on Summit, Rollerblade To BaseCamp, Blast Off into Outer Space on Personal Rocket from SummitLaunchpad, Open Scenic Momo Shop and Cutlet Outlet. Send tenderdocument with earnest money in envelope and slip it under the table atMinistry of Tourism and Fatalism, Exhibitionist Road by 15 July. HMGreserves the right to accept in part or reject earnest money if it is notearnest enough without assigning any reason whatsoever. So there.

FAST TRACK AT SHITALL NIBASKeeping in mind the frequency at which Kathmandu-based ambassadorsare being angrily summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so it canexpress its displeasure about interference in Nepal’s internal affairs andto control the rush of diplomats being reprimanded, the ministry hasopened a fast-track one-window clearance for all future cases in whichthe government takes a dim view of objectionable ambassadorialpronouncements. The fully-automated kiosk will have voice-recognitiondigital software where plenipotentiaries and emissaries can record theiranswers to the government’s question as to why their statements shouldnot be construed as violations of the Vienna Convention and not inkeeping with diplomatic niceties. For further information about thesenew facilities visit our website: www.hmg/shitall/gov.np

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