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Pluralizing Democracy
Deba Prasad Ray
Indian democracy is the largest democracy in the world. And the death of democracy in Myanmar and the mockery of democracy in Pakistan, despite their being in our neighborhood, have not negated our faith in the democratic process revealing that the root of democracy in this country has gone so deep that this can neither be uprooted nor severed easily. The structure of democracy in our country can accommodate eight hundred (244RS + 542 LS) people at the Centre and four thousand (in 33 State assemblies) people at the State level.
To occupy these nearly five thousand seats, not more than five lakh people may be contesting whenever there is general poll in the country. How many may be actively working for them? I believe not more than fifty lakh people and that includes thirty-four lakh Panchayat members. Hence, altogether fifty five lakh people find place in the democratic system of a country that has a population of nearly a hundred and ten crore. The system, therefore, accommodates only 0.5 per cent of the total population. The smallest segment of the population, therefore, runs the largest democracy in the world. It cannot be numerically enlarged. It is not possible to create many more assemblies or many more
seats in the assemblies to expand the system. But the system can be pluralized without expanding the structure. Pluralisation can be achieved through participation of many more people in the governance; may not be at the Centre or at the State level but at the level of the third tier. With the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, the third tier of the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) has been greatly galvanized. In the case of the first tier, a member is answerable on the floor of the Lok Sabha. In the case of the third tier, a member is answerable before the electorate, since in the Panchayati Raj system, the elected members have to get the action plan passed in the meetings of the Gram Sabhas/ Gram Sansads and produce the statement of expenditure incurred for the execution of the same action plan again before Gram Sabhas/ Gram Sansads. A total of 34 lakh people can seek vote in Panchayati Raj elections. Forty crore members of the rural electorate can raise their voice in their respective Gram Sansad/Gram Sabha meetings. Vote is sought once in five years. But voice can be raised at least twice in a year, if not more (the villagers can always ask for any number of specially summoned Gram Sansad meetings to discuss any issue of importance). Hence, good governance needs regular participation, not merely regular elections.
Similarly, in urban local bodies the forum for peoples' participation, that is, the Ward Committees should be harnessed effectively by the respective members of the electorate so as to ensure transparency in public life.
The concept of social audit, which has gained momentum after the success of the "Jansunwai" Abhiyan in Rajasthan spearheaded by the MKSS can also be replicated in other States to make the elected people accountable to their electorate. The Right to Information should be effectively utilized to ensure people's participation in governance.
Participation of the community at the third tier level is essentially conditioned by how far the community has been empowered to raise voice, to seek explanation, to demand transparency in the spending of public funds. In a caste-ridden and communally divided society, it is not easy to expect common members of the community to come forward and assert their rights. Participation of common members will not happen unless and until they are empowered. And they cannot be empowered unless they are educated and economically emancipated. Education, health, sanitation, income generation are therefore the key factors to ensure empowerment. Living then becomes decent, resulting in improvement in quality of life.
Once empowered, the community will definitely try to find an answer to the question as to why the below poverty-line (BPL) beneficiaries are not chosen in Gram Sabha/Gram Sansad meetings although the concerned Act is quite unambiguous on this issue. The members of the community would try to ensure that their participation does not remain a one-way traffic. This would, in turn, result in informed participation based on the strength of Right To Information.
The Right to Information, once accorded, would enable the community to know as to why the Annual General meetings and half yearly meetings are not held by urban local bodies although Rule 8 of the concerned Act demands so. It would also investigate as to why the Ward Committees are not formed by the urban local bodies as per the criteria laid down in Rule 4 of the Municipal Act.
An empowered community can take the initiative in harnessing the Right to Information to find out why all the 47 functions mentioned in Schedule XI and Schedule XII of the Constitution are yet to be transferred to local self-governments by the respective State Governments.
The community must be made aware that transferring the subjects mentioned in the two above-mentioned Schedules will prove in-fructuous unless and until that devolution is accompanied by functionaries and finance. The members of the community should also know that as an obligation to the Conformity Act, the State Finance Commissions have been formed in almost all the States but the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions are not found to be acceptable in the matter of providing funds to local bodies in most States. Rather, a discreet move has been initiated, at the behest of the Central and State Governments, to pre-empt local bodies by providing discretionary funds to the MLAs and MPs (MP LAD) so that the local bodies may ultimately appear helpless in resolving the local economic issues in want of funds and the representatives of the first and second tiers may look resourceful enough to provide the answer to local developmental issues with the help of the said discretionary fund. Devolution of powers is contained and devolution fund is channelised through the members of the first and second tiers with the intention of defeating the objective of galvanizing the third tier can be the only inference drawn by anybody.
Pluralisation of democracy will become a reality only when functions are pluralized. The relevant Act has been introduced but action based on the Act has not been initiated. This will not be done unless the members of the community do not clamor for it. They have to be trained to make themselves heard in the proper fora that the third tier has granted to them, that is, the Gram Sabhas and Ward Communities. Hence, community participation in local democracy automatically ensure pluralisation of democracy and good governance.
Ensuring devolution of powers as mentioned in Schedule XI and Schedule XII of the Constitution is essentially a political task and the political parries that stand committed to the concept of participatory democracy should take it up at their respective levels. The task of empowering the community through health care, education and income generation to enlist their participation in governance is a task, which is greater than any political action since it results in improving the quality of life of the common man while at the same time improving the quality of local democracy.
The civil society organisations and the NGOs should also respond to this situation in a responsible manner. A study conducted by the UNDP in 1997 has revealed that India has one million NGOs. But they are not noticed or seen often since they are not the target group of the print and electronic media. Networking with them to promote governance at the grassroots level through people's participation is neither a political task nor a social one. It is basically fulfilling a commitment-a commitment to transfer power to the people and a commitment to promote good governance.
The author is former member of Rajya Sabha. He is patron of All India Centre for Urban and Rural Development (AICURD), an NGO. Text courtesy: FES New Delhi Office-ed.
Growth and Equity: Policy Challenges in the Context of Inclusive Democracy
Dilli Raj Khanal, MP/UML, Nepal
Introduction
 At the moment, Nepal is in a stage of political transition. Despite a minimum understanding among the main political forces that state restructuring and inclusive democracy should be the two main pillars of socio-economic transformation of Nepali society, many complex interrelated issues are yet to be resolved. Although the constitutional assembly will determine many of them, there is a need to initiate a minimum consensus building process on various sensitive issues for enhancing political stability and shaping future course of socioeconomic transformation. In this regard, the economic agenda are yet to come to the forefront. It is worth mentioning that political crisis in Nepal emanated partly due to consolidation of dominant economic structure even during the democratic regime contributing to widening of distributional conflict and social contradiction in a highly discriminatory society. This underscores on the necessity of making economic agenda as a part and parcel of political agenda.
However, minimum consensus on the economic policy matters shaping future economic regime type is a daunting task. Present dominant global economic system in the form of globalization of which Nepal has increasingly become an integral part through big bang liberalization and open up policies is intensifying income inequalities and wealth concentration process alarmingly. The ongoing globalization predominantly influenced by neoclassical thinking implicitly assumes that institutions (economic as well as political) do not matter and that the static analysis embodied in the allocative analysis should be the sole guide to the policy, that is, getting the price right by ensuring the interplay of market forces in which prefect competition in both factor and product market is assumed. On the other hand, many orthodox development economists treat the state as a benevolent actor in the development. For consensus building process these extreme lines of thinking have to be rejected. After the serious crisis in East Asian countries and failures of Washington Consensus it has been increasingly recognized that development policy in the context of countries like Nepal necessitates the recognition to the dynamics of economic change in which polity should be an integral part of policy making because it is the polity that enforces the rules of the game. This means in the present context that institutional and political economy approach should be the basis of determining future development course in which growth and equity come to the forefront of policy making.
For this, first of all it has to be recognized that higher growth trickle downing of benefits will lead to benefit every section of society automatically is not true. Even accepting this, there are numerous views or policy prescriptions regarding the ways and means that could be expected to ensure equity in terms of benefits or opportunities. Some biased views influenced by present dominant global structure still prevail in which the direction of policy change, if any, reinforces exclusionary practices in the society. In the name of trade offs, a deliberate attempt to create environment for privileged is made. Although human development paradigm in parallel lays paramount emphasis on the well being of every individual, many policy prescriptions embody ambiguities. For clarity and suitability of particular policy prescriptions, first it is necessary to bring clarity on the equity dimension of growth and development. Equity indeed has multiple dimensions from political, social and economic right to entitlement and equal access to economic opportunities. It is thus linked to a policy condition in which a state of deprivation created by a powerful group at different level by state capture or other means is destroyed for inventing a new political, social and economic structure which ensures equitable configuration in societies.
The interplay of political, economic, and socio-cultural inequalities shapes the institutions and rules in societies like ours. These in turn affect people's opportunities and their ability to invest and prosper. Discriminations in economic opportunities reinforce unequal political power. The unequal distribution of power between the rich and the poor - between dominant and subordinate groups - helps the rich maintain or enhance control over resources. Poor people in backward and geographically isolated regions and deprived communities would have little political power or voices influencing policies. The unequal distribution of assets, opportunities, and political power give rise to an inequality trap situation that leads to reinforce inequality further. Many studies indicate that such inequality traps perpetuated due to political, economic, social or cultural discriminations affect not only the distribution but also the aggregate dynamics of growth and development. Studies evidently prove that, unlike the biased view in some quarters, equity and efficiency are complementary rather than substitutes. Expect markets, state, legal and regulatory institutions that assign and enforce property rights and mediate conflicts among citizens - are influenced by the distribution of political power (or influence, or voice) in society. Unequal distributions of control over resources and political influence perpetuate institutions to protect the interests of the most powerful to the detriment of the personal and property rights of others. Those whose rights are not protected have neither capacity nor incentive to invest resulting into perpetuation in poverty and aggravating inequality. Equity helps societies to grow and prosper.
In the light of these backgrounds, below Nepal's experience has been briefly discussed. In addition to reviewing major constraints to equitable growth, some suggestions have also been made from the standpoint of making economic policies compatible with inclusive democracy that we are now vigorously pursing.
2. Growth, Income Distribution, Access to Assets and Opportunities
2.1 Growths and Income Distribution
Historically, growth performance of the Nepali economy has remained low. The GDP growth rate averaged less than 4 percent during the last three-and-a-half decades. The agriculture sector, which supports the livelihoods of the majority of the population, grew by 2.2 percent. This stands below the population growth rate of 2.3 percent. During the same period, the non-agricultural sector grew by around 5 percent per annum. A closer examination of the growth performance in the aftermath of reforms indicates that growth was robust up to the mid-1990s. Then after growth rate started deteriorating in major sectors leading to negative growth rate in 2002. Although after 2002 there is a positive growth rate, it is hovering in the neighborhood of 2 percent, far below population growth rate. Understandably, growth rate was affected by the violent conflict and political instability. But policy driven deficiencies and institutional constraints or biases are also regarded to be equally responsible (UNDP 2004 and Khanal et al 2005). The growth pattern corroborates this.
The growth pattern indicates that higher growth up to mid 1990s was the outcome of the non-agriculture sector. Among the non-agriculture sectors electricity grew at the fastest pace of 19.4 percent. This was followed by the transport, and finance and real estate sectors. Viewed in terms of growth rate, reforms yielded only some extent of positive effect on trade and manufacturing sectors. Hence, neither agriculture nor sectors like manufacturing and trade could grow satisfactorily. As a result, the limited growth momentum brought about by economic liberalization in the early 1990s did not sustain for long.
As expectedly, up to mid 1990s a rapid shift in the economic structure took place with ten percentage points decline in the share of agriculture GDP. But after 1995, the shift away from agriculture toward non-agriculture was not only negligible, even the shift within the non agriculture sector was discouraging. The share of the manufacturing sector continuously dropped. Same was true in case of trade sector also. Conversely, growth in sectors like electricity, transport, finance, community and personal services registered some increment. On the whole, the growth and pattern reveals that sectors with urban biases have expanded steadily with the exclusion of sectors that could enhance or broaden growth and augment employment. This also means that in the reform process no concerted efforts were made at the policy or other levels to reverse the trend so that benefits could be shared by the poor and low income earning socio-economic groups.
The gradual collapsing of cottage and small scale industries, cascading tariff structure and other policy distortions encouraging capital intensive and low value added industries coupled with undiversified exports confining in a few products led to overtake gains mainly by the big trading and commercial houses at the cost of emerging manufacturing entrepreneurs. At the same time, contrary to expectations, transaction cost including per unit cost of infrastructure also escalated. Labor productivity also worsened (HMG 2004). All these had wide-ranging adverse effect.
Low growth amidst worsening performance coupled with unsustainable pro-rich urban biased policy orientation has had serious adverse implications on income distribution. The share of first 40 percent household had income share of 23 percent in 1985. It reduced to 15.3 percent in 1996 and further decreased to 14.2 percent in 2004. Similarly, the income share of richest fifth quintile went up to 53.4 percent from 50.3 percent during the same period. As a result, despite considerable decline in poverty from 42 percent to 31 percent during the period 1996 to 2004, the income inequality increased alarmingly during the same period. According to the NLSS 2004, the Gini coefficient rose to 41.4 in 2004 from 34.2 in 1996. The consumption pattern also corroborates this. More worrying phenomenon is that there is a large variation across the development and ecological regions. Also the gap between rural and urban areas has increased markedly in the period 1996 to 2004. In Nepali context, apart from policy induced growth pattern, numerous other interrelated factors are responsible to a greater extent.
Excerpts from a paper by the author at a ADB/EPN seminar held in Kathmandu, June 30, 2006-Thanks the ADB/EPN and the author-ed.
Helicopter Services in Nepal
Birendra Kumar Singh , Nepal
Austrian in Nepal plays a significant role not only in boosting tourism but also in uplifting the Nepalese economy. It is in this light that the helicopter services has been one of the major contributors both operating into the remote areas and during the rescue mission.
With the introduction of the MI-l7 of Russia, huge helicopters in the Nepalese sky, much of the work into far flung regions have been quite easy specially for carrying the food stuffs, construction materials, and also carrying passengers because it can land at anywhere (other than air strip) even for the rescue operations. The concerned authorities have been encouraging the operators to operate more of the passenger version, rather than operating cargo services only. Because of MI-17, which are operating more as cargo version cannot operate with full passenger load, so MI-17 (passenger version) of passenger configuration should be operated more to intensify the demand of the far remote stations like Dolpa, Rukum, Dailekh, Dadeldhura and especially to those spots where there are no airports and devoid of airstrip. Here, these helicopters fulfill the necessary safety and authority requirements to operate as full-passenger version.
The history of these MI-17 Helicopters in the Nepalese aviation industry gives something that they can be proud of. During the time, when Malekhoo Bridge was washed away by heavy flood and many tourists died because of avalanche at places like Gokyo, Phanga, Meera Peak etc these helicopters played a pivotal role to ferry goods, necessary equipments, dead bodies and rescue stranded people. This made MI-17 of great assistance in the Nepalese aviation. That is why more passenger version is required for operation, so that they can be fully utilized both during the emergency period or more to the remote areas. Besides all these advantages of Russian Helicopters, it is unable to capture the market because the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal stipulates that all the airlines should deploy more Nepalese manpower (i.e. have Nepalese pilots, co-pilots, ground engineers, flight engineer, etc) and this transfer of technology takes quite long time. Firstly, the training of M1-17 is done in Russia and once they are back, they have to go through a long training period to be positioned as a commander. This is the reason why, even after 8-10 years of service, all MI17 operators have pilots, engineers, etc from Russia or Kazakhstan.
Of course when we talk about helicopter service in Nepal, even smaller versions come into our mind, especially Alloute the French Version, Cheetak, Puma and Super Puma which has been used by the Nepalese Army for both VVIP flights and general army services. But the Puma Helicopters are not only costly for maintenance but are even costlier to buy whereas the Russian brand of MI-17 or MI-18 is quite easily available. The operators of helicopter services in Nepal are Karnali Airlines, Shree Airlines, Manakamana, Helihansa, Simrik Air, while most of them have MI-17 for operation. There are other airlines which have deployed smaller helicopters for their services as Alloute (French version).
In the Nepalese context, as stated, these helicopters have always played a major role not only in carrying cargo but during the early days when they commenced operation, they were allowed to carry even passengers but the problem was created because the operators mixed the cargo and the passengers in such a way that the safety was often jeopardized and this invited, the then, Civil Aviation Department to send inspector to examine the helicopter's performance and to what extent they followed and carried out the safety measure. Finally it was decided that the operators either convert the cargo version of their helicopters to that level so the safety measures are met and even the passengers could fly. It was said that they have to have separate flights for passenger and cargo version. Now, there are few airlines that have introduced the passenger version- the M[-8, which has enhanced the safety margin so that passenger is in an easier position to fly.
So, MI-17, the Russian giant aircraft have not only played a vital role in the past but also has even contributed immensely at present. Even today they have been utilizing helicopters fully to drop good in the remote areas. Taking this into account, the concerned ministry has allowed helicopters to operate even in restricted areas like Ghami, Samagaon, etc, not only for the rescue flight operations but serving the passengers. The Government encouraged the operators to operate maximum flights even during Dasain and Tihar.
There are few helicopter operators like Fishtail & Asian airlines which has stopped their operation either because they were unable to stand against the stiff competition or because they lost their aircraft due to various reasons. Asian Airlines was one of the pioneers to operate full-fledged helicopter services. Air Dynasty is another helicopter operator, which is seeking permission to operate. So with determination, management, maintenance and the will to serve the public, helicopters operations has bright future in Nepal.
(The writer is Under Secretary at Ministry of Culture. Tourism & Civil Aviation looking after ASA and ICAO affairs)
Text courtesy: The NTTR October 31 - November 13, 2005-ed
India and the majority of Nepalese political parties want a ceremonial role for the king,
22 une 2006: Some time ago, we wrote about how Sitaram Yechury's meddling in Nepal was damaging Indian interests, and now, there is more evidence of it.
The Nepalese political parties and the Maoists are engaged in very sensitive discussions concerning the future Nepal constitution, Maoist participation in government, their portfolios, and the disarming of their cadres. In their discussions, Yechury is involved, as a friend of the Maoists, and he has been given freedom of action by the CPI-M leadership to do, as he wants.
Now Yechury is no foreign policy expert that turf in the CPI-M has traditionally belonged to Prakash Karat, but in the Nepal negotiations, he has been in the forefront. Yechury is not India's representative in the Nepal talks; he takes no institutional briefing from the Indian foreign office. He is on his own, and he acts to the best interests of his Maoist friends and his party.
But there is a problem. The CPI-M is an ally of the UPA government, an outside ally but nevertheless powerful because of its control of a bloc of some sixty Left MPs. The other UPA allies also look to the CPI-M for political direction to weaken the Congress. After the CPI-M's spectacular victories in West Bengal and Kerala, it has become even more untouchable.
How all this turns on the Yechury mediation in Nepal is that, while he is not obliged to tow the Indian position in the talks, the Indian government perforce has to agree to all his commitments made to the Maoists. Why so? Because of the CPI-M's clout, and Yechury is supposed to be pushing the CPI-M line in Nepal.
Where the Indian government is troubled is that the Nepal talks are shifting weight to the Maoists' side, and this shift is not least due to Yechury's friendship with them. How the Maoists perceive it is Yechury's friendship neutralizes Indian objections, it cannot be tough because of the CPI-M, and this makes them bolder in their demands with the Nepalese
political parties. Since these parties look for and get Indian direction, it is, in one sense, the Indian official position being compromised in Nepal by none other than the CPI-M, who value their friendship with the Maoists more than securing Indian interests.
Substantively speaking, India and the majority of Nepalese political parties want a ceremonial role for the king, they are leery of an out and out republican Nepal. On the other hand, the Maoists want a republican constitution, and they are also pushing for the trial of King Gyanendra. The CPI-M and Yechury are going along with the Maoists' demand.
But even in the worst case that this is inevitable, a republican constitution, India wants an equally big concession from the Maoists, that they should disarm their cadres simultaneously. India's insistence is not to liking of Yechury, who says this issue can be visited later. But there is a real risk to Indian security here.
The chief Indian concern is that if the Maoists enter government without disarming the cadres, then natural differences will arise between those who have power and others who don't, eventually leading to splits in the movement. This would inevitably lead to a regrouping of the Maoists with weapons but without power, and could create an Afghanistan type situation of warlords who control the countryside, wreak havoc on the central government, and are ever willing for civil war. Plus, there is the old Maoist-Indian naxalite link, which will strengthen with the splintering of the Maoists.
But Indian officials say Yechury won't hear of Indian objections, he will do nothing to break the spirit of cooperation with the Maoists, even though they may be using him. On the other hand, because of the CPI-M's clout, raised after the recent victories, the government has to listen to Yechury, even carry out his instructions, his "dictates", as officials say.
This is extraordinary, a complete perversity of coalition politics. In Nepal, the CPI-M has no role to play, unless it plays an official Indian role. But this Yechury scorns, he and the CPI-M are on their own. Even being on their own, as parties swearing allegiance to the Indian Constitution, they cannot act against Indian interests, but they do. And using the clout they have, they force the Indian government to accept decisions against national interest.
In other words, the CPI-M and Sitaram Yechury are acting against national interest, and the compulsions of domestic politics forces meek government acquiescence. It is similar to the CPI-M's interference on the Iran issue, which the Left as a whole communalized. There, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stood firm, because the fate of the Indo-US nuclear deal was tied. On Nepal, the CPI-M has become the Maoists' cat's paw, but the PM is powerless to end the manipulations.
The CPI-M's recent electoral victories have totally benumbed the government. The Congress leadership is too paralyzed to protest. Some argue, almost as an excuse, that the Maoists have learnt their lessons, recognised Indian power in the bloodless displacement of King Gyanendra, and would behave once they come into government.
But this is an excuse, a wish, and not an argument, neither the truth, because at bottom, nobody believes it. The Maoists are bargaining for the portfolios of rural development, finance, and - here it comes - foreign affairs, and more testing times lie ahead for India.
Worse for us, the CPI-M is backing them.
Remember Quisling?
Newsinsight.net Home Saturday, June 24, 2006. Text courtesy: The People's Review weekly-ed
State should provide civic education to all
Nepal Foundation for Advanced Studies organized its civic education seminar in Jaleswar, the ancient town in the central Tarai, for the second time on 30 May 2006 . The discussion series on civic education being organized by NEFAS in different parts of the country has been carried out in cooperation with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung of Germany . The discussions originally aimed at generation of ideas about educating the younger generation on their constitutional rights and obligations is increasingly getting focused among teachers who have the task of teaching the subject in their schools. Although political activists and other public stakeholders including journalists are regular participants in these seminars, this gradual shift in focus has made the discussions more productive, in the sense that the schoolteachers have been able to provide their own experiences in teaching the subject. The Jaleswar seminar was chaired by Shivanarayan Yadav, a well respected teacher.
Before the discussions began, Ananda Srestha, Executive Director of NEFAS, welcomed the participants and introduced the theme of the seminar. He had this to say:
This is our second programme on civic education in this town. There are other issues that we have been organizing discussions on. Our publications will prove to you that we have been involved in raising national development issues aimed at impacting on policy. Many of them are part of the university curriculum today.
We have a plan to take the civic education discussions to 42 places of the country and we have already done it in 18 places. The aim is to educate the young on democracy. We have already known how things go astray without the knowledge of democracy, particularly in the political circle. We are in the midst of a civil war situation because of a lack of understanding of democracy and its norms. Could this situation be a result of a lack of knowledge about democracy in the youth as well? Here political education becomes important. This does not mean that youngsters should take a partisan line in politics. But again, there is a need for the youngsters to be aware politically. This is vital. I hope the floor comes up with suggestions regarding the education of youth about democracy, after the presentations are made.
FES representative Dev Raj Dahal's note: FES is affiliated with the German Socialist Democratic Party and has been working in Nepal since 1995. FES is involved in promoting democratization in different parts of the world and in Nepal we are involved in various sectors-- media, labour unions, political parties etc. to do so. Our objective is to promote democracy, social justice, solidarity and peace by minimizing and holding debates on possible conflicts and ways to mitigate them.
In Nepal, we saw that political parties were indoctrinating their workers telling them that their own party was supreme and need not bother with the sentiments and needs of other parties. This would surely polarize politics to the extremes which needed to be checked. We also felt the need to educate the general people to make them capable citizens with the objective of promoting democracy.
Over 25 discussions were organized before publishing this book by NEFAS, including one in Jaleswar earlier. The book is being continuously updated through additional discussions. Other donors too are involved in similar projects but they have been facing hiccups. NEFAS receives cooperation from all making us believe that we can push this education process forward.
Since Nepal has signed international conventions on rights, we believe that people are sovereign. But the people must realize this fact, and we need to educate them so. People's rights are changing along with the advancement in their age. The world itself is a changing context thus the rights concept is changing along with time. This book before you helps you understand these complexities.
How can the younger generation be responsible to the society? Civic education helps them do that. Again, how do we mainstream those sectors that are not rights-oriented, e.g. farmers? Civic education helps in that direction.
The book is being accepted by schools, teachers, parties and others. The subject itself is in the process of being accepted in the curriculum. Since there are not enough teachers in the subject, that may yet take some time. But, ultimately, it will happen.
The main presentation at the seminar was made by Shivaraj Dahal backed up by resource person Prof. Ram Kumar Dahal. Shiva Raj Dahal’s presentation included the various factors affecting the youth of today and the negative social trends among them arising out of a weak democratic governance. Politics must rise up to meet the emerging challenges he said. Dahal said that the profile of political morality must be raised in the Nepalese society in order to direct the younger generation towards making them contribute positively to the society. This, he said, would not be possible where politics is looked upon as a dirty game of some and a profession pursued by school backbenchers and those rejected by the society in general. Dahal’s thesis is that the best and the brightest were being pushed out of the political sector as a culture had developed whereby people without training and experience were joining politics resulting in the wrong political culture.
Ram Kumar Dahal’s presentation dealt with the need to provide civic education not only in schools but other sectors as well. He gave several examples of how that can be done. But the central theme of his presentation was to recommend a separate government to deal with the need for such education. He said, “The state has the responsibility of providing civic education in countries throughout the world, even in developed countries, he said. But we do not have a separate platform to educate ourselves about the constitution or democracy. In spite of these shortcoming, there is the acute need to develop a critical mass of people who understand the changing contexts and the rights of the people e.g. ethnic inclusion and other social challenges. These need to be understood by the younger generation, as it helps tolerance among them. It was difficult to have people from different political parties participating in one programme in the past, but the culture started developing to an extent whereby that is not the case anymore.”
The highlight of the Jaleswar discussion was the overwhelming concern shown by the participants about minority rights and had very little to do with the book itself. This could perhaps be because the participants from the political sector were more vocal. There were a lot of questions regarding the motive of the seminar at a transition phase in Nepalese politics. This prompted Dev Raj Dahal to intervene three times during the discussions to shape it into something more relevant for the organizers. Nonetheless there were curious voices particularly regarding how the subject was getting introduced in schools and how the curriculum was developed. Some were concerned about the problems arising from a lack of civic education not only in the formal education system but in the informal sector as well. They recommended that similar discussions be organized among the people in the villages rather than just narrowing down to the formal education system and teachers.
The discussion ended with a note of gratitude for participation by Chairperson Shivanarayan Yadav to the discussants and a vote of thanks by Ananda Srestha.
Report of the Seminar on Civic Education for the Youth Organised by Nepal Foundation For Advanced Studies in cooperation with FES Jaleswar, 30 May '06-ed.
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