Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Nepal : Trade Union Movement in a Newly Established Democracy

Dev Raj Dahal, FES

Background

April 24, 2006 marked a historical juncture for Nepal because of the tectonic transformation of politics. Nepalese workers and their unions had played a vanguard role in this transformation. The outcome of this movement not only expressed the sovereignty of people but also prepared a ground for the negotiation of a new social contract through Constituent Assembly elections. Now, the main responsibilities for Nepalese trade unions are how to become a creative part of history in the making—in the shaping of vision of participatory democracy, evolution of political programs to focus on the needs of workers, laws that represent public interests, framework of social justice and institutional incentives and innovation.

The twentieth century social contract in Europe and the US provided better social security and prosperity for their workers. Nepal’s main problems of poverty, uneven distribution of resources and deprivation have alienated workers from many opportunities. These problems originate from both the national system of political economy and its unilateral adjustment to the dynamics of the world capitalist system. Now, this system is changing its landscape. The global social movements propelled by Social Forums, social evolution of Europe and the resurrection of left politics in South America generated a hope that there is an alternative to neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism where workers can become stakeholders and exercise better freedom of choice.

Corporate, finance and technology-driven globalization has unleashed a tension between those forces who demand more democracy and those who fear from its effects. In this tension, Nepalese trade unions have a number of roles to play to minimize its negative effects, such as increasing inequality, labor-market flexibility, lowering of the minimum wages owning to trade liberalization and weakening of social protection. Unions’ struggle to realize these roles has put them into demand side rather than fear side and their common demand orientation hasmade a single union a realist option. But, unless grassroots globalism triggered by unions offsets the globalization from outside and above it would be very difficult for them to shape economic policies politically.

Questions

Can Nepalese workers expect better welfare benefits from the new democratic evolution in Nepal? Or, their past will rebound to shape their future and leave them as usual a passive recipient of some welfare benefits? How can the membership need of the unions be reconciled with their greater role in shaping their political vision? Is there a possibility for creating economic democracy in the country so that capital and labor can work together for social justice and peace building?

Obviously, these questions cannot be answered in full detail. If the Nepalese workers and unions think and act politically and involve in the massive organization of unorganized, informal, potential and left out workers they will have more democratic space to realize their rights and well being. Inaction or disarticulation, by implication, will put them into invisibility in policy scene and characterize them as mere agitators of society.

Nature of Nepalese Trade Union Movement

Historically, democracy movements of parties, trade unions and other civil society groups have often moved in tandem. During the union movement workers representatives framed the agenda, put negotiable demands to the state, mobilized workers and civil society along professional and class lines, removed the conventional division of politics into right and left and built inter-movement solidarity for collective action. Fear of curtailing their constitutional and universal human rights and the prospect for a better future shaped the “collective behavior” of Nepalese unions. But, the tendency of leadership to ignore workers has left them dissatisfied often ready to fight for their rights and rightful place in society. While political leadership had mainly set their interest in the democratization of politics, unions are interested not only in the democratization of politics but also economy and society. They prefer social representativeness in political power. Party movement often ended in the power equation while workers movement aspired for social transformation. It is, therefore, essential to look workers movement as a voice of equitable progress and innovation.

The current inter-movement solidarity of unions and civil society eloquently presents the transformative potential as they articulate alternative vision, goals, issues and strategies. The current trends in the union politics to emphasize on democracy, autonomy, workers control and participation will likely to democratize party politics and the state if the social energy they unleashed does not dies down. The vision of establishing a single union transcending its columnized character is a salutary effort but it is equally challenging also given the diversity and complexity of union politics.

Tasks Ahead

The historically articulated vision of trade union movement based on freedom, social justice, solidarity and peace are still vitally relevant. The only question lies in defining the legitimate means and strategies.

a) Building union pressure from bottom-up for the genuine representation of workers in national social contract: A democratic social contract requires the interest mediation between the capital and labor. It is a step by step process, in which political understanding is built first among the enterprise level workers, then regional and then national level unions and democracy is harnessed as a source of production and distribution of societal resources. Mediation of social contract is central to make the state neutral of class interest of society and gives the workers an ownership in the state. Unions can also open themselves with other unions and civil society forces where they can expand their constituency and protect their interest for democracy against exclusive corporate, technocratic and bureaucratic interests.

b) Strengthening solidarity at the local, national and global level: Trust building among the various unions—Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) and Democratic Confederation of Nepalese Trade Unions (DECONT) and others civil society groups is a must for their effective collective action, prevent corporate abuses of workers’ core rights and strengthen unions’ collective bargaining power for decent wages and working conditions. At the moment, formulation of a common legislative agenda on workers rights, needs and concerns will be important to enforce, overcome the differences of partisan interests and fight for workers rights to bargain decent wages and working conditions, affordable health care, education and upgrading of labor-intensive technology. This means employment of the workers should be the key to any economic policy.

c) Establishing a Mechanism to Promote Political and Policy dialogue: The waves of new policy changes have put the freedom of capital above the social interests of workers, weakened the constitutional system and the social security thus putting the workers in a disadvantageous position. New policy changes have resulted in a greater insecurity, wealth inequality, stagnating wages and poverty and migration of workers abroad for job and livelihoods. To reshape the major economic policy to be undertaken by the state and political parties unions have to engage themselves continuously into policy and political dialogues taking into account the consequences and limitations of those policies.

d) Building a Collective Response to Globalization: Globalization is more a challenge for a country like Nepal which has labor surplus but capital deficit due to historically induced problem of capital flight and investment of capital in non-productive sectors. Nepalese workers are forced to go abroad for their livelihood as decline in agro-production due to cut in subsidy and the policy of de-industrialization broke the linkage between the rural and urban areas. Non-investment of economic surplus in productive activities is the cause of misery of Nepali workers and sustained development failures. A progressing response to globalization requires organizing informal sector workers, mainstreaming youth and women in the union network and utilizing rural surpluses and money for production revolution. Similarly, unions have also to play role in the protection of Nepali workers both at home and abroad whose income and remittances are giving life to rural economy.

e) Linking Workers Rights to Market Access: Markets do not make rules, build solidarity of workers and enlist the voluntary participation of workers in economic democracy. All these processes require the application of democratic principles. In the context of the increasing regionalization (SAFTA) and globalization (WTO) of economy and technology, globalization of human rights, democracy, social contract and collective bargaining is essential. International Labor Organization (ILO) is struggling to achieve core labor standards aiming to empower the workers and give them the right to free collective bargaining and dignity to work. The essence of bargaining is demanding higher wages, better labor relations and investment in productive activities so that competitiveness of workforce is created. Linking workers rights to market access in Nepal requires the mainstreaming of gender, Dalits, and youths for social and inter-generational justice and massive unionization of informal sector workforce for inclusive transformation.

Conclusion

To become vibrant, unions must be very cohesive, democratic, inclusive and participatory. Education, training, dialogue, organization and unity are key components for building efficient unions. The three central elements of human rights—freedom, social justice and solidarity—are as useful now as they were before. But, unions have also to lay stress on peace building. Bringing social justice in the market requires institution-building at various levels, coordination of policies and collective action of the unions. Formation of single union sets a right step in this direction.

In Nepal, market institutions are dominated by powerful elites who oppose social justice. Putting democratic constraints on them and making them understand the value of social justice require first promulgation of rational laws and establishment of effective machinery to set democratic ceiling on their excessive passion for wealth and power exonerated from constitutional control.

A sustainable democracy requires creative role of unions in establishing social justice to address the root causes of conflict and building the foundation of positive peace. Only a vibrant democracy embedded in the social interest of majority allows the option for a peaceful resolution of conflict.

A government's durability and popularity doesn't depend on how powerful it is?

 BY DR. PRAVIN RAJBAHAK

No other government in Nepal in the last 50 years has been so powerful as the present one. It has backing of the people, the civil society, and the international community as well. Even Indo-Nepal relations which hasn't quite traveled in a smooth pitch for the last half a century seems getting warmer with the formation of this government. The security forces that always were loyal to the palace have been kept under the grasp of this government. The parliamentary proclamation has made it even more stronger.

But a government's durability and popularity doesn't depend on how powerful is it. A few decisions that this government has done after its formation has raised eye-brows for instance the sacking of all officials appointed post October 2002 but not replacing the vacancies even after three weeks of the decision. The National Planning Commission is vacant despite the preparation of the budget moving on its last leg. All ambassadors abroad have been told to return home. Almost all secretaries of prominent ministries including the police, armed police and the national intelligence agency are run by officiating chiefs. In any democratic polity, the executive, judiciary and the legislature are separated so as to ensure that a dictator is not born out of centralized power structure backed by popular mandate. But so extensive is the parliamentary declaration that it has made the present government above decrees and above the Constitution. Is this what rule of law is all about? Three weeks ago 5 ministers of the last cabinet were arrested using the same security act exploited by previous governments to arrest pro-democracy supporters.

The only difference is that during those days of "autocracy" heabus corpus cases of even Maoist cadres would be settled in days now it is taking weeks. We are actually moving backwards in time. The Asian
Forum for Human Rights, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal, the U.S. assistant Secretary of State have all unequivocally criticized the arrests but does the government care to
listen? The very essence of a democracy is that the legislature enacts laws, the executive implements it and the judiciary defines it. There is separation of power in every democratic country. Where one organ is
above the rest, that country could be an axis of evil. In India and the United States too, there is supremacy of the Constitution not supremacy of their parliaments.

But here, all chiefs of even the constitutional and independent bodies are required to take oath on the basis of a whimsical political declaration. The Speaker of the same House did not even bother to take oath of office before the head of state, how will the decisions adopted by the session chaired by him be considered legal? Till the euphoria lasts, all these rash decisions can be hailed as being authorized by the people's movement but once the government begins tumbling; these will be illegal, illegitimate and reckless doggedness for nothing else but a power grab.

There is absolutely no difference between the February 1 action by the King and the parliamentary declaration made by the Lower House, in fact, both are mere attempts to go beyond the parameters of the rule of law in the name of securing peace. Both have vowed to make the people happy and in that pretext, declared themselves as sovereign.

In a country where 88 percent are Hindus, the House has gone beyond its jurisdiction to declare Nepal a secular state. Now, a new controversy has arisen to "re-declare" Nepal as a Hindu kingdom only because of this senseless and short-sighted parliamentary declaration.

Birgunj was tense and the entire Mahendra highway was shut for a few days due to the agitation in protest of the decision to turn Nepal into a secular state. A problem that never was in the lifespan of nearly 3 centuries; will now grow as a major headache even if the Maoist problem is to be settled.

Furthermore, the government-Maoist talks are not making any headway despite the 12 point understanding. The attack at Everest nursing home and Lumbini zonal hospital are glaring examples of the Maoist desire
to keep on turning the heat till the final victory is achieved. Vandalism, looting and day-light robbery of banks and shops and extortion from even the middle-class families have terrified the general public but the police seems least bothered to be active in subverting these malicious activities. Its entire rank and file is
nervous with the thought of another probe commission recommending the punishment of the remaining top officers who have escaped the last mass slaughter ranging from the IGP to middle-level officers.

Even when the Lower House has already passed the resolution to go ahead with constituent assembly elections and deleted "royal" from almost all the state institutions, the Maoists seem wanting more and
more. All Maoist prisoners have been freed but they have not shown any inclination to join multi-party competitive politics let alone laying down arms and stopping extortion. On the contrary, they have stepped
up their mass gatherings with full show of valor and armory as if a major battle is just round the corner. On Friday, Kathmandu's cocktail circuit will see for the first time the Maoist might in the heart of Tundikhel. Nobody knows how the supposedly peaceful demonstration will ultimately turn into because both the current Home Minister and the Foreign Minister are known to be sympathetic to the Maoists.

The clock is ticking and time is soon running out. The slogan of a democratic republic will now turn into a want for a "people's republic" just like in Castro's Cuba, Mao's China and North Korea. The Nepalese people that have seen the King's rule and the party's rule and have frustrated themselves trying to bring them together may give a lending hand to the idea of a totalitarian republic. As things begin tumbling fast, one would hope that the present government headed in 7 different directions will at least be able to maintain rule of law and preserve the security of the cities if not the villages. But the last one month has told us that it cannot. Received via electronic mail-ed.

Geopolitics And Garish Gimmicks In Nepal

By Maila Baje

The month-long aftermath of King Gyanendra's capitulation to mass protests and reinstatement of the House of Representatives has spawned a vast array of speculation over the circumstances leading up to the event.

The Seven Party Alliance (SPA) continues to insist that it drove the popular surge for democracy with the moral support from much of the world. The Maoists, rebuffing the SPA's claim to exclusivity, maintain they had a preponderant role in the demonstrations. Even in their battered state, members of the royal government appear to stand by their contention that the "democracy movement" was neither: The Maoists, using the SPA cover, were close to capturing Kathmandu and establishing their much-cherished totalitarian communist state. Part of this contention was asserted by U.S. Ambassador James F. Moriarty in an interview with CNN during the height of the street protests.

Another version has it that King Gyanendra relented after Nepali Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala - the supreme commander of the movement and current prime minister - and Unified Marxist Leninist general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal personally assured the monarch of their ability to retain a ceremonial monarchy as well as rope in the

Maoists in a broad national framework. Could the drama of the UML leader being returned to the Armed Police
Force's barracks in Kakani halfway through his transfer to the Supreme Court in Kathmandu have been merely a smokescreen for his and Koirala's meeting with King Gyanendra?

A little noticed report on the People's News website suggests that the reinstatement of the legislature was intended to forestall a greater spiral of death and destruction. Under the headline " India prepared to invade Nepal in April," senior journalist Bhola B. Rana writes that India had kept five fighter helicopters on high alert at a military camp in Dehra Dun along with a special military contingent. Quoting a delayed report from Janamanch, a Nepali weekly, Rana adds that the Indian Embassy had informed the then government an Indian Airlines aircraft was on standby to evacuate the personnel of the embassy.

What seemed to have precipitated the pace and content of the subsequent turn of events was China's deployment of hundreds of thousands of soldiers along five points of the border. Moreover, according to the report, China put its Air Force in high alert in air bases in Tibet and Chinese satellites and radar were monitoring Nepalese airspace. In effect, the royal proclamation on April 24 owed its genesis to geopolitical pressures.

Considering the poor sourcing of the report and the delay in its dissemination, it would be tempting to dismiss it as a red herring. However, any student of contemporary Sino-Indian relations can easily view the report against the background of the cooperation and competition that has defined the Asian giants' assertion of their regional and global roles.

Moreover, it was King Gyanendra's sustained moves toward reinforcing Nepal's ties with China as a way of pulling the kingdom out of India's menacing embrace that led New Delhi to forge the SPA-Maoist alliance against the palace.

This makes all the more tragic the utter travesty the SPA has foisted on the country in the name of taming the palace, empowering parliament, democratizing the military and secularizing the state.

Maila Baje writes about Nepal at http://nepalinetbook.blogspot.com Received via electronic mail-ed.

Rafting River Adventure in Trisuli

Rafting is a sport which I had always longed to go for once in my lifetime and I cannot say in words the level of my excitement when a colleague of mine got an invitation from the Nepal Association of Rafting Agents (NARA) to participate in their Annual Rafting Festival. NARA has been organizing such festivals in the past.

The buzz was there a week before D-day and my colleague and myself could not contain our excitement and curiosity much longer, which actually surprised some of our other colleagues.

To our greatest astonishment there was a crowd of about 500-600 people both young and old, equally energized and eagerly waiting to head for their destination, the Royal Beach at the Trisuli River. The RoyalBeach has its own little history for it was here that the late King Birendra had rafted 15 years ago.

The bus that was allotted to us was pretty crowded with people from the media besides those not from our profession but the thrill and excitement kept our professional differences aside and we got to know each other even better.

Though the bus ride was pretty long, I must confess that I did not feel anything besides excitement even though I was on an empty stomach! I guess it was the same for all of us aboard. We finally arrived and when I took a look from the bus towards the Royal Beach from where our rafting would begin I just managed to say 'Wow', for I was dazzled by the view at the beach. It was so colorful all around and the beauty of nature was splashed all around me.

I hurriedly changed into my cotton shorts and slippers, which I had carried along with me and headed straight for the cool waters of the Trisuli The crowd at the Royal Beach was indeed lovely with the flashing of cameras, fishing rods, swimming tubes, the laughter, the thrill and the sunshine.

I felt really good at heart about my decision to come for this fest and also about everything happening around me.

Gradually little groups of 8 to 9 people got together in each raft. The rafting festival had begun.

Our group comprised of individuals mostly from the media and now when I come to think of it the 'Press' tag was something which made all of us swell with pride and create our own little group.

Though NARA must have made sincere efforts to make the event memorable for all those present, there were many like us who could not get to raft in the peak hour and had to wait till 3.OOpm in the scorching heat for the rafts to arrive.

With the sun right over our heads, coupled with empty stomachs we patiently waited for the rafts, life jackets, helmets and guides to arrive and take us to our destination - Kurintar where food and cold drinks would be waiting for us.

All of us stranded on the beach without the proper equipments and guides waited long enough and when everything suddenly got into place our spirits began to race once more, but still on an empty stomach.

Our guide was a young chap in this late 20s who was proud of his job. He shared his experiences in the Trisuli with us, which was his second home.

Before the actual rafting, Amrit our guide gave us some practical lessons on rafting and when he felt that we were ready to face the rage of the Trisuli, he wished us luck.

The experience to be on board and in the waters of the Trisuli was so immense that none of us were listening to the instructions of the guide and very soon, unexpectedly, we were face to face with the first rapid of our journey 'Ladies Delight' as it was named.

It is difficult for me to write what I felt when engulfed in this rapid and many more ahead but for a few of my team mates on board it was a question of life and death they proclaimed later. As we rafted along, we forgot all our hunger and fatigue and I bet no one was thrilled to see the other end of our destination.

Once on shore we headed for the food and filled with joy we could not eat much. Then, very soon we were all on our respective buses eager to share our little tales of valour. As we drove back, I watched the Trisuli and thanked her for making my dream come true.

By Bhumika, Journalist. Text courtesy: Nepal Traveller May-June 2006 issue-Thanks the writer and the NT- ed.

VIABLE ALTERNATIVES

By Melissa Howell Alipalo, Consultant Writer ADB (Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector)

THIMI, KATHMANDU

Less than a 30-minute drive out­side Kathmandu, life in the town of Madhyapur Thimi un­folds in scenes more common to another century.

On this particular evening, a group of elderly residents sit outside the Bisnubir temple offering incense, their chants, strings, and flutes to usher in dusk. A bare­foot couple works a small corner plot of land with hand tillers. People stoke small fires inside their centuries' old homes and light candles outside. Women huddle to­gether, hunched over, bundling grain, hay, and vegetables for the night delivery to a Kathmandu market. Women draw water from a well.

To the unfamiliar visitor, life in Thimi is idyllic. But one look down Thimi's main river shows something is not right.

"When I was a young boy, I used to swim and bathe in that river," says Madan Krishna Shrestha, former mayor of Thimi. "Then the donor groups came and sanita­tion systems came. But when one of the treatment plants broke down, almost sud­denly, the river got dirt".

One by one other plants fell into disre­pair until they stopped functioning alto­gether. Sewage is now dumped untreated into streams, and it is happening in the whole of Kathmandu and the surrounding towns.

Up for the Challenge

What has happened to Thimi's river is now happening to water resources across the world. The are carrying loads nature never intended for them-tons of silt from erosion, industrial pollutants, agricultural chemicals, and untreated sewage.

Improving sanitation and wastewater treatment systems is one of many interven­tions that can help save natural resources while improving people's immediate envi­ronment. Almost half of the people living in Asia and the Pacific do not have access to improved sanitation. Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals calls for this number to be halved by 2015.

The Environment and Public Health Organization (ENPHO) in Nepal is trying to revolutionize the way municipal gov­ernments approach their -water pollution problems.

For years, ENPHO has watched local governments struggle with the financial and technical capacities to manage the more modern and sophisticated sanita­tion and wastewater treatment systems that donor money has bought them. As an alternative and wherever feasible, ENPHO works with communities and local govern­ments to adopt low-technology solutions. The logic: keeping systems simple keeps them affordable and manageable-the two keys to sustainability.

ENPHO concentrates on two modali­ties to improve sanitation and wastewater treatment.

Ecosan toilets are stand-alone units for individual households. Unlike typical toi­lets, the Ecosan toilet does not use water to flush waste down and through a system. As a dry toilet, Ecosan involves two com­partments below the unit to collect and store the liquid and solid wastes separately. Once a year, users should empty the com­partments and use the waste as organic fer­tilizer for backyard gardens.

The other mode is the reed bed treat­ment system. A system of reed beds con­structed near a town's sewer outlet captures untreated waste and treats it through a natural breakdown process before it enters streams and rivers. The system mimics processes found in natural- wetland eco­-systems. ENPHO says the systems are simple, robust, effective, and low-cost.

Low Caste, High Priority

ENPHO's market for Ecosan projects is mostly low-caste households where there are no flush toilets. Bina Kapali, 45, had to resort to humiliating practices before receiving an Ecosan unit from ENPHO. She used the lot next to her house-the town garbage dump, where dogs and pigs trod and scavenge for food scraps.

"When we used to have to go there-at that dump site-I would sit there, hidden, and think, `What if somebody comes, especially a man?' If only I had a toilet, I would not be doing this here," Ms. Kapali says.

Since receiving an Ecosan unit, "I have never gone back to the dump site," she says. Unlike what is encouraged of users, she has never recycled the waste from the Ecosan storage units for fertilizer. "I can­not," she says. 'These flowers are for the gods. I don't want to throw urine on them."

"There will always be cultural factors that even the best technology- can't get around," says Roshan Raj Shrestha, founder and former director of ENPHO and now Chief technical Director for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme's Water for Asian Cities Pro­gram. "We have to do a lot of work on so­cial acceptance. In the rural farming areas, everybody uses cow dung. They love it. But attach the same idea to a toilet nobody wants it."

By the end of 2005, ENPHO estimates it will have installed more than 150 Eco­san units in low-caste households in the Kathmandu valley.

But the market for Ecosan in the Kathmandu valley is limited. "It's too late for Ecosan in Thimi," Mr. R. R. Shrestha says. The infrastructure for a sewage system is already in place and 90% of homes have flush toilets. The greater problem is in treating the wastewater. This is where reed beds offer nature's low-cost, low-mainte­nance, sustainable solution.

Getting people to buy the idea, how­ever, is a project in itself.

"Whether it's Nepal or the United States, nobody likes the idea of a sewer plant in the area. `Not in my backyard,' as the saving goes," Mr. M. K. Shrestha says.

To help overcome the skepticism, ADB gave ENPHO a $50,000 grant from its Pilot and Demonstration Activities pro­gram of the Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector to steer the reed bed system and use it as a demonstration site for other communities to see.

Pick a Problem, Any Problem

The start-up money went only so far be­fore ENPHO faced trouble on every other front. In early 2005, when ENPHO needed political support to convince the community to accept the project, the king dissolved all elected officials.

In other political corners, Mr. R. R. Shrestha says ENPHO was pressured to use some of the grant money to construct a building for a separate organization in the project area. "When we refused, all sorts of problems started. And then the project fell through. We tried community mobilization. We went door-to-door. Nothing worked," he says.

Eventually, ENPHO turned their plans toward a different site in Thimi. "Since 90% of the people in Thimi are Newari, it was easier to convince them. They are mostly one caste. It's a homogenous place and consensus is easier," says Mr.M. K. Shrestha, the former mayor.

In a strategic move, ENPHO first gained the support of the worshippers at the Bisnubir temple, whose influence went far. Local volunteer labor has since built the reed bed system in just a few months, finishing in October 2005.

Local officials believe this could be the start of a municipal-wide scheme. "This is a small town," a deputy mayor says. "This kind of system is manageable and can be a model."

"To bring 100% treatment to Thimi and plug a major pollution source, offi­cials estimate that it would take just eight more reed beds, at a cost of less than $25,000 each, and only a few months to implement each one.

Text courtesy: ADB Review, April-May 2006 issue-ed.

WHY DO WE NEED DUEL CITIZENSHIP

Balmukund Prasad Joshi, Editor in Chief

The Sagarmatha Times, UK

In the 90s the Non Residential Nepalese (NRN) movement started from the USA with a big bang. Couple of Nepalese Community Leaders from the USA went to Nepal and met government officials including the then PM Girija Prasad Koirala, to discuss the grievances faced by the community in the USA in partucular and around the world in general. The community leaders put forward two particualar demands; firstly the dual citizenship and secondly was the creation of a favourable atmosphere and safety for financial investment in Nepal .

As per the Constitutional provision any ex-Nepalese citizen and or Nepalese citizen, if away from Nepal for more than 6 months - will be regarded as NRN. Such NRN will be entitled for all Constitutional rights provided they still hold Nepalese citizenship. The government welcome NRN willingness to invest finance in Nepal but were negative in providing dual citizenship. They assured constitutional ammendment for entry visa regulations such as economical visa fees and leniency on period/extension. Even after the disolution of the Parliament and direct rule by His Majesty the King on 01 February 2005 - there is no change in government attitude on dual citizenship. The country is almost in verge of economic collapse due to the Constitutional conflict because of the King's direct rule, the political parties are in agitation for end of direct rule and reinstation of the parliament. This national debacle isolated the King and Nepal from allmost all foreign donors including the USA, UK, European Union, the UN, India, Japan and others.  On the other hand rebel of the Maoists in the country with demand of Republic Nepal through the election of the constituent assembly also caused helping hand in verge of  economic collapse. At this juncture, the only main source of national income in form of  foreign exchange is transfer of money from NRN to their family. Otherwise, national economy would have already collapsed a longtime back.
Nepal should be proud of Nepalese holding citizenship of the USA , UK and other developed countries. The citizenship in those countries are provided because of the requirement of those residing countries. The Nepalese are not only holding other citizenship but also holding important role in those countries. When Nepal is being supported by money transfers from NRN, who are residents of foreign countries, have duty to return this support by providing dual citizenship as a gesture for helping Nepal during this verge of economic collapse.

Most of Nepalese in UK have obtained their British citizenship due to two reasons - as per national treaty and as per work permit. Nepalese in the British Army are as per national treaty and other civilians are as per work permit. In either case, directly or indirectly Nepal government is involved for consent of release of her citizens for the assignment.  Rest have acquired citizenship through other sources such as students etc. The UK citizenship is primarily provided for fufilling requirements of the treaty/work permit provisions only. Therefore, when any Nepali citizen gets this citizenship through Nepali government involved  criteria, why should they have problem to accept such recognition.  There is Nepali saying, one who collects honey-comb will enjoy the taste of honey.

Today the NRN movement has spread its wing throughout the world. More and more NRN offices are formed in national level in foreign countries by nepalese origin residents there. The NRN leaders have already assembled twice in Nepal . But it is great surprise that present NRN leadership are more willing to invest fund in Nepal rather than achieving the burning issue of dual citizenship. The time has come to  achieve this goal. NRN leadership should act with more determination and boldness to achieve dual citizenship once for all. This should be done sooner rather than later.

I am sure the NRN society will agree my request and take appropriate move to reach goal.

This editorial had appeared in The Sagarmatha Times, UK in November 2005. Received via electronic mail-ed.