Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Dev Raj Dahal

Globalization has unleashed swift mobility of capital, finance, technology, management skills and marketing requirements entailing conceptual and structural change. Technological change from steam, electric to microelectronic, information and communication has increased productivity, created more jobs and high income for the well off and skilled. In the countries where institutional and constitutional frameworks are very strong and politics catches the velocity of economic and technological transformations globalization has yielded enormous payoffs. Globalization critics argue that in developing countries globalization means not mutual adjustment of the capital and the labor but the unilateral adjustment of workers to the global market process, intense market competition, outsourcing, off-shoring, relocation of industries from high to low cost countries, closure of industries, job layoffs and abdication by ruling elites from their constitutional and social responsibilities.

Globalization of political economy has also undermined the historic “social contract” between the capital and the labor which until recently recognized the constitutional and human rights of all people and protected them from arbitrary rule. The financial and technological globalization is also creating a great digital divide between “symbolic economy” (knowledge, money, credit and capital) and the “real economy” (agricultural and industrial products and services) and preventing the entry of workers into the “global village” as access to it is largely determined by knowledge, skills and power. The promotion of neo-liberal agenda by developing countries equally weakened the tax base of the state, generated crisis in public budget and its welfare system thereby causing the fall of real wages for the workers.

Globalization Logics

Free Trade Benefits all : Globalization is a game. Globally open markets create winners and losers. Those who are efficient, skilled and competent can win, the rest lose if social dimensions such as core labor standards remain unimplemented. Only those countries are garnering the benefits of the world markets which have competitive domestic conditions. Domestic openness is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to build the competitive strength of an economy. When economy becomes more powerful and mobile the states and governments lose influence. The failed development efforts of many developing countries go far to explain that they cannot unilaterally determine the growth of their exports. Decision constrains are both national and international. For example, developed countries have not adequately opened their domestic markets to the products of developing countries. Developing countries also could not take advantage of the world markets because of their high tax barriers on exports. As a result, there is uneven economic integration of developed and developing countries in the international political economy. Successful development requires a continuous rise in income, fall in poverty, sound investment, adequate saving, macroeconomic and political stability and outward policy orientation.

Trade liberalization has created huge trade deficits in the developing countries. Proponents of free trade argue that such deficits are essential to enable the developing countries absorb the resources flowing from outside, expand investments, raise the standards of living of their workers and contribute to economic growth. But, huge trade deficits can equally trigger a “financial crisis.” The recent crisis in the Southeast Asian and Latin American nations vividly illustrates this fact. Financial crises have also been caused by faulty fiscal and monetary policies and exchange rates rather than trade liberalization. Many also believe that membership in WTO is disadvantageous to small and weak countries. The success in trade gain depends on bargaining capacity, political economy of scale and competitive and comparative advantages. How the distribution of benefits is handled depends very much on the nature, content and capacity of negotiating countries and the definition of the rules of the game. It is, however, certain that small states can gain more in rule-based rather than power-based system. The WTO is a rule-governed trading system whose many provisions favor the least developed, isolated and landlocked countries.

Redistribution of Economic and Political Power : Globalization process helps to redistribute power and resources in society. In contrast to this assumption one can see the emergence of East Asia, Europe and the USA entering into a strategic economic parity constituting three major trade blocs. There is a tension between global economic integration and national democratic politics as global economic architecture is built on efficiency, not democracy legitimacy, accountability, transparency and equity. Nation-states no longer remain an exclusive pole of attraction for the citizens because political and economic power is shifting to an unknown direction—especially to MNCs, INGOs, regional and international organizations and cross-border networks. Within developing countries due to mal-development, gaps between the rural and the urban regions have increased. Delocalization and denationalization of economy hit the unorganized, informal sectors. Wealth has been concentrated among the rich and powerful. When economic activities within developing countries continued to decline it unleashed unsettling social consequences for the workers, such as job layoffs, casualization of work, weakening of union power, etc. Individualization of society is breaking the old forms of solidarity provided by family, community, culture and nation-state. Politically, the center of hostility is shifting from the inter-state to ethnic level-now being interpreted as a “clash of civilization.” Inter-state to intra-state “identity politics” is breaking the solidarity of workers and their capacity for collective bargaining and distributional benefits. It is even transcending the concept of citizenship and nationality.

Corporate Accountability : In the past, higher profits for the corporation have some positive effects on workers lives as their wages and social security benefits correspondingly increased. In the global economy new profits for the knowledge workers increased in proportion to the layoffs of the blue color workers from their jobs. There is disconnection of workers from the decision-making of corporations. The growing strength of financial markets has left serious social consequences, such as drop in effective taxation of capital, fall in real wages for workers and lower social spending by the state.

Beyond doubt, with the global mobility of investments, production and products, consumer sovereignty in the choices of goods and services are widening. There is, however, no equal integration of labor and capital in the market and the national leaders have abandoned the state-led development strategies. National laws offer greater scope for the mobility of and facility to capital than labor. This has created prosperity in developed countries and crisis in the developing countries. This challenge can be overcome if some policy measures are adopted such as training of workers on education, union’s capacity building, securing social policies and adopting innovative policies to contain the backlash of globalization

Stakeholding : Globalization has polarized the system at every level into center and periphery. The restructuring of labor market with a possibility of labor flexibility and outsourcing have driven the capital by a need to control access to raw materials, workers and surplus capital in the periphery. Is it possible to achieve new opportunities in a social vacuum and democratic deficit created by global economy? One might say it is possible if economy is embedded in society. The Southeast Asian crisis, for example, has forced the states to become more competitive, efficient and productive. It has also made their domestic politics more democratic, transparent and accountable. In South Asia Hindu rate of economic growth still grips the countries. There is also a lack of political will among the leaders to pursue social reforms (Social Charter and the Report of Independent Commission on Poverty Alleviation in South Asia) in tandem with South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and WTO. At the moment, therefore, popular attraction towards globalization is on the wane. Workers are increasingly becoming conscious of social justice, freedom and welfare benefits but it has not enabled them to shift their role from the rule-takes to rule-makers. This means they should understand that markets are also political constructs where they can play a role to shape them.

Economic Liberalization and Reform Measures in Nepal

A sound financial sector is the key to structural reforms. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 provides a liberal foundation for determining the structure of the state power, governance and development rooted in the ideology of public-private partnership and self-reliant economy. The “chief objective of the state is to promote conditions of welfare on the basis of principles of an open society, by establishing a just system in all aspects of national life, including social, political and economic life, while at the same time protecting the lives, property and liberty of people.” Theoretically, this provision, including the recognition to the sovereignty of the people has made Nepal a democratic, constitutional state.

Nepal is struggling to reduce poverty by stimulating more equitable and inclusive growth through the adoption of liberal economic measures. Since 1987, a period of fundamental reassessment of the role of government and the limit of state intervention in society and economy, began to resurrect the absolute superiority of private property and the legitimation of social inequalities. The dominant neo-liberal ideology has promoted the “free market economy” as single path of development and discouraged any effort towards agricultural and industrial production that are crucial to employment and long-term income and economic growth. This has widened disparities in income, wealth and political power in society and increased the power of financial capital over labor. Obviously, it was a phase of the primacy of finance over the production of essential goods for livelihood, based on principles of private ownership and competition. Neo-liberal financial reform entailed promoting market over state mediation of internal and external financial flows. It also called for eliminating several areas of state influence and control over financial markets.

As the state lost prominence in economic well-being of people, this had a strong effect on the management of public sector enterprises. The state of Nepal has also been compared with the image of the success-stories of the East Asian and South East Asian economic miracles whose ideology would allow the subordinating of societies and the state to the accumulation of capital. The Administrative Reform Commission 1991 redefined the role of government in such areas as: the building of basic infrastructures, regulatory role in quality control, securing steady flow of goods and services provided by the private sector and NGOs, contributing to the necessary security for the life and property of the citizens and their health, protection of the environment and execution of other essential functions that cannot be carried out by other agencies.

Privatization of public sector industries, therefore, had taken a central stage in Nepal as a means to use state resources to strengthen the private sector, establish mechanism to make economy more consistent with regionalization and globalization and impose the ideology of ruling class to the whole of society. Nepal since 1991 began to execute a set of policies endorsed by the principal economic institutions located in Washington: the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) commonly known as "Washington Consensus." Coined by John Williamson, the consensus is said to focus on policy reforms that reduced the role of government such as privatization, financial deregulation, and liberalization of trade, finance and foreign direct investments entry and exit. The post-Washington consensus and the UN global Compact added other important variables--civil society, social capital, capacity building, international new economic architecture and safety nets.

In the 1980s, due to low economic growth, the government initiated an expansionary fiscal policy financed through bank borrowings. This led to serious macro-economic instability in the country with growing fiscal deficits and declining international reserves. It was in this context that major donor countries and international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), prescribed a market-based economic growth strategy for Nepal and made it open itself to imports of international capital flow. The ideological motive of this approach was to separate the economy from state control, unleash the productive economic forces and enable it participate in the process of global development. With no choice, the government had to adopt a Stabilization Program in 1985, sponsored by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and later the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1987-1989 financed by the World Bank and the IMF Structural Adjustment Facility for 1987-90.

The fiscal deficit of the state generated a crisis in the whole system of relations between society and the state and correspondingly reflected the relative loss of public authorities’ capacity for control and assumes leadership. Structural adjustment, in this context, aimed to achieve macro-economic stabilization, increased resource mobilization, investment efficiency, better financial management of public enterprises, increased productivity and employment in the agriculture sector through increased private sector involvement in agriculture, trade, industry and forestry. As the second phase of SAP expired in 1990, the country experienced a political change, from the party-less Panchayat system to multi-party democracy. In 1992 Nepal entered into another phase of SAP, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP), of the IMF with the objectives of raising the GDP growth to about 5 percent annually in the next three years; reducing annual inflation to 5 percent, limiting current account deficit to 9.6 percent of GDP; and reducing fiscal deficit to 7.8 percent of the GDP by the end of 1995.

The first elected government of Nepali Congress in 1991 enacted the Privatization Act 1991 and accompanying regulations and guidelines with the objectives of reducing the burden on the government and releasing resources to other sectors; generating the operational efficiency and productivity of the enterprises; and encouraging private sector involvement in business and industries. Other reforms followed: the financial sector reforms including the full convertibility of the Nepalese currency on current accounts; simplification of licensing procedure for trade and industry, formulation of the New Industrial Policy 1992, Industrial Enterprise Act 1992, Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 1992, One Window Policy, de-bureaucratization, privatization (also denationalization of some) of 16 public enterprises (PEs) in industry, trade and services sectors and liquidation of some. Private sector investments in hydro-electricity, civil aviation, banking, fertilizer supply, etc, were allowed.

The provisions implicit in Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act ensures that nationalization of industries will not occur in the future, besides the guarantee for the security of investment. Nepal became a member of the Multi-lateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank and an adherent of the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). It was therefore, obliged to provide guarantee to foreign investors against several risks, such as expropriation, currency transfer, breach of contract, civil disturbances in the country, etc. The Act (slightly amended in 1996) regulates the extent to which foreign investors may participate in Nepali farms, and creates conditions conducive to the exchange of technical know-how between foreign firms and small-scale Nepali industries. The successive governments since then tried to attract foreign investment to meet the existing gap between savings and investment and to entice transfers of technology, information, management practices and marketing connections.

In the industrial sector, it was a paradigm shift from the inward-looking, protectionist and import-substituting strategies towards outward-oriented, competitive and liberal economic policies in consistent with WTO, South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. The idea was to unleash the creative entrepreneurial spirit of the industrial class and break the existing monopoly of the comprador class that thrived on its nexus with the bureaucracy and politicians and exploited the consumers and workers capitalizing the open border with India and garnering various trading, exchange rates and tax benefits. Political instability and lack of transparency in governance impeded economic development in Nepal.

Financial Sector Reform

To facilitate the market exchange, Nepal also adopted the policies for the deregulation of domestic financial system, opened capital account convertibility, lifted restriction on foreign exchange transactions and allowed the entry of foreign banks in the country. Since 2002 financial sector reforms assumed momentum in Nepal aiming to achieve sound market-oriented, competitive financial development, increased investment and faster economic growth. The liberalized financial regime helped to expand financial sector in the country. So far Nepal has 17 commercial banks, 24 development banks, 59 financial companies and several micro-credit institutions. On March 10, 2004 the World Bank (WB) has approved a US$75.5 million credit to Nepal to support the “Financial Sector Restructuring Project” which is a follow-up to the Financial Sector Technical Assistance Credit, approved by the Bank in 2002 to address the critical condition faced by the banking system. The first credit strengthened the supervisory functions of the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) and management teams were brought in to manage the losses of Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) and Nepal Bank Limited (NBL). This follow-up operation aims to make these two banks commercially viable for privatization.

This project has four main components: Voluntary Retirement Schemes, hiring of sales advisors, re-engineering of Nepal Rastra Bank and support to management team. There are, however, certain problems, such as slow progress in commercial banks’ debt recovery. The high cost of the Voluntary Retirement Scheme also caused concerns about the rigidities in the labor laws, which not only made it expensive for the government to privatize state-owned banks, but also raised the cost of foreign private investment in Nepal and hence prevented healthy private sector growth. The WB’s assistance is thus based on fulfilling reforming labor laws by making it more flexible and investor friendly. The government has promised to introduce a new labor law and take action against the bank defaulters. Unions are, however, against any measure that curtails the rights of workers, such as job security, collective bargaining, right to employ foreign workers on contractual terms and weakening the workers’ welfare.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also provided ($ 72 million) Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Loans (PRGF) to support the Tenth Plan which is also Poverty Reduction Strategy paper (PRSP), maintenance of stable macroeconomic policies as well as structural reforms in the financial and public sectors. It is also pushing the government to adopt debt recovering mechanism and blacklisting of loan defaulters, privatization of unviable enterprises and improved governance. Despite economic liberalization Nepal’s economy is still least competitive and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) forms only 0.4 percent of total capital formation. There is also a lack of coordination between fiscal, monetary and development policies undertaken by Finance Ministry, Central Bank and National Planning Commission. The Finance Minister recently made a critical remark about the PRSP and the Tenth Plan for failing to link national security with development issues although all the donors in Nepal Development Forum (NDF) had said that PRSP provides a sound basis for achieving higher growth and poverty alleviation.

Challenges for the Unions

Economic freedom and property rights are crucial ingredients for economic growth. Globalization has shattered the base of feudalism in Nepal but it created a space for political radicalism which undermined the spirit of market, such as individual enterprise, invention and creativity. As a result, economic growth did not undermine authoritarian tendencies of elites and policy makers. Urban elites are still tradition bound. They do not accept union and party leaders coming from the grassroots and media owned by them are critical about their roles. Key challenges faced by the unions emerging from the liberalization and financial sector reforms in Nepal are:

Deteriorating security situation accompanying the destruction of infrastructure, unfavorable investment climate and growing global competition is constraining the development of sound financial system in the country. In conflict zone, workers mobility financial services and commodity markets have been disrupted affecting the service delivery for the poor.

Imposition of Essential Service Act curtailed the Freedom of Association and strike.

Downsizing of companies caused huge job layoffs

Voluntary Retirement Scheme and Compulsory Retirement Scheme cut the employment

The policy of labor flexibility and hire and fire pushed by the International Financial Institutions have increased job insecurity and distorted the Constitutional vision of Nepal for “right to work.”

The rightsizing the management has caused outsourcing the system of work.

Responses of the Unions

International economic integration, liberalization and financial deregulation have to be responded with the globalization of trade union movements reinforcing basic labor rights, decent work and universal values of freedom, justice and peace. This is the way to prevent the race to the bottom dynamics, add social dimension and bring globalization under democratic constitution, institution and practices and improved provision for global public goods. There are other responsibilities:

Organizing all banking, financial companies, insurance, cooperative, dhikutis and development sectors into union network.

Integrating youth and women into affiliate trade unions so that societal support to the union expands.

Relations with financial institutions of MNCs and bringing them into union coverage, promoting “framework agreement” and encouraging social dialogues invoking ILO standards and global rules.

Coalition building with National, Regional and Global Union Federation (GUF), Union Network International (UNI) SAFSUC, ITSes, ILO and labor related institutions for collective action.

Knowledge Building (Research, Publication and Dissemination):

Campaigning and crafting inter-movement solidarity. Global social movements have played important role to address important social questions and growing democratic deficit.

Strengthening Collective Bargaining Network and garner welfare benefits for the union members in particular and the society in general.

Policy mediation of the government and international regimes in favor of workers.

Role of women in the law to control arms

-Shobha Gautam, Nepal

During the past few months there has been a number of incidents involving women being affected by the conflict. A lady from Topgachhi VDC of Jhapa district, was taken out from her bed early morning, by the security forces and shot dead. A 22 years old lady in Belbari Jhapa was killed after being raped by security personnel; this was published in local newspapers. Similarly a few months ago, in Nagarkot, Bhaktapur a solider shot and killed nine innocent villagers with his rifle and then committed suicide by using the same gun.

In the pro democratic protest in-between April 5-25 '2006, 21 protesters were killed by bullet fire from soldiers, violating the rights of these people. In the same incident more than 1000 people received injuries, resulting in these protesters being compelled to live as a disabled or chronic diseased people.

The rights of local people are violated by the power of the gun whether this is inflicted by the security or rebel forces and these forces also can suffer mental distress.

According to a survey by the World Health organization (WHO) in 2001, conducted in the world's biggest refugee camp at Kakuma in Kenya, 32% of physical disabilities of the people in the camp were caused by bullet fire. Moreover survivors of armed violence outnumbered fatalities by a factor of three to four times, due to wounds by small arms.

At present Nepal is in the process of peace dialogue. Due to the 10 years long conflict, thousands of Nepalese soldier's, Maoist's and innocent local villagers are continuing to suffer with different types of disability arising from the conflict We face a society bearing the wounds and scars of the conflict with citizen's enduring loss of limbs, damaged eyes and fractured bones and other pains, because of the use of small arms.

We can see and feel the pains and scars of wounds in the people but no one is able to see the frustration of the women who were raped at gunpoint, and sometimes sexually abused or who have lost a family member. Distressed life will neither been seen by the normal eye nor the pain been measured on any scale up to now.

International action network on small arms (IANSA), had recently published data that around the world, everyday 1000 people were killed by guns, and more than five times that number injured. Because of this children and family members were facing a lot of problems as their guardians were killed in gunfire, children are orphaned and leading very miserable lives. Families are now becoming very poor and are under mental trauma. This is the reality, mainly created by the men misusing small arms.

Every country in the world holds guns legally or illegally. Organization working in arms control expressed the fact that illegal holding of arms are much more dangerous than the legal holdings. In most of cases legal arms were stolen and used by another person illegally.

If we speak about the Nepalese context, the government of Nepal owned guns. These legal guns were looted by the Maoist and used them illegally. In addition Maoist's had snatched guns from the security forces by attacking the army camps or by killing the security personnel holding arms for security and safety reasons.

Through the bordering areas of Nepal also, a lot of looting and theft of small arms has increased leading to violence and killing of innocent people.

Mainly men are involved and responsible in this illegal trade but women took the responsibility to hide and transfer the guns from one place to another.

It is not enough to talk about arms, as guns never distinguished between women and men, rich or poor, big or small, our near or dear ones, our friends or enemies

If someone possesses a gun he or she feels the power of superiority, and they may even kill members of their own family. In April 2006 we heard that an Indian Parliamentarian, Mr. Pramod Mahajan was killed by his own younger brother as an example of gun power.

In the same way a police officer in South Africa, committed suicide after shooting three women, a child and his four friends.

Whatever the incident or tragedy we have to explain, due to gun violence across the world, the main cause is the uncontrolled production and free movement or transfer of small arms. The main solution is arms control and management to avoid this small arms proliferation. Hence UNO is pressing to implement the arms trade treaty. Since 2001 to date, more than 700 civil society organizations including democratic campaigns, Human Rights activist's, organization working in the development sectors, women's organizations, religious groups, doctors, victims groups, intellectuals, lawyers have grouped under the network of International action network on small arms (IANSA) to actively engage in the campaign to stop small arms.

The members of this network have the sole objective to minimize the production of guns, support the gun victims, regulate and monitor the international arms trade treaty, help and insist that governments formulate and implement the arms laws and to make both the government and public aware of the effect of small arms.

In order to fulfill these objectives, the network member of IANSA, were celebrating IANSA week to highlight to the government and the parliamentarians the need to form/amend the laws to regulate the use of small arms. Moreover to raise awareness amongst the civil society, members of media houses and the general population about the problems caused by small arms and the policies that should be reformed quickly, These are some of the areas where IANSA network member are working hard to get the commitment for further change.

After a long bloody conflict, Nepal is now moving forward towards a successful peace process. In this situation a political solution is not the only and final solution for every problem. To achieve this there has to be a laying down of all the guns and arms, full disarmament, returning back the armies to their barracks, supporting the arms victims and prioritizing arms management as the vital agenda. Peace dialogue will manage the arms of the rebels groups, but for the 60% of guns that are in the hands of civilians these may be used illegally by them, and cause more damage in the future. This will not be regulated by the existing arms act of the county. Hence in order to regulate and monitor the arms another law should be passed, or the present law should be amended, very urgently covering the following issues

Control the illegal trade of arms

Proper documentation and storage of existing arms

Control the theft of those legally holding arms, which can be used illegally.

Formation of new laws, after deep gender analysis as women and children are the major victims of arms.

Accept the women's involvement in formulating laws and new legislation

From June 26 to July 7 a review meeting in UN, to deal with and review arms control will be held. That meeting will discus the impact of arms, how arms are fueling the conflicts, how arms are hindering development processes and the global standards that should be formed to control arms. Likewise the importance to regulate arms of the civilians, coordinating the efforts to eliminate poverty and to avoid the violence caused by arms.

For this Nepal must be an active and committed participant.

To Langtang: My Analysis

-Rajendra Dangol, Executive Director, Adventure Third Pole Treks, Nepal

When everyone is speaking about Sustainable Tourism Development, a familiarization trip to Langtang for private sector, journalists and other stakeholders was conducted from Nov 12-21, 2005 jointly by Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Programme, Sustainable Tourism Network and Nepal Tourism Board.

In spite of the information about Langtang Festival through local newspapers, TV channels and articles, it had not been confirmed whether it would make a big difference but one thing was sure that people who knew about it would have surely visited Rasuwa at least once.

Participating in the trip was a golden opportunity to meet and interact with the local people of the Goljung, Gatlang, Tatopani, Thuman, Timure, Rasuwagadhi and Briddim. Interacting with them, I came to know that they were filled with enthusiasm and keen interest in promoting tourism and about its future.

the main attraction of the trip was 7245 m. Iong Langtang-Le-Root and Tibet's Kerung seen from Nagthali situated at the height of 3300 m, Thuman and Briddim's home stay, and Tatopani's canal situated at 2600m which contains the hottest water of around 40 degrees. Tatopani has been divided into three ponds, situated 10m away from the canal. It is believed that taking bath in this pond cures skin and other diseases. Through home-stay in Thuman and Briddim, it has become very convenient to know about the culture and tradition, lifestyle and dress of the Tamang people. But the problem was that the guests after such a long exhausted trip had to roam around the village looking for a house to stay in which was decided by the management.

TRPAP has been working in identifying new model destinations for tourism and developing it by organizing encouraging programs, supporting community lodge financially, home stay facilities and imparting training etc. We stayed for 2 nights in the Community Lodge in Gatlang and Tatopani developed by TRPAP where at least 25 people could stay very easily.

As tourism is just in the starting phase in these places, it is still not practical for tourist to visit the place for lack of facilities. But if only 10-20 tourists visit the place daily then the concept of tea houses will develop accordingly which may also bring, changes in villages included in Tamang Heritage Trail like Syabrubeshi.

Our trip started from Old Root's Lama Hotel to Kayngjin Gompa which included Balgoj, Gatlang, Tatopani. Thuman and Briddim where we were welcomed with warm wishes. The local people entertained us with the Cultural Program which included the "Funny Lama Dance" presented by locals wearing dresses like Gaijatra's Khyalis. But as the dance continued it started getting more and more vulgar because of which watching it with the ladies was awkward. So, slowly one by one everyone started moving out.

Even in Kyangjin Gompa we experienced a very rude hospitality. The staff at one teahouse treated us with inferiority, as we were Nepalese tourist. Foreign tourist must be treated well but that doesn't mean our own Nepalese tourists deserve a bad treatment. If this continues in the future then this will be the main obstacle in the development of domestic tourism.

The trip ended with some good and bad experiences like warm welcome and smiling departure, which still reminds me of the trip. But only remembering is no good, some efforts should be made in order to develop it, as Rasuwa is also one of the historical places of Nepal.

Rasuwa where majority of Tamangs live has it's own original and unique culture and tradition like Tamang Selo's Kaaljayi songs and dances with original traditional dresses which added flavor to the festival.

In spite of being unfamiliar with each other, we developed a good relationship and friendship with each other in a very short period of time, which made the long exhausted trip an interesting one. To make the trip more interesting I cracked jokes of the "Funny Lama Dance" in between. While returning back home , with a mix of good and bad experiences, every single person in the trip including myself committed that it was a lifetime memorable trip.

Text courtesy: The NTTR January 30 - February 05, 2006-ed.

Big change comes in Small Kits

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

RAM BAZAR, KASKI DISTRICT, POKHARA

To reach the poorest and most marginalized groups, seeing is believing. So, to convince women and low-caste farmers in Nepal highlands to invest in low-intensity, high-return drip irrigation kits, workers from an Asian Development Bank (ADB) pilot project took target ben­eficiaries to meet Sabitri Bhandari.

Ms. Bhandari is a 25-year-old mother of two in Ram Bazar, a farming community at the foot of the Kaski district uplands outside the lakeside town of Pokhara. It is the site of a Pilot and Demonstration Activity (PDA) on drip irrigation for mar­ginalized farming households.

Ms. Bhandari is not your typical drip ­irrigation farmer, though. She is literate, a high school graduate, owns a small but prime lowland plot, and is from a higher caste. Those differences, however, did not matter as much as what she had to show ­the windfall growing in her backyard since investing in a micro-drip irrigation kit.

In the first 6 months of using the simple drip kit, she earned a year's worth of in­come. She now grows during the dry sea­son, buys seeds for valuable cash crops, and sends her children to a better school. The garden that once supplied only her kitchen is now a profitable and expanding marker enterprise.

"Before, our food was our income," she says. "We couldn't sell what we grew. It was just for personal consumption."

Ms. Bandhari was a beneficiary-participant in a project by the International Development Initiatives (IDE), an interna­tional non-government organization (NGO) spearheading the development and intro­duction of micro-drip irrigation technology.

Drip as Pro-Woman, Pro-Rural

In September 2003, ADB initiated the PDA in two communities in Kaski district. The PDA from the Cooperation Fund for the Water Sector-an ADB program that offers $50,000 grants for fast-track imple­mentation and testing of innovative ideas for possible scaling up-tested the effec­tiveness of drip irrigation and its adoption among women and disadvantaged farmers. The pilot and demonstration project was implemented over 7 months.

Drip is especially suitable for women because it capitalizes on the traditional role of women and vegetable gardening. "Rural poverty has a woman's face," says Rajendra Shrestha, the project director and senior agricultural and resource economist.

In Nepal, about 90% of women are en­gaged in agricultural activities compared with 64% of men. "Women's role in irri­gated agriculture will assume more impor­tance as increasing numbers of poor men leave their homes to seek employment elsewhere," Mr. Shrestha says.

Places like Kaski's upland farms are perfect for drip irrigation. These farms do not have access to surface irrigation from streams, and flood irrigation is not suit­able for sloped hill terraces. They typically rely on rainwater. Where irrigation is avail­able, farmers mainly use inefficient tradi­tional methods. The rural situation has also become increasingly stressed from an ongoing Maoist insurgency.

"Female-headed households and farm­ related work burden has increased dramati­cally because male members are migrating either to escape the insurgents or to seek employment," Mr. Shestha says.

Selling Drip

Recruiting ideal participants for the PDA-woman and low caste-became the first challenge for the project team.

"The farmers targeted are very poor and they could not invest in the kit," says Prabha Basnyat Adhikari, a project orga­nizer for the PDA. Unlike IDE projects that require beneficiaries to purchase the drip kit, ADB's pilot project offered a 60% subsidy to disadvantaged farmers. Benefi­ciaries had to come up with the remain­ing balance.

Despite the subsidies, lower caste households remained reluctant to try the system. Demonstrations were still not enough to quell their high adversity to risk. The project adjusted and pushed through with participants from a variety of economic statuses, not just the lowest caste members. Women remained a pri­mary participant group, which organized a government-registered group.

IDE's Gambar Singh Thapa has been training Nepal farmers in drip irrigation since 1998 and was initially skeptical of a project that required project beneficiaries to buy in. "Their initiative and excite­ment, though, was enough to make it happen," he says. Also, "it is an immediate ­result program. So when the results start coming, they believe it is the best thing they have seen. It's only a matter of time then before more farmers come forward to adopt the method."

Reaping from Drip

At evaluation time, participants reported a two- to threefold increase in income since installing the drip kit. They were growing more valuable crops than traditional legumes and cereals. They were also saving time and energy, as well as noticing a better quality of soil produced from using the drip kits.

Before the project, only 20% of farm­ers grew vegetables compared with 100% of project farmers now. A third of these are consumed, and the rest are sold in the market. "Most drip farmers will use their additional income on education for their kids or home improvements-better roofs and floors, cooking utensils," IDE's Mr. Thapa says.

While project beneficiaries reported great savings in time and energy, a field visit to Kaski in May 2005 gave women beneficiaries a chance to talk about the re­maining challenges. For one, they were unable to maximize the drip kits because of a separate water issue-water supply. Distance from a water source is a key determinant for drip adoption. Most drip users in Kaski live less than a half kilometer away from a water source. However, the most disadvantaged farmers-the dalits-generally live twice as far from a water source. Most users must also haul water from tap stands to fill the drip kit's over­head tank. Drinking water then becomes irrigation water. Women estimate that each household would have to spend 4 hours daily hauling water if drip kits were used at full capacity. And the bulk of that haul­ing would rest on their shoulders.

"In our homes and on our farms, there is a vast imbalance between us women and the men," says Prabha Adhikary, one of the beneficiaries. "Yes, men say 'Sure, you can work and do the project.' But we still have to do all the household chores. That's not practical. And they may say one thing in a meeting but another thing at home."

"It's heavy to carry all that water, but its women's work," her daughter, Sarmila, 19, says. "If there are no women in the home, the men will do it. Otherwise, they are sit­ting, eating and meeting.

The Future of Drip

IDE and some Nepal non-government or­ganizations are promoting drip irrigation to about 20,000 farmers in seven districts in the country's west and mid-west regions. (under this program, 3,400 farmers are from the disadvantaged hill districts. ADB is also currently designing a project to up­scale the pilot and demonstration project.

Drip users themselves represent the future of this technology. Organized into registered users' associations, they intro­duce the method to new farmers and help erase its perceived risks.

In helping other farmers, the beneficiary women in Kaski district found power in numbers. "[The project] has brought soli­darity among ourselves," Ms. Adhikary says. "If we do this individually, there is a bur­den financially and physically. It is easier if we share it. This is our pride now."