Push From The Left
As Maoists clamor for immediate republic announcement, PM Koirala tries to apply brakes on red motion
By SANJAYA DHAKAL
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Prachanda: Fiery talk |
Keeping their promise of launching all round agitation from the government, parliament and the street to push for immediate republic announcement, the Maoists have registered a motion of public importance on republic at the parliament secretariat on Sunday.
Along with registering the motion, they also handed over a petition containing 1.5 million signatures demanding republic to Speaker Subas Nemwang. They formed a human chain around the central secretariat of Singhdurbar for hours on Sunday to press for republic.
Addressing a street meeting following these moves, senior Maoist leader CP Gajurel claimed that this was their ‘rehearsal of the third round of agitation.’
The Maoists have said they had to introduce the motion because reactionaries were attempting to derail the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections.
The Maoists’ republic motion, however, seems to have rung alarm bells among the seven party camp with most of the senior leaders expressing surprise and distrust.
Ram Chandra Poudel, general secretary of Nepali Congress (NC), expressed surprise over the ‘light and immature’ manner in which the Maoists registered the motion of public importance. He said that such a proposal coming from a ‘revolutionary party’ was a surprising move and added that it would only strengthen the monarchists.
Amrit Bohara, senior leader of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML), said the declaration of republic should come through CA or referendum and not through a haphazard procedure. “It (republic) is our demand also. But we think it should come through a procedure of CA or referendum. Sovereign people should be allowed to decide,” he said. Likewise, Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, central member of Nepali Congress (Democratic), said that the proposal could be a game to by-pass the CA process.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, himself, dismissed the Maoist motion. Talking to reporters on Monday (May 14) in Biratnagar, Koirala merely said that it is the Maoists’ right to do so.
“But Nepali Congress is a responsible party and it will not decide on republic based on whims,” Koirala said, in a clear indication that he was averse to the Maoist proposal of announcing republic through the parliament.
“Republic is not something that comes out from any announcement. Already 80 percent of King’s rights and privileges have been ended. Once the remaining 20 percent are ended, then republic will be announced,” Koirala said.
A day before they registered the motion at the parliament, Maoist chairman Prachanda had warned ‘domestic and foreign reactionaries’ against undermining the strength of the Maoists and misconstruing their flexibility for weakness.
Addressing a meet of All Nepal People’s Health Workers in Lalitpur, on Saturday, Prachanda said his party had abandoned some of its positions for progressive march, which, he warned, should not be misread as their weakness.
“There is no justification for our People’s Liberation Army to suffer in cantonments if the parliament does not announce republic,” he said. Prachanda added that responsibility of any consequence resulting from PLA’s march out of cantonment will rest on seven parties.
Furthermore, marching ahead on their plan of larger communist unity, Maoists have brought into their fold three smaller leftist outfits in recent weeks.
This week, Bhim Bahadur Kathayat-led Loktantrik Ganatantrik Morcha merged with the Maoists. At a program organized to welcome the Morcha, Prachanda reiterated the need to forge larger communist unity. “We have no ego. We want communist unity based on new thought. Those against the unity in the UML must be exposed,” he said.
Kathayat’s outfit is the latest to merge with the Maoists. Last week, another Republic Front led by Dr. Ram Man Shrestha had merged with the Maoists. Likewise, Keshab Nepal-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN-2006) had merged with the Maoists a few months ago. The Maoists are planning to induct another leftist outfit led by veteran communist leader Krishna Das in a few days.
In an interesting development, weeks after Prachanda had held a serious deliberations with the UML leadership on the issue of larger communist unity, the top UML leaders are now speaking in different tones.
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of UML, has been making a series of remarks ruling out the possibility of unity with the Maoists at this juncture. Addressing a program by the party in Balkhu on Saturday (May 12), Nepal ruled out the possibility of unity with the Maoists in near future.
“Owing to different viewpoint of looking at Marxism, international situation and domestic reasons, unity is impossible at this point,” Nepal said. “We believe in plural democracy but they have their Prachandapath. We are working for democratic republic while they are in the process of transformation,” he said. Nepal added that failure to return seized properties and lack of improvement in Maoist behavior were also hindering the unity process. “There can be no unity before there is unity of ideology and practice. Unity in haste will lead to split again,” he said.
Interestingly, Nepal went on to add that talks of communist unity were the reason why eight party meeting had not taken place. He issued an appeal to all concerned not to get worried by this proposal of communist unity.
REMITTANCE SHARES 16.8 PERCENT OF GDP
With a continuous rise in the inflow of remittances, money earned by Nepalis working overseas has become a vibrant contributor to the gross domestic products (GDP) of the country. It has surpassed exports as the top contributor to foreign exchange earnings, reports The Himalayan Times daily.
A significant rise in the contribution by remittances to the GDP from 11.5 per cent in 2000-01 to 16.8 per cent in 2005-06 is a clear testament that its role in the national economy is gaining stature. It has now positioned itself as the top contributor to foreign exchange earnings for the last five years. This was revealed in a Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) report on ‘Inflow of Workers’ Remittances: Nepal ’s Experiences’ presented at SAARC-Finance seminar on Management of Workers’ Remittances in SAARC Countries, on Wednesday (May 9).
The share of remittances in total foreign exchange earnings increased from 36.6 per cent in 2003-04 to 46.7 per cent in 2005-06, whereas the corresponding share of exports dropped to 29.4 per cent in 2005-06 from 34.5 per cent in 2003-04. The growing remittances have led to a surplus in the current account, thereby strengthening the overall balance of payment position. The share of remittances in total current account soared to 46.7 per cent from 29.8 per cent in the past five years. Growth of 26 per cent in convertible currency reserves of the banking system is also due to increasing remittances.
The report also shows that the inflow of remittances through official channels registered a dramatic rise from Rs 47.53 billion in 2001-02 to Rs 97.68 billion in 2005-06. However, it doesn’t take into account the flow through informal channels, as the econometric analysis and available household surveys show that unrecorded flows through informal channels may add 50 per cent or more to recorded flows. Quoting the findings of the Nepal Living Standards Survey-II, the report says that remittances have had a positive effect on the economy through various channels such as savings, investment, growth, consumption, poverty alleviation and income distribution.
However, it has cautioned that the use of remittances have been more concentrated in unproductive sectors like real estate and daily consumption. It has pointed out the need for policies to encourage the use of remittances to promote longer-term growth and income security.
Nepal needs to further devise policies that send more remittances through official channels, increase the levels of remittances by encouraging migrants to hold their savings in financial assets rather than holding them abroad and encourage migrants to become investors in productive assets in the country. Lauding the role played by remittances in socio-economic development in the region, NRB governor Bijaya Nath Bhattarai pointed out that there lies a challenge of steering remittance flows through formal channels and towards productive use.
