Provide relief immediately

Flash floods caused due to in cessant rain across the country since the last few days have displaced thousands of people, damaged highways and destroyed standing crops worth millions of rupees. This is no doubt a natural calamity. It however does not mean that the government should not stay prepared with preventive measures to minimize damages as well as to provide relief to the victims. The need for preparations cannot be overemphasized especially because the government is well aware that such calamities occur every year.  Had the government been adequately prepared this time, so much of destruction and loss of lives would not have taken place.

Every year, floods and landslides across the country kill hundreds of people and livestock and destroy property worth millions of rupees. As a result of the recent floods, over 300 people are stranded in a village surrounded by the Narayani river. They are still cut off from the rest of the country. More than one hundred people affected by the Karnali river were taken by boats from Kailali district to a safer place.   Prithvi highway  which connects the capital city with eastern and western parts of the country, has been blocked due to landslides. This has affected the movement of goods and people. Landslides on Arniko highway in Daklang area of Sindhupalchowk have blocked a two hundred meter long segment of the highway, disconnecting Dolakha and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China from Kathmandu. The Kalinadi river has submerged most parts of the Janakpur-Jaleswore railway and the Kamala river and its tributaries have delinked the central terai district from India.

Besides virtually crippling all transport and affecting normal   activities across the country for about a week, property worth millions of rupees has been destroyed. This is something the government cannot ignore. Neither does it have the comforting excuse of 'natural calamity' that will enable it to neglect the calamity. The government however has neither despatched foodgrains, clothes, medicine and other essential commodities to affected areas, nor has it taken any emergency measures to provide relief to the flood victims. If the government does not provide relief materials and medical supplies in time, there is bound to be an outbreak of disease after the rains abate. This will further complicate the resettlement of flood victims.  It must therefore treat the problems of flood victims as urgent and act immediately. In the interest of the country, the squabbling parties in parliament would do well to come together for a relief mobilization programme.

Living with democracy

By Sanjaya Serchan

The recent brouhaha over the comments by an individual against the present polity and even against the person of the Prime Minister has brought to the fore the thin line dividing liberty from license and freedom of speech from innuendo. This points to the challenges in institutionalizing liberal democracy in the country and encapsulates, in one small incident, the dilemmas facing us.   

A fundamental premise of democracy is the right of individuals to hold and express their opinions freely. This fundamental right is basic to democracy, even more basic, it could be argued, than the changing of governments through periodic elections. One negative fallout of this right is that occasionally foolish, bizarre and even malicious points of view come before the public. This price has to be paid because, as John Stuart Mill pointed out in his classic argument over a century ago, if we start stifling opinions in the name of convention, there is the very likelihood that we will go on to curb even what may prove to be, in the long run, beneficial to humanity. After all, the idealism of today, as has been remarked, can be the realism of tomorrow. This is amply illustrated by the inventions and discoveries, the progresses in knowledge that have occurred during the course of human history.

The basic feature of a liberal society, namely, the right to differ and dissent, often runs counter to those in power. The attempt to ultimately control not only space but also time (the past as well as future) by controlling the here and now, after all, is a characteristic of governments, and even more so of totalitarian governments. One basic objective of government is stability with the ultimate aim of perpetuating itself in power, while the aim of writers, scientists and thinkers is often 'change' (for the better, according to their lights), there is an inherent conflict and contradiction between the two. In a developing society with short democratic history, the balance in this conflict may unfavourably, and often dangerously, be tilted towards the state.

The present Nepalese society, given its long history of autocratic rule, often evinces tyrannical tendencies, although in a subtle manner. This manifests itself in not very people-friendly rules and regulations and in efforts to centralize planning, policies and programmes by a government encouraging patronage. Even the present constitution, despite claims of being democratic, has certain provisions, including the ones related to religion and language, that are inimical to change. In this context, the constitution and our society in general can be said to be, to use a term from research methodology, 'close-ended' and not 'open-ended'. Just as a close-ended question in research forces the respondent to choose from the answers already provided along with the question, the powers that be want common folks to conduct their lives within the already prescribed boundaries.

The centralizing tendency of the state often verges on the petty, and would be laughable if it were not an indication of the pervasive and insidious attitude of those in power to see themselves as the initiators, setters of limits and the all-powerful arbiters of societal intercourse. An instance that could be cited in this regard is the action taken by police some time ago to cut the hair of the youth. Another example could be the arresting of couples in restaurants and hotels for what is called indecent conduct. A more serious case concerns the provisions in the Compensation against Torture Act, 1997, which discourage the aggrieved. Another recent and serious example is the extra-judicial killing of citizens in the name of suppressing Maoists fighting against the present political system. The various examples-petty, perverse, ominous and otherwise-are indications of the low level of tolerance and respect in our society for the opinions and ways of others.

As far as the current controversy is concerned, while the incitement  to violence is worthy of a civilized reprimand, more alarming is the notice of "a legal action against those expressing views against the sentiments of the multi-party system and constitution." This is a blatant contravention of liberal and democratic values and, moreover, is a form of the subtle and silent violence inflicted by the state on individual. It will, by curbing the free expression of ideas through peaceful means, only encourage violent alternatives.

The upheavals, controversies and debates following 1990, along with   multifarious impact on other spheres have also drawn a clear demarcating line between two groups of people in our society: Those wanting to maintain the status quo and those who want change. While the former is seen as the succour of the past, the nostalgia of history written by their own brethren, the latter, spurred by the relatively open environment has emerged after 1990 and is trying to wrest control of history and to rewrite the future.  

If, in this context, western thinkers are occasionally invoked, it is because they have relevance for us as well. The Mills, Marxes and Russells all attempted to provide, in their own times and places, answers to the contradiction between the individual and society, freedom and justice, and the particular and the universal. It is to their credit that, unlike many thinkers in this part of the world who took solace away from society, they put forward their answers within a social context. Their output is not merely "academic" creations but flesh-and-blood treatises. Even our intellectuals, with their study rooms lined with books by these very thinkers, to be gazed upon admiringly by visitors, sometimes,  forget, in their opportunistic complacency, the struggle and strife undergone in the writing of books. The fates of Galileo, Darwin, not to mention Guirdino Bruno, are of course quite far from their minds.

The struggles, as we move ahead on the path uncovered by the change of 1990, call forth not only knowledge but also wisdom, courage and sacrifice. The degree to which we can bring these qualities in good measure will play a large part in our efforts to create a more humane society.

Problem of our own

By Smriti Dhungel

I think the tourism boards has done a wonderful job with their musu musu hadideu advertisement I am really fascinated by the beauty, and serenity of Nepal shown in Star TV channels. It makes me feel immensely proud every time I look at the advertisement but my pride was badly shaken when I see the reality. On my way to college, I and a friend of mine are habituated to running past the mountain of garbage. I guess this garbage will become  a mountain some day, I know our country is fully endowed with big mountains but it's a sad fact that our municipality has a sense of want in depicting a normal Kathmandu as it is toddy, and without the garbage, Kathmandu would seem strange, don't you think. I know this is an issue, which  comes repeatedly in the newspapers, but the sad fact is that nobody's concerned. I think we are all aware by now that municipality is fast asleep or maybe they are too busy with other issues of greater concern than a mere garbage problem. Rather than spend so much money on advertisements to lure tourists everyone would rather appreciate it to see the simple problem of garbage being solved . This could otherwise bring about serious catastrophe in our city in the years to come.

It is a sad fact that our govt is engrossed in greater things like foreign investments where most Nepalese even in a capital like Kathmandu have to suffer from simple issues such as drinking water. We rejoice the days that we get water in our homes and fearing the days that water is not available, as buying water is an expensive affair for most of us living here.

Just the other day, I had the opportunity to visit a far relation at Bir Hospital, a renowned and popular hospital within Kathmandu; but what I saw there made my hair stand on end. It horrified me to see the scenario that existed in the supposedly renowned national hospital. I bet a healthy person would catch some kind of disease on entering. The air was foul smelling as it came from the latrine, which was dirty and unclean. The whole place was smelly and unswept and I failed to even see a single doctor in sight although it is a reputed hospital? It was a Saturday of course and who would spend their afternoon in a lousy hospital that too a stinking one. I couldn't stay there for a minute and I pitied the doctors.

I am not writing this article to criticize our system as I definitely would not get much from it, I only wish our govt would focus on necessary issues rather than on how to conspire against each other and find ways to stay in power as we all know the dirty tactics of Nepalese politics by now for  politicians are bought and sold in a market of its own. These are issues that are undoubtedly affecting the lives of many but if the govt fails to perform I fear our democracy will lie along with  the piles of garbage nothing more than that and nothing less.

Balance of payments in Nepal's perspective

By Dr Hari Pokharel

Nepal has traditionally run large trade and current account deficits, which have been offset by equally large capital account surpluses. It has never rescheduled its debt and even today, maintains foreign reserves sufficient to cover five to seven months of imports, depending on whether one includes Indian rupee in one's definition of hard currency reserves.

Just to recapitulate, in the fiscal year 1995/96, Nepal ran an overall balance of payments deficit of approximately USD 22 million, as a surge in imports, brought on by a surge in government expenditures, and stagnating exports created a large trade deficit, which could only partially be offset by a net surplus in the combined services, transfers and capital accounts. However, prompt action by the government in restraining government expenditure and reducing inflation has helped correct this imbalance.

Nepal's export trade has continued to grow steadily. The balance of payments continues to stand in Nepal's favour placing Nepal in a position to sustain the increasing import volume. The impact of the liberal policy Nepal adopted in this period in respect to foreign exchange has also remained in Nepal's favour despite serious doubts expressed by some quarters about its viability.

It is evidenced by the continued increase in Nepal's foreign exchange to sustain import of ten months. This decade has also witnessed a broadening of capacity to mobilize savings and to invest through financial institutions. Balance of payments during the six months of the previous fiscal year continued to be favourable by  Rs 5,792 million.

As all of us know, foreigners may contribute their labour capital or managerial skill towards the production of goods and services in Nepal, and payment for those services leave the domestic system and go into external sector. Let us think of the Marwari businessman as  an example. He contributes to the overall flow of goods and services in the Nepalese economy and transfers his profits to India. Let us use this example as a general symbol for " factor remuneration to the foreign sector. This has changed little following the liberalisation of the economy and deregulation, delicensing and the trade liberalisation.

To complete the picture, let us ask whether the public receives income from the foreign sector for services rendered abroad. It is not difficult to find examples of this: Nepalese nationals crossing into India and sending their earnings back home.

Let us use the Gurkha soldiers in the armies of foreign countries as a symbol for this kind of money flow, remembering that the Gurkha stands for factor income from foreign service sector. We have an open economy in the sense that it is linked to the world economy. When we look at the inflow side of the Balance of Payments there comes: Exports and the remittances from Gurkhas whereas the outflow column shows imports and the income from Payments  from  Marwaris. If both sides are not in balance, that is, if imports plus Marwari's remittances exceed the sum of export earnings and Gurkha remittances, our reserves of foreign exchange would be depleted by the excess amount and in item reduction in foreign reserves" on the left hand side would bring the statement to a formal bookkeeping balance. If this continued year after year, accommodating measures like export drives, import restrictions, exchange rate adjustments etc, would be become necessary.

Although it is encouraging to note the increased level of foreign exchange reserves in the country, it does not make economic senses to keep the reserves idle. Unnecessary holding of foreign exchange reserve will deprive the country of many possible benefits. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly necessary to keep foreign exchange reserves within a certain limit and to adopt a comprehensive policy utilizing foreign exchange reserve in excess of the minimum required limit.