A tame document

The National Convention of Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist-Leninist (CPN-ML) concluded the other day by endorsing the political document that hardly supports country’s good governance. This was the first National Convention that the CPN-ML organized since it broke away from the CPN-UML thirty-three months ago. Besides, it was absolutely necessary for the CPN-ML to project its future course and vision if it were to win the people’s confidence. When the Maoists have taken recourse to guns and launched nationwide campaign against the establishment, the attitude of the CPN-ML towards the Maoists cannot be taken lightly. However, the CPN-ML endorsed a radical political document which had an uncanny similarity of views with those of the Maoist insurgents.

The National Convention of the CPN-ML had, at the outset, decided to elect a new National Council after annulling the Central Committee. If the convention had opted for such a method, it would have been in keeping with democratic norms. Unfortunately, that did not happen. What happened was that the convention nominated members for the Central Committee and other politburo members without any terms and condition. Although the meeting had annulled the system of two types of issuing party membership, it did not specify why the convention introduced a system that was undemocratic in its form and content. A total of five political documents tabled at the end of the National Convention generated some heat due to differences of opinion within the party. However, the party ultimately had to tamely endorse the political document presented by none other than its General Secretary Bamdev Gautam.

The weeklong National Convention of the CPN-UML that formed various committees including a 46-member Central Committee; a 19-member Advisory Committee; a seven-member Central Judiciary Committee and a six-member Auditing Committee. The convention neither went ahead with the idea of setting up the National Council nor was there any formality maintained while forming the Central Committee. It appeared more a political demonstration gathered to raise the voice against the establishment than to provide a better environment for the development of the party. Although educational institutions remained closed throughout the convention, not a single leader raised the voice on this score. Neither did the convention come up with a measure to deal with the four-and-half-year-old Maoist problem. All these indicate that, no matter what the CPN-ML intends to do, the first National Convention of the CPN-ML failed to produce the political document that directs the country towards economic and social development. It is also a fact that the outcome of the convention has underlined a mechanism that is divorced from the real needs of the country.

Good governance and corruption

By Dr Shreedhar Gautam

The fact that a crisis of governance exists in Nepal is too obvious to laborate. Instances of lack of governance and misgovernance are far too many to mention. The state has withered away in parts, especially in the Maoist affected districts of western Nepal. Pervasive nepotism, misappropriation of state funds, absence of transparency and accountability in public administration, lack of respect for the rule or ethical behaviour in public life are manifested so vividly that they hardly need any illustration.

Different factors are responsible for excessive corruption and other ills seen in society, but among all of them, the continuing feudal nature of Nepalese society lies at the heart of this phenomenon. Despite the wave of modernization and restoration of multiparty democracy a decade ago, core values and attitudes remain firmly embedded in the age-old traditions. The result is a propensity of the state to rule, but not to govern, which signifies incompetent governance. This situation will deteriorate in the context of solely profit based globalization which can further worsen human security and governance in coming years.

The concept of humane governance has gained significance in its conceptualized meaning.

According to the report on Human Development in South Asia, 1999, currently voters in South Asian countries only vote whereas they should be able to shape their own governance. Humane governance has "three dimensions - good political governance, good economic governance and good civic governance". Proceeding on the assumption that governance has been captured by easily, identifiable special interest groups in a state, the report notes that good political governance requires decentralization of power, accountability and transparency in public affairs, access to prompt and affordable justice; elimination of discrimination against women and, finally, maintenance of peace and social cohesion within the state.

The basic function of the state is to maintain law and order. The nexus between corrupt individuals and political parties has, however, deteriorated the quality of governance. The government cannot arrest and prosecute criminals tied up with politicians for the fear of backlash. It is for this reason there has been a steady growth of smuggling and criminal gangs which function as economic lobbies. They have developed an extensive network with top bureaucrats and politicians. These mafia organizations can exercise their money and muscle power at their will as they know that politicians are dependent not on the goodwill and trust of people, but on the unconstitutional power groups that ensure their survival. It is for this reason that successive governments have refrained from adopting progressive measures for the poor.

Good or humane governance will remain a mirage as long as people remain silent over vital issues. Strong voices must be raised from people’s level to break the bond between corrupt power brokers and political leaders. Election Commission can also play a positive role in the direction of good governance by providing adequate information regarding the antecedents of political representatives so that minimum vigilant could be maintained on the leaders right from the grass root level. Voters should be informed about the criminal record, if any, of the candidate seeking election to the parliament and local bodies. This, however, presumes that voters
are unaware of candidate’s dubious reputation.

This is very vital because democracy depends on elections and elections in turn depend on voters. If voters are uninformed, democracy suffers. Mafia groups should not get a chance to elect political leaders and hold governance at ransom. So, persons formally charged of a crime should not be allowed to stand for election until they are acquitted. Voters should have the right to know the full antecedents of the characters they vote for. Those who fight for public office cannot hide anything in the name of privacy. They should not resist crucial information to the public.

Good governance cannot be realized as long as helplessness and despair against corruption persist in the country. So, we should be able to weed out corruption in high places, wipe out every trace of nepotism, love of power, profiteering and black marketing. For this, the political leaders should be sincere enough to take bolder efforts to cleanse the system. On the other hand, people have to be at the forefront of the fight against corruption and criminalisation of politics.

Though the pressure of mere survival forces people to seek shortcuts and loopholes, we have to laud every effort in this direction so that a real beginning can be made. There is, no doubt, that people have to be in the forefront in the fight against corruption; equally important aspect of the good governance is that the head of the government should himself be honest and strive hard to induct honest people committed to a vision of prosperous Nepal into his cabinet.

At present, fingers are raised at some ministers and confidantes of the Prime Minister, but he has resisted the demand a severe action to cleanse the system because the leader himself is not above suspicion. Today, politicians and parties are attempting to build vote bank networks. They organize their networks of resource collection, distribution, which finally lead to political and economic corruption.

If this process is not stopped, populist - welfare packages for socially and economically disadvantaged groups will turn into patron-client network. The fragile political situation of the country is also an additional factor for misgovernance. Because of transitory nature of governments, long development investment has proved to be golden opportunities for misuse at political and bureaucratic level. Today nobody gets surprised even when the Prime Minister’s office is involved in corruption as all know that corruption has become a national phenomenon. But one must accept the fact that corruption and good governance cannot move hand in hand.

Sociology in politics

By Nabin Rawal

Congress, Communists, Nationalists, Maoists, Revolutionaries, Ultranationalists .....the list is endless. It reminds me of the Readers Digest's "It pays to enrich your word power". And of all the things, it has certainly strengthened the vocabulary of the Nepalese. More so, with the reinstallation of democracy or DemonOcracy (Democrazy sounds better, I think). Finally after all these years, I have been able to find an answer to the question as to why we cannot use those words at crucial times, which we mugged up during our school days. The fact is that those words were never meant for us or our lifestyle - it is as simple as that.

So now I have come to terms with a new paradigm that is in vogue in this contemporary Nepalese society. Gone were those days when religion was considered to be the way of life, there has certainly been a major paradigm shift and, indeed, it is a force to reckon with, well now surely anyone can say politics is the way of life and its effect can be seen and felt just everywhere. Take for instance, the kinship terminologies that were a part of our society in the past. During those days Ram, Shyam and Hari were kaka, mama or dai, but now they are either Congress-ee or Communist or Maoist and what not. Well, these are the kind of kinship terminologies that have cropped up in this society. And believe me as long as this paradigm persists we will formulate a host of new kinship terminologies. On one hand, genealogists will have quite a task, while on the other hand, social scientists of Nepal do not have to be bogged down by terminology tantrums anymore since they can categorize any Tom, Dick and Harry, or in our case, any Ram, Shyam and Hari with the newly acquired words that have become a part of our lives. The most striking effect of this paradigm shift can be seen in social stratification, in terms of status, life chances, income and so on, have undergone a tremendous change but this shift is directly proportional to the political party in power. When it’s the Nepali Congress (the self-proclaimed icon of democracy) in power, the Congress-ees are at the highest strata of the society and this rule applies to all other political parties as well and the perks they enjoy are of the highest form as well, not to mention the "Lauda Lullaby" that is making quite a sensation (ill-sation?). By the way, social mobility (in our case the vertical movement up the hierarchical ladder resulting from the access to power which justifies the systematic pillage in all forms) which is so common a term in social stratification that it is not only limited to the political party in power. Surprisingly enough, mobility is of major concern to the (left-out) members of the political party in power. That is why we have those infamous initials like KP and GP or MKN and KPO and this trend can be generalized in case of the whole society as well. Guess what? The signature campaigns and behind the scene conspiracies are all the outcome of this paradigm shift, which has been solely invented to understand the term social stratification. I guess the famous Functionalists Kingsley and Moore would certainly have to review their "Functional Theory of Stratification", if it is to be applied to our contemporary Nepali society.

Electronic media and our literary landscapes

By Pratyoush Onta

Since 1999 (perhaps from earlier), many seminars and discussions have been held in our country on the subject of electronic media during the 21st century and its impact on our languages and literatures. Some of the arguments made on such occasions by various commentators have found their way to the op-ed or literary pages of our print media or have been discussed in radio and TV programmes. While a detailed historical analysis of the relationship between electronic media and our literatures remains to be done, Tanka Upreti has provided a useful account of the presence of Nepali language literature in radio and television in Madhuparka (Push 2057 issue). This debate needs further participation and this essay is an effort in that direction.

Every time I hear the expression "electronic media during the 21st century", my mind rushes to construct a personal history of communication -oriented technology for the past 15-16 years. When I became a first-year college student at Brandeis University in the suburb of Boston in northeastern USA in August 1984, I could not make a direct phone call to Kathmandu. The necessary infrastructure for such communication was not yet there, and operator-assisted calls were notoriously expensive. Direct calls became available only a couple of years later (if my memory serves me right).

In 1984, personal computers were available in the US market but they were very expensive. In the dormitory where I lived (consisting of a four-building set), no more than five students (among more
than a hundred) owned such pcs. Computer clusters for use by students for word processing and other purposes were established in Brandeis only during the 1985 fall..

I spent my summer break of 1985 near Stanford University in California. Family friends, with whom I was living, were very busy negotiating a business deal with a party in Canada. When I asked them how the documents that defined the deal were being sent back and forth, they told me about the existence of a "long-distance xerox machine". They further added that the machine was not yet a regular gadget in corporate offices but would be soon. Fax machines began to emerge as an important addition to office, supporting paraphernalia in the US a year or so later.

In 1988 - when I moved to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia - fax machines were still a new commodity. I recall seeing a big sign on the glass door of the xerox centre located at the bottom of the graduate student tower in which I lived: "We can fax: $3". In the early 1992, I left the US to begin my doctoral research in this part of the world. Until then, I had heard of e-mail but had never used it. By the time I returned to the US in the late 1993, e-mail and the Internet were common in the university. The rest, as they say, is history.

I recall this personal history of communication-oriented technology to make a simple point. The Internet- linked communication environment, in which many of us now work, was unthinkable even 15 years ago. This pace of change in technology and its widespread adoption during such a short period of time suggest that to talk about electronic media for the entire 21st century would be a futile exercise. We can hardly predict the electronic media environment for the year 2020.

Hence, it is best to simply confine our discussions to electronic media which we are already familiar with satellite television, radio (especially FM) and the Internet. How such existing electronic media will influence our languages and literatures must then be assessed on the basis of our collective experiences. As Upreti has written, there is now a large corpus of literary programs broadcast over Radio Nepal and Nepal Television. Hence, this archive and the associated experiences of programme producers, participants, and listeners/viewers must be the subject of a full-fledged research project, if we want to have an informed debate over the subject.

At a personal level, I find my experience with FM radio instructive to come up with an opinion on this matter. FM radio stations have been accused of distorting the Nepali language, and contrary to what Upreti has written, not really doing much to promote Nepali literatures. As a person, who produced a Nepali-language talk show for Radio Sagarmatha for over 20 months, I do not agree with these accusations. I feel they are greatly exaggerated. A more constructive attitude would again call for a relatively balanced assessment of the influence of FM on our languages and literatures. The successful programme of Kalyan Gautam ("Mero Katha Mero Git") on Hits FM and Prakash Sayami’s Bhabak in Radio Sagarmatha are two examples that prove my point.

For the case of Nepal Bhasa (Newari), FM programming has been a shot in the arm. Journalist Basanta Maharjan’s research has shown that the availability of FM radio has boosted Nepal Bhasa cultural production -music, talk discourses, etc. - hopefully. These programmes -now available in almost all of the FM stations in Kathmandu - have given a complete new meaning to a language movement that has otherwise been dominated by ossified minds. If the debate on the relationship between electronic media and our languages and literatures is to be a productive one, attention must also shift to the nature of individuals and institutions who are tackling the new media in innovative and challenging manner.

It is interesting to note that not many of them come with a previous reputation to defend. Individuals and institutions that have not yet made a name for themselves in these fields are more likely to set the tenure of programmes for our own electronic media. Instead of viewing satellite TV, FM radio, and the Internet as an invasion of "our culture", energy must be invested to produce individuals and institutions that can face challenges posed by these new media to cultivate our languages and literature.