Meddlesome ministry

The government seems to have  created some confusion in the education sector by meddling with the school calendar. Apparently, the Ministry of Education has gone back on a previously reached understanding with the Private and Boarding School Organisation Nepal and National and Private Boarding Schools Association Nepal that the new session would start in mid-April. Now, according to the ministry, the new session will start mid-July. This decision has been a matter of concern not only for schools but also students and parents. The government would therefore do well to rethink on the timing of the new session.

In the first place it is not clear why the government decided to change the previous school academic session which used to begin in February and end around November-December  to mid-July three years back. This decision had come in for a lot of opposition from educationists as well as the schools. Everyone had thought that the issue had been amicably resolved. What then should prompt the ministry to once more change the timing to mid-July after reaching an agreement with boarding schools on mid-April as the appropriate time for starting the new session. Surely, there must be a reason for this unexpected decision which has hit boarding schools like a bolt from the blue. Unfortunately, the unpredictable ways of the Ministry of Education are such that it is difficult to make any sense of this move. Neither has the ministry given any sound reason justifying its decision. It is not even possible to guess whose interest this mover will serve. This makes the directive appear as though it were arbitrarily imposed.

But education is no light matter and the government should not fiddle around so much with the school calendar, lest things begin to go haywire. Many headmasters and principals have complained that with the government given to such fickleness in decision making, their academic programmes have been jeopardised. School administrators are confused. So are parents and students. With the academic calendar itself uncertain, it is going to be difficult for schools to function smoothly. Similarly, parents will have to cough up more of that hard earned money with the present academic session prolonged. And students also stand the risk of losing their precious time in the same class whereas those who plan to pursue further studies in India could end up losing an entire year. The Ministry of Education must realise that it has no right to play with the lives of students in this manner. Seen in this light, it does make sense to have the new academic session begin in mid-April. The ministry would therefore do well to let better sense prevail.

The second revolution

By Prakash Chandra Lohani

Corruption has become the buzz word in Nepal. Politicians of all hue and shades start their speech lamenting on the rise of corruption in the country and end their great insight with a passionate plea to struggle against this national scourge. In the mean time newspapers are filled with charges of outright swindling of state resources by those in power but no one in the government thinks about responding to these charges or going to the court against such accusations.

The constant outpouring of news and speeches about corruption and a deafening silence on the part of government machinery and their political masters is one of the outstanding characteristics to Nepali politics today. What we have is a paradoxical situation where good governance and corruption control remains the slogan of all political parties ranging all the way from the Greens to the Reds and yet in reality malgovernance and the propensity to use public resources for private gain is gaining momentum at an alarming pace. Misuse of public office for private gain is portrayed as immoral but the fact remains that those who make a show of the wealth from corruption are praised for their ability to make hay while the sun shines. The psychopathology of this trend that is becoming pervasive in the socio-political life of our nation needs to be explored.

The rot within: Politics, it has been said, is the last refuge of a scoundrel. The low side of political life expressed in this dictum seems to be the high point of Nepali politics today. Democracy has been the smoke screen to maintain a style of governance where money and political power has become like two sides of a coin. Money for political power and political power for money and democracy for both money and power for a few seems to be the new model guiding governance in the nation. In this setting, the common people who are supposed to be the source of power gradually take the image of a purchasable commodity whose value rises during elections and other political festivals that constitute the necessary paraphernalia to provide legitimacy to the government. Once the festival is over the principles of the market economy takes over and the value of the commodity goes down until the next election when prices will have to be negotiated once again.

The commodification of politics and people operates within the framework of an objective function that is to be maximized. In the present day democratic Nepal led by the Nepali Congress, politics is becoming a business where the cost of an electoral victory is related with the gain in revenue associated with the probability of being in power in the next government.  Once the cost and revenue calculations are made the price for the electoral commodity is set. The constraints associated in this process arise from the notion of “free and fair election” and “impartial bureaucracy” both of which would limit the scope of transforming people into commodities. The “democratic dynamism” of the Nepali Congress, however, rejects these constraints as being relevant to the electoral market which is reflected in the increasing use of both state power and muscle power to secure the legitimacy to rule. The Congress party has shown that it is capable of transforming   people into commodities remaining technically within the framework of the constitution so that free enterprise in the use of money and power remains supreme in the electoral market. The commodification of people continues unhindered and with it the scope of corruption ranging all the way from the policy making level to the execution of a small project in a village gradually  starts becoming an integral part of the new political culture. A brand new structure of marketing channels comprising different intermediaries claiming to provide political legitimacy to rule for the right price and post election privilege of loot and plunder starts taking shape. Elective despotism or “demo-feudalism” takes root and  ascriptive values of a feudal state flourish while leaders and politicians continue shouting at the top of their voice for meritocracy and democracy. Thus frequent changes of government officials, top level project personnel and managers of public enterprises becomes routine with the change in government or even after a normal cabinet reshuffle. Important positions in government ministries are open to the highest bidder and honesty and integrity becomes almost an embarrassment. Naturally, the bureaucracy hesitates taking new initiatives and is concerned more about pleasing the party in power by whatever means possible than in responding to the problems of the people. In the evolving political process the incentive structure clearly rewards an ascriptive value system that serves the privileged elite at the cost of the poor who have provided the legitimacy to rule. Demo-feudalism in the garb of democracy becomes the vehicle of corruption, loot and plunder. People become commodities and to add insult to injury democracy becomes the Congress party.

A new struggle: In case the present trend continues it will not be surprising if Congress and corruption start becoming synonymous in the future. The major casualty in this process will be the basic notion of accountability and transparency considered as being the two important pillars of good governance and a functioning democracy. Commodities are objects to be bought and sold in the market. Transparency and accountability assume that people can make independent choices in favour or against a certain set of policies or decisions and can effectively define the boundary conditions of the socio-political system. But when people start being seen as electoral commodities transparency and accountability become the major casualty because it directly affects the monetary cost and benefits associated with the misuse of power. Thus we can have an ironic situation in Nepal where the constitution provides for the right of information and yet leaders claiming to be democratic continue to avoid drafting a law that gives an operational expression to this provision in the court of law even after ten years of the promulgation of the constitution.

The nation needs to wake up to the menace of corruption that is destroying the vitals of our socio-political system. Like minded people in all political parties for once need to join hands to struggle against this national scourge even if it means speaking against a leadership that is proving to be increasingly stale, insensitive and rotten. It is no longer enough to talk about democracy, the challenge is to prove one’s commitment to the democratic ideology by starting a struggle against the corrupt and the ugly in position of power so that the constitution of the country remains a document of positive social transformation rather than a lifeless bundle of paper leading to human impoverishment and social decay. This, in fact, could be the beginning of a second revolution that has been heartlessly thrown in the dustbin of corruption and immorality by the so-called revolutionaries after the People’s Movement ten years ago.

(The author is vice-president of Rastriya Prajatantra Party)

Is there a way out ?

By Malcom X

The nation is having a deep crisis. It  is as deep as the deep blue sea. No. Actually, it is something akin to the devil and the deep blue sea. Nearly half of the Congressi sansads do not want to have Mr Bhattarai still occupying the chair of the prime minister. Mr Bhattarai himself does not want to hang around for long. He had already promised that he will come down as soon as the time is ripe and appropriate. But he did not want to come down under any kind of pressure. There cannot be humiliation and insult to our sant prime minister. Remember, fourteen years of jail-nail, fifty years of unrelenting political contributions and life long state of being unmarried. Sher Bahadur had already roared against any further attempts to have “Bhattarai’s disgraceful exit”. In such a situation, what could be “the graceful exit” of Bhattarai? Sounds, we need another high powered, high level committee to find out the possible exit points at the Singha Durbar.

One normal and possible way out was on the ground of health. Fortunately, or to some people, unfortunately, Bhattarai is quite well and fit to run the country. Going by the medical records he is fit to run the government, at least, for another three terms. Even the medical doctors have certified for his good health. So, how can you contradict with a scientifically, medically proven fact?

If health could not be a ground for exit, how about moral grounds? Some may argue that he became the prime minister once due to Ganeshmanji’s maya (love) twice due to Koirala’s daya (sympathy) and it is morally wrong to hang on without one’s own effort. But who is going to exert moral pressure on a Spartan sant prime minister -- a teetotaller, a bachelor and a fervent reader of the Bhagvat Geeta?

If you say that Bhattarai has to resign due to kam byastata (personal engagement) what could there be for an unmarried, single guy to be engaged with?

How about a reference to the eternal internal Godavari agreement reached between the two ‘revolutionary’ leaders of Nepali Congress?  There must be some reference, some citation, on Bhattarai’s tenure in that widely publicized “secret agreement” between the leaders duo.

Well, karya sampadan (performance) could be one reason. But it is morally wrong to say that Bhattarai has not performed at all in a non-performing culture. If you say the ministers who have resigned from his cabinet are the efficient ones you still have to wait and see the results of the Bhattarai cabinet sans the resigning ‘efficient’ ministers. And you cannot blame Bhattarai for the hijacking, Maobadi samasya, corruption, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment in the country. If you perform you are bound to make mistakes; when Bhattarai has not made any mistakes how can you blame him for non-performance? Tricky, isn’t it?

You cannot use Musharraff style here to find safe exit of Mr Bhattarai. Girija may have presented the chair in a silver plate, but how can he wear back the same phateko jutta (worn out shoe)? Now, who is to wear this phateko jutta anyway?

Between the lines
South Asia : The democracy scenario

By Kuldip Nayar

When Benazir Bhutto was in the wilderness, she convened at Karachi a meeting of the opposition leaders from South Asia. India was represented by former Prime Minister V P Singh. What emerged from the meeting was the resolve of opposition leaders to strengthen democracy in their respective countries.

Apparently, Benazir wanted to corner the limelight because she was going down the hill in Pakistan at the time. This was amply clear when no standing committee or secretariat was created for the follow-up. Had it been done, it would have served the region well when democracy is fighting a losing battle in most of the South Asian countries. And even where democracy prevails, the institutions are losing their vigour.

One need not discuss Pakistan because a democratic set-up headed by the military has replaced the elected government. Still the country is an example of democracy thrown on the heap of authoritarianism by a civilian government and the opposition’s refusal to accept its legitimacy even after the victory at the polls. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, more so the first, are on top of the list of countries where the opposition’s actions may snuff out democracy. Their protests indicate that they would rather have military dictatorship than elected governments.

Begum Khaleda Zia, heading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has only a one-point programme: how to return to power. Had her efforts been confined to such methods as didn’t harm the country, it would have mattered little. But she is giving a call for hartal practically every second day. That the country’s economy is being hit beyond repair is none of her business so long as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is put to trouble.

Even if one were to ignore Khaleda Zia’s obsession against New Delhi, how would she explain her abuses on India if she ever came to occupy the treasury benches? New Delhi has shown Dhaka understanding and accommodation on the sharing of the Ganga waters between the two countries.

Sri Lanka’s United National Party (UNP) is also driven by its animus against President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Her re-election is an indication that her policies are more acceptable to the voters than those of opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe.

It is understandable that he has refused to join the government but what is not understandable is his hostile posture even after his defeat at the polls. No doubt, the rumours of the UNP’s complicity with the LTTE are unfounded. But the party has always opposed to Chandrika’s ways to bring the secessionist LTTE on to the negotiation table. It is strange that the UNP leaders should go to the extent of preferring military rule to Chandrika’s democratic regime.

Nepal may not come into the category of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But the opposition, primarily the communists, still believe in the God that has failed all over the world. Their actions only aggravate Kathmandu’s economic problems. The fact is that the government in power spends a substantial amount of money on curbing the Maoists’ insurgency in the north and finds little money for the anti-poverty programmes.

The communists in Nepal have to decide whether they want an armed revolution or the ballot box. They cannot ride two horses at the same time: some taking to the gun and some to election. It is an open secret that the leadership of the various communist parties has been in touch with one another to devise a strategy to capture power, by hook or by crook. There is nothing wrong in replacing a government but it is not violence which should dictate the process. It is absurd to think that the socially-progress will win the battle.

Bhutan’s king remains autocratic. He has ousted thousands from the country on the ground that they are foreigners. People of Nepalese origin are his target, although they have been living in Bhutan for generations. New Delhi is not allowing the refugees, who have taken shelter in Nepal, to return to Bhutan. But how long can they be stalled from returning to their motherland? The Bhutan king may one day face the same situation as the king in Nepal did when power was wrested from his hands through an uprising. As Rongthong Kuenley Dorji, chairman of the Druk National Congress (DNK), Bhutan, has said in a recent symposium in New Delhi that “democracy is inevitable in Bhutan, it is just a matter of time.”

Myanmar is the worst example of military rule. Even after holding election and promising to transfer power to the elected, the military junta stays in power. Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. People voted her National League for Democracy in a predominant majority, defeating the candidates of the State Peace and Development Council the military establishment had fielded. But after the defeat, the junta went back on its undertaking. It did not restore the assembly, nor did it part with power. Instead, it unleashed repression against Suu Kyi’s supporters. Many of them still languish in jail.

The atmosphere is that of the days of the emergency in India. High-handed and arbitrary actions are carried out with impunity. Tyrants have sprouted at all levels. Desire for self-preservation has become the sole motivation for action. The ethical considerations inherent in public behaviour have become gradually dim. The fear generated by threat has become so pervasive that public servants act as willing tools of tyranny. People are so afraid that they have not even expressed grief for their bereavement. In doing so, they do not want to take the risk of annoying the rulers and getting a still harsher dose of oppression.

And what should Suu Kyi infer from close relations between democratic countries and the ASEAN? The latter has admitted Myanmar to its fold. Thailand has even officially sponsored  the trip of General Than Shwe, head of the military junta. There was not even a whimper of protest from any one, including the Vajpayee government. Surprisingly, New Delhi has still been talking to the military junta. For trade or other purposes, the people of Myanmar should not be betrayed.

In India itself democracy is only up to the polls. There is no transparency in governance and the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not consult the opposition in taking decisions. It was clear in the recent Indian Airlines hijacking case. The opposition was not consulted when the government had decided to swap some 160 passengers and the crew for the three terrorists. The opposition should have been associated from the beginning. Then it could have felt involved.

Our government -- the Vajpayee regime alone is not to blame -- has a tendency to keep things under wraps. I asked in the  Rajya Sabha why the Henderson-Brooks report on the India-China war had not been made public even after 38 years. The reply was that it could not be done in the public interest. The Subhramaniyan Committee report on Kargil looks like going the same way. Sharing information with people is the essence of democracy.

Another developing trend in India is to constitute independent committees, whether for the appointment of judges or for the selection of persons at high places, because the institutions are not considered independent. Then why have them at all? The remedy is to make them independent and vibrant so that they function efficiently. By ignoring them the centre is only ruining the little that we still have.