Don’t overreact

The entire episode regarding the controversial speech made at a function in the Capital on Saturday relating to the applicability of western style multi-party system in Nepal needs to be viewed dispassionately and in relation to democratic values. Dissent is one of the main attributes of democracy and as long as such dissent is undertaken fairly and without recourse to arms, there is no
reason why anyone should be disproportionately agitated over a few stray statements that put a big question mark over the functioning of democracy in Nepal and over the perceived attitude of present day leaders.

Dissent in a democracy need not be only against government policies but can also be against the manner in which leaders are using the system of democracy to suit their own interests. Besides, constitutional guarantee of freedom to dissent also means freedom to dissent against the constitution. In any democracy, the people are the final authority and this must be acknowledged to be so in our case as well. If the people themselves are convinced that democracy is functioning in the country, no amount of criticism from anyone will be able to pose any threat. This is as long as people want democracy to continue.

If the people are firmly committed to democracy and democratic ideals, events like the hue and cry over the Saturday public function will appear to be nothing more than a storm in a
tea cup. None, including the government, should blow the event out of proportion. The arrest order for Mohan Niraula could be an overreaction on the part of a government that is over zealous to please the agitated members of parliament. A government does not, and should not act on impulse.

It is unfortunate that Mohan Niraula, who is disenchanted with the functioning of democracy in the country — and he has every right to be dissatisfied as others have, to be satisfied — spoke what he did at the function. To take his word at face value and presume that he is plotting to kill the prime minister and other political leaders is indeed a bit far fetched. The battlefield for fighting those against multi-party democracy is not the prison cell but the whole country where dedicated party workers and those advocating multi-party democracy must sincerely fight to win the people’s confidence in the system. Party workers and leaders in government can help by setting examples of good governance and convincing the people that democracy delivers better — as it indeed does — than any other system of governance.

Nepal-Bangladesh relations : Water issues

By Hiranyalal Shrestha

Nepal and Bangladesh are close neighbouring countries linked together by common rivers, nurtured by common civilization and culture and constantly brought together by economic and business transactions. The Ganges River flowing through China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh is an international river of this region. The Bramhaputra River does not flow through Nepal but it flows through China’s Autonomous Region of Tibet almost parallel to the northern boundary of Nepal. This is another international river reaching Bangladesh via northeast India. Just as Kampuchia, Laos, Vietnam and the Yunan province of China have promoted the Greater Mekong Sub-regional Cooperation, so is there a possibility for countries belonging to the Gangetic Bramhaputra basin to forge similar regional cooperation. Of the total Gangetic basin, 33, 520 sq km (3.08 percent) belongs to China, 147,480 sq km (13.56 percent) belongs to Nepal, 860,000 sq km (79.10 percent) belongs to India and 46,300 sq km (4.26 percent) belongs to Bangladesh.

About 45 percent of the long term coverage flow of the Gangetic basin is provided by Nepalese rivers. During the driest months, the snow and glacier fed rivers of Nepal account for 75 percent of the flow of the Ganges. The total theoretical potential of hydroelectric power in Nepal is estimated at 83,000 MW. The same rivers can irrigate over five million hectares of land whereas Nepal’s own needs is around half of that. So harnessing the potential of Nepalese rivers will not merely provide cheap power and irrigation for vast tracts of land but it will also provide enormous flood control benefits and enhance the navigation of the river systems in South Asia.

In comparative terms, the Tibetan area of the Bramhaputra basin has excess flow of water whereas there is scarcity of water in the Gangetic basin. If India-China relations go on improving, China’s Autonomous region of Tibet can be incorporated in the sub-regional cooperation so that a portion of the excess water of the Bramhaputra River can be diverted to the Ganges in the dry season possibly through Nepal’s Arun Valley in order to solve the tricky problem of water sharing in South Asia. In this context, it should, however, be admitted that the regulated water accruing from high dam storage is value added water and that the balance in upper and lower riparian benefits can be maintained only if Nepal’s rights to down stream benefits are recognised.

It is evident that Bangladesh wants an adequate supply of water from rivers flowing through Nepal and India even in the dry season and mitigation of floods in the rainy season. Similarly, Nepal also wants her downstream benefits, aspires to export her excess electricity and water to Bangladesh and India. In order to mitigate the hardships imposed by her landlocked condition, she also wants to open river navigation as an alternative route to the sea. Because of this, she also wants to have the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers declared international rivers. She wants to develop a regional grid for water and electricity in South Asia. This will pave the way for South Asia to enter the age of prosperity in the 21st century.

The Bangladesh proposal: There is a long history in water sharing in South Asia. Sharing the waters of the Ganges whose yearly dry season flow (January- May) is insufficient to meet the demands of both the countries remains the most contentious issue between India and Bangladesh. In June 1995 the Indo Bangladesh Joint River Commission submitted its report to the two governments for the augmentation of dry season flow of the River Ganges. Bangladesh had proposed the conservation of excess monsoon flows through storage in the Gangetic basin in India and Nepal. India had proposed transferring Brahmaputra waters to the Ganges above Farakka to augment the dry season flow of the latter.

According to veteran water resources expert B M Abbas, twelve suitable sites for big reservoirs have been identified in the three river basins of Nepal, viz Karnali, Saptagandaki and Saptakoshi. These storages are included in the Bangladeshi proposal. It could increase the dry season flow of the Ganges to 130,000 cusecs (latest data puts it at 79,000 cusecs) with an aggregate active storage of 60 MAF. The stored water from the proposed reservoirs in Nepal could be released through natural river channels to the Ganges. A canal constructed along the Terai in Nepal could convey the water from the Gandaki and the Koshi rivers to the Mahananda, Koratoya and Atrai rivers. This would augment the dry season flow in the Mahananda in West Bengal in India and the Koratoya river in Bangladesh. This canal could serve as an important international navigation route to the sea. The proposed storage in Nepal would make possible the generation of a large block of cheap hydropower which would accelerate industrial development in the region. The storage dams proposed in Nepal could develop continuous hydropower generation in the order of 9,000 MW with installed capacity of about 15,000 MW at the sites studied so far.

Nepal-Bangladesh Joint Study Team in its report on Flood Mitigation Measures and Multipurpose Use of Water Resources has stated that the capacity for holding monsoon water flow is available in the potential reservoir sites in Nepal (77 billion cubic meters or about 68 percent of total monsoon flow from Nepalese rivers), if storage reservoirs are constructed.

Report on flood mitigation: After the devastating flood of 1988, the then President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, while instructing national experts to find out ways and means for combating such calamities undertook working visits to India, Nepal, Bhutan and China for seeking support for regional cooperation leading to a longlasting solution to the problem of floods for benefits of all. A meeting was held between His Majesty the King of Nepal and H E the President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh at Kathmandu on October 2, 1988 wherein the two leaders agreed that Nepal and Bangladesh should extend cooperation to each other, continue to seek goodwill support and understanding from other countries and international organizations as well.

For any solution to the problems of natural disasters to be permanent and durable, regional cooperation involving every single country in the region is a must. If this can be promoted through bilateral, trilateral or regional study teams, both countries welcome them provided the solution is reached on the basis of finding a lasting solution to the benefit of all countries in the region through multiple and optional use of water resources of the region. To that end, creation of a joint
study team which would make its recommendations within six months was agreed upon.

The Nepal Bangladesh joint study team was set up in accordance with the above decision taken at the summit held on October 2, 1988 in Kathmandu. The Bangladesh side of the joint study team was headed by Mr Md Ajad Hussein Khan, Chairman of the Bangladesh Water Development Board whereas the Nepalese side was headed by Dr Hariman Shrestha, Executive Director, Water and Energy Commission, HMGN. Accordingly, the Joint Study Team held four meetings during the period and extended data and information. In-depth discussions were held to finalise the report. The team forwarded the following five recommendations on November 23, 1989.

a) Development of flood forecasting and warning system.

b) Initiation of catchment management, afforestation programme to prevent soil erosion.

c) Coordination of development activities aimed at getting away from drainage congestion.

d) creation of reservoirs at upstream reaches for optional and multiple use of water resources of the region which inter-alia could also achieve flood peak attenuation at the lower reaches.

e) Study, research and investigation programme on appropriate catchment management to reduce adversities such
as top-soil erosion, landslides and consequential influxes of sediment in the rivers and glacial and snow melt phenomenon including high altitude engineering.

Of those measures, the development of flood forecasting and warning system seems to be relatively simpler and could be implemented in a shorter span of time. Hence, it may be taken up first. Therefore, it was recommended that cooperation between Nepal and Bangladesh could be extended for transmission of real time water levels and flows of the important tributaries of the Ganges namely Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali by wireless communication from suitable base stations in Nepal to suitable base stations in Bangladesh to formulate flood forecasting and warning bulletins with additional lead time. Other recommendations should also be implemented on time-frame basis under the supervision of a joint Nepal-Bangladesh technical forum which would work on a continual basis as suggested in the report.

Crazy little thing called love

By Hitesh Karki

What is love? When one asks that question to oneself, his/her thought has many answers. More often than not, the obvious answer would turn out to be a cliche like "union of two souls, two hearts beating together, celebration of life, blah blah!". As a matter of fact, every human thought has its own answers but it is never short of them. His/her thought is often dictated by the surroundings, the circumstances, desires, hopes etc. As for me I personally feel it must be the only thing in the whole wide world which has so many different shades and hues. That’s why whenever I ask the same question to myself, my thought says "it’s nothing but a mystery...something just too hard for me to comprehend, on a milder note, a crazy little thing".

Like any ordinary mortal, you too must have asked this to yourself on numerous occasions. At some point in your life you must have longed for someone’s love or got attached to somebody. Immediately, you must have realised that you could not leave the very word attachment in isolation. It comes along with strings attached to it ——"security". I completely concur with those of you who must be saying now "why fall in love in the first place when there is fear of insecurity eating you from inside just like those termites eating the ply". But then sorry to voice my note of dissent in this regard, but what I feel is, once there is complete security with no fear lurking from near or far - you lose the thrill of it all with no space left for the very essence of it. Those secret rendezvous with fear lingering at the back of your head -- what if someone just might see you, the enemies of love- (who often happen to be your relatives in society), by you, I’m trying to refer to the females. Again you just might want to hit back immediately at me saying this guy is still a millennium behind, my reply is, the ones you see in Durbar Marg or night clubs of kathmandu does not represent the whole of our society. They are just a handful of westoxicated techno-savvy rich elite.

When middle class family parents pretend to act as if both the son and daughter are equal and get equal treatment, they simply cannot break away from the shackles they have inherited. Those of you who have a young female member in your family must be well acquainted with this situation. "Tring" rings the telephone and she is the last person to pick it up. God forbid if the male voice on the other end asks for her, no matter whether he is a good friend or a total stranger, she is bombarded immediately with questions like who was he, why did you give your number, what was he saying etc. They go to such lengths that they don’t hesitate to even say something like "from tomorrow you are going nowhere. I know your college ends at 2.30 so I want you to be here before 2.45." Just one call and all her freedom is taken away. But then if the same were to happen to a son, you can immediately see the glee on their faces which seem to be telling you, "Now my son, you are a hero".

Sorry from digressing from the topic. I’m back. There’s no denying that what we all feel love is something which takes away all your miseries, be it for a while or for your entire life. You always have a shoulder to rely on, someone to share your ups and downs. And for some, a few lucky ones, I repeat lucky ones, it takes them up to the cloud 9.

Contrary to what one might believe and hope all of a sudden, the other side of it shows up. The end. "Falling in" was a real pleasure but you just can’t face the reality of "Falling out." Your heart is wrenched, soul wrecked. So for those about to fall in love, here’s me wishing you all the best but never forget to prepare yourself for the worst. In case you don’t, it just might leave you emotionally impaired for the rest of your life. That’s why I say It’s a crazy little thing.

Promoting Nepal-India ties

By Mohan Lohani

The long awaited official visit of prime Minister Koirala to India at the friendly invitation of prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will soon take place in less than three weeks from now. Although described as a goodwill visit, much significance has been attached to the visit which is taking place after a gap of four years. Needless to point out, the periodic exchange of visits at high levels does contribute to dispelling clouds of misunderstanding if any, and further strengthening as well as promoting bilateral relations. During the visit, the two Prime Minister of Nepal and India, apart from an exchange of greetings and pleasantries, are expected to hold substantive talks on matters of mutual concern including the entire gamut of bilateral relations. While Nepal India relations have by and large remained over the years, close, cordial friendly and warm, the complex and multi dimensional nature of these relations can by no means be underestimated or even glossed over.

In a recent interaction with the press, former ministers, politicians and foreign policy experts, while expressing best wishes for the success of the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit to India dwelt at length on some outstanding issues ranging from the much talked about review of the 1950 Treaty, the Kalapani issue, the open border, and its security implications for both sides, lack of progress in the implementation of the Mahakali treaty to the media onslaught in India against Nepal including the so called ISI game plan in this country published in a weekly news magazine of our southern neighbours. The speakers suggested the inclusion of these issues invariably in the agenda for talks during the Prime Minister’s visit. While former foreign minister Dr Mahat referred to India’s obsessive concern with security to which Nepal remains sensitive, most of the speakers were of the view that India would respond positively to issues of a sensitive nature affecting bilateral ties if Nepal approached the former with adequate homework and a great deal of seriousness in seeking an amicable resolution of all outstanding issues that would pave the way for further expansion of meaningful cooperation in economic social and cultural areas to mutual benefit.

Nepal, with a population of a little over twenty million is situated both geographically and demographically, between the two most populous countries of the World, China to the north and India to the south. To be more precise, land locked Nepal shares an 1800 km long open border with India on three sides and is dependent on its southern neighbour for access to the sea. The open border is a unique reality with its positive and negative features. While the free movement of people and goods has facilitated people to people contacts in social religious and cultural terms and has enabled the people on both sides to benefit from cross border economic activities including border trade, the open border has also been misused for undesirable and criminal activities such as terrorism drug smuggling trafficking of women, deflection of trade as well as large scale unaccounted migration creating imbalance in this country’s demographic composition. Such activities have given rise to tension, misunderstanding and occasional irritants in bilateral relations, Nepal has viewed with serious concern acts of cross border terrorism and other criminal activities and has repeatedly made it clear that it will not allow its territory to be used by anti social elements for hostile operations against its neighbours. Nevertheless, the Indian media continues to project Nepal as a safe haven for international terrorism, in particular , alleged ISI activities directed mainly against India and takes this country to task, at times in aggressive and provocative language for its failure to curb such terrorism. The media onslaught in India against Nepal for alleged security lapse at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) is fresh in public memory when an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked by some terrorists last December a few minutes after it took off from Kathmandu airport. Indian security concern led to the suspension of Indian Airlines flights to Nepal for more than five months. Happily, the problem has been resolved and IC flights from India to Nepal have resumed.

It makes no sense to single one country for cross border terrorism and other undesirable activities mentioned above. The need to regulate the border movement of goods and people through joint endeavours, vigilance and patrolling has been felt and highlighted by experts and administrators on both sides. Public opinion in Nepal has expressed itself overwhelmingly in favour of concrete and practical measures and its effective implementation to regulate the open border due to which this country is more vulnerable. A survey conducted last February by this daily pointed out that more than 80 percent of the respondents are in favour of border regulation, while some have questioned the effectiveness of such regulation since the administrative machinery on both sides of the border is dysfunctional.

It is true that a border regulating mechanism cannot remain oblivious of existing realities such as geographical location, cultural similarities in the border area and economic interdependence which people on both sides of the border have become used to for centuries. Dhruba K Shrestha an expert in South Asian security, is of the view that the success of Nepal’s foreign policy depends on the degree of mutual trust, respect and maturity in behaviour between the people of this country and those of the bordering states of India eg Bihar, UP and West Bengal. In the absence of such trust, goodwill, friendship and understanding, the open border, as Mr Shrestha correctly points out, will continue to be a source of mistrust, tension and unequal relations.

It is heartening that the Home secretaries of Nepal and India have reached agreement which makes it mandatory for citizens of both countries to carry travel documents such as passport, voter’s ID and citizenship certificate while flying to each other’s territory. This arrangement does not include those crossing the over two dozen border points regularly by land. While overall reaction to this step has been positive, the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) is however not happy with the agreement and has dubbed the decision unpractical. Since Nepal and India do not have the visa system, it is all the more necessary to regulate the open border through systematic registration and strict record keeping of Nepalis and Indians crossing each other’s territory.

Social, religious and cultural ties between Nepal and India are inseparable and date back to the ancient past. India has provided facilities and opportunities to a sizeable number of Nepalese students every year to receive training and pursue higher studies in various disciplines including technical subjects like medicine and engineering in reputed Indian universities. Likewise, the exchange of scholars, scientist, teachers and artists between the two countries for more than half a century has significantly contributed to cultural enrichment through personal contacts and interaction among professional groups. Such contacts should not and need not be interrupted by sporadic tensions and irritants in bilateral relations.

On the economic front, the Trade Treaty signed between Nepal and India in 1996 has helped to increase the growth rate of Nepalese exports to India, despite the fact that the business community in this country is worried about the four percent additional duty levied by India on Nepalese exports. This problem, and issues like the Indian built Laxmanpur barrage downstream on the Rapti river inundating vast plots of land in the Banke district of Nepal may be hopefully resolved during PM Koirala’s visit. Apart from trade, India has positively responded to Nepalese request for every seven years’ automatic renewal of the Transit Treaty and an alternative transit route to Bangladesh known as the Kakarbhitta-Phulbari-Banglabandh route. Indian willingness to develop railway services in Nepal during the recent visit by Digvijay Singh, Indian State Minister for railways is another friendly gesture. Development of transit and transport infrastructure in this land locked country would certainly facilitate its export promotion and diversification of foreign trade.

As stated earlier, Nepal-India ties being multi faceted, there is growing realisation on both sides that no attempt should be made to blow up issues overshadowing other positive aspects crucial to the promotion of friendly relations and cooperative partnership. What is important is a new mind-set, a fresh vision, a holistic approach and a forward looking attitude with which both countries, proud of their traditional friendship can inject dynamism into bilateral relations and embark upon mutually beneficial programmes of cooperation aimed at alleviating poverty and backwardness in their respective territories.