Reform the judiciary

Chief Justice Keshav Prasad Upadhyaya’s depiction of the way things are with regard to the establishment of juvenile benches in the district courts of the country the other day, was indeed very gloomy. It appears that the government decided to set up juvenile benches without even considering how much they would cost. What else can explain the ridiculous allocation of twenty thousand rupees to each district court for setting up the infrastructure for juvenile benches? When the Chief Justice called this amount “nominal”, he was indeed underscoring the resource crunch affecting the entire judiciary in the country and the government’s indifference to the situation.

First and foremost, the country’s judiciary system is hopelessly outmoded. The unmanageable backlog of cases clearly shows that the system has not been able to cope with the demand for justice. The judiciary is therefore very badly in need of reforms that will modernize its operation and enable it to function effectively. The biggest obstruction in this regard is the budgetary allocation. Leave alone reforms, with the kind of budget it receives from the government, it has become extremely difficult for the judiciary to deliver its service. For instance, the budget for setting up and running juvenile benches is so little that it can hardly pay for the kind of specialized expertise that is required for the juvenile benches. The remuneration are just not sufficient to attract experts to this sector. This has been quite prohibitive on sitting judges, who, according to the Children Act 2048 (BS), can seek the assistance of child specialists, psychiatrists etc. because cases involving children are quite different by nature. In such a situation, it will definitely be difficult not only for the juvenile benches, but also all other sectors of the judiciary to function properly. Unfortunately, the judiciary was never a priority area for the government. Now, however, the results of years of negligence have begun to show up.

Although the finance minister is right to point out that salaries in the judiciary cannot be increased because that would be at the cost of development expenditure, the salary structure of the judiciary is quite low and needs to be reformed. When judges and other officials of justice do not receive enough to allow them to work honestly, it has a demoralizing effect. It could be because of this that there have recently been allegations of corruption against the judiciary. The Chief Justice himself has gone on record blaming lack of responsibility and honesty among some in the field for maligning the judiciary. How maligned the judiciary has become is not the point here. Rather, it is that in the eyes of the people the reputation of the judiciary as an institution for delivering justice is diminishing.

Loss of public faith in the judiciary will indeed be a disaster for the country. The government must keep this in mind and come up with a realistic budget, most of which should go to reforms and modernization so that the judiciary can become a healthy institution on which the people of Nepal can rely for justice.

Koirala in for toughest test yet

By D L Bhandari

That Girija Prasad Koirala has staged a dramatic comeback and has once again gone on to become the country’s prime minister only underscore his political acumen. To get elected to the post of party leader in parliament once again and that too amidst isolated but also at times sporadic disenchantment against older generation  leaders in general and against himself in particular, once again demonstrates his surviving skills.

But what also goes without saying in the same breath is he is in for the toughest test of political acumen yet. That is if we briefly consider for a moment that Sher Bahadur Deuba polled 43 votes as against his 69. Speculations are that the difference can vary and may not necessarily be in his favour at a later point in time as usually happens in situations like this. 

In fact, the battle between Koirala and Deuba has just begun and if the rules of the game are not violated once again (read that the party makes it a point to call election for the post of party’s leader in the House whenever there is a demand for it), the countdown to transition to second generation leaders may begin anytime soon. But Koirala can still keep challengers at bay.

As also the president of the party which enjoys the dubious distinction of generating enough problems from within, Koirala is, as in the past and like his predecessor K P Bhattarai did, likely to face umpteen number of crises from within the party as long as he does not make it a point to accommodate the members of the faction that opposed his election.

 Deuba   will be working overtime to beef up his following by adopting suitable strategies. And this will include dangling carrots or even wielding a stick as the situation demands. Although it is something that will depend on a number of factors, including of course which of the external forces ultimately has its way in  Nepalese politics, observers have given anything from six months to a year before
a renewed challenge comes up before Koirala.

The very fact that he was elated to secure 43 votes in the first bid and that too against as secured a person as Koirala goes on to suggest Deuba's clout. Hence Koirala would do well to understand this scenario and make a positive endeavour to ensure good governance. He should also take  definite steps to curb corruption in public life.

Koirala can steal the show from his challengers if only he shows the guts to order suitable empowerment of the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA) by undoing the amendment he himself had ordered within days of taking over as the elected prime minister in 1991. He had rendered the ombudsman body a lame duck as far as indicting corrupt people in high places was concerned.   This incidentally is something which has long been demanded by CIAA bosses and the country’s press. Acceding to their demands could go a long way in ensuring popularity and transparency almost everywhere. This will render Koirala a popular figure and rule out challenge to his authority at least in the foreseeable future since his detractors are likely to harp on unbridled corruption before they initiate the move to unseat him, which they will do sooner than later.  Koirala may not be able to rule out challenges  not rule out challenges if he chooses to be authoritarian instead of honouring the sentiments of the rival faction. As someone who has gone on to become both the party president and the leader of the party in parliament, Koirala will need to be above intra-party politics to ensure continued support from one and all in the parliament.

The moment he falls into temptation to bulldoze intra-party opposition, things may inexorably turn the way they did in 1994. However, he ought to have become a wiser man by now. If at all Koirala has learned a lesson after being in the political wilderness of sorts since 1994, than he may certainly find wisdom in sharing power within the party.

This will of course demand inducting MPs whose faces he would be happy not to see into the cabinet although this does not necessarily mean that he should retain even the rotten faces. This should hold good in the case of even those who belong to his own camp also and who, being rich enough already, expect to make more money. Koirala would be doing the nation a service if he contemplates doing away with all known corrupt faces in the party.    

But doing all this may prove to be an insurmountable task if the backroom team does not see any wisdom in the effort at all. (If the initial indication is anything, the party is in for yet another series of crises issuing out of a tendency to retain the party as a personal vehicle even as Koirala looks for someone in the faction to take over the party leadership regardless of the uproar over the move.) But in this surely lies the secret behind the longevity of the new government he heads.

Apart from refraining from becoming authoritarian, Koirala also stands obliged to bring about a definite changes for the better in the economic front. As things stand, the country's economy has degenerated into something which has been billed a “bogus economic system”.

This has been attributed to long-standing politico-business-mafia-nexus which has culminated in dwindling revenue mobilisation in comparative terms. To put it bluntly, customs offices should be left to function independent of influence coming from both the finance and the home ministries. Reversing this is going to prove the biggest challenge for him under the circumstances.

This however does not exhaust all that he could do to stay on. He will have to cooperate with Deuba in the ongoing talks with Maoist rebels and of course settle the refugee crisis. He could add to this list the act that he should do something sensible on the controversial RJ-100 jet deal which incidentally goes back to his stint as prime minister. And more importantly, he will have to refrain from playing into the hands of the wheeler-dealers henceforth. This completes the fare for the new occupant at Baluwatar for the time being.

An old man in a hurry

By Tek Prasad Bhattarai

The letters of felicitation must have made Girija Prasad a happy man. He would have been much happier had Kishunji refrained from making that emotional speech in the parliament and happiest if Deuba had left him uncontested. Behind this happy man lies the success of morally corrupt people with selfish political aims.

No confidence: Before the May elections, congressmen had great faith in Kishunji, but ten months later why this sudden loss of confidence? “Ailing health and ageing mind,” many say. Well then has Girija Prasad stopped growing old? Moreover health is not only about having a good physique it is also about having a healthy mind and experience tells us that Girija Prasad does not have a very hale and hearty mind.

As a matter of fact the no confidence motion has nothing to do with anyone’s health or the state of affairs in the nation. It is all about Girija Prasad’s secret but solemn vow (‘until death do us apart’) not to desert Singha Durbar. So naturally anyone trying to flirt with Singha Durbar lands in trouble. And despite knowing this, Kishunji kept on dreaming of a full five year tenure. What a pity!

Catalysts: India has long had this nasty habit of meddling in others business, especially  when it comes to fulfilling her vested interests.

The Indian belief that Nepal has failed, or maybe even refused, to cooperate on the security needs of India might have served as a catalyst in
the derailing of Kishunji’s
government.

And of course, the Indians know that Girija Prasad, with his ‘Tanakpur attitude’ will be an easier man to manipulate. Therefore ‘South Block’s role in precipitating these recent turn of events cannot be ruled out. This is especially true if a report filed in by a local weekly Chhalphal -- which states that diplomats from the Indian Embassy were seen lobbying for Koirala -- is to be believed.

A few others, albeit in whispers, say Kishunji’s ‘AFP’ interview’ might have made things worse.

Democratic process: Sushil Koirala who is otherwise known as a rather reticent man has suddenly sprung out of his silence and said, ‘the no confidence motion against Kishunji is nothing but a democratic exercise’. One must admire Sushil Koirala for being such an open minded democrat but he sure needs to understand that democratic process and conspiracy are not synonymous.

The historic elections in the congress parliamentary party, which was of course, held in the aftermath of Kishunji’s unceremonious ouster, was another democratic exercise. With this very exercise, Sher Bahadur’s roar was heard -- loud and clear. Forty-three almost forty percent or in other words the dawn of Girija Prasad’s downfall. Surely, this has sent a chill down most of Girija Prasad’s votaries. Bravo Sher’e!

In a hurry: ‘Old man in a hurry’ was the headline in The Statesman when Sita Ram Keshari tabled a no confidence motion against the then Indian PM Deve Gowda. Similarly, our old man here is in a hurry as well. This ‘in a hurry’ attitude of Girija Prasad has cost him and the congress a lot but no matter what, this pesky habit never seems to die away.

In his latest frenzy to ‘restore law and order, abolish corruption and reform the administration’ he hurriedly dislodged Kishunji from power. And in   another spell of hurry he has chosen almost all of the eleven rats, who had deserted Kishunji’s sinking ship, as his aides. In his hurry, Girija Prasad often disregards the sense of balance and of course when you lose balance you fall.

Depleting natural environment

By Dharani Kumar Sharma

Many people seem to make most of every moment they live even though that costs nature a lot. The more one consumes the more one enjoys his life — this has become a guiding principal. Plethora of production dazzle on television screens luring lots of deviated people to consume varieties of things produced from factories rather than that produced by those who live closer to nature. Some blockheads have even gone to the extent to think that naturally produced things are crude and hence below their standard, and so they run after artificially reproduced things. Perhaps they are pleased to place themselves in the world of artificial quicksand rather than on real, natural and wholesome earth.

Distorting the production of nature with some artificial flavour to the extent of converting nature into a hell has become a daily business of some mundane and modern people. Their descendant to slavery of taste and falling prey to advertisement of money mongers is beyond their realization.

A habit of discarding time tested truths and possessing capital created customs and concepts is developing rapidly among the people unable to find a path to a destination that is built on natural foundation. The motive behind prolific production of goods for consumption and their exaggerated advertisement on idiot box is not genuine, which is understood even by some children. The producers are seen through by many for their cunning motive to capitalize on human weakness and amass wealth for themselves. It cannot be denied that they also are victimized customers of some other producers and they also cannot escape the subsequent fury of nature. However, they do not seem to realize in the least that the price for the damage they have inflicted on nature will soon exceed what they have earned in terms of money so far. What is more disgusting is, this price has to be shared by many rural folks who live closer to nature without any harm to their homes.

Ironically, they are called ‘uncivilized’ by many civilized ignorant. The so-called civilized society is lawless in the sense of violating all the natural laws. It seems, in so-called civilized world, an act of gradually destroying the home for millions of lives by a few money hungry humans is not unlawful. Perhaps they have every right to think that the world has to be inhabitable until they live and it makes no difference for them to have ‘damn care’ attitude to what happens tomorrow.

So-called developing countries are threatened of deadly devastation of their natural environment because of burgeoning attraction for imported artificiality.

They are exchanging their natural and harmless production at lower price for unnatural and harmful production available at exorbitant rate. These countries only know to consume what looks like consumable but not to properly dispose the disposable. This precocity of consumption patterns of natural societies compared to that of productive and prodigal world is sure to lead them to the bottom of solid and gaseous garbage like toxic wastage, plastic, carbon and lead.

The productive world has better prepared the ways to do away with garbage by dumping their ‘wastes’ in the developing world. It does not mean they have not developed some genuine ways though they are far from adequate. They have been able to expand the sale of their disposable to natural societies as the disposable command an attraction. They are also successful to inject an attitude into innocent people through their prodigal friends in developing world that using goods produced from the factories of advanced countries is the only way to promote one’s social status.

Almost all the houses, from the city centres to rural areas, have seen local production shunned away for goods produced through automation. An infatuation to use goods packed in plastic covers is quite common. Even many home productions of poor countries are available in plastic sacks. So-called civilized people of underdeveloped world find it inconvenient to carry things in paper packets and have developed a notion that to carry things in cloth or jute bags is an old and uncivilized way only suitable in bygone days. They tend to think that their own production, jute, does not match their standard. If jute bags were the imported ones only then they would suit their interest and status.

A scene of littered plastic bags in the agricultural fields of our country may refer to the situation that Nepalese people are preparing to quit their traditional occupation i.e. agriculture, very soon. If it was not the case they should not have polluted their own fields with such non-biodegradable garbage. Though unknowingly this surely is a preparation for importing foodgrains — the only area where we are truly self sufficient till today. No organized institution really seems anxious about this appalling situation.

Perhaps it is not necessary for many people with some wealth to be aware of invisible lead in atmosphere instead of enjoying what is visible. For many, exchanging natural and wholesome agricultural and forest products for motors and motorbikes is the need and demand of time. Nevertheless, everyone knows that we do never have to hurry because we do not have to do any work worth of investment on means of transport as everything comes from outside. Still some of us have to move from place to place in a comfortable way as our productive counterparts in the developed world do. Some people who have just been able to make fortune think that they have higher social status and need private vehicles to maintain their hard earned status. But even they are regarded as backward by people in the developed world. This is sheer injustice meted to rich people of developing countries even after their huge investment on production of civilized world in the name of modernity. And it is perhaps the fate of rural people to pay the price of depleting natural environment even if they are not responsible for it in the least.

Every action executed out of greed and without a vision for distant future is sure to invite inevitable disaster. It is more than carelessness to repeat the action that is already proved harmful. But the societies in urban and suburban areas seem unable to do away with their harmful habits. And even the rural people follow suit. It appears it is always difficult to discard what is being cherished. There are enough evidences to reveal that the grip of consumer culture is so strong that any sort of premonition of approaching catastrophe is ineffective.