The Sydney Olympics

The extravaganza that began in Australia's Sydney with the colourful opening of the summer Olympic Games on Friday will surely be an inspiration to sports persons and sports lovers all over the world. The Olympic Games are the ultimate goal of all sports persons and the friendly competition and tussle that we see in the Games go to make this world a better place to live and breathe in. For sports men and women all over the world, the Games are the culmination of years of hard work and preparation. Indeed, the participants at the Games are fortunate. Thousands of athletes and other sports persons that went there did so because they turned out to be better than those against whom they competed. The atmosphere of friendship and keen sense of competition that the participants displayed prior to the Games will be the hallmark of the Sydney Games as indeed they were in the previous Olympics.

It is because sports persons give all they have at the Games that there is bound to be frustration and heart breaks because not everyone will win. Yet, despite the tears and cries of joy, the Games should be marked by a desire on the part of sports men and women to compete in the right sense of the word. The Sydney Games should, as in previous Games, result in new records and new heights of achievement.

It is said there were times in the ancient days when wars were stopped so that the Olympic Games could run smoothly. But times have changed. Ever since the start of the modern Olympics in 1896, the Games have been stopped due to one war or the other -- the most recent case being the Second World War. Apart from this, the Games have had to face problems because the competitors were from one country or the other. There were times in the past when sports persons from communist states were boycotted. There were times when Israeli athletes were prevented from participating, may be not in the Olympics, but certainly in the Asian Games. The sanctity of sports has long been trampled upon by politicians the world over.

In Nepal's own case, our participation began only in the early sixties. Our performance has been less than inspiring and even then there has been more politicization of sports and Olympic participation than real efforts in improving the status of sports in the country. The fact that a country as poor as Nepal could afford to send a five member

Olympic squad is commendable but it certainly is a matter of shame that taxpayers money has gone into sending a disproportionately large contingent of 15 officials to the Games. Despite the woes in our home sports front, we are confident

that participants at the Sydney Olympics will attain new heights of performance.

The plight of indigent litigant in Nepal

By Om Bhakta Shrestha

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 2047 (1990) shows in its preamble that the people are inspired by the objective of securing social, political and economic justice and establishing an independent and competent system of justice to transform the concept of the rule of law in into a living reality.

The entire structure of law courts rests on the litigant but the litigant is, as a matter of fact, most neglected. Despite the establishment of a welfare state as our national objective we are still following a very old legal system under which the downtrodden and weaker sections of litigants are subjected to hardship with its slow motion justice, high priced legal service and far off location of the courts. Factors like payment of heavy court fee, tiers of court, plurality of appeals, revisions, very liberal exercise of writ jurisdiction and time consuming procedures have all made dispensation of justice terribly troublesome and highly expensive.

The common people feel that under the legal system, the scales of justice are often weighed in favour of rich litigants who can afford the service of expert senior advocates and procure the best evidence in their favour. Consequently, there is a growing tendency among common people to avoid courts as far as possible. It is common knowledge that the whole property of judiciary and the courts are meant for persons who come to the court with a cause or are otherwise summoned or brought before the court. What is the fate of thousands of ordinary indigent litigants in our country? What is their plight in our courts of law. A litigant has to meet enormous expenses such as lawyers' and his clerks' fee, court fee, court charges and several other miscellaneous expenses. At the court the litigant is treated with very little respect. The judges have their chambers in the court, the lawyers have their spacious rooms in the Bar Association to take rest. The poor, neglected and scantily respected litigant and witnesses are however not provided with any waiting rooms in the court. They loiter hither and thither in the verandahs and corridors awaiting their turn in the courts for long hours throughout the day without even normal toilet facilities. During rainy season we see them sometimes under trees and we cannot even imagine the seasonal hazards they face. As things are, every act of an individual is regulated in on way or the other by some laws and rules thereunder. All these puzzle the common man; he simply does not know what his rights and duties are in day to day life.

To make dispensation of justice more simple, speedy and inexpensive within the present legal system, reorientation and some changes are required. The writer had formed a Court Management Committee headed by the able Hon'ble Justice Keshab Prasad Sharma (now Rt Hon'ble Chief Justice) who submitted Court Management related suggestion report 2055 to the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The success of painstaking work taken by Hon'ble Justice in the Court Management related suggestion Report for the benefit of the weaker sections and the indigent litigant depends wholly on the right implementation of the Report. The Court Management related Report 2055 has, I think already come into force. If the execution of the Court Management related report starts with due care and wisdom it will be of tremendous help as well as a great relief for the poor litigant. Then the response from the common citizen might be highly positive. The provision for the flow of justice, in my view, must be arranged in the village or district level so as to impart justice in an expensive speedy and simple way to the poor affected party. For the purpose of making such provisions, District Courts must be empowered to issue the writ of Hebeas Corpus, Prohibition and Injunction under Citizen Rights Act, 2012. The court is now in favour of empowering the District Courts with the right to issue the above mentioned writs in accordance with the Citizen Right Act, 2012, the Chief Justice has expressed this in his speech in the public forum published in the news media. All common citizens might have become delighted and overwhelmed with ecstasy to hear this happy news.

Administration of justice, like maintenance of law and order should be regarded a an essential function of the state, not a source of profit to the government. Payment of court fees for the oppressed and poor litigants should be abolished completely. If justice is denied to the common man for long, lawlessness will become the way of life and people will decide their disputes in the streets instead of law courts. In our country, legal aid provided by Nepal Bar Association to the common people is not adequate. The common people are not aware that they get free legal aid from Legal Aid programme organized by the Bar Association of Nepal and its district level Association.

What is really needed is a public section in the legal profession to cater to the average litigant. On the lines of hospitals, public legal aid and litigation cells must be set up by the state. They should be manned by competent full time in-house lawyers who will be paid salaries by the state. Consequently, the emphasis will shift to negotiation, conciliation and out of court settlement. The cost of creating such an organization will certainly be high but it is a part of the State's duty under article 25 (3) and (14) of the Directive Principle of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990 (2046) respectively which mentions that the social objective of the State shall be to establish and develop the foundation of justice and morality, a healthy social life, by eliminating all types of economic and social inequalities for securing justice and pursuing a policy of providing free legal aid to poor persons according to the principle of the Rule of law. I think one way of releasing pressure on the judiciary is to hold Lok Adalats like in India. The function of such a court is to negotiate, conciliate and to settle disputes out of court. In addition to this, there is another way to give some relief to poor litigants by having mobile courts.

The plight of an ordinary litigant in our law courts from the lowest district court to the Apex court of our country is similar. Unfortunately, neither the high judicial personnel nor the Bar Association nor the government have so far taken up this matter to launch a movement for an organisation of its own to effectively protect and safeguard its rights and interests.

Litterateur's lamentation

By Ajit Baral

Writers (here writer is being used synonymously with litterateur) are conscious beings. And they remain contented, so it is seen and believed, whatever their condition of living may be. But our writers are a discontented lot. This discontentment springs from their inclination to equate writing with money. This leads one to pose a question: Why do writers write? To satisfy their creative urge? To get mental satisfaction? To create a world in which they can live? For catharsis? Or, is it for money?

- No, no one writes for money. As Samuel Johnson says, no one but blockheads write for money. Thus one has to be a real blockhead if one writes for money. If money comes along, it is fine and good. But never did great writers write for money, nor will they in future. Cervantes and O' Henry didn't write for money, and locked up in gaol as they were, there was no possibility of their earning through writing. If Premchand had strove for money, he wouldn't have created such great works of literature, rather he would have written shallow journalistic writings that would have at least paid for his living. Literature has never paid to 'all' writers. Nor will it ever. This is the fact our writers are happy not to see. They, therefore, overlook that behind one Rushdie and one Pankaj Mishra who receive a million dollars in advance before they put a word onto paper, there are thousands of aspiring Rushdies and Mishras who are struggling to get their work published.

Subsequently, it has become a popular past time of our writers to lash at the government and the academy that these institutions are doing nothing for them. No one but the quality of their work will give them what they are looking for. Trotting out uncrafted, plagiarized works every three-months and disguising it as literature per se will give them only disappointment in terms of sales and readership. For, literature is read by only a handful of readers and when it comes to uncrafted, plagiarized and pamphleteered works , none will read them.

What our writers should be reminded is that they are not writing for global readers, but for a limited number of readers, so naturally the money to be had from it is negligible, even if it comes along. This is pretty much the case with Indian writers writing in languages other than English. There is name and fame to be had in writings though, but still our writers crib, as they tend to look at reward in materialistic terms. So the man samman, which is priceless, is not reward in itself for them. As a result, people like Taranath Sharma, who have earned name and fame, resent the decision to return from America. If they are writing for money alone, then they can well go on to write cheap fiction of Bed Prakash's kind, libidinously Sita Pandey's kind or one-writing- a- day of journalistic type, which plenty of writers are doing.

Is Maoist activity receiving extra-coverage ?

The Kathmandu Post and Mercantile Communications conducted a survey on "Do you think the mainstream press have given extra coverage and importance to the Moist issue" last week on the Net? Of the total 410 respondents, 55.4 percent said "Yes", 42.2 percent said "No" and 2.4 percent said "they did not know".

We regret the inconvenience, if any that may be caused on account of original names being kept back by some respondents.

Press has not taken the issue seriously. Neither is there clear information about the details of background of the Maoist rebels ie funding, organisation, weapon power, support, etc. Nor any analysis of the situation. No interviews with leading personalities and leaders in the country on the subject or interviews with the common citizen, especially of the affected areas, about their perceptions and experiences. It is high time that the press started doing serious investigation on the matter and called for public and government action. The government as usual is being myopic and concerned only with petty matters.

- Tshering Tenpa Lama

Press have given extra-coverage in this regard but only on the surface without critical analysis which indeed might have worsened the situation rather than in the line of resolving problems. It is better to discuss the root cause of problems and possible resolution, instead of covering only the events.

- Anonymous

Both the government and Maoists are making propaganda and the newspapers are running after them without any vision and goal. The real situation still has to be explored. However, exploring news of such circumstances needs additional well equipped journalists both in terms of physical and mental ability.

- Mark Ande

It is a sorry state for us when we can't even come up with one gutsy journalist who can write honestly about matters as they stand. Or does that only exist in films and fantasies? There is no credibility and honesty in any coverage.

- Ramcharan

It is understandable that people without any hope of even a meager livelihood should turn to an ideology that states that everyone will get a chance, all are equal, there will be no rich anymore, nor poor. What the press needs to do is analyse the situation in depth, investigate and present the whole scenario of how this came about and perhaps also, how this can be solved. Instead of talking, perhaps Maoist stricken places should be offered jobs and opportunities. The government should offer such options. The root cause of Maoism is poverty and without  finding ways out, it's like treating the symptom not the cause. The press needs to discuss these things not just report on how many were killed and what Deuba said yesterday.

- Kanchan Ghale

A war is on. No matter, who wins at the end the loser will be all Nepalese. Because of this war, common people, Maoists and policemen are being killed. Do we know senior leaders who are responsible for this? Maoist leaders, politicians, and policemen should take responsibility. They are the ones who are killing innocent Nepalese. Press is the fourth estate of democracy. Nepali press is still in an infant stage. Yet they have brought to light some of the critical issues to the readers. They should continue to do so especially on killings related to Maoist war; Maoists' policy, poverty, corruption, public health, education, etc.

- Siddhi

Nepali press needs to do its work, people are being killed like flies. What the press have done is just mere reporting - "Two Maoists killed in Gorkha", for example. Press have not mentioned that those killed are innocent Nepalese. Reporters or so called journalists seem to be unaware of the fact that those killed are Nepalese fighting for their right. How did it affect the families? Why? How? Who are responsible? Not just some frustrated and angry people who have taken on themselves to become Maoists, but even behind that, the corruption, the apathy, the unconcern of those citizens who can do something.

- Rajen

Paudel rushed home after visiting only 3 of the 5 districts on his itinerary. Was he afraid of the Maoists or did he have to rush home to wish Koirala a goodbye before Koirala departed for New York. When our political leaders have no sense, how can you expect the Nepali press to give better coverage? Journalists are no better than political leaders. But the press plays an extremely important role in a democratic country.

- Mahendra

The media in Nepal seem to be very poor. They are basically politicized. It is very difficult to know the exact happenings in the country. The governance of the country is in the hands of media but they do not seem to utilize it. Today, Maoism is the biggest problem in the country. Media says that so many people were killed, banks were looted, arms looted so on and so forth. But they are not very clear with their statements. The media have not yet reached out to the general public.

In places like Jhapa, local gundas are minting money in the name of Maoists. What is the media doing on this? Anything happens, it is supposed to be done by Maoists, but that's not true always. It's not only the media but even the judiciary should work in hand in hand with the media.

- Pravesh Sariah.

All Nepali press except a few have a group of silly people fed by corrupt politicians and businessmen. The news stories published are so superficial and imaginative that any one can say that the news were drafted in editors' room without visiting the site. Under such circumstances, how can you believe that press gives better coverage?

- Shammy

I think yes. And I also suggest the inefficient government should give similar importance towards solving the greatest threat to the Nepali citizens. The greatest threat to the nation are the Maoists.

- Niki

It seems like Maoist movement in Nepal and the Chiapas incident in Mexico have many similarities. May be people can take a look at Chiapas story and do case studies. May be we will learn something from this.

- Raju

Maoists are the worst . But most of the blame lies with the government's reckless system and its internal fighting. We would have been better off had the government realised the slightest intention of doing so. Just now we are witnessing that the country is getting bankrupt. Where is the moral? Media has every right to point out these weaknesses and from the media's information, government should take initiative to solve the problems.

- Franz

Extra coverage of Maoist activity is a joke. Newspapers do not make the news, they only report it. If it seems that extra coverage is being given to the Maoist movement, it is only because the Maoists are making more news, they seem to be getting stronger. All the ministers are out of the country for travel to foreign conferences and vacations. The Maoists have stayed behind in Nepal to take care of business.

- Narsingh