Stop this interference

Minister of Civil Aviation Tarani Datta Chataut has unceremoniously dumped the Director General
of Civil Aviation Authority Nepal (CAAN) Nagendra Prasad Ghimire to a nondescript desk job at
the Ministry. This is yet another instance among many such instances of unwarranted political
interference in the functioning of government agencies. The minister’s decision is unjust on
Ghimire for it victimizes an official for playing by the rules. It can, and it should be challenged in
court. Nobody can be punished for resisting pressure to break the rules. Besides, the issue is
not so much that of resisting the political boss as that of public interest. And when it comes
to public interest, the bosses also cannot simply fling the book of rules away.

Ghimire was punished for refusing to give operation license to a number of applicants who did not
meet international safety standards. Indeed, it would be very appropriate to ask what motivated
Minister Chataut to dump someone who was doing his job. It might now be easier for the minister
to get the new CAAN chief to do his bidding, but whose interest will this serve? It certainly is not
in the interest of the public to grant license to new private air operators to fly aircraft of
questionable airworthiness. Many of the planes the new operators are planning to fly are in fact
barred from carrying passengers commercially by the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO). These planes apparently fail to meet stringent ICAO safety requirements. However, in
total disregard for ICAO regulations, the minister has instructed CAAN officials to recommend to
the cabinet that single engine aircraft not considered safe- be allowed to operate. This is against
ICAO rules and, as aviation minister, he should have actually refused to compromise on air
safety.

Does the minister realize that air safety has become a major issue in the past few years? In this
respect, Tribhuvan International Airport’s (TIA) reputation has not been anything to write home
about. In fact, the increasing number of aircraft mishaps, both in the air as well as on the tarmac
has already presented TIA in a very negative light in terms of air safety. The sky over Kathmandu
is crowded and TIA is overcrowded, and it still lacks the necessary instruments that can be used
to prevent air mishaps. It is therefore unfortunate that the minister seems to be bent on—he has
shown his intent by dumping the CAAN director general—making things even worse by allowing
planes without safety standards to operate. Better sense should prevail and the minister should
serve public interest more than the interest of some entrepreneurs. And last, but not the least,
officials who do the right thing must not be punished. He would therefore do well to reconsider his
decision to transfer Ghimire in the manner that he did.

Third World economic growth & development

Narayan Singh Pun

Two things are necessary for sustained economic growth, economically competent governments
and a favourable combination of international circumstances. In the context of Third World
countries, over the last 20 years, the former seem to be rather rare, while an often unfavourable
international economic environment has been overcome by only a few countries.

What separates most Third World countries from their Western industrial counterparts is their
peripherability. Peripherability refers to the division of the vast majority of Third World economies
from, and their subordination to, the pivotal industrial economies of Western Europe, the United
States and Japan. The Third World’s peripherality is a consequence of a process which began in
the late fifteen century, when the previously scattered peoples of the world were gradually brought
together into a global economic system dominated by a few European states seeking colonies to
expand international influence (Dolan 1993: 259 ).

During the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century, their colonial areas exported raw
materials to industrial economies, and manufactured goods were sent the other way. During the
1930s, however, a global economic recession developed, followed by World War II. Many
governments felt that the slide into war had been facilitated by the effects of the Depression,
which had encouraged states to act for their own short-term interests rather than helping to
develop global solutions. After the war it was widely believed that rules to oversee international
economic transactions were necessary to prevent a recurrence. As a result, economic rules were
introduced under the aegis of the United States. They were regulated by the ‘Bretton Woods’
organizations: the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank of Reconstruction and
Development (popularly known as the World Bank), and, following a conference in Geneva in
1947, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (replaced in January 1994 by the World Trade
Organization).

Most Third World states gained their independence after World War II. As a result, they entered
the global economic system when its structure was already determined. ‘The industrial
economies created the system developed the technology needed to work it, and have the
sophisticated productive capacity that holds it together’ Clapham (1985; 5). This is not to suggest
that this set of circumstances condemns all Third World countries to a subordinate economic
position--there are several clear-cut economic success stories--but
it did tie these countries of the West.

During the 1950s and 1960s there was a generalized and sustained period of economic growth for
virtually all countries, Third World states included. In the early 1970s, however, a further series of
disruption in the world economic system occurred. First, the American economy, the most
powerful in the world, suffered strains following the country’s reverses in Vietnam. Second, oil
price rises in 1973 and 1979 led to the sudden prominence of Middle Eastern oil producing
countries.

Questions about development problems in the Third World were hardly ever asked before the
1950s. Decolonization, beginning in the 1950s, marked the introduction of development research
on a larger, international scale. ‘New’ states in Africa and Asia became members of the UN and
raised voices about the need to focus on development. The Cold War confrontation between East
and West meant that each side was interested in cultivating closer links with the developing
world to the advantage of the other.

It was economic liberals who spearheaded development research in the West. Their various
contributions were given the label ‘modernization theory’. The basic idea was that Third World
countries should be expected to follow the same development path taken earlier by developed
countries of the West : a progressive journey from traditional, pre-industrial, agrarian society
towards a modern, industrial, mass-consumption society. Development meant overcoming the
barriers of pre-industrial production, backward institutions, and parochial value systems which
impeded the progress of growth and modernization.

The liberal understanding of development was subjected to increasing criticism during the 1960s
and 1970s. That was partly in reaction to the lack of progress in many Third World countries at
that time. While growth rates in the developed world reached unprecedented highs in the postwar
decades, many Third World countries had difficulties in getting economic development under
way: their economies refused to ‘take off’. That naturally led to increasing dissatisfaction with
modernization theory.

The most radical critique of economic liberals came from neo-Marxist underdevelopment theory,
which is also known under the name of ‘dependency theory’. For economic liberals ‘traditional
society’ was the place where all countries started their process of development and
modernization. Dependency theory rejects that view. The starting point for dependency theory is
not tradition; it is underdevelopment. Underdevelopment is not a condition which once
characterized all countries. It is a process within the framework of the global capitalist system to
which Third World countries have been subjected: they have been underdeveloped as an
intentional by-product of the development of the West. Underdevelopment is the process by
which capitalist forces expand to subdue and impoverish the Third World. Earlier forms of society
in the Third World may have been undeveloped; but underdevelopment begins only with the arrival
of global capitalism. That is, global capitalism generates development and wealth (in the
industrialized world) and underdevelopment and poverty (in the Third World) in one single
process.

Radical dependency theory came under fire during the 1970s and went into decline. A number of
countries in South East Asia, most notably the ‘Four Tigers’ (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore,
and Hong Kong) experienced rapid economic growth combined with world market integration.
That was a blow to dependency theory’s prediction of stagnation and misery, and seemed to
support liberal modernization theory.

The early 1980s saw a strong revival of economic liberal ideas in development thinking. The
Ronald Reagan presidency in the US and Margaret Thatcher’s administration in the UK both
promoted liberal policies which emphasized the role of free market forces and the downsizing of
state bureaucracies and state regulations. Third World countries were encouraged to pursue
similar policies.

Yet the late 1980s and early 1990s have also seen the return of ideas based on mercantilist
thinking. Mercantilism has not set forth a brief and clear statement about Third World
development comparable to the ones formulated by economic liberals and dependency theorists.
But there is a broad and diverse mercantilist tradition in development which has gained new
strength in recent years. The mercantilist view of development strikes a balance between
economic liberals and dependency views. Whereas economic liberals argue in favour of world
market integration in order to promote development, and dependency theorists argue for
delinking, mercantilists suggest a middle road. It can be argued that the economic development
success of East Asian countries and also Japan is precisely due to their pursuit of a successful
mercantilist strategy in this respect. A second core area of development where the mercantilists
strike a balance concerns the market and the state. South Korea and Taiwan’s development
achievements have been based on states actively working towards building desired structures of
production.

Yet mercantilists recognize that excessive state intervention can involve bureaucratic failures and
they do not support the dependency view where there is no significant role for market forces. If
too much is left to market forces, there is the danger of market failure.

Modern mercantilism in many ways appears to offer a sensible strategy for economic development. Yet it is not without weaknesses. To follow the path suggested by modern mercantilists, the states of the South need a fairly high political-administrative capacity, otherwise they will not be able to undertake the sophisticated state interventions and regulations of the economy required by mercantilists. Even if there are a number of states with such developmental strength in East Asia and elsewhere, it is clear that majority of states in the South are not very strong. In the weak states, corrupt and self-interested state elite are part of the development problem rather than part of the solution. Under such circumstances, there is little hope of success for the modern mercantilist strategy; indeed, mercantilist policies might even lead to greater problems.

It ought to be clear from this brief introduction that the problems concerning development and
underdevelopment in the Third World continue to provoke intense debate among scholars who
hold different theoretical positions. The popularity of the main positions has waxed and waned,
yet the development problem remains in place; some 800 million people do not get enough food,
and about 500 million are chronically malnourished (UNDP 1996: 20). Economic liberals are right
in claiming that free market economy can be a powerful force promoting growth and
modernization; but it is not true that an unregulated market will more or less automatically lead to
optimum development for individuals and states in the long run. Dependency theorists have a
point when they emphasize how relations of dependence shape and affect development in the
Third World. But they are wrong in claiming that integration in the world market must lead to
underdevelopment and that developed, Western countries are no more than imperialist exploiters.
Modern mercantilism appears to strike a sensible middle road between state and market, between autonomy and integration. But mercantilists tend to rely too much on prudent manoeuvring by Third World states, many of which are quite weak and are led by self-serving and often highly corrupt elite.

The heavenly net

By Suyog Mainali

People ay that I left for my heavenly abode a few years ago. Some people say that I am the late
Mr Suyog Mainali. Those who love me say that I am in god’s house. But the fact is that I am
dead and just plain dead, nothing more. And one more thing, I am not in heaven. I am in hell. It is
heaven’s new policy to stop illegal immigrants from settling there. So it is hard to get visa for
heaven, especially for us from the Kaliyuga. And as I was telling you, I was deported to hell as
soon as I died. It is not as you think. There is no democracy in god’s world and the yamadutas
have the right to send anyone to hell or heaven without trial or jury. And it was my bad luck that
the yamaduta who took me was not at all interested in bribes. All he ever cared for was duty free
Black Label whisky which many people buy before leaving for their next world. As I had no Black
Label, I was labelled black and deported directly to hell, that too in a third class seat of the
yamaloka express.

After a long and tiring journey, I reached hell. Well, it was not as bad as I had imagined. Pretty
much like Kathmandu, it was. For once I was glad I was born in Kathmandu. Living in Kathmandu
had exposed and made me resistant to miseries. At the entry clearance office, there was a great
crowd. With some discomfort, I cleared my formalities and at last entered the great city of hell. I
was given a map indicating a point which was supposed to be my house. There were many autos
and buses which were meant to torture travellers. But I was at my ease. It was pretty much like
my hometown, Kathmandu. The thick black soot puffing out of the autos and the ugly hooting of
the buses were not new to me. I caught an auto rickshaw and went to my apartments. I had been
told that it would be similar to the home I had lived when I was alive. It was. It was very similar.
The pile of filth in front of the house, a narrow street full of mud and potholes, a tap which had
been dry for months, the shout and din of construction work going on in the neighbourhood and a
liquor shop at the corner, everything was like home. Indoors too, it was like home. But I missed
one thing, there was no computer. I had died with a lot of money in my pocket and had expected
to live a death better off than my life. But this was ridiculous. No computer! And I a cyber addict
too! I immediately called the local representative to have a computer installed in my house. But I
was told that internet was banned in hell. It enabled people in hell to communicate with people in
heaven. There had been an incident when a guy from hell met a girl from heaven in a chat
programme over the internet and fell in love. They both escaped and married. They have not
returned ever since. People say that they are haunting Switzerland at the present for their ever
lasting honeymoon. And internet has also enabled people in hell to read banned books and rise
against the dictatorship of Yamaraja. That was why internet was banned. I was stunned. No
internet! That means no chatting with beautiful angels from heaven, no flirting over the net and no
cyber fun! I was not going to keep quiet! I began collecting cyber addicts throughout hell. All
cyber addicts had gone to hell so I had a formidable mob of supporters behind me, demanding a
lift of ban from the internet. We started a great revolution. We demonstrated against Yamaraja
and asked him to step down from his post. We burned down his pictures and fought with riot
police. We had negotiations with officials but in vain. At last, old cunning Yamaraja came to the
scene himself. He addressed my followers and bent down to our will. I was surprised. Then, he
promised everyone a free laptop and free unlimited internet access but only if they were to throw
me down back to earth. That old mean villain! He succeeded. The whole crowd turned at me and
Hurled me down to earth. I fell on the ground with a thump and picked myself up. I knew the
mean old Yamaraja would not give those people even a calculator, leave alone a laptop. I cursed
the people of hell and walked slowly home. But alas, they had burned my body days ago. I had
nowhere to go but a dead dog whose body was lying by the roadside. I entered it and am living a
dog’s life ever since. Have you ever seen a thin skinny dog hanging around cyber cafes? That dog
is me. If you see it, please give it a chance to walk into the cafe with you and have a look at the
internet. Will you?

Lamentable ‘rights’ situation in Nepal

By Bipin Adhikari

Kantipur daily carried a news on May 13, 2000 [P. 13] on the deteriorating situation of Thamis of
Ramechhap. The news pointed out that poverty among a majority of Thamis of Khadadevi VDC
near Manthali had gone up to such an extent that they have even started postponing the
post-death rituals of their relatives for some months due to economic reasons.

If someone in the family dies in the month of January/February, they postpone the death rituals of
the deceased till they harvest corn from their land after a few months. Only after harvesting
standing (corn) crops they will have some money to perform death rituals. The increasing rate of
poverty has compelled them to dispense with even such an obligatory cultural practice that the
death rituals must start on the date of death - immediately after the dead body is cremated.

Generally, Nepalese of all cultural categories consider the house or the family of the deceased
impure until these rituals are performed and suddhi-shanti (consecration for restoring familial
purity and peace) is done as per their traditions. However, as an effect of extreme poverty, the
Thamis of Khadadevi VDC would be found wearing mourning (white) dresses till the next three or
four months - with almost a sense of guilt, profanity, and deprivation.

Thamis are not alone in the list of those who have parted with their essential cultural dictates due
to extreme poverty. In the eastern terai of Nepal, a number of people of Dum, Chamar, Tatma and
similar other communities have started to make funeral pyre of parched cow-dung. The reason is
very simple. A majority of them are very poor people. They cannot buy fuel-wood for this purpose.
The local forests have all been denuded. Whatever forest is there, they now belong to the
government. They cannot buy it even at the subsidized rate offered by the government, and the
government does not have a provision for charity.

A normal funeral pyre of a departed adult requires at least 250 kg of fuel-wood, and this involves
an amount of money by which the whole under-subsistence family of the deceased can be pulled
on for a couple of weeks more. Their culture never allowed them to manage with dung cakes. But
they must do so because they cannot keep the dead-body for long, and being Hindus, they do
not want to be buried like Muslims or Christians. Dry cow dung cannot make combustible heap.
Its effect is so moderate that sometimes it takes two days to burn the dead-body into ashes. As
such, the tradition of funeral procession returning only after floating the ashes of the deceased on
the running water is also already in danger.

The issue raised here is the issue of growing national poverty. This poverty is an effect of failure of
all governments to adopt recognized human values in their decision-making. Take the example of
Tharus of western Nepal. During the month of May and June 2000 some Tharu Kamaiyas (bonded
labourers) staged a sit in at the district administration office raising the issue of violation of
minimum wage rules, compensation for their hitherto unpaid labour, and debt relief programs
against the local landlords. The district administration rejected the case citing lack of legal
competence to look into such a case as the reason, and the plea that the victims must file the
complaint to the recognized authority themselves, and that the intervention of local NGOs cannot
substitute this requirement.

The Kamaiyas are still roaming around from one government office to another including the local
village assemblies. The protesters definitely lack basic preparation and legal know-how to get
their grievances heard. The way the issue is being raised, and its cause being politicized, also
shows that the campaign may end up creating larger communal issues affecting the social fabric
of western Nepal.

This is the first time that the communities of bonded labourers, who in the context of western
Nepal come up from the Tharu society, are trying to enforce the constitutional guarantee against
bonded labour, serfdom or servitude. It is the issue which the government had difficulty in raising
pro bono publico. They have thus facilitated the government to come forward and solve it in the
larger interest of the thousands of agricultural labourers in Nepal.

Despite that it never came to the mind of the government, or its local units to confer all necessary
support to the leaders of the movement, or the recently formed committee led by Rajdeb
Chaudhary, to channelise their demand, boost up their representative character, understand them
in proper perspective, and help address the overall issues involving their emancipation. Indeed,
the bonded labourers have provided a precious opportunity to the government to herald its social
commitment by sorting out this problem with those landlords who are practicing such inhuman
trade techniques.

These illustrate the relationship between human rights and human development. All these issues
focus on poverty at the absolute level - life at the very margin of existence; the lack of sufficient
income in cash or kind to meet the most basic biological needs for food, clothing and shelter.
They are still trying to survive in a set of squalid and degraded circumstances. Even where they
do not cause death, they cause misery of a kind, which cannot be properly explained.

Such a persistent misery creates problems of malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, low life
expectancy, and so on. It needs to be constantly reminded that poverty is a human rights
violation and that freedom from poverty is an integral and inalienable human right. It is a condition
that is created by failure to understand human rights deeply interwoven with developmental
activities, questions of justice, transparency of institutions and many other issues.

How could one speak about the realisation of lofty constitutional ideals such as justice, peace,
fundamental freedoms and respect for human dignity where a majority of people live in extreme
poverty. The alarming rate of frustration among the people is not good for any society. A majority
of people in the country are in social seclusion and without social, economic, and cultural rights.
They have no constructive capacity to exercise their civil and political rights in order to decide
their tryst with destiny.

They are the people who are hungry, naked and without a shelter conducive to human life. The
existing situation gravely affects the most vulnerable and disadvantaged individuals, families and
groups. Speaking frankly, the existence of extreme poverty has inhibited the growth of the nation
- the national psyche that we will continue to need to fight back our foes. It has also given the
impression that these poor majorities cannot affect the political process under a democratic set
up.

They pose intriguing questions to our system of power and accountability. One of them is
concerned with the disdainful or egotistical political pirates of this country. When will they
understand that those people whose conditions were already unbearable have already shown
solidarity with the Maoists. The rest will unmistakably follow. Even if the Maoists pull themselves
down, for one or the other reasons, some other groups will come up to cash the sentiments of
deprived crowds as their new founded vanguards.

Poverty in Nepal as well as many other developing countries is not the gift of god. It is the
product of political dishonesty and state sponsored illusions. It is caused by deprivation of basic
human rights. Realisation is necessary in order to promote the rights of the poorest by putting an
end to conditions that create a psychology that tends to support extremist organisations.