Task ahead

Sher Bahadur Deuba has started his second innings as Prime Minister on an astrologically auspicious day, with a clean slate and with what he describes as a balanced cabinet. Given the ground reality of Nepali Congress politics, he has had to accommodate tainted faces from the past. It might have been ideal if he could have started with an altogether fresh team. But the horse trading that governance inevitably involves requires more seasoned hands who have a feel for what will work and what will not in day to day decision making. Whatever the look of the new cabinet it is to be hoped that Deuba will be able deliver. The challenges before his government are manifold. A quick check list includes a looming confrontation with India over the Russiyal-Khurda Lautan barrage that is threatening to inundate Lumbini, talks with visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca over Nepalese garment exports to America, trade talks with India next week, the slump in tourism and the still unresolved stand-off between hotel management and labour, the problem of cheaper Indian foodgrain flooding Nepalese markets, the citizenship issue, the problem of education. There are also perennial problems such as the growing national debt, the 1950 treaty with India, pollution, poverty, population and other problems typical of a poor country. On top of all this is some business left over from the last time Deuba was Prime Minister, such as the DPR for the Pancheshwar project and the Maoists problem. The People’s War, it will be recalled, was launched while Deuba was away in India in February 1996 finalizing the Pancheshwar project.

It is success or failure in dealing with the Maoist problem that will be the acid test of the Deuba ministry. He will have won a place in history even if he manages to do nothing else except bring about a breakthrough on that front. He seems to have put the right foot forward with his overture to the rebels in his very first public statement after being appointed Prime Minister again. The Maoists have responded with a ceasefire, but the road ahead will not be easy, given the wide ideological gap between them. It is hard to see how progress is possible beyond goodwill gestures, a willingness to talk and the making of peripheral concessions. While that remains the grim reality, Deuba can bring the Maoists to the negotiating table and try and persuade them that the majority of Nepalese do not subscribe to their line of thinking. At the same time he would do well to improve things on the implementation front, whether it be in the delivery of goods and services or the workings of the law which now favours those with source-force. The idea is to put across to the people that the system actually works. That’s the only way to win the hearts and minds battle with the Maoists.

Though Deuba has come in on an auspicious day and with   a clean slate, the mood has already changed a little with the announcement of a new hike in electricity tariff. The slate will not remain clear for long. Six months down the road Deuba may be judged by the same three criteria on which Girija Prasad Koirala deemed it fit to oust KP Bhattarai and the anti-Girija faction subsequently sought Girija’s own ouster.

USA, South Asia and Nepal

By Jayaraj Acharya

USA, the only superpower in the unipolar world after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, faces a new situation in international relations. Ironically, after the end of the Cold War, many new hot spots for possible regional wars—some old ones and some new—have apparently occupied the minds of US foreign policy experts.

The US foreign policy experts seem to be concerned with the possible proliferation of nuclear weapons, possible proliferation of regional wars, possible collapse of the infant democracies or democracies newly established or restored in the 1980s and 1990s, and the possible threat from Islamic fundamentalists termed as the "green threat". The possible threat of the influx of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States, global environmental degradation, violations of human rights including human trafficking are some other US concerns.

American trade interests around the world are closely linked with the peaceful democratic world order, rule of law, free-market economies functioning within the framework of the WTO. It is clear that globalization has significant consequences for the US as well as the less developed countries.

South Asia appears to have assumed greater importance recently in American foreign policy concerns for various reasons. It is inhabited by almost one-fifth of the world’s population. So it is a region with great investment and market possibilities with tremendous hydropower potential in the Himalayas and natural gas deposits in Bangladesh.

South Asia is also a dangerous "hot spot" because of the continued tension in Indo-Pak relations, which has assumed new dimensions since the 1998 nuclear device testing by both rivals. In addition to the Kashmir imbroglio, civil wars in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka and insecurity in Nepal have the potentials to destabilize the region. The threats of such instability are obviously a matter of serious concern not only for the countries of the region but also the United States. Additionally, there are serious concerns about the non-democratic regimes in  Pakistan and Myanmar.

There is also the possibility of increased Sino-US competition for markets in this region. China’s cheap labour products may drive out the expensive American goods from the world market. China’s fast-growing economy and commensurate political influence, enhanced by its military strength, are likely to be an important factor in American foreign policy formulations. And, additionally, the European Community will be vigorously seeking market for its products in the Asian region as well.

The rough sailing of democracy in the Philippines and Indonesia culminating in the ouster of Estrada and Wahid, respectively, through public pressure built in the streets rather than normal democratic procedure has been carefully watched. Current political affairs in Nepal with the resignation of Prime Minister Koirala recently seem to present a somewhat similar case. The US foreign policy experts and political scientists must have realized that democracy is not just a political structure or even a process; it is rather a matter of spirit.

Nepal’s political stability is necessary not only for Nepal itself but also for the international community. Situated in a very sensitive strategic location, Nepal’s importance in the post-Cold War context is increasing. With newly emerging alignment in the international relations, such as the increasing closeness between China, Pakistan and Russia on one hand and India and the USA on the other, a new Cold War-like situation may be arising.

Nepal entered into the new era of open politics and policies in 1990. Now, Nepal must realize that openness has both advantages and serious national and regional responsibilities. In fact, the openness as such has brought Nepal face to face with the challenges of greater complexities. Because of its strategic location between several more powerful and influential nations, Nepal is coming under greater pressure to carefully watch and monitor the emerging dynamics of change in Sino-Indian and Indo-Pakistani relations as well.

Thus, Nepal faces the challenging task of maintaining a constant and delicate balance among the regional and world powers. It is a situation similar to the 1960s and 1970s, which witnessed the height of the Cold War. Nepalese diplomacy will face the test of convincing both its immediate and distant neighbours, and its friends, that the internal and external dimension of Nepal’s independence, stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity is a matter of common and equal concern for all. Earning goodwill and understanding throughout the region and the world will be a focal point of Nepalese diplomacy in the days and months to come.

(Dr Acharya is former permanent representative of Nepal to UN)

Holiday talk

By Tilak Pokharel

Nepal is lucky and unique in many ways. Apart from its unique political practice, there are many other things, which other countries are not that lucky to have, thanks largely to Dashain, Tihar, our 330 million Gods, ever-coming festivities, winter vacation, summer vacation, a couples of new year days and our policy makers and planners. The list is long. We are fortunate enough to have these things, which the foreigners are prevented from. Perhaps, we get holidays more than any other country the worldover.

We don’t need to have a cause to get a holiday. Almost a month comes into a standstill during Dashain season. The government offices remain virtually closed weeks before and after Dashain and Tihar, not to mention the two week’s time in between.

Our government wants to preserve fuel and power (electricity) by closing offices on Sundays in the Kathmandu Valley. I think it will be the best idea to close down all offices across the country throughout the week so that the move would earn billions of rupees in no time. Hello, hakims at the Ministry of General Administration! Are you listening?

The government workers are so patriotic that they try their best to save fuel and power in government offices by not remaining there for a long time. They come to the office hours after the stipulated time and go home long before the closing time.

The stories of our schools, colleges and universities are equally interesting. Moreover, the role of students is more praiseworthy. Students want to give their teachers more leisure time to enjoy, and they also don’t want to waste their "valuable" time and price of chalk and other goods in their colleges.

We have 330 million Gods and festivals come up accordingly. Our country has numerous communities, nationalities, tribes and nomads. They have their own festivals and demand for holidays, but only luckier ones get them. Women are luckier than man when it comes to enjoying holidays. Come teej, it is their time to get holidays.

Not only in having diverse traditions and cultures, our country is also lucky in having a variety of climates. Even if it is cold in the northern side in summer, schools are closed there thinking that it is hot in the southern belt and vice versa in the winter season. This tradition has benefited one and all across the country.

Luckily, we have at least three New Year days, which all are public holidays. One is our own New Year day which falls on Baishakh 1 (April 14). Second is the English New Year day which falls on January 1 and the last is the Lhosar, Buddhists’ New Year day which usually falls during the month of February.

Our state-owned university, the Tribhuvan University, has come up with more unique cause for having one more holiday. Whenever its chancellor steps inside the university, the University Campus should remain closed the following day. If the following day is obviously a public holiday, the next first working day is the holiday.

Isn’t it interesting?

CNAS under Panchayat

The Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies (CNAS), one of the four research centres of Tribhuvan University (TU), recently completed its 29th year. But that is not why CNAS has been in the news in recent weeks. After Kumar Khadga Bikram Shah, who was the executive director of CNAS in the second half of the 1980s, was murdered in the Narayanhity Palace on June 1, all of the obituaries have mentioned that during his tenure CNAS attained its heights as a research institution. This essay has been prompted by these mentions.

CNAS was started on July 16, 1972 as the Institute of Nepal and Asian Studies (INAS). An Institute of Nepal Studies (INS) had existed in TU since 1969 in a small scale and it was replaced by INAS in accordance with the directives for higher education in the New Education System Plan of 1971. Dr Prayag Raj Sharma, who had trained in ancient history and archaeology, was the founder Dean of INAS. In the beginning, INAS had four faculty members, and it could grant degrees (MA and PhD) by dissertation. Due to lack of resources, INAS initially gave priority to only Nepal studies in   anthropology and sociology, history and linguistics, the research in each being guided by a subject committee consisting of scholars from INAS, departments of TU and outside.

Sharma provided foundational leadership to INAS. Under him, it started a documentation centre and a seminar series. It organized a major seminar on the social sciences in Nepal in 1973. In December 1973, INAS published the first issue of the bi-annual journal Contributions to Nepalese Studies. This journal is still around and it has published some of the seminal articles written by Nepali and non-Nepali scholars. In the mid-1970s, Sharma recruited new faculty members and students and INAS soon began to serve as the contact point for all kinds of social science researchers. Perhaps because there were, relatively speaking, more faculty members trained in history, some of the early research publications brought by INAS were historical documents and analyses. The most well known of them is of course the book of late Dhanavajra Vajracharya, Licchavikalka Abhilekh. Dhanavarja was also involved in the research and publication of several other works, including the controversial Panchali Shasan-Padatiko Etihasik Bivechana (coauthored with Tek B Shrestha) which tried to provide historical depth to the "suited to the soil" theory of the Panchayat system. By 1980, INAS had also published works on migration, linguistics, and folklore in additional to several bibliographies and indices.

In the meantime, due to changes in TU’s academic structure, INAS was converted into CNAS in September 1977 and it lost its degree-granting status. Dean Sharma became the executive director and when he stepped down from the post in 1978, anthropologist Dor Bahadur Bista was named his successor. Bista had worked under anthropologist C von Furer- Haimendorf and written People of Nepal but formally he only had a BA degree and a diploma in ethnography. His elevation to the rank of a professor of anthropology and the CNAS job came as a grant from King Birendra. By 1980, several of the students had finished their MA by dissertation and had found employment in CNAS. The faculty number had also increased due to further recruitment. Bista served only one three-year term as the executive director and after he stepped down in 1981, several people held the office for short tenures until Kumar Khadga B Shah took over in 1984. During this unstable phase of the institution, the National History Project was initiated whereby several historians were asked to write on different aspects of Nepal’s history. Most historians submitted their manuscripts by the late 1980s but they were only gradually published after 1995.

Under Khadga B Shah, the Asian studies part of CNAS picked up in several ways. He brought a remarkable group of political scientists (with sympathies toward various power centres) to CNAS and asked them to focus their attention to studying other countries in South Asia, China and Japan. He started regular interactions amongst these researchers, and published the journal, Strategic Studies Series, where Nepali social scientists analyzed regional politics, South Asian cooperation, Cold War themes and related issues. In 1986, the CNAS Year Review, containing several country-wise annual surveys for SAARC countries and a few additional countries was started. Other publications, both as monographs and articles, were brought out. Under this scheme scholars like Dhruba Kumar and Govinda Bhatta published work on China, and Sridhar Khatri wrote on the US and also about regional cooperation in South Asia. Similarly Lok Raj Baral and geographer Vidya B S Kansakar wrote about demographic politics and regional cooperation. Pramod Kantha wrote on Pakistan, Dev Raj Dahal on Japan, and Krishna Khanal on India’s foreign relations. Shah purchased subscriptions to various journals for the CNAS library from his personal resources.

If under Prayag Raj Sharma, CNAS had made a name for itself largely based on works on Nepali history, under Khadga B Shah, CNAS enhanced its status as a centre for the study of contemporary politics in the South Asian region. As part of the celebrations of the Silver Jubilee of Panchayat, Shah organized a seminar in Kathmandu in December 1986 on "Political Development and Social Change in Nepal" where papers that contained scathing criticism of the values on which that system was based were also presented. One such paper, "Values in the doldrums: does the West meet the East in Nepal?" by Prayag Raj Sharma (later published in Archives Europeennes De Sociologie, vol 30 no 1, 1989) was vehemently opposed by Panchayati ‘philosophers’ Dr Tara Nath Sharma who demanded that the former CNAS chief be hanged for his views. It is to the credit of Khadga B Shah that he tried to stretch the relatively more democratic space available in post-Referendum Nepal to appraise the prevailing anti-democratic political system by organizing a seminar with money earmarked for Panchayati celebrations! For this he was hounded by conservative forces in the Royal Palace.

Shah stayed on the job after his first term ended in 1987 but he didn’t seem to have the same level of energy any more. As the Indo-Nepal trade and transit impasse happened, he tried to re-invigorate the group of political scientists and urged them to write about the subject. But differences between him and some scholars as well as between scholars who took up ultra-nationalist positions and those who were seen to be ‘soft’ on India grew large. When some articles by Nepali scholars did appear in international publications, Shah again had to face the wrath of the Palace conservatives for whom the democratic aspirations expressed in those same articles were not palatable. He called an impromptu meeting and returned several of the political scientists he had brought to CNAS to their respective home institutions. He then absented himself from CNAS, making anthropologist Dilli Ram Dahal the acting executive director. With Shah’s departure, the CNAS Year Review and the Strategic Studies Series ceased publication. This happened because Shah, despite taking many personal initiatives, had failed to invest on building the institutional infrastructure within CNAS that would support these initiatives when he was gone.

While definitely conceptualized within the larger educational blue-print of the Panchayat regime, CNAS under Prayag Raj Sharma and Khadga B Shah also showed that even authoritarian political regimes can not totally determine the entirety of intellectual engagements that academics pursue. CNAS under the post-1990 democratic regimes has not been able to thrive as an institution and this is a subject that will be taken up some other time.