Deadlock again

Nepal-India trade talks remain deadlocked weeks before the trade treaty of 1996 expires. The Nepalese delegation to the secretary level talks in New Delhi this week came back with little more than word that a third round would be taking place sometime next month. The talks have foundered ever since India demanded that Nepal do something about certain surge items in its export to India that have been harmful to India’s own domestic industry. Nepal’s argument is that things should be seen in the light of the overall spirit of the trade treaty and against the overwhelming trade surplus that India enjoys with Nepal. But India is in no mood to compromise and has even tried to turn the trade surplus argument on its head with a set of implausible figures showing the surplus to be actually in Nepal’s favour. The trade dispute, for that is what it is, seems to be getting worse, with the Indian side upping the ante at each subsequent phase. At first it was mostly a question of surge items. During the first round of talks held here in August this got expanded to include the issue of indigenous content. And now in Delhi the Indians have also brought labour content into the picture. The Delhi talks also ran up against the Indian demand for inclusion of some major exportable items in the negative list. India has furthermore mooted the idea of putting Nepal-India trade on a most favoured nation basis, which would be less favourable for us than the existing preferential trade regime.

There are at least two ways of approaching the trade impasse between the two next-door neighbours. The first is to look upon it as the consequence of pandering to the interests of a section of the business community at the cost of national economic interests. This argument has been put forth in relevant circles, although with almost two percent of the GDP involved in the so-called surge items that India is so anathema to, it is not easy to make it stick. The second approach is to look at trade with India as with all our other dealings with the behemoth to the south in the totality of our mutual ties, a more holistic approach to use the current jargon. It has been suggested as much by our trade negotiators just back from Delhi who point out that some political intervention may be needed to break the deadlock. Further credence is lent to this line of reasoning if we look at the steady stream of difficulties that we have been having with India over the past few years, including Kalapani, purported ISI activity, the hijacking of the Indian airliner, the Rhithik Roshan episode and the embankments that cause flooding in Nepalese land. Any softening of Indian attitudes towards Nepal as epitomized by the now defunct Gujaral doctrine, is contingent on deference to Indian vital interests real or perceived. In the total configuration of Nepal-India ties, trade is but one variable and it can be influenced by all the other variables. Trade deadlock has to be seen as symptomatic of potential gridlock in mutual ties across the board. It is also a variable that India can manipulate to suit the exigencies of the moment. And it is this exercise that we are now seeing. Vilify India as much as we like, Nepal’s trade difficulties with that country is as much about a failure of Nepalese diplomacy as it is about failure to diligently study the facts and figures involved.

Property bill : For parity or conflict ?

By Chiranjibi Kafle

Last Saturday (October 13), the Upper House rejected a bill which the treasury benches claimed would grant women equal right to parental property. It may be a matter for debate whether the provisions in the said bill actually guarantee equal rights of daughters to parental property. However, the Upper House’s rejection could at least work as a blessing in disguise for the government, if only it is prepared enough to make some positive corrections in it before sending it to the same house for approval again.

In fact, lawmakers in the Lower House who drafted and approved the bill in question seem to have done so without much clarity among themselves. Or, rather, it may be that they deliberately did not want complications—both practical and procedural— on the question of allowing women equal rights over parental property.

The issue of equal parental property rights to daughters was in fact raised from different quarters since a long time back. Even the presently mooted bill was originally tabled for parliamentary debate during the tenth session of the legislature. In the meantime, the Supreme Court had issued a guideline against the possibility of dual rights over parental property, which would have been the case if the present calls from the UML and some women’s bodies had been responded to in total affirmative.

If personal opinion could be of any help, this scribe would not mind women being granted legal rights to anything they might be considered fit for. However, I also tend to be silently bemused when other members in society do not agree, particularly when their calls become too self-centered to let them any space for making a cool survey or assessment of impacts.

Anyway, the present question is equal parental property rights to daughters. And this, to be frank, the bill has accepted only in theory rather than in practice. However, the Main Opposition and some women’s groups which even ventured to burn an effigy of Prime Minister Deuba against the proposed bill do not seem to have been affected by this lapse. They believe the government has now truly ensured the long-awaited parental property rights for girls as long as they are not married, and they are angered only because they want girls to retain such a right even after they get married. As for women’s rights over their husbands’ property, which is traditionally guaranteed to them upon marriage, our property revolutionaries remain tight-lipped.

The way in which this scribe finds reason to clash with the treasury benches in this regard concerns the lack of clarity on their part while framing the bill, rather than the intention involved therein. It’s good that the government has finally realised the need for women (daughters) to enjoy equal rights to parental property. But do the clauses proposed in the bill facilitate the exercise of such a right? Let’s try to look into this with some examples.

Well, the bill proposes equal parental property to a daughter as long as she is not married. It may be noted that the same bill fixes the girl’s minimum age for marriage at 20 (on self-choice) and 18 (with parental consent). This means, for a minimum of 18 years of age, a girl child will receive equal parental property. However, she will not claim it legally because not even boys bother to claim it legally during these tender years of youth. This means, till 18-20 years of age, parental property is no business of children; till a few years after that daughters have no advantage to ask for it unless they decide not to marry at all; and after marriage it is just not useful for them. This, in turn, means that life will move the same way as it is moving today. One would have to alienate oneself from marriage in order to enjoy parental property legally. Who will do that?

On the other hand, under the existing system daughters are already entitled to legal ownership of parental property if they remain unmarried till age 35—a practical demarcation line after which the prospect for marriage normally gets dimmer. What’s more, entitlement to husband’s property after marriage is nothing new in Nepali society. And, frankly speaking, nowhere in the world perhaps would a husband so voluntarily confide his property to his wife than in this country of ours. For proof, one can visit any maalpot office to check who actually owns the property!

And mind you, most of those husbands have confided their assets to their wives, not because the wives have brought much dowry with them—and dowry originally meant nothing other than a bride’s share of parental property, to which nobody else, not even the husband, could wage a claim, legally. Rather, the husbands confide their property to them because they trust their wives better than their parents — the source of their own parental property if they have any. But I doubt if wives could confide their assets to their husbands in the same way, were they to own the parental property even after their marriage. Also, I wonder if the prevailing trust between husband and wife could be sustained thereafter too.

Granted, women should be entitled to equal parental property rights whether married or unmarried. This is also a plea against the prevailing discrimination against women. For this, the bill could have been categorical: Take parental property, and either leave claim over husband’s property or give him a portion of your own share too. But the failure to do so indicates that the government is merely introducing a verbal hoax in the name of property act. Similarly, what looks suspicious is the silence on the part of women themselves regarding the question of their right over their husband’s property. It is known to everyone that no man in Nepal (I don’t know the situation in other countries) enjoys legal right to his wife’s property, be it parental or otherwise. If wives so prefer, even the assets which their husbands have so naively confided to them could be snatched away from those poor souls who have been the long time owners of the much coveted parental properties.

Yet, they are absolutely silent as to the idea of either giving the husbands right over their bounty or disowning claim over his. The only question that remains after all these deliberations is: if womenfolks are so fond of their parental property, why can’t they say "we don’t need husband’s property"? After all, womenfolks are highly practical. And they are very clever too. For, how can one sacrifice one’s khai-pai aayeko facility so easily?

Students’ union resolution

By Razen

It is our pleasure to announce that our student union has successfully completed our annual conference recently with a wide participation. The representatives from different campuses all over the country broadly discussed our past mistakes, drawbacks of the present strategies and future plans. We hereby declare the resolution of our union that was passed in our recent annual meet.

Our first demand is that admission to any campus must be based on merit only. We request the campus administrations to admit only those applicants who have excelled in the entrance examinations and are qualified to be campus level students. The campus chief must ignore other pressures for illegal admissions of under merit students most of whom are politically motivated.

Our union will always raise voice against no class days. We pay money to the campus to be educated, not to cast vote in the student elections. We don’t want any single day without classes. Our union will always support the campus administration to run the classes smoothly.

We don’t want any politics in the campus. Our aim of joining must be to become good, educated and responsible citizens. So, our union has decided not to let any non-student leader into the campus periphery and raise any issue other than the education to deviate our mind towards the dirty game.

Our union respects teachers as our God and we take responsibility to behave with them in a civilised manner. We will do our best to protect and respect the teachers and their teachings.

Bringing all the necessary books in the classes will be made compulsory. Similarly, we will demand uniforms both for boys and girls. This is for the sake of our unity, uniformity and avoidance from any unwanted elements. We will respect our uniforms no less than the policemen do.

We will work hard to maintain the environment of the campus area. We will regularly sweep the rooms, paste no posters, paint no walls, hang no banners. Our union will organise regular programmes to plant trees in the campus area and other public places.

No students from our union will participate in any political or any other programmes outside the campus. Time is money. Our union believes that students should waste no time in strolling around the city during the student life. You cannot see our union members watching movies, enjoying icecream or dating in Tundikhel ground.

Our exams are the first thing we care for. So we will not let any political elections or even a disaster affect our examination schedule. The exams will be held on time and if not, we will politely oppose the university administration.

We will pressurise the campus administration if any unregistered student is seen in the classrooms and if a student is found leaving classes for no reason.

Coming to campuses with any types of arms will be strictly prohibited and such a student will be referred to the police for putting him into custody immediately because we are aware that a single person with a criminal behaviour play a havoc with the students who are thirsty for education.

We will first investigate how many of the identity card holders are genuine "students". And, we will also calculate how many of the former students pay tax to the government in compensation to the concession we acquire in our student life.

Finally, our union has decided to issue a circular to all other student unions to follow our resolutions and contribute to create a healthy, clean and academic atmosphere in campuses.

Awareness alone not sufficient

By Om Murty Vaidya

The world observes 21-27 October as the World Population Awareness Week (WPAW). Nepal also is to observe the week with firm commitment and actions if the country is really serious to lower the high rate of population growth.

Nepal has recently concluded the census 2001 and the preliminary report of the last census puts the population figure at around 23.2 million and the rate of growth at around 2.27 percent which is higher than the previous one (2.08 p.c.). This is the third highest rate in the SAARC region, the first and second being Bhutan (3.10 p.c.) and Pakistan (2.80 p.c.) respectively.

Nepal’s involvement in family planning activities dates back to late nineteen fifties. During the initial days it had launched the programme in the urban areas of Kathmandu and some district headquarters of the terai areas asking males to use the freely distributed condoms and get vasectomized free of cost in hospitals. With the passage of time, both males and females were accustomed to other devices of family planning and birth control methods. At present the awareness programme has been spread in the majority of villages in the country. Thanks to the audio-medium which spreads the knowledge of the family planning and health-care and rings in the ears of the village folks. The government audio-visual media broadcast the awareness programme asking the people to avail the family planning and health-care services. Besides, there are a number of local NGOs mostly aided by foreign donors, and above all, the INGOs work for the implementation of family planning and healthcare activities. They work for the dissemination of messages on family planning and child healthcare education, and supply family planning devices through the departments of education, health, labour, local development, industry and so on.

In spite of such efforts, the result of attempts made to control the population growth rate over the years, according to the census, seems to be rather discouraging. This could be attributed to a host of factors. First, the activities aimed to control the population growth are so limited that they hardly reach the remote areas of the country. Topographically, as much as three-fourth of the country in which the high mountain area inhabited by 13.5 lakh people shares thirty-five percent of the land and the mid-mountain region which occupies forty-two percent of the country’s total area is inhabited by 84 lakh people. Family planning or health workers hardly venture to reach the needy people there. Even the plain region which occupies twenty-three percent of the country’s total area and inhabited by as mush as 46 percent of the population is not free from such complaint. However, in government records there are health centres and health posts or family planning units to deliver the services needed, yet people complain that the services do not reach the needy. This situation still prevails and the government has not been found strong enough to improve the situation. In some cases, the village folks could be blamed for not receiving the services though they could avail of the services but in many a case it is the other way round.

However, one should not expect an illiterate village folk desirous to getting family planning services should walk for hours to reach the health centres and get back with disappointment. In fact, the health centres and health posts, except a few, do not provide the whole range of services but extend services like distribution of temporary methods. According to the government records, there are 95 percent or more people who have heard of family planning devices. This is surely the result of advertisements or communications through audio-visual media. But at the same time it is astounding that the actual users of the family planning devices number around 30 percent only. This wide gap between the knowers and users is surely due to fact that the family planning services are still to be reached to the remote areas so that the programme could cover even the remote local needs.

The in-migration is another serious threat to the control of population growth. The country has time and again been suffering from the in-migration from neighbouring countries. Since the southern border is open and easily accessible the threat is higher from this side. The border should have been regulated and not left open to be misused by outsiders. The open border might seem advantageous but not without disadvantages from the long-term perspective.

Poverty of the masses is not to be ignored. So long as the country is in the grip of poverty, higher rate of population growth is bound to occur. It is widely accepted that around 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line and around 10 percent is in the poverty line and these masses cannot afford to have the family planning devices at their own expenses. The only alternative to get them involved actively in the family planning and health care activities is to extend the services up to their doors. Many village people do not hesitate to go on saying that, "how can one expect a villager to go to the far off towns (district headquarters) to get the devices when one does not have the money to feed the hungry mouth at home?" And in fact, it is not untrue.

Further, the high population growth rate is the result of economic underdevelopment. Figures for developed and underdeveloped countries are the evidence of this reality. Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Ethiopia and several other Asian and African countries which belong to the underdeveloped category have higher rate of growth (2 p.c. or more) whereas developed countries like Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France and several others have lower growth rate (below 1 p.c.) indicating higher
growth rate as the result of economic underdevelopment. Hence, people should be provided with ample opportunity to develop their economy and for this sincere efforts must be made by the government and the people in this direction.

The government, the INGOs and the NGOs have been in this line since decades to control the high rate of population growth but the latest census result shows gloomy picture which is in fact a sarcasm to all these agencies which wasted time, money and material poured into the line by them. The mere the setting up of offices or health posts or clinics in urban or sub-urban areas or in their vicinities not sufficiently backed by men and materials will not bear the tasty fruit. If population control programme is to be made successful family planning and child-care services should reach the needy folks at their doorstep by properly managing existing men, money and material. And for this the politicians, planners, executives and economists should have firm commitments for strict application of the programmes in reaching the needy people with family planning services. Awareness alone is not sufficient.