Let’s not hesitate for constitutional amendment

By ARJUN BHANDARI

From the day one- November 9, 1990- the day the new constitution was promulgated, voices were raised for its amendment from various power centres. Motive behind the constitutional amendment, however, were multifaceted. There were basically four types of political and social forces that were never satisfied with the contents of the constitution, which was, according to political scientists, a document of political compromise. It is quite but natural to be dissatisfied whenever various forces come to a compromise. The Royalists, the Leftists, the Centrist forces and the ethnic communities were in the frontline to raise voices for constitutional amendment. But these power centres had their own political interests while demanding amendments in the 1990 constitution and, there was no unanimity.

No sooner had the late King Birendra promulgated the Constitution, the then CPN-ML, in a mass meeting addressed by the party spokesman, the late Madan Bhandari, extended a "critical support" to the constitution and expressed his party’s official reservations in some points.

All the Leftist forces had insisted that a provision should be included in the new constitution which could declare Nepal a republic if more than 90 per cent or so members of the 205-member House of Representatives vote for the same. They failed in their mission in mentioning this provision in the constitution. Rather, the constitutional monarchy came out as an unchangeable provision. But the CPN-ML and other leftist parties maintained, despite reservations, that they would abide by the new Constitution since it was a document of political compromise among the country’s three leading forces.

Historians may recall that it was senior leader Ganeshman Singh, the commander of the 1990’s popular movement, who for the first time, argued that some articles of the constitution should be immediately amended. The late Singh categorically said that Article 126 (b) of the constitution would tie the government’s hands while reaching any agreement with other country. The Article requires a two-thirds majority of the joint sitting of Parliament to ratify any treaty or agreement with other country, that has a long-term impact on the nation. This provision, among others, was mentioned in the constitution keeping in mind the previous treaties with India, particularly the Kosi and Gandak Treaties. The Royalists and Leftist forces backed up this Article.

The Royalists and Hindu organisations created pressures on the 10-member Constitution Drafting Commission, headed by the then Chief Justice Bishwonath Upadhyaya, that the sovereign right of the nation should be exercised by the constitutional monarch rather than the people.

The ethnic communities and the Leftist forces were of the view that as a multicultural, multi-religious multi-linguistic nation, and Nepal should be declared a secular state, unlike what had been mentioned in the previous Constitution that remained in effect for 30 years.

A certain section of the intellectual group, while giving suggestions to the Constitution Drafting Commission, demanded that a person born outside the country be banned from holding the Prime Minister’s post. They cited the US constitution which prevents a person born outside the US from holding the presidential post.

The debate did not come to an end here. Still, there were some people who never accepted the ways the constitution was being drafted. They were in favour of holding elections for a constituent assembly that would write the new constitution. But the major political forces were not ready to buy that idea, thinking that it could be another ploy to repeat what happened after the Rana regime was overthrown in 1951.

The late King Tribhuvan had also promised to hold elections for a constituent assembly for writing a democratic constitution, but it never materialised. The Krishna Prasad Bhattarai-led interim government, which also exercised the legislative right, was supposed to hold parliamentary elections under the new constitution. Champions of the 1990 popular movement believe that holding elections for the constituent assembly within a year was impossible and, there was no guarantee that it would serve the purpose of the movement.

What is the irony of Nepal is that it failed to move ahead through a evolutionary process of constitution. There was no rational linkage between the old constitution and the new one. Every time, it turned out to be a new political document, thanks to political instability.

Having practised the constitution for 12 years, all the political forces have once again calling for constitutional amendment for different purposes. Outlawed Maoists have once again demanded that elections of a constituent assembly be held to replace the 12-year-old constitution.

At a time when the Maoists have waged armed struggle for a "constituent assembly," a section of society is against the idea of constitutional amendment. It argues that issues of constitutional amendment should not be brought to the fore when all fundamental rights of the people have been suspended and the country is passing through an unprecedented crisis. But they remain tight-lipped about the appropriate time for the same.

While opposing the idea of the constitutional amendments, the section that does not seemingly represent any political forces claims that it is not the appropriate moment for such an overture. Nor do they subscribe to the Maoist views of the "constituent assembly".

Holding elections for the constituent assembly as demanded by the Maoists means scrapping the present constitution and replacing it with a new one. All political parties and political scientists do agree that the constituent assembly is an extra-constitutional demand.

The present constitution does not allow anyone to write its own death warrant. Even if that Maoist demand is accepted, in principle, Parliament has to add some clauses in the constitution to fulfil the demand, but not at the cost of its own existence. Therefore, major political forces, keeping in mind the gravity of the Maoist demands, seem to have agreed to the constitutional amendment. The present situation is something like getting their hands chopped off rather than their heads. But these power centres have failed where to put across their demands, and how to satisfy the Maoists, who, nevertheless, want to prove at gunpoint that the 12-year-old multiparty democracy was a complete failure to address the national issues.

Having experienced the decade old democratic rule, the political forces are talking about constitutional amendment to serve their political interests. GP Koirala of the ruling Nepali Congress who remained in power for most of the time after 1990 wants to revive the Prime Minister’s prerogative. Whereas the main opposition CPN-UML and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party both want to see a caretaker government during the parliamentary elections and a national government in times of national crises. The Nepal Sadbhavana Party’s interest is in introducing a federal system and to provide citizenship certificates to all the people born in Nepal. Royalists, on the other hand, are insisting as in the past that the monarch be constitutionally more powerful so that he can take a bold step, should a situation like the Maoist problem arise.

But it is worthwhile to recall that many democratic countries, including the US, have amended their constitutions in the face of national crisis. The US constitution has been amended 26 times, first ten of them within 15 years of the Declaration of Independence. The 13th amendment of the US constitution abolished the slavery system during Abraham Linchon’s presidency, and the 15th amendment allowed voting rights to former salves.

Also in November 2001, the Americans were divided between two opinion poles after Democrat Vice-President Al Gore lost the presidential election to George W Bush despite receiving more popular votes. If the existing worldwide trend is any guide, there should be no hesitation for constitutional amendment in order to address pressing national problems.

Hail copy writers!

By DAMARU LAL BHANDARI

Compared to sloppy teleserials and films, commercials ensure welcome reflief and entertainment. Some are so delightful that one looks forward to hit upon them in the entire course of surfing, which watching television has long come to mean.

Who does not know that surfing channels has evolved as the very pastime just because much of that what unspools on the idiot box fails to humour most? Hence, shorter the attention span of the viewers, the shorter the career of the those trying to grab viewers’ attention.

Which brings us to professional copy writers, who, in their brilliant streak of inspiration, churn out amazing ideas for commercials. But it is also true that they need not crave for a brilliant idea since members of the Lilliputian population tend to prefer cartoons and whatever passes as commercials rather than anything else.

In fact, yours truly was once amused to hear a tiny toddler blurting out "ads" when asked whether he was paying attention to the film or the intervening commercials. But then children have their own preferences and fads.

Listed here are a few very highly inspirational commercials flashed on NTV and, of course, on the assorted STAR and ZEE TV channels. To begin with NTV, the one that is inspirational enough to flash a smile of even the smuggest face is the one, which comes from the Ministry of Health. Surprised?

Kiran KC, the comedian, takes the bus ride and almost instantaneously lights up a cigarette and billows the smoke around. Then there is a woman who begins the conversation from the next seat, "Aren’t you Kiran KC, the actor?" "Yes," comes the answer with a big smile, ignorant about the fact that he has ired non-smokers in the bus.

Then what follows is both celluloid and real. "You guys ask people to give up smoking on the screen but do not fall back from smoking yourself in public?" she asks, which eventually is enough for KC to butt out the cigarette. Visuals, of course, add to the beauty of the commercial.

Well, can those who are wallowing in the big bucks of satellite channels like ZEE Cinema, SMAX et al lag behind in the art of churning out high quality commercials? But it is not that the ads entailing big bucks alone impress the most. Even small-time models have been found impressive if the script is good enough. To this extent, commercials, like art films, are works of art.

Consider, for example, the Fevicol ad, which shows a egg laid by a chicken feeding from the discarded Fevicol container. The egg is so tough that it does not split open even though the carpenter, who appears in yet another ad of the same product, hits it hard.

To his utter surprise, the egg goes on to slip from his hand and breaks the matka in the makeshift kitchen. There is another, which shows passengers glued to seats of the trucks ferrying a Fevicol container!

Sensational however is the ad coming from the makers of Everest Chhole Masala though. A housewife has just cooked the chhola and is about to lay it on the table before the husband arrives.

If you did not know, the hubby boy yells out "Ma", the moment he steps in. The whole idea here, of course, is to drive home a point that the product in question has all the elements of a homemade stuff, which reminds of the mothers of the yore. Hail copy writers!

The dynamics of banality

By BASANTA LOHANI

Banality is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It is inherent in every society, be it rich or poor, developed or underdeveloped. However, it is painfully manifested when a person crosses a certain threshold level. The level is a matter of perception because banality cannot be quantified. This is a reality that all of us will have to live with. A threshold level of banality is necessary in every society. It helps reinforcing social bonds. It even makes politics possible. Because without some level of banality political power exchanges are hardly possible. Aristotle has aptly said, "Man is by nature a political animal." The very fact that man is in society means that he is already in politics as well. Had there been absolutely no banality, there probably would have been no basis for politics without which the whole idea of government and governance would be non-existent. In the right proportion, even poison is medicinal.

As social complexities grow, banality too increases like the level of carbon dioxide in the face of increased emission. The other effect of this increasing complexity is that head and heart do not match. The proportion of intelligence to emotion varies from people to people. Even the perfect twins are so different in this respect. Two doctors trained in the same institution with the same grading can have widely differing insight and knowledge. This underscores the variations in human creativity. The antonym of creativity is mediocrity. When mediocrity gets the driving seat in a society, banality increases devouring all the finer sensibilities. The result is the growth of a protective sheath of thick and ever thickening skin. In other words, what this means is that the doctrine of "you scratch my back and I scratch your back" gains weight and the ugliest scenes and expressions of banality get openly lauded and applauded till the finer sensibility and creativity dies of shame. That is when a nation falls and with it, everybody falls. But the fall goes on unnoticed, and when banality rules supreme courtesy gets displaced with ill-will, kindness with malice, development with disintegration, and those who lament over this unhappy situation or burst into rightful indignation are banished away by the banal multitude. This is how civilisations die and disappear. Stop the courageous voice of creativity that shouts at all banality and take it as a strong action against your institutionalised stupidity and conformity, then you pav the way to the dissolution of humanity. But who cares? And this is how banality prospers.

The challenge, therefore, is to keep banality within limits so that it does not devour the sensibility of a nation in empty meaningless rituals, like the oft-repeated democratic transparency in an opaque society, new modes of research on poverty reduction and ceaseless deliberations of leaders, bureaucrats and hefty consultants to increase empowerment and welfare of the people while all the time engaging in open loot. Our own country has become a classic example where banality has devoured so much of us. A sensitivity where a single dead body used to make us panicky just a few years ago has become so barbaric and gruesome now that a bloody carnage hardly moves us. The social value has undergone so much of change that what matters now is how much money one has, not how much moral one has. One who has become rich through smuggling now proudly rubs his shoulder with the prime minister and enters into a hilarious conversation, ‘"Oh, you don’t know how hard I had to work to get you released in that case!"

Parliamentary committee has found a former prime minister involved in corruption. Ministers compete for corruption. Lawyers publicly threaten to disclose the names of the judges if they do not decrease their propensity for money. Nation’s premier investigating agency on corruption has itself become a victim as cases have surfaced how corruption cases were shelved away for years. The donors are expressing anger and resentment over increasing corruption, while boosting corruption themselves. In many ways, education has become a mere ritual. The Tribhuvan University in Kirtipur is the living example of how increasingly anaemic it has become. Industries are closing down, starting with the closure of textile industries eight years ago. Economy is in doldrums, and delivery system is severely damaged. In the midst of all these, a consumerist class has emerged, naturally, not on our indigenous strength, which is decaying but on the pilferage of foreign assistance and funds profusely pouring into the country.

Our civil society is mostly sucked into it. The whirlpool is in tune with the affiliated party rhythms, thus, losing watchdog’s attentiveness as seen in western democratic countries like the US. This has also brought parasitic demonstration effect which is both enticing to those not very far from it but generating a sense of alienation to the vast majority who have become poorer. More than relative, the absolute poverty was tapped into an ideological utopia by the Maoist unleashing violence, almost brodering on a civil war. This is how our leaders have destroyed democracy in the name of strengthening it; devastated the country in the name of developing it, talked so much of democratic values but never practised them. This is how banality, devouring growth and nation’s sensibility, is positively related to insurgency or terrorism. Another part of banality is that its malignancy spreads like cancerous cells.

However, we have seen many commonplace discussions and a plethora of cut and paste research at the bonfire of aid and development in our country. There are more researches done than read and many that were never intended for meaningful results but were prepared in the name of "capacity building." Because of the Maoist threats such infused activities are now being narrowly confined to Kathmandu where we find unceasing deliberations in sharing ideas and perceptions of poverty reduction and empowerment slogans in glittering hotel room seminars. This has now become the easiest way to spend money. But whose capacity we are building through these exercises is the most pertinent question of the day? This is where the emerging educated middle class, which is the ‘prime mover’ in deciding the passion of our country, is alienated but is helpless. In a scenario like this, a simple incident can sometimes trigger an outburst like the final straw on the camel’s back. Beyond self-criticism, public confession like the way done in Christianity before a congregation is very much in vogue these days in our country. New economic pundits have finally done so, so have the ministers and the prime minister, but that is just a master stroke of banality, a new way of fooling the populace and smiling behind one’s back.