Krishnaveer and national allegory

By ARUN GUPTO

The metropolis, the valley, and its normalcy depend on what happens on Prithvi national highway. For years and decades you witness the drama of Krishnaveer out in the middle of the hills. The rain blocks the road and you end up joking about the natural impediment. An acquaintance shouts on the phone, "Do not go to Chitwan today, Krishnaveer has diarrhea these days." The other suggests to take a flight and bump into Krishnaveer. These jokes certainly show how patient Nepalis are even in such serious situations, but on the other hand, this also is a pathetic national allegory.

There has been no alternative for the moody hills and the narrow highway. There are no striving engineering ideas to permanently solve this problem. On the one hand, the common Nepalis joke around helplessly, and on the other hand, the fact remains that Nepal is a poor country and hence has no money to repair and mend whatever infrastructures it has.

Krishnaveer reveals the national allegory. The allegory tells of the inaptitude of the leaders who have nothing to do much except engaging in the pre-barta (meaning here high level governmental talks and meetings) situations. Pre-barta is like writing a preface or a foreword of a novel and never being able to complete the story. The allegory tells how a tiny hillock (it is tiny made large by our engineered minds of the politicians) can expose our failures. Krishnaveer exposes our inability to make inroads into developments. There in the hills it mocks at our administrative and technical incompetence. Krishnaveer exposes weaknesses, mediocrity, recklessness, and our national greed.

For almost fifty long years people have officially talked about this landslide zone and for all these long years the leaders have been unable to do anything useful. People say that all this is deliberate or that so much of money would be involved that no one dares to take honest initiatives.

If you personify the landmass between Kathmandu and Mungling it would not be overestimating. Look how for the entire dry seasons, it stays calm and inert only occasionally loosening some soil out of its body. People pass by looking at the majestic slide. And when the rain pours in it descends down spitting mud and boulders. As Krishnaveer descends, the grocery prices go up in the metropolis. The monster has walked down into the highway writes and visualizes the media. Khichapokhari market, Asan groceries, Kalimati and many such Kathmandu locations giggle under their sleeves. Doctors find that they are short of life saving equipment for critical patients, business and commerce come to a standstill, and the shopkeepers fix their own price tags. And the tiny bulldozers out in the wild pant and puff to clear the loosening flesh of the monster! This year’s story goes by with some fun and some pain. The monster retreats into its diagonal bed and winks and mocks at the common Nepalis.

The entire commerce, education, politics, culture is communicated through this highway that connects the two major regions of the country, the hills and the terai. There is one ancient highway breaking away from the town of Naubise, but that is more about reflecting our wretched condition than about any practicality. Dhulikhel originates one more highway, but that is a feeble alternative to the national highway.

Returning to Kathmandu or going out by the roads is never a comfortable experience. Necessity is something different: you have to travel for different purposes. A couple of months ago, a team from the Tribhuvan University had to go to Pokhara, and the mildly raging Krishnaveer forced many of my colleagues to stay back in the safe Kathmandu. Some years ago, while returning from Pokhara, we had to share a cab due to all such seasonal transportation hazards. The co-passenger who happened to be a professor and who was traveling with his wife had rejoiced by seeing the evening lights of the valley from Thankot hills. He had said, "Districts are no places to visit, dear!" (Jilla ta jane thaun nai hoina baa!).

Furthermore, the roads that take you to the places like Nagarkot, Dhulikhel, and Kakani demand your nervous attention. The tourists do not have time to look sideways to enjoy the natural landscape, even if they are not driving. These roads are not dangerous if the driving is careful, but they certainly are not comfortable either for the tourists or for the common Nepalis.

The funny thing is that for the entire year, you have to walk and drive through the puddles and holes in Kathmandu streets, and then just before the end of the fiscal year, on the eleventh hour, officers, technicians and workmen repair the roads merely to use the leftover money. In the meantime you read big men of the country being raided for keeping impressive bank notes inside jute sacks. It is difficult to believe that a nation has no ideas, no money to think about some permanent alternatives.

Krishnaveer frustrates the common Nepali. It makes us helpless and it also tells how hopeless the responsible people are. The festival of Dashain (Durga Puja) is not very far. While people would be trying to cross the hills, there would be one more downpour then. This year’s drama will end and things will be good for months.

Oil-rich Angola starving

By CESAR CHELALA

I t is a sad paradox that Angola, potentially one of the developing world’s richest countries, is going through a bitter economic and humanitarian crisis. Blame for the crisis can be laid squarely at the feet of the country’s corrupt leadership. While malnutrition and disease rage throughout the country, billions of dollars in state revenues have gone missing. President José Eduardo dos Santos cannot avoid responsibility for this situation.

Angola, whose huge oil reserves are estimated to be among the largest in Africa, supplies more oil to the United States than does Kuwait. It is estimated that oil represents close to 90 percent of the $3 billion to $5 billion of Angola’s state budget, of which more than $1 billion goes unaccounted for every year.

Although the war against former rebel group Unita has ended, after decades of damaging conflict, hundreds of thousands of Angolans are living as internally displaced persons in their own country. Because food is scarce, malnutrition and infectious diseases have become rampant among large segments of the population. International aid agencies report that this is one of the worst crises of its kind in southern Africa in more than a decade.

Indicators for health, education and sanitation are below average for sub-Saharan Africa. According to Unicef statistics, almost one in five infants dies during childbirth, and nearly a third of the country’s children die before their fifth birthday, making Angola the nation with the second-highest under-5 mortality rate in the world. It is estimated that fewer than 40 percent of children receive routine immunization for vaccine-preventable diseases.

From 1,300 to 2,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes for every 100,000 live births, compared to 137 maternal deaths for 100,000 live births in neighboring Namibia. Education has also been affected, with the result that only 56 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls are literate. At least 60 percent of the general population and 90 percent among those from displaced communities drink contaminated water.

Official statistics indicate that half a million Angolans, out of a population of 13 million, are infected with the AIDS virus. Angola is now in the exponential phase of the AIDS epidemic, with the virus spreading beyond control.

Melanie Luick, the Unicef AIDS program officer in Angola, said, "If you don’t address HIV, up to 20 percent of the people that you are trying to help through education, demobilization, and health and nutrition programs are going to die from AIDS. Even if you disregard the human rights aspect, it makes sense in economic terms to address HIV in an emergency phase."

What makes this situation particularly jarring is that oil revenues could supply billions of dollars that Angola’s citizens desperately need to cover basic necessities. But an International Monetary Fund study found that in 2001 alone almost $1 billion had apparently disappeared from the state coffers, a charge denied by the Angolan government. This is five times the $200 million that the United Nations was able to provide to thousands dependent on food aid.

International Herald Tribune

Micro waves

JUG SURAIYA

A Japanese midget hiding in a large metal box has taken up residence in our itchen and I’m wary of going in there. "Stop gibbering about Japanese midgets; it’s only a stupid machine. Come here and help me figure out how it works," says Bunny, standing in front of the metal box and poring over a thick Manual of Instructions for Use.

"If it’s only a stupid machine how come it talks and orders us about?" I ask, staying safely out of the kitchen. "It doesn’t really talk talk; it only tells us what to do next by means of a digital printout on the display screen," says Bunny, trying to reassure herself as much as me.

SELECT PROGRAMME, SELECT PROGRAMME, chips in the midget on cue. "Shut up!" I snarl back. INCORRECT PROGRAMME, INCORRECT PROGRAMME, sulks the midget. "See what you’ve gone and done now," says Bunny, patting the box placatingly. "Ahso! Mooshie, mooshie," I cajole the midget, using up half my stock of pidgin Japanese.

The object of my appeasement is a 42-litre made-in-Japan National microwave oven which bills itself as Almighty 5-Way Cook. When the National was delivered to our doorstep a couple of weeks ago I looked askance at that Almighty. Bringing videshi products into the house is one thing. But to extend similar hospitality to a Deus ex machina of alien provenance is stretching cultural multinationalism a bit. "Don’t be ridiculous," said Bunny, inspecting the fine print. "Almighty merely means it’s an all-round cook: apart from microwaving, it can also grill, broil, roast and bake, using a combination of convection heat and the microwave process which works by exciting the inner molecules of the raw ingredients," she added, reading off the label. "Hot dog!" I whistled appreciatively, my inner molecules excited by these revelations. "Hot dogs too," agreed Bunny, reading on. "It can also do frankfurters, soups, stews and casseroles of all kinds, plus cakes, pies, biscuits and assorted homemade breads of your choice," recited Bunny like a runaway Tarla Dalal. "However, the one thing it won’t do is boiled eggs," she warned. "Then let’s give the boiled eggs a miss by all means," I said agreeably. "Let’s try one of the things it says it can do."

There was no dearth of these. By way of credentials a full-colour cookbook featuring mouthwatering illustrations of international recipes came with the micro. "How about an Abgushte Lubia Ghermez, serves 6, or a Mohi Shekumpur, serves 4-5, both from Persia?" I suggested. "Or maybe we could go Arabic and have it whip us up some Kibbeh Bil Laban, or a Tajen Khudar Mushakal, serves 10; I’m feeling peckish," I added. "Of course, we also have the choice of Chinese Chicken Wings in Lemon Sauce with Steamed Baby Hammour to follow, serves 4; or we could stick to desi and do us a nice Masale Wali Gobhi, Bhari Hui Bhindi and top up with a spot of Sujji Ka Halwa. The choice is yours, I’m easy," I said magnanimously. "Good," said Bunny. "In which case we’ll have toasted cheese sandwiches, serves 2."

And that’s when the damned thing began to talk to us. WELCOME TO WORD PROMPTING DISPLAY, it said in green, glowing capital letters. PRESS PROGRAMME SELECTION ...PRESS TIMER, it admonished. "Hurry up slicing that cheese — it wants me to press the timer," chivvied Bunny. "I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying," I said, hurriedly slicing my finger with the cheese knife. PRESS TIMER WHEN YOU HEAR BEEP, commanded the machine. "It’s beeping!" exclaimed Bunny. "Never mind its bloody beeps; I’m bleeding!" I protested, sucking my finger. "Never mind your bloody finger now — just give me the bloody sandwich!" said Bunny, in haste pressing the wrong button. INCORRECT SELECTION... INCORRECT ... GO BACK TO START ... GO BACK..., beeped what by now I was convinced was a megalomaniac midget in the machine. "YOU go back, you blasted busybody!" I yelled at the midget. "Don’t shout at it — it mightn’t cover the guarantee provisions," pleaded Bunny. "I ‘m sorry; I promise I’ll speak in whispers from now on," I apologised in chastened lower case, letting the midget have the last say, all in caps.

That night we ended up eating un-toasted cheese sandwiches, and now I tiptoe around the machine. Every now and then I throw in a whispered Sayonara, just to suck up to it. Inscrutable oriental, it never responds. Bunny has discourse with it every day. And is it my imagination or does its beep have a rakish lilt when she’s around? Bunny says the machine is a hi-tech modern miracle, which can be programmed now to have a meal ready for us in the year 2003. I point out that the year 2003 is a long way to dinner, and maybe I should go get us a couple of bars of Kit Kat to supplement the untoasted cheese sandwiches we’re having tonight. But Bunny is busy negotiating a turnkey project involving a baked jacket potato, which should be ready to go on stream in the spring of ’03.

Techno bound

By DR SABIN RANABHAT

Star-gazers have cautioned one of my friends not to enact wedding act for his nubile daughter this year. According to them, planetary positions are not conducive to nuptial happiness this whole year. Those who defy planets’ predisposition face peril, they warn.

A US Green Card holder, software engineer by profession, has proposed to his daughter. The NRN has come to Nepal with an express purpose of getting married as soon as circumstances permit. My friend is in a fix with a sword of Damocles, in the form of astrologers’ warning, hanging overhead. The lad is rich, educated and handsome; too good to let go. Futurologists on the other hand have warned to heed them or suffer castigation. It is a difficult situation, indeed. In difficult situations, the friend remembers my sagacity. I have advised him in the past, with good results, on a variety of subjects ranging from his son’s dental caries to real estate matters. He finds a completely dependable and wise person in me. The man becomes awestruck when my predictions about national and international politics come true. For example: I had told him that Bush will not be able to ‘smoke out’ Bin Laden. I had also predicted the decadence of Saddam Hussein after the USA declared war on Iraq. But I am not sure about Saddam’s ultimate fate and ingeniously enough, I don’t discuss things on which I don’t have inkling.

This time I am caught off guard. To me Astrology is like dandi biyo, our national game, to Beckham (oophs, here he comes again!). But, if I fail to advise him correctly, this will lead to undesired repercussions. He will lose faith in my innate brilliance in matters of day-to-day importance and I will lose a patient listener to my loquacity on matters of national and international relevance. Obviously, I can’t let that happen at any cost.

By the way, it has already cost me a great deal of precious time and valuable money while conducting a retrospective cross-sectional study of married couples. It is confusing as no statistical conclusion could be reached. I have found some Pundit’s daughters widowed at a young age whose wedding were performed with full sanctity after matching horoscopes with that of grooms. Conversely, some Nepali women are enjoying happy married life with the likes of Jim Crow and John Bull. The other side of coin has cases of marriage, which failed, according to pundits, because of mismatch from astrological point of view.

To learn the ground (or rather space) reality, I consulted a few astrologers as they had foreseen the trouble. They illustrated their theory of planetary influence on human beings with examples of the late King Birendra and Indira Gandhi. According to the seers, these eminent leaders suffered the gruesome end because of unfavorable planetary combination at that point of their life. But they were at a loss to why the late King and Mrs Gandhi, who had the world’s best astrologers at their disposal, couldn’t forestall the destiny. If events in our life are predestined, why should we worry about the future? I am even more confused. With no advice to offer, I am avoiding my friend.

I was never in such a conundrum before. It may be due to harmful planetary combination that I am in such off-days. Time and tide wait for no one; neither this lad, US Green Card holder, wants to wait for my poor friend’s daughter.

Media power with responsibility

BHAGIRATH YOGI

The launching of two private sector television channels—the Kantipur Television and the Image Channel—on the same day last month (July 13) marks the significant stride Nepalese media has made over the past few decades. Though the democratic constitution and multi-party polity stand at the crossroads today, the gains made by the Nepali media and its contributions to promoting the rule of law and creating public opinion against the culture of violence in the country remain unparalleled. As in other countries, media has flourished in Nepal along with the advent of democracy and it is obvious that if we lose our democratic rights—the way we seem to be heading towards now—the first casualty will be our freedom of expression and free press.

Of the three forms of media—print, radio and television— television is considered the most powerful medium with its ability to reach the masses with colourful images. The widespread reach of mass media generates trust upon the medium itself thereby forcing it to be accountable to the audience. A recent Mori survey in the UK showed that more British people lay their trust on the BBC in comparison to Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom they had voted to the office.

Compared to nearly two hundred years of history of print media in South Asia, television is relatively a modern phenomenon. UNESCO and Ford Foundation helped set up an education television programme in Delhi in 1959. In Pakistan, television broadcasting started in 1963-64 (prior to the partition) with the help of Nippon Electric Company. In Sri Lanka, too, television services started in 1977 with assistance from the Japanese government. The Nepal Television (NTV) was launched on an experimental basis in 1984 with support from Worldview International Foundation, together with the Finnish government. It started airing its programmes regularly a year later.

By the mid-nineties, television had become a household name among the urban and middle class population in South Asia. Pradip N Thomas, a media analyst, records that gross revenue of Doordarshan of India rose from Rs 80 million in 1980-81 to Rs 1,360 million in 1987. Similarly, advertising revenues for Pakistan TV had jumped from Rs 81.9 million in 1978 to Rs 347 million in 1988. Two mythological serials, Ramayana and Mahabharata that were on air between 1987-90 grossed Rs 240 million and Rs 570 million respectively for Doordarshan. Some analysts even link the growth of the Hindu nationalist, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in Indian politics to these widely-acclaimed TV serials.

Foreign investors can now buy up to 26 percent stakes in Indian newspapers. Foreign ownership in news channels transmitting inside India has been recently recapped at 26 percent. There are already more than 70 TV channels beaming in content in the sky of our southern neighbor.

The growing reach and influence of the media, mainly that of the television, has concentrated unprecedented power and influence in the hands of media barons. In their much-talked about book, "Power Without Responsibility: The Press and Broadcasting in Britain," James Curran and Jean Seatton write that the first objective of the media has always been to attract an audience. Hence, press and broadcasting have sought to provide instantly appreciable material that is loosely described as ‘entertainment.’ Entertainment is important, and it always has political consequences.

As information is increasingly being counted as a ‘strategic resource,’ the role of media—that disseminates information—is conceived as being a check on both public and private power. Prof. Curran further argues that the issue is no longer simply that the media are compromised by their links to big business.

As the nexus between politics and business intensifies, media organisations as business outfits can be seen hobnobbing with the government at different levels. While media organisations gain much from the business-friendly government, the governments too are more in need of government-friendly media "because they have to woo and retain mass electoral support."

Analysts say these cumulative changes have given rise to a relationship that is increasingly prone to corruption. While Nepali media has been at the forefront of the tirade against corruption, it has often attached less importance to strengthening accountable organisations like the Executive (say the Office of the Prime Minister) compared to high-profile agencies like the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA).

So, how do we regulate media for the larger public good without, in any way, compromising press freedom and people’s right to expression? Hopefully, the entry of organised private investment in media can also help the state-owned media organisations to open up and become more competitive. At the same time, cut-throat competition in the market in which they are engaged for limited revenues available can lead to unethical practices. Critics say, televisions usually look at their audience as consumers rather than citizens. As such, making increasingly powerful media organisations more responsible and accountable to their audience and society has emerged as a major challenge in our society.

The government-appointed or semi-autonomous regulatory bodies can’t play an effective role in encouraging media for disseminating correct information while keeping a tab on their unethical behaviour, if any. What may be a right answer would be the emergence of a model public service broadcaster surrounded by a strong private press and television stations and an independent regulator. For this, the Nepali civil society and political parties need to work towards evolving and supporting what may be called a "democratic media system" – that would be vital for sustaining and promoting democracy.

(The writer can be reached at bhagirathyogi@yahoo.com)

China’s economy not overheated

China’s economy is still on the right track despite worries about "overheated’’ growth, said an article in China Economic Times.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased 8.2 per cent year-on-year in the first half of this year, overcoming the shadow of SARS which plagued the economy in the spring.

While it is generally believed the economy is entering a new boom period, some doubt the high growth rate is normal.

The worries are mainly about the surging monetary supply and investment in real estate development, which could yield bubbles and inflation.

Fixed-asset investment in the first half of this year soared 31.1 per cent year-on-year. The balance of bank loans increased 22.9 per cent, the highest growth rate since 1996.

Growth in these areas is basically in line with the demand, and there are no signs showing the economy has been "overheated,’’ said the article.

The article attributed the current boom to the government’s sound macro-economic policies and restructuring efforts, which led to the maturity of some "propellant’’ industries such as real estate, information technology and car manufacturing.

Although SARS has curbed employment and farmers’ income growth, its impact on the overall economy is limited.

It is unnecessary to be nervous about the hard-won triumph of the economy, said the article.

China’s economy has long been haunted by a deflation tendency since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Thanks to the government’s line of tapping domestic potential, featuring a pro-active fiscal policy and a stable monetary policy, the GDP growth was maintained at 7 to 8 per cent on average each year.

The economic restructuring has borne fruit and the economy is about to see a new phase of rapid growth, said the article.

Attention should be paid to over-investment in some places and industries, the article warned.

The current economic situation cannot be rashly portrayed as "overheated’’ and any adjustment of investment and monetary policies should be moderate and consistent, the article said.

People’s Daily Online

The lesson buried in Iraq’s desert sands

PAUL KRUGMAN

Since America is stuck in Iraq indefinitely, it may as well try to learn something. But
I suspect that America’s current leaders won’t be receptive to the most important lesson of the land where cities and writing were invented: that manmade environmental damage can destroy a civilisation.

When archaeologists excavated the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, they were amazed not just by what they found but by where they found it: in the middle of an unpopulated desert. In "Ur of the Chaldees" Leonard Woolley asked: "Why, if Ur was an empire’s capital, if Sumer was once a vast granary, has the population dwindled to nothing, the very soil lost its virtue?"

The answer-the reason "the very soil lost its virtue" - is that heavy irrigation in a hot, dry climate leads to a gradual accumulation of salt in the soil. Rising salinity first forced the Sumerians to switch from wheat to barley, which can tolerate more salt; by about 1800 B.C. even barley could no longer be grown in southern Iraq, and Sumerian civilisation collapsed. Later "salinity crises" took place further north. In the 19th century, when Europeans began to visit Iraq, it probably had less than a tenth of the population it had in the age of Gilgamesh.

Modern civilisation’s impact on the environment is, of course, far greater than anything the ancients could manage. We can do more damage in a decade than our ancestors could inflict in centuries. Salinisation remains a big problem in today’s world, but it is overshadowed by even more serious environmental threats. Moreover, in the past environmental crises were local: agriculture might collapse in Sumer, but in Egypt, where the annual flooding of the Nile replenished the soil, civilisation went on. Today, problems like the thinning of the ozone layer and the accumulation of greenhouse gases affect the planet as a whole.

On the other hand, today we have the ability to understand environmental threats, and to act to contain them. The Montreal Protocol, signed in 1989, shows how science and policy can work hand in hand. Research showed that certain chemicals were destroying the ozone layer, which protects us from ultraviolet radiation, so governments agreed to ban the use of those chemicals, and the ban appears to be succeeding.

But would the people now running America have agreed to that protocol? Probably not. In fact, the Bush administration is trying to reinterpret the agreement to avoid phasing out the pesticide methyl bromide. And on other environmental issues - above all, global warming - America’s governing party is pursuing a strategy of denial and deception.

As a recent article in the online magazine Salon reminds us, the appearance of uncertainty is "manufactured." Very few independent experts now dispute that manmade global warming is happening, and represents a serious threat. Almost all the skeptics are directly or indirectly on the payroll of the oil, coal and auto industries. And before you accuse me of a conspiracy theory, listen to what the other side says. Here’s Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma: "Could it be that manmade global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people? It sure sounds like it."

The point is that when it comes to evidence of danger from emissions - as opposed to, say, Iraqi nukes - the people now running the United States won’t take yes for an answer.

Meanwhile, news reports say, President George W. Bush will spend much of this month buffing his environmental image. No doubt he’ll repeatedly be photographed amid scenes of great natural beauty, uttering stirring words about his commitment to conservation. His handlers hope that the images will protect him from awkward questions about his polluter-friendly policies and, most important, his refusal to face up to politically inconvenient environmental dangers.

So here’s the question: Will America avoid the fate of past civilisations that destroyed their environments, and hence themselves? And the answer is: not if Bush can help it.

New York Times

When east is west

SUMAN PRADHAN

Has anyone wondered why ours is the only country in the world where you have to head west to go east? Or even why, to get any where in Kathmandu, you have to go round and round around Tundikhel? The short answer is: because we are Nepalis.

Since we are the unique people of this unique land, we have to have uniqueness in everything we do, much like we have a unique flag (the only double triangle flag in the world), unique mountains (top of the world), unique culture (religious fusion). Why, even our Maoist comrades are taking uniqueness to its heights by waging a 19th century insurgency in a 21st century world.

But first let us get back on the highways. Just think about it. Someone traveling from Kathmandu by road to say, Biratnagar in the east, has to first travel 110 kilometres west to Mugling, then turn south for another 36 kilometres before his/her vehicle can finally point to the right direction.

Since the entire journey to Biratnagar is about 500 kilometres, the hapless traveller is heading in the opposite direction for one quarter of the journey. And this is actually progress. Good heavens we don’t yet need to head north to get down south.

In the old days, before the Mugling-Narayangarh stretch of the road was built, all vehicles plying south and east took the hair-raising Tribhuvan Highway which linked the capital to the Terai. Winding its way up and down through scenic valleys, deep gorges and mountaintop resorts like Daman, the narrow Tribhuvan Rajpath was only for the brave-hearted. But since the 1980s when Mugling was connected with Narayangarh, traffic has abandoned the old rajpath in favour of the Prithvi Highway – the first baikalpic rajmarg.

These days only tourists, the occasional trucker and nostalgics take the trouble of plying on the neglected highway. But thanks to Krishnavir, which slides every monsoon, Tribhuvan Rajpath has occasionally served as the bikalpa to the original baikalpic rajmarg.

Now there’s talk of building another baikalpic rajmarg. Many ideas have been mooted. We’ve heard for years about a proposed tunnel project underneath the Mahabharata hills. But not an inch has been bored. The Banepa-Sindhuli Highway is also nearing completion, thanks to Japanese funding, but it can take only one-way traffic in its current form. There’s also talk of sprucing up the Kanti Rajpath, which originally went south out of the Valley but currently goes nowhere. And of course there’s been buzz recently about a proposal to construct a brand new highway following the banks of the Bagmati river to the plains.

Well, bring ‘em all. Anything that stops the uniqueness (some say stupidity) of having to travel west in order to go east will be a major progress. We might just have to sacrifice some of our uniqueness - not all, just some - but I think it is a good bargain. Just think about the time, energy, fuel and other costs a "properly-directed" highway could save.

So much for highways. Now let us get inside Kathmandu’s motorways. Going round and round around Tundikhel is just one of the pleasures of commuting in the capital. The other pleasures being able to practice one’s driving skills by trying to avoid cattle and stray dogs while closing your nose and eyes to ward off dust and soot.

Many commuters may have wondered why a motorist has to take a two-kilometre detour around Tundikhel if wanting to go from Jamal to, say, Asan Tole. Its hardly a 100 metres walk between the two points, but if you are on a motorbike or a car, then off you go on a merry-go-round. The rules don’t apply to bicycles and tri-cycles. I’ve put this question to a senior traffic police officer and the answer is: "because it’s a one-way." Well then, how about making it two-way? Blank stare. Apparently never thought of it.

All it takes is better traffic lighting and more efficient management of traffic policemen at strategic points around Tundikhel. The savings in fuel-costs alone should help boost our foreign currency reserves.

But I think this idea will never be adopted because, you guessed it, it isn’t unique enough.

(The writer can be reached at suman66@hotmail.com )

Hutton inquiry puts Blair on trial

WILLIAM PFAFF

The Hutton inquiry, which be gins next week in London, will put Prime Minister Tony Blair and his government on trial.

The inquiry is ostensibly concerned with the role of a senior scientist who apparently killed himself when placed at the center of a vast public controversy over government claims concerning weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The real question to be answered is whether the Blair government lied to persuade the public and Parliament to go to war against Iraq. Essential to the government’s defense is its contention that the BBC’s coverage of the war, and of the weapons issue, has been biased.

The political effect of the inquiry will determine whether the Blair government can continue to command public confidence, or whether the prime minister’s time is up. Blair’s standing in the polls has been steadily dropping, and in his conflict with the BBC, 59 percent believe the BBC and only 41 percent Blair.

The Labour majority in Parliament is such that Blair is unlikely to be forced out. But he could be so weakened that he cannot stay, and his chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, would be glad, even eager, to replace him.

The ghostly presence at the inquiry will be the trans-Atlantic relationship, since Blair is in this trouble because of his determination to play a latter-day Winston Churchill. Some say he lacks the presence for the part, but the US Congress has cheered him as America’s best ally.

Blair is attacked at home by many who say he turned Britain into a satellite of the United States, with nothing to show in return for British sacrifices in backing President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

There is also the question of Europe. Blair has always said that he wants Britain at the heart of Europe, playing "our part with confidence and pride." He now finds he has inadvertently precipitated the great Labour party dilemma, which is to choose which continent it wants Britain to belong to. The prime minister’s heart is at Camp David. His country is in Europe. This has become a serious problem.

The prime minister himself ordered the inquiry, by one of Britain’s most senior judges, after the death of David Kelly, a Ministry of Defense adviser and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq. The BBC claims that Kelly told them the Blair government had "sexed up" supposed information about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in order to mislead the public and Parliament - and, according to White House and CIA claims, had misled the US government, as well.

Lord Hutton says that he will explore all aspects of the affair, including the Downing Street-BBC conflict. Conservative press and personalities on both sides of the Atlantic have been mobilized for a concerted attack on the BBC, meant to end the political independence granted in the BBC charter.

Blair’s troubles are complicated by the fact that the Kelly case and the Iraq weapons issue are only the latest examples of his much-criticized use of "spin," both in controlling information and as a mode of government. Critics contend that Blair, and his old friend and close adviser Alastair Campbell, contrive to manipulate public opinion; in the Iraq weapons case, Blair has been accused of lying to Parliament, a charge taken very seriously in Britain.

Blair was not helped early this week when his official press spokesman told a journalist, off the record, that Kelly had been "a Walter Mitty," implying that he was a fantasist and the one who actually had "sexed up" the information passed to the BBC. Downing Street subsequently denied it and, a day later, withdrew the allegation and apologized to Kelly’s family.

The inquiry’s conclusions will undoubtedly answer the question of what actually was said by Kelly to the BBC. He spoke to more than one BBC journalist, and the BBC has a tape of one of those conversations.

It should also answer the question of how Kelly was dealt with by the Ministry of Defense and by Blair’s spin-masters. The charge is that they cast him to the journalistic wolves, believing they could discredit his reported accusation through denigration or character assassination.

Thus, the inquiry is fraught with issues that have only indirectly to do with Kelly’s death, and everything to do with the government and Blair himself. They also have to do with Britain’s basic choices in the modern world, which - as the new America distances itself from old Europe - cannot be straddled much longer.

International Herald Tribune