Costs of conflict in Nepal

By SHRAWAN KUMAR SHARMA 

What are the real costs of conflict in the country? How do we evaluate these and put it on the table of dialogue? Without having full information will it be possible to reach a common goal? What circumstances and subjective conditions have pressured the warring factions to settle the conflict by the means of peaceful instruments? Let us try to make appraisal of the conflict.

Human cost: The most tragic outcome of the conflict has been found in the human sector. About 10 thousand people have been killed in the conflict. There are a large number of civilians amongst the dead. People have left their home and property due to the fear which has emerged in their heart and psyche. About 400 thousand villagers have been displaced due to the conflict (CESOD Research Report). It is obvious that both conflicting parties have deliberately killed the innocent rural people to create terror which the people to shut the ordinary masses’ mouth from speaking out the real truth.

The government has provided little money as compensation to the family of life suffered. Is there compensation of death? Many children have been left orphan and the old have been left unaided. Could compensation bring the dead body of their parents to life and of beloved son and daughter? Though, the compensation a small ruminant to propel the lifeline of the victims would create discrimination amongst the sufferers. Who will provide the compensation to the ordinary people who have been killed? Are they not human beings? Are there not their children and aged parents? They had been aided by them. The crucial factor of the human cost is not only the death of the members of warring factions but also the trauma imparted to the family and society. Both conflicting parties should excuse for the offence they have committed. Excuse can assuage the victims’ feeling of revenge.

Death is the end of the living. Ordinary deaths which are common in the animal kingdom may not affect the loser family in the long-term because they understand that death is a reality of life. But the coercive death which is brought by the enemy creates a psychological trauma and encourages revenge. The relentless series of violence and offence of the warring factions toward the simple villagers has created a vague discrimination and animosity. The team who are in the dialogue must pay attention to these factors. After having full information they can understand the reality brought upon the society.

Political cost: The democracy of the country is in severe crisis due to the conflict. The October 4 royal proclamation is the apex outcome of the conflict. It has created a gap between the political parties and masses. There is no elected body in the country. The government is nominated. Constitutionally, there is no provision for such a government. If we minutely read the constitution of the kingdom of Nepal we dare to say that we are not enjoying a constitutional democracy; the present limited civil right which we are enjoying, is only due to the tolerance shown by government headed by the King. The first and the foremost duty of the key actors of the conflict is that they must work for restoring the democratic institutions.

Social cost: Due to the conflict in Nepal the tolerant society before the conflict has emerged abruptly as a divided society. There is divided psychology between different castes, classes and ethnic groups which threaten communal harmony. The most severe issues are that the dispute between hill and Terai is emerging fast, which might endanger Nepal’s sovereignty and unity. I was told in Neaplgunj by some Teraians that the conflict is not the problem of the plains but it is the problem of the hill. So the people of Terai must not suffer due to this.

Economic: The economy of the state is deteriorating day by day. Many industries have been closed down, many are running at 50 percent capacity. People working in manufacturing business are losing their job and are compelled to be unemployed. The owners and managers of the large industries of the city area are seeking next option to divert their money. I have heard some are planning to go out of Nepal.

Development: The infrastructures of development facilities have been destroyed. Government is not in the position to repair them soon because it has not the resources. We have developed these facilities by collecting debts which is so large; it gives us shudders to think about.

Health and medical care: Most of the health workers in rural areas have migrated to comfortable city areas because of fear created by the conflict. It has prohibited the ordinary people from getting nominal health facilities from their village. The government itself has prohibited the village areas from getting medical supplies. People could not get medicine at their village. People are not able to get even a cetamol to lower their high fever.

Justice: We have experienced that we perform very poorly in judiciary system because most of the people are not economically capable to seek justice through legal practice and from the court. Courts have been one of the most incompetent sectors where people hardly dare to go because they have fear with the court and law. There is a proverb that says "Jhagadale mudda lagaunchha, muddale kangal banauchha" it means small quarrel creates legal case and legal case at court siphons off the property. We have some experience that court took more than thirty five years to give a justice to some victims. The conflict has abrupted the people to go to courts for justice because of one of the conflicting parties has formed its own court which might give the verdict to the concerned, but the interesting matter is that there is no bar and bench it is just like the court of the Jung Bahadur Rana 150 years ago.

Craze of the country: Nepal was popularly known a peaceful country in the world. This craze has been totally deteriorated within these 8 years. In fact Nepal was not so peaceful country as the ruler used to say. There was protracted conflict between the King and political parties during the Panchayat regime. Some miserable armed struggles were led by the political parties then. The suppressive government had suppressed them. Despite this fact, the country remained peaceful and attracted foreigners to visit. After the restoration of democracy in the country it has been a part and parcel of the world democratic system.

(The author is an executive director of Center for Economic and Social Development, CESOD)

Colour TV

By RISHI RAM PAUDYAL

They say ‘there is time for everything’ and I rightly believed it was true. One of our staff was returning to his home country Sweden and there was going to be a big sale and big bargains!

It’s been half a decade since we bought our 14" black and white TV. A month after we bought it, it stopped working. This affected the whole family. I could see the desperate looks of my children and of my TV-lover dear wife.

I’ve never been an electronic expert and I had never seen the inside of a TV set. But this didn’t stop me from getting angry with it. After all, besides being a man in a society where men are all-powerful, I was also a father of two children and a husband of a loving wife! This combination of three gave me so much strength and courage that I couldn’t contain myself.

I stood up abruptly, stared and glared at the TV and grabbed it. I unplugged it and put it on the floor. I stretched out my hand for a screwdriver and unscrewed it round and round until all the screws came off.

My children and wife were watching this wonderful performance with awe. They were probably wondering what was going to happen and what it would look like inside.

The TV came off in two parts and my family stood round on three sides with me in the centre.

My goodness! After I had tightened up the loose screws inside, the TV came to life again! It was like a miracle! However, while fixing it I broke the channel shifting button which left the TV looking very ugly with a round hole on the right hand side. We still own that ugly thing.

So the news of a third-hand colour TV on sale for a price of 12,000 rupees made us very happy.

One day all our family went to see the 21" KEC colour TV. My children’s and my wife’s faces glowed as the owner showed them different channels. "Well, how do you like it," I asked my children. "Dad it’s so great," they said, "Let’s take it home today."

Things were not going to work as the children wished. We didn’t have any budget for it and even if we did he would sell it just a week before he left Nepal, which meant we had to wait for about a month.

Back at home my children kept asking ‘Dad, when are you going to bring the TV?" and I felt I should buy it anyhow. So I approached a Nepali friend for a loan. No sooner were the words out of my mouth than my considerate friend readily agreed and said he would bring it the next day. But unfortunately many next days passed but he never brought any money and we never got an opportunity to see that 21" KEC colour TV.

My children still ask me when I’m going to buy a colour TV and I tell them, ‘I’m looking for another big sale. The last one was not big enough for us.’

Mainstreaming gender into the lifestyle

By VIJAY KUNWAR 

"My name is Radhika ... .....", the lady introduced herself emerging out of the kitchen. She entered the study, presenting herself by her maiden name, where we all were engaged in discussions. For me, both the male and female were new acquaintances. After a moment, her husband looked at us saying, "my wife". The couple have two daughters, one aged 12 and the younger one aged 6. After the business was over, we had a very casual and informal chat. None of us "mentioned" they had two daughters only, not a male child.

And this is Kathmandu, with concentration of all major socio-economic activities. One will find many working couples, daughters, daughter-in-laws and so on. There are more women in big hotels, commercial banks, travel and tour desks and university offices, schools and government offices, as well. There are female journalists, lawyers, medical doctors, paramedics and the like. One will see more female activists as well as employees with the non- government organizations (NGOs), not only at the centre but also down to the grassroots level. Gender equality seems no more an unmet demand. Gender equity is also on the march; slow and steady. I am mentioning about a certain strata of the society, a certain percentage and class of female population and a certain class of the families these certain "women" come from.

Radhika took her first name first, then only her new surname that came with the marriage. Back in the early seventies we heard of one name, Meena Acharya. She did not omit her parental title even after marriage. She was the talk of the society. Her book " Status of Women in Nepal", (1981) co- authored by Lynn Bennet was a milestone in addressing the role of women in development. Gender consideration was the outcome of the ‘bold’ report, a landmark topic of discussion for the first time in the history of socio-economic studies of Nepal. The report clearly demonstrated that with the increase in female participation in direct economic activities such as income generation through employment and access to market linkages for their household and farm products, women had a greater say in the use, disposal and distribution of resources. Whether Nepal’s development process has taken up gender issues in a proper way or not and whether gender considerations have yielded any positive output or not may be a separate topic of discussion. Nepal has had a breakthrough in the field of gender and development. There remains, nevertheless, a long and rugged way ahead. Ours’ is still a pro-male society, where most rites demand males only. Development plans, programmes and household level activities ignored until the early eighties. But these days planners and policy makers seem to be seriously trying to woo the universal half without whose support and participation, equality and equity may still remain a distant dream.

This is a male perception. Female voice is stronger and more fierce. The rebellion within the women’s heart has increased. The women coming from the city intelligentsia, with their strong voices at seminars, symposia or the talk programmes are vehemently complaining about the lesser roles they are given in the nation building process. Men are paying mere lip services than making any formidable contribution, they are lamenting.

There are many people who are not oriented on how they are supported by the female members of their families. A researcher interviewed a successful businessman and asked what his wife did. The reply was, "nothing, she is just a housewife." He was then asked who prepared his breakfast and two time meals; who helped his children to clean and dress up; who did his clothes ready before he left for his business and who took care of his house in the day time; and again who made his bed ready in the evening? All the answers were, "my wife, she does it all. But still she does not do any economic activity that makes any financial contribution to my income. She is just a housewife." The businessman had to be convinced that his wife’s active support in taking up household chores was the major factor behind his promising business, diligent babies and readying of his bed for a good night’s sleep after such a tiring job he had with his business. He was simply unaware of the economic value of his wife’s contributions.

While homeworking on this very essay, I spoke with Kusum, a female staff at an NGO, asking what she meant by gender mainstreaming. "Women’s involvement at all stages of lifestyle," she replied, "access to education, employment, planning and decision-making". She admitted she was a free woman in her family. Her parents provided her the best possible education and an equally supportive environment. After marriage, her new family encouraged her to find a job and lead her life accordingly. But she was typically concerned about equity. Equality in the literal sense alone, was not sufficient unless there is a balance between men and women at every level; social, economic, cultural, political etc.

With mostly rural men seeking and finding jobs out of their vicinities, women have to look after their farms, their dependents like children and the elderly and the cattle. Traditionally also, women had to work for longer periods while males were totally dependent on the farmlands. With the decrease in off-farm employment opportunities the tendency to seek jobs elsewhere has been on the rise. Overall, traditional societies depend mostly on women and girl children to fetch fuel, fodder and water. About 80 percent of the economically active female population of South Asia and more than 90 percent of Nepali women are engaged in agriculture. These women are the ones who suffer the most from discriminatory treatment. Women from the food deficit families are more vulnerable to dietary deficiencies, as they are the last persons to eat. As a result, women with pregnancies suffer further with anemic problems. The girl children within the low strata families have to take care of their baby sisters and brothers while their adults were away or out in search of fuel, fodder, water and wage employment. The girls of school going age will thus be deprived of education that will again put their future in jeopardy.

Despite many challenges, there has been a considerable progress in the developing economies including Nepal. Gramin Bank of Bangladesh, Zakoura Foundation of Morocco and a pro-people leadership in Tunisia have all helped in improving the status of women through micorcredit, changes in the discriminatory laws and concrete actions to mitigate gender imbalances prevailing in the society. World Development Report 2003 describes, "Tunisia has made major progress in transforming a master-servant relationship into a partnership between husbands and wives." Women in the villages have responded, "... ... men’s behavior towards us has changed… … They are nicer to us - less demanding, more appreciative… …" In Nepal also various programmes address women’s issues. Mainstreaming Gender Equity Program (MGEP) is one such initiative apart from scores of policy interventions. Empowerment, capacity building and women’s participation at all levels is emerging as an in-built mechanism of all development plans at the government level.

Let us hope we generate more women like Radhika and Kusum who may gladly boast of their status as women.