Nepal-India Relationships At The Crossroads

By Nishchal Nath Pandey

NEPAL and India keep on flipping back to the pages of history whenever both talk about Nepal-India relations. Both tend to recall with devotion the nurturing the relations from towering personalities like late Jawaharlal Nehru, late Mrs. Indira Gandhi, late King Mahendra and late B.P. Koirala. Looking back to our glorious past of 50 years, the first notable feature in our bilateral relationship has been the impact of this influence on the attitudes, approaches and obstacles facing us. This high moral ground sometimes distant from real politic gave us aggravation because not always the rhetoric of ‘sharing a great cultural past and a common heritage’ explain the urgent crux before us.

Change

Clearly, retrospection is essential is essential not only because of the changing global scenario obtained by the collapse of the Soviet Union but because of the danger of moving on into the 21st century with the hangovers and accumulated experiences of the past. Why should we remain prisoners of the past while mind-sets in both the countries have changed to a remarkable degree? A new generation has emerged and they demand a new meaning, purpose and direction to the relationship and justification of our deeds. They are no longer inspired by the fact that Nehru supported the Nepalese to oust the Ranas in 1950 or by the passionate solidarity of Nepalese politicians to end the British rule in India. The grandfathers of today’s generation of Nepal may have obeyed Gandhiji to cram inside Indian prisons and the fathers might have studied in India developing close intimacy with late Jay Prakash Narayan but the new Internet generation with their free spirit and foreign education are no longer emotional regarding this ties of warm friendship. Therefore, Nepal-India relations today stands at the crossroads searching for a new purpose and a new goal. The task before us is to construct an outline consistent with the perils and possibilities of the new era. It requires courage, steadfastness and vision. The need is not just to energise the existing characteristics but making a decisive turning point so that it will no longer pester the overwhelming prospects brought about by new developments in economic and technological fields.

Though, the need to clear off the cobwebs of our past is always there, the temptation to compare Nepal-India relations with traffic lights cannot be resisted. No sooner the green light appears and a smooth flow of visits and joint action takes place. But in fact, red lights have been more common and will continue to halt the process of accords and agreements if there is the same old mind-set navigating our journey. Hence, the need to examine minutely some of the major attributes of alteration of systems and governments in Nepal and India and their influence in the overall approach towards India.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave a statement in 1959 saying that ‘it is not necessary for us to have a military alliance with Nepal. But the fact remains that we cannot tolerate any foreign invasion from any foreign country in any part of the sub-continent. Any possible invasion of Nepal would inevitably involve the safety of India.’ A disapproval on the implicit outlook of the statement by the then Nepalese Prime Minister B.P. Koirala might have been the only instance when the bilateral relations confronted a displeasing moment during the era of Nepali Congress rule when for the first time multi-party system was being exercised by Nepal.

King Mahendra’s ascent to power by dissolving the parliament on December 15, 1960 at the time of the visit of Gen. Thimmiaya to Nepal has been much studied by scholars and historians. India’s defeat in the war with China in 1962 and Prime Minister Nehru’s passing away in 1965 created a void in Nepal-India relations consequently bringing about the proposition of ‘balancing the two neighbours’ or even more bluntly ‘playing one against the other’. Nonetheless, Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s advent to power saw bilateral relations again on a sound footing albeit not without occasional hiccups. The personal relations enjoyed at the highest level during that time was extremely warm and cordial. An incident will hopefully assist us in ascertaining the facts: On June 24th 1975, His Majesty’s Government received an urgent message from the PMO, New Delhi stating that ‘Lalit Narayan Mishra, (the then Railways Minister) would be arriving the very same day to Kathmandu’ but the purpose and details were not known. All arrangements were hastily made but as soon as Minister Mishra disembarked at the Tribhuvan Airport, he told officials that without wasting time, immediately wanted to get a darshan  of goddess Dakchinkali. Right after taking the prasad and tika of the temple, Minister Mishra took off for Delhi. The very next day, as the government of Nepal had anticipated some major development, Mrs. Gandhi declared emergency in India. Nepal was likewise, one of the first countries to recognise the birth of Bangladesh in 1971 despite at the same time enjoying hassle-free relations with China and Pakistan.

Another instance of a senior Congress (I) leader who became Chief Minister and minister at the centre several times happened to possess land in Nepal given to him by his grand mother, a Nepali citizen. Under the Nepalese law, a non-Nepali was barred from possessing property in Nepal. Such was the altitude of the existing relations between the two governments that his land was sold to a local buyer and the liquid assets handed over. It was only during the last years of the 1980s that saw Nepal and India locked over issues that were at many times in the past amicably solved.

After the restoration of multi-party democracy in Nepal in 1990, definitely, the mistrust and suspicion have been gradually replaced by the shared belief of mutual understanding and interdependence. One thing positive that the advent of multi-party democracy in 1990 has undoubtedly presented is an exhilarating flow of different views and cross-fertilisation of ideas bringing the various issues relating to foreign affairs into public debates and scrutiny. However, contradictory pulls and pressures of a plural society under a multi-party democracy have at times impaired the overwhelming possibilities before us.

Nevertheless, despite odds, the last 5 years have seen a steady advancement in consolidating the friendship between the two countries with the initiating of several important agreements reached between Nepal and India. The Mahakali Treaty is one turning point in our journey which has encompassed multi-faceted collaborative activities, ranging from development of infrastructure to human resource development.

As far as security issues are concerned, both the sides must acknowledge each other’s sensitiveness and able to tackle things in a more matured manner. India must understand the Nepalese psyche. In fact, India has been raising security-related issues since the days of the Panchayat system in Nepal and it’s concerns have been constantly growing. While such concerns have been on the rise, the relationship between the two armies have been friendly and cordial.

Emphasis

The emphasis therefore should be on the change of perception. There is also a need of a broader understanding at the highest level and to keep the confidence built at all levels if we are to rescue ourselves from being victims of the past.

Environment & Mankind’s Survival

By Mohan K.C.

DESPITE having entered the new millennium, the many serious problems that had been faced in the past century are still with us today. A major problem facing not Nepal but the world community is the rising level of environmental degradation which if not rectified in time may become almost irreversible.

Example

The cases of many rivers in the Kathmandu Valley being polluted beyond recognition is for everyone to see. Such polluted rivers cannot sustain any life. In fact, population growth together with the direct disposal of wastes and sewerage into rivers has been a major cause. The fact that the rivers have become convenient places for the disposal of garbage as well as the sewers empty themselves there.

The above scenario is one of negligence not only by the people themselves but the authorities as well. The problem of pollution of rivers is not confined to Kathmandu alone, it is a problem in many parts of the country. The problem is compounded by the fact that many factories dump their wastes directly into the rivers and lakes without treating it. This has caused multi-fold effects, to the environment.

Being a developing country, Nepal does not have abundant resources at hand to correct things at a minutes notice. Yet, the way can be by making the people aware to the problems that will arise if unchecked pollution of the rivers and lakes go on. For example, the two major rivers of the Kathmandu Valley namely Bagmati and Bishnumati can hardly be recognised as rivers because of heavy pollution. In fact, it is not water that flows down the rivers but sheer filth.

The rivers that used to sustain marine life in the past are devoid of them. A major blame can be put on the industries situated along the rivers that dispose their waste into the rivers without taking any precautionary measures. In fact, the lack of relevant rules and regulations and the enforcement mechanism is indifferent.

Though there is great hue and cry to keep our environment clean, it is limited only to rhetoric while concrete action of any sort is lacking. Without fear of punishment from anywhere, the industries go on disposing their wastes into the rivers. This has affected the environmental balance.

Even the works initiated for cleaning the holy Bagmati river has not continued in full swing. It is a sheer lack of commitment that the people going to Pashupati temple hesitate to touch the water. Such a situation has arisen from the fact that the river is already polluted upstream by certain industries as well as household wastes.

Voices have been raised to keep the environment clean but as far as action is concerned nothing much has materialised. Such a nature of pollution not only has the environmentalists worried but is a matter of concern to the local people as well.

The lack of treating industrial and household wastes before dumping into the river  is only on paper while the reality is different. There has to be stringent measures to combat pollution but first of all the need arises for the government to prepare the basic infrastructure so that the waste water can be treated before it is dumped into the rivers.

In a similar manner the rapid destruction of forest coverage has created another kind of problem. In many areas the loss of forests has led to deserti-fication  which in turn has affected the weather pattern. The weather pattern is now somewhat erratic unlike in the past. The world itself is witnessing the effects of climate change in the form of either too much rain or less rainfall than usual.

Floods and landslides have become more common and leads to a heavy loss of life and property. It is not only Nepal which is facing the problems of environmental degradation but many countries around the world. On this count, the heavy reliance on fossil fuels as a source of energy is to be blamed. Only a total switch to hydroelectricity or other non-polluting but renewable sources of energy like wind and solar power can solve the problem of pollution to a great extent.

The Earth Day 2000 that was marked this year stresses the point on using clean energy to solve the problem created by climate change. If appropriate measures are not taken in time then it may spell disaster for the whole of mankind. The people must be made aware to the problem of environmental degradation that will unleash itself if we do not follow the basic principles of preserving the environment.

The government must enforce the Environment Impact Assessment strictly and not let the industries that are set up to pay lip service only.

Removal

The removal from the road of the three wheeler monster Vikrams has made the air of Kathmandu more clean but the pollution situation is far from satisfactory. And the focus must not only be Kathmandu but every part of the country. The stress must be on the development of renewable and non-polluting sources of energy.

Silvertooth Tadpole

By RPN

ONCE in a small village which was growing bigger there lived a tadpole in a pond. He had little to do but swim up and down all day swishing his flat tale and propelling his turnip body through the mud and reeds. When he looked up through the angles and reflections of the water he saw shop windows, a barber’s sign and a bus stop by the garage. Behind, the crossroads, where a fast lady once toppled her Morris Minor. Across the pond an old cenotaph loomed weirdly over the water’s edge. This was the water playing its tricks.

The little big village had a life force which the little tadpole, which was also growing bigger, knew. Small children in yellow and blue trailed satchels and kicked to school in the mornings, chattering raggedly home each afternoon. The occasional bus, all racing green and adverts for a local department store, came past the red brick post office, unloading by the pond. The bus wound on past a Victorian manse, the church on the Moor and onto its further way, to distant Uxbridge, the Metropolitan Line and the wide world beyond.

The tadpole spied men in caps pedalling rickety bikes to the paint factory down the hill, to work with asbestos, or to build cranes at Moorhall and iron fences and gates in the factory nearby. Pensioners borrowed lush vegetables, dreaming of the annual Allotment Society prize.

One Friday a Cub Scout, thinking himself unseen, pushed over a freshly cemented wall, grinning wickedly. But the tadpole saw the lad, and also the face of the bemused bricklayer returning on Monday to inspects his work.

Then there were shops, glinting in the reflections. Some ladies gossiped so by the baker’s door that three or four green buses sauntered peacefully by. Others, more pressed by their affairs, passed on the other side, fearing entrapment.

Once a silly cat, stalking from the Malt House, jumped into the pond, chasing the tadpole. He missed his target and got his paws wet. This put him badly out of sorts. His whiskers quivered all the way back to his home under a loose plank in the Old Church Hall.

So the lonely tadpole spent his days swimming and watching the marvellous video show of the world through the windowtop of the pond.

At night the amusement continued, as street lights twinkled and folk loitered. One night, after closing, as murmurs faded at Smokey Joe’s and the final pint was drawn, a drunkard on a bicycle toppled across the iron rail, splashing among muddy reeds. This amused the Constable, who rescued him and sent him scolded on his way.

One day a fly buzzed and stood on the water. The lonely tadpole was jealous. On an impulse he leapt from the water and tried to fly too. He yearned to swish his flat tale and cruise in the warm spring air like an ocean dolphin. But when he looked down into the water from the not very high part of the air where he was flying he got a surprise.

He had turned into a frog.

Sometimes a pebble falls, and ripples disturb the dream. As when Dutch Elm Disease decimated our gentle southern landscape, or gypsies laid waste the old church meadow, till bailiffs came.

As a child, in this winter season, we would sing by candlelight in the wards of the village hospital, built as a sanitarium in the Great War to rest the consumptives of Gallipoli. Now, someone wants to close the legendary hospital which only ever existed to help those who suffered.