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Politics & Weather POLITICS here in the country seems to work
in tandem with the weather. While the nation saw quiet days during the cool winder period,
the situation seems to have heated up as the days have gotten hotter. In fact, along with things getting heated
in the Parliament, the opposition parties have started to fire up even the streets. Will cooler heads prevail and the
differences be resolved through negotiations, or will the ocuntry need heavy Monsoon
downpours to douse the political fires, perhaps, only time can tell. (LDT) Taken For A Ride RIDING home one evening
when the load shedding was in force as per schedule, I was suddenly pulled aside by a
policemen. As he was about to issue the ticket, another bike zipped away and the
rider made an obscene gesture to the policemen. Shocked by this kind of act,
putting his ticket book away, the policemen said , "You're lucky
this evening." With that, he started blowing his whistle as hard as he could and ran
after the bike to stop it. As I was trying to inject the bike engine, the cop appeared
again with a tired look and said that people nowadays were not even afraid of them.
Or was it the other way round. The cops instead of being preachers must go their way in
enforcing the law. (ASR) Holi's Gone WELL, Holi has finally bid adieu. It's time
to take a stock as to how it went. It was rather a drab affair with people splashing all
the dirty water stored to be used up for the occasion. In fact, going by the past
accounts, the revellers seemed to have used up all their energy in the past one week so
that the fun on the actual day was amiss. Surely police vans had to work overtime ferrying
those who indulged in activities that was considered not civil. Yet, the lanes were not
free and even the policemen didn't venture into the labyrinths that this city of Kathmandu
is famous for. (PNK) The Drama Ends FINALLY, with the resignation of Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattrai, the month-long drama staged in the national politics has ended. However, to end the drama 69 characters out of total 113 had to start the second part of the drama as the first show a month ago had ended with the mysterious 'agreement' between the two principal characters. Though this humble scribe does not know whether it was a tragedy or a comedy, he is sure that for some especially for the sitting ministers and their relatives and supporters the drama appeared to be a tragedy and for others a comedy. However, the powerful and long concluding dialect at the end of the drama that was from one of the principal characters must have made many believe it was somehow a tragedy. Otherwise a few MPs would not have shed tears in the parliament and the party activists who were demanding the resignation of the PM just before they heard the final speech would not have said, " He made a good and realistic speech..." (BG) Majority & What BEFORE the May, 1999 general elections, we
had enough room to pretend. To pretend in loud voice that it was nothing but the hung
representation of political parties in the Parliament that was acting as the culprit for
all kinds of aberrations, anomalies, immoralities and instability. Therefore, we preached
and called for a majority mandate. Everybody agreed 'majority' was the only panacea in the
Nepalese political domain. We got it with the wholehearted support of
the Janata Janardan (people). But turn of events showed that the magical remedial power of
majority was only a myth. Just as there are different parties, there are camps within
parties and even camps within camps that hamper stability. There is bigger defect within
us than the lack of majority that needs correction. (BT) Noctural Talks THE Bhutanese officials seemed to have
resorted to a different trick this time. During day light they would most of the time like
to kill the time doing this or that. The serious talks between our officials and those of
the Dragon kingdom would begin only in the night and would continue even after clocks
changed dates at midnight. Guess why. There could be two probabilities. Either the crafty
Druk Officials deliberately wanted to keep the press in the dark. Or, perhaps they had
expected our officials to yawn…. in the late night and things to move the way the
Dragon Kingdom wanted. God save from such nocturnal talks! (NSK) Reality Out WHILE shopping with his wife two days
before the festive day of colourful Holi, this scribe had an opportunity to meet a well
known women's rights activist in the New Road area. When yours humbly just started
criticising the psyche of terrorising innocent women folks with water-filled balloons in
public places, the lady in her early thirties interrupted and embarked upon her discourse.
"To a large extent, the girls themselves are to be blamed: the most important thing
is all women must be bold enough to bully and intimidate those perverse boys," she
boasted,"This is how I've never been hit with a single baloon in life."
And, instantly she left in her luxurious car. Perhaps plausibly impressed by her
rhetorics, this scribe started telling the wife high of the lady's 'idealistic' approach
while walking back home. Right there, several water-filled flying objects landed on my
wife. Fussy about the assault, the wife
said,"See, the difference lies here: women like me have to use the public roads
whereas the high-class people like that fashionable lady use the luxurious car, which
flying bolloon terror can't hit. So she's high sounding about 'others' constraints."
Sounds true, indeed! (AS) Disparity GENERALLY women are said to be more kind hearted and cooperative than men. It is believed that they understand agonies of other women and help them in every tricky situation. With the elapse of time, this concept seems to have died down. Women these days seem less pathetic to other women themselves. The discrepancy between men and women is not that awful as it is among women themselves. Women who are more privileged often take advantage by exploiting other women in their own society. The women leaders who plead for the emancipation of women seem to have created disparity among women themselves. (RKC) Gordian Knot PPOSITION party? Forget about it for the
time being because the way the Nepali Congress Parliamentary party elected its leader
gives me the impression that the NC party strongman Koirala's fourth return to power has
come with a pinch of salt for many of his party men. And those who suffered
"defeat" at the hands of Koirala will in all their likelihood barge in the next
round of hectic bargaining to gain the appointments that ensure them power and pelf. This
is where the Gordian Knot lies for Koirala whose first priority is to check corruption.
Those who will fail in gaining their desired place in the government will surely try to
cerate problems for the Prime Minister. Does not this remind you of the by-gone days of
chhattise and chauhattare when a group of 36 NC legislators pulled down their own majority
government headed by Koirala. In the backdrop of shifting loyalties of NC lawmakers,
nobody will be usrprised if these defeated lawmakers would go the Chhattise ways and do
their best to cerate many problems to the newly formed government. The factionalism within
NC will give us another round of engrossing moments and induce us to forget about the
activities of other opposition political parties for a while. (NU) Another Facet MARRIAGE just after completing an year of
birth! Is the idea not wild and antic? But it was and happened recently in Dom community
in Janakapur. Two kids namely Rubi and Sunil tied the knots courtesy their parents. The
event can invite many questions. But it can be happy news for those NGOs working for the
downtrodden communities including this Dom community. By learning this, they could
write a good proposal to donors seeking fund to bring about changes in the lives of the
Doms. Being good proposal, it would definitely receive support from donors. Their paper
works would go to the media any fully satisfy the donors believing the expected aims were
achieved. And it might be possible that the innocent Doms who would be quite unknown about
the activities as NGOs might not raise difficulty of reaching to them. (RRS) Old Habits "CUSTOMARILY" ministers are late
to a function. So I'm also late". These were the first few words of a secretary who
was to inaugurate a photo exhibition the other day at the hall of Tribhuvan's University's
Central Library. It is true that they are late to most of the functions organised by
Nepalese people or their organisations. But surprisingly they reach the venue in time, or
even before that, if the organisers are foreigners, especially from the western world. But
this top bureaucrat broke the eleventh commandment of the noble cabinet member by reaching
late (by more than half an hour) to the exhibition that was organised by israeli Embassy
in Kathmandu and Israel, albeit in Asia, is a land of western world in spirit. Perhaps as
the saying goes old habits die hard-Nepalese still cannot be punctual. Streets' Chaos DRIVING in the streets of Kathmandu is no
task for the faint hearted. From aggressive vehicle drivers to adamant pedestrians, the
roads seem full of people who are out to push to the limit the rules of safety. The traffic police have tried to bring some
semblance of order by physically manning some busy crossings and also dividing the roads
with ropes and plastic fences. But not much improvement can be seen. However one good policy adopted by the
traffic cops, is the seeking of suggestions from the people themselves. The scheme would
probably be more effective if the authorities, instead of relying only on a telephone and
a fax, also utilised the services of the print and electronic media, specialy the FM
channels, to give their message and also take feedback from the people. It must be realised that more than police
presence and plastic dividers, awareness among the people will help make the roads more
disciplined and smooth. (LDT) Only Tourists Trek PREPARE to meet surprises in the highlands,
especially while you are trekking. Towering snow- clad mountains at a stone throw away
distance, roaring river gorges just below you, and what not. But you know what tops the
list? Tourists, especially westerners, gazing at you while you are on your trekking trail.
Reason? They don't believe even Nepalese trek like they do. Me say, when Nepalese own the
rugged terrain, they can trek them too. Even if, not too often. (NSK) Locking Horns NO ONE knows what the outcome will be with
the private schools holding their final exams within this month and starting their new
session soon thereafter. The concerned government demartment has one thing in mind but the
private school operators have another thing in mind. In fact, in the past two sessions the
school students have already have had many months more to study thereby leaving them
behind in the race of getting 'there' faster. Now, it's wait and watch game of how things
will move forward in the days to come. (PNK) An Example THOUGH the Nepali Congress is the largest
and the oldest democratic party in the country, many politicians including its own
supporters often claim that NC lacks internal democracy. Yes, the past events have
shown that the party has solved most of the issues through sarabasammati nirnaya
(consensus) albeit majority of party members and supporters are against the
decision. All the leaders of its parliamentary party in the past were elected unopposed
and even the party President were mostly elected unopposed. But this time NC set a record
by conducting an election to choose its leader of the parliamentary party. Indeed, in
democracy, election is the main measure to elect the leaders and everyone should respect
the result of any election. But for opposition parties and some weeklies which in the past
never tired of claiming that NC lacked internal democracy are now pointing the recent
election as the beginning of party split. Perhaps it is an example to denote how our
political parties have intolerable attitudes towards their rival parties. (BG) Tired Mood! UNLIKE in the past, this year's Holi
festival was celebrated with relatively less enthusiasm and participation of the
revellers. To recall the day in previous years, the streets would be filled with merry
makers shouting, singing and bathed in colour and water. Some came in vehicles while
others walked in groups. Similarly, exciting atmosphere of merriment could be observed on
rooftops of neighbourhoods. One may work out several probable reasons
leading to this tired mood of Holi revellers. However, seemingly most convincing among
them might be this: Holi was overly celebrated even before the real day came. When people
tend to forget the timeliness of anything, it is natural such trend occur. (BT) Beau & Arrows A PHILIPPINES returned model I know is
reportedly in love (or, just infatuation?) with one of the hottest pop singers in town.
The upcoming model does not seem to give an envious look when crazy female fans have a
romantic chat with her beau. Neither is she mad nor feel bearish as hell about the rumours
linking her beau with other those beautiful female fans. If the rumour machine keeps
darting the arrows, she will just let them. The latent fact came to light soon, because
when it came to the singer's birthday celebration recently in a cosy hall in town, it was
she who stuck to her beau like a baby does to its teddy bear. (AS) The Sufferers IT'S not in the game of cricket where the
saying 'tu chal, main aaya (you leave, I come)" is said to describe the misery of a
team that suffers rapid fall of wickets. It may appropriately be adopted for the practice
of hiring and firing of the Nepalese bureaucrats and political appointees too. With the
appointment of new government, many of such appointees are set to leave as the axes are
ready to fall on them while others are making a bee-line to their "godfathers"
for appointments in high government places. Such circumstance, this scribe's heart really
goes for those persons who reach top government post not by using their honeyed tongues
but by sheer force of their capabilities. However, in the murky game of flattery they seem
to be suffering most because they do not know how to impress sbosses using the art of
bootlicking and sycophancy. (NU) Who knows? STRIKE, sit-in and slogan chanting are
what the main Opposition party is doing now. These non-violent activities are fine. These
are certainly good weapons in democracy to fulfill the demands. After a slumber of months,
CPN-UML is trying to answer the accusation through some praiseworthy and some pressurising
activities in the country. It has launched series of protests programme against
corruption and red tapism that have plauged the state. No doubt, such moves are welcome if
they prove catalytic in removing the evils. And if drives are merely a stunt to attract
public attention and earning cheap popularity, then it would benefit none. Let's hope the
moves are mere stunts. (RRS) 'Sweet' Problems The market is teeming with items like
lollipops and coloured candies that hardly meet the hygienic and health safety standards.
It seems that anyone can produce such items anywhere and bring to the market without a
headache to the authorities. These stuffs contain colouring and flavouring additives that
are hazardous to health to which the innocent kids fall victims. This kind of phenomenon
is rampant as there is no active body with monitoring and surveillance mechanism. In the
absence of adequate regulation of food market, even the registered industries do not
bother to maintain standards. The items that usually lure the sweet
toothed children carry so called gift items that have proved fatal as reported in the
media recently. The kids were choked to death with whistles attached to lollipops. These
incidents have drawn the attention of the Food Research Lab but no one knows how long it
will be before the authority with public health responsibility will go to hibernation
again. (BT) Interaction on religious rights held in Lalitpur BY A STAFF REPORTER Kathmandu, Mar. 21: The interaction programme was organised
by Association of lawyers for Legal Awareness and Training (ALERT-Nepal). Presenting a theme paper in the
interaction programme, advocate Narayan prasad Ghimire said that the democratic
constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal guarantees religious freedom and tolerance among all
religious communities and allows every religious community to exercise own religion.
However, forcible conversion and attempts to create hatred against any religious faith and
community have been discouraged and prohibited. Commenting on the theme paper Dr. K.B.
Rokaya, both lawyer as well as human rights activists, said that even some constitutional
provisions relating to fundamental rights have not been fully implemented as result
certain section of people have been discriminated on the ground of their faith. Human Rights activist Raj Narayan Nepali
of INSEC complained that some poor and illiterate people especially in the rural and
remote areas have been lured to convert into other religions. Nepali said that such
practice should not be allowed in the name of religious freedom. Participants from the
floor were of the opinion that religious freedom is one of the fundamental rights
guaranteed by the constitution, which must be implemented in a letter and spirit. Veteran Danish journalist Ove Gibskon was
honoured here Monday amid a function organised by Highlander Trekking and Expedition with
the co-operation of the Sunrise Nepal, a tourism related newspaper. Gibskon was presented a wood carving with
a print of the Mount Everest on a metal plate, a token of honour, by Highlander's managing
director Hari Dharel. Meanwhile, with a view to promote tourism
activities between Nepal and Denmark, an interaction programme between Nepalese and Danish
journalists was organised. The chief guest at the function, Gibskon
who is blind since his childhood, said that he was highly impressed by the life in
Kathmandu and the responses from Nepalese people. "Nepal has immense potential in
tourism," he said, adding that Nepalese culture plus rafting and trekking were the
factors that attracted a large number of tourists from Denmark. Gibskon however said that traffic problem
and pollution were obstacles for the smooth movement of tourists in Kathmandu. Fielding the queries about the present
scenario of journalism in Denmark, Gibskon said that it had become quick, competitive and
commercial. Currently about five thousand journalists are working there, he informed. Ib Schou, Information Officer at MS-Nepal
said that Nepal remained a peaceful and safe place for the tourists in the world. Hari Dharel said that this kind of
programme would contribute to establishing cordial ties between the peoples of two
countries. About five thousand Danish tourists visit Nepal anually, he informed. Besides prividing services to the
tourisrts, the Highlander -established eight years ago - also has been involved in social
activites. Recently, it counducted a free health
camp in Dhading and provided financial assistance to a primary school lacated at a Chepang
village in Chitwan district. Programme co-ordinator and Sunrise Nepal
publisher Devi Panta said that the interaction would definitely assist in understanding
each other. Kathmandu, March 21 (RSS): Under the project, provision for schools
and classes have been made and tasks such as preparing suitable syllabi, inculcating the
habit of going to school, teaching children between 3 to 5 years and research work are
being carried out. The children's schools are being run at 107
places in Dhankuta, Jhapa, Morang, Saptari, Siraha, Sarlahi, Dolakha, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur,
Kathmandu, Baglung, Parbat and Myagdi districts, it is learnt. This information was given at a seminar for
pre-primary school teachers organised with the objectives of considering what can be done
for the expansion of schools and enhancing brotherhood, equality and solidarity among the
children. President of Nepal Children's Organisation
Mrs Rita Singh Baidhya and president of UNGA Ornar Austin Lovegreen jointly inaugurated
the seminar. On the occasion, programme coordinator Nir
Bikram Shrestha said that nursery and kindergarten classes have been conducted in the
private sector in urban areas and the seminar has been organised specifically to make the
rural communities aware of the significance of nursery and Kg classes. Meanwhile in Nuwakot, the foundation stone
for the stairs at the renowned Bhairvi Temple within the historic seven-storey Nuwakot
Palace complex, to be constructed under the auspices of Nuwakot Heritge Preservation
Forum, was laid on recently by member secretary of the Social Welfare Council Dr. Tika
Pokharel. On the occasion, Dr. Pokharel said that the
person who thinks of others without any selfishness is the true social activist. Member of Nuwakot District Development
Committee Jagadish Narsing K.C. spoke of the importance of the historic Nuwakot Palace. Former MP Ganesh Pandit said that political
leaders have not given sufficient attention to the social development of the district. President of Nuwakot Heritage Preservation
Forum Madhav Lal Pradhan presided over the function. Meanwhile, in a committee has been formed
under the chairmanship of Rimpoche Jagat Prakash Lama to celebrate the 2544th birth
anniversary of Lord Gautam Buddha, here . As part of the celebrations, the comittee
is to organise worship and recital of the Pragyaparamita
sacred text from Baisakh l, 2057 Bikram year till Jestha
5 for the sake of ridding the world of strife, the eight plagues
and other abberrations. The Pragyaparamita is recited by Mahayana
Buddhists to keep bad auspices a bay. The worship and recital are to be held at
Mihlareppa monastery at Bairochantirtha to the east of Swayambhu. Kathmandu, March 21 (RSS): The fire at his house on Friday reportedly
started from a burning incense stick left unattended at his shop. Meanwhile, a report from Arghakhanchi said
that goods and property worth Rs 1,265,000 was destroyed when a fire gutted the shop owned
by Tara Prasad Basyal in Sandhikharka-5. Likewise in Mahottari, fire that broke out at
Ramgopalpur VDC Ward No. 1 in the northern part of Mahottari district damaged property
worth about Rs 1,215,000 including nine houses. Six goats also perished in the fire and foodgrain,
gold and silver were also lost. The fire broke out when a five-year-old daughter of
local resident Ramkrit Thakur was playing with a burning wick-lamp, it is learnt. Meanwhile in Ramechhap, families displaced by a
fire that occured in Bhalubajor VDC Ward No. l Kunauri recently have yet to receive
any relief. The fire last month gutted six houses, and those
affected have been coming to the district headquarters for succour. But the district Red
Cross has nothing to give them. Those rendered homeless are living on the street
and local people have given them some grain. |
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