Tackling Maoist Problem
Call For Sense Of Urgency

By Prem N. Kakkar

THAT 35 policemen have been killed recently in two separate incidents in Rukumkot village of Rukum district and Mainapokhari of Dolakha district comes as a shocking piece of news. This goes on to show that the spate of violence has not decreased even a little. The attempts to make the Maoists abandon the path of violence and sit down for talks has almost failed. The overture on the part of the government has not had the effect that it was thought to be sufficient.

Demand

By fulfilling a major demand of the Maoists the government had done its part but the results have not been satisfactory as far as what was desired. The government some time back had disclosed the list of Maoists in prison or police custody, as demanded by the Maoists. But that has not been able to stem the tide. There almost seems to be a wide gap between the two parties in question.

The simmering problem of the Maoist has not subsided even a little bit going by the incidents that are taking place at the moment in different parts of the country. The number of people killed is on the increase. The death of over 1500 people is not insignificant. They include policemen, civilians and Maoists also. Even after so much bloodshed has taken place, the solution to the problem has still proved elusive.

There have been earlier attempts to defuse the situation but nothing has come of it. Even as there had been indications of the Maoists sitting at the table to thrash out a comprehensive solution, further killings of policemen have taken place in two districts, which are far removed, from each other—Rukum in the west and Dolakha in the east. There seems to be a specific timing for the tragic incidents to have taken place all of a sudden when there was some complacency regarding the slowdown of violent activities. It is possible that the recent incident is somehow related to the countdown to Chaitra 26, reminding the day in 2046.

Maintaining law and order in the country is the priority of the government but events in the political arena have not been conducive for it to function smoothly. The priorities are there in place but the necessary assistance from the Opposition in the Parliament too has to come forth. In the situation prevailing at the moment in the House, uncertainty is seen. The Parliament is being held hostage by the Opposition by not letting it function as it should. Who is to blame? This is a tricky question to answer. The Opposition in the House has their own version of why they have disrupted House proceedings. But the reasons they offer cannot be swallowed down easily. The demand of the resignation of the Prime Minister over the alleged Lauda Air deal has to come not through sloganeering in the House or taking out demonstrations in the streets but through the appropriate channel that is either through the court or a censure motion in the House itself.

Here both the channels are not being utilised. Yet the House remains stalled. The issue sees no way out. While there have been attempts through all party meetings and so on but they ended without arriving at any conclusion. This speaks of the fact that unless the two parties in the conflict come down ready to sort out the problem nothing is going to happen.

It is already over fifty days that the House deadlock has continued. In this long time much business could have been done. But that is not the case. The same scene repeats itself at every House meeting. In such a situation it is essential for coming to a meeting point where compromises can be worked. This does not mean to say that such stalemates are rare. They have happened in many countries but sooner or later they have been resolved through the efforts of both the ruling and the opposition parties.

The political leaders of today are mature and have gained more wisdom and insight into looking at things yet such an unpalatable scenario has emerged. On the one hand, the Parliament has not been able to conduct its regular activities and on the other hand the government too is tied up in trying to defuse it. Over and above this, the Maoists have unleashed another wave of terror through killing of the policemen. Now the government has to work on two fronts: dealing with the impasse in the House and check the activities of the Maoists.

With all attention riveted on how to make the House conduct its regular business, something naturally goes amiss. The government has been taken off guard with the acts of violence in many parts of the country. Hence, the government must be allowed to fulfill its duties and responsibilities. For this the opposition parties must become restrained and let the House take its natural course. Only then tackling the Maoist problem can move ahead especially through the peaceful means of sitting down for talks.

Urgent

Unless a sense of urgency emerges in all, the solution cannot be found. Commitment together with the necessary environment must be created for the talks to take place. Once this happens, there can be no doubt that the problem will be solved in due course of time to the relief of everyone.

Public Holidays: It’s Value And Worth

By Ganesh Shakya

IT WAS on 17th of August, 1999 that the government administered two day weekend system in the government offices within Kathmandu Valley on a trial basis. According to the system, the government employees are now enjoying two holidays on Saturday and Sunday in the valley. Previously, the weekly holiday was on one day a week i.e. on Saturday. In addition to changing in the working days, the government had also changed the office time. Previously, the office hours used to be 10.00 a.m. 5 p.m. for the nine months (Fagun - Kartik) and 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. for the remaining 3 months (Mangsir - Magha). Each Friday the office would remain closed at 3.00 p.m. At present, the office hour starts at 9.00 a.m. The closing time is the same as in the old system in all the five working days.

Even after 18 months of implementation—five days a week system, it is still on trial and the government has yet to decide whether to continue the new system or to resume the old one. The government was recently decided to cut off holiday on Sunday particularly in the croporations which have direct public relations. The office time will be 10 to 5 effective from 14th of April, 2001. However, such decision indicates the discontinuation of two day-off system on trial.

In fact, public holiday has it’s own value and worth. It has a triangular relationship among civil servants, public and the government itself. A little change may cause a great change in the system. Therefore, the most important thing is to study the impact of the changed working schedule on civil servants, public and the office administration.

Such a decision may create a critical situation. Because, most of the corporations are directly linked with one or the other Ministry and most of the corporations have to perform their works in coordination with the the line Ministry. In such a situation, it would be better to apply a single and unitery rules in both HMG office and the corporations. Otherwise, the changed context would fail to be effective.

Directly or indirectly, the changed holiday is sure to influence the people and the social environment as a whole. The main problem faced particularly by the low level civil servents is to attend the office in time i.e. at sharp 9.00 a.m. The changed time as felt by them was very inconvenient due to the lack of reliable transportation facility.

Another problem is associated with food arrangements. They are in dilemma whether to eat early at home or to have lunch at office. No separate arrangement has been made for the lunch time and the lunch allowance by the government.

However, the civil servants have adjusted the situation with some difficulty. The adjustment here is not in the sense that they have got transportation facility and they are able to afford money for lunch outside their home. Most of them reach the office late depending upon one’s convenient time. It is also not an overstatement to say that the government seems to be a bit soft in this matter.

With the change, the people concerned have suffered the most. First of all, there are only five working days a week. Besides, that, there are many other official holidays. Summing up all these things together, the people are getting late in the clearance of their official files or whatever else owing to lack of timely service from the office.

The government had stated, immediately after the implementation of the present system, that the change does not make any difference in the total working hours and it is in accordance with the international standard of working days. Of course, there is no comments on this statement. As there is no difference in working hours, the government should also have ensured that it does not hamper in the services rendered to the common people.

Theoretically, the vision is very clear and sound as well. But, in practice, the public is not in a position to get timely services from HMG offices. Late arrival of the staff in the office, there unavailability when they are needed, postponement of works for another day have been the common practices in most of the offices.

At a time when two-day-weekend is on trial, the issue of cut-off of some public holidays are coming up in the media. Cut-off and adding up of public holidays have become simple practice in Nepal. For example, few years ago, the civil servants used to have holidays on Teacher’s Day, Parent’s Day, and Mother’s Day. Those holidays had already been cut-off after the restoration of democracy.

Of course, it is very arduous task to decide which public holidays, should be diminished and which should not because each of them is equally important. It is not that much urgent to cut-off the public holidays if the government is supposed to cut-off the two-day-weekend-system.

In fact, it is a time for all Nepalese people to work in a war footage to build up the nation. The time is for struggling the whole day and night. In a situation like this, holidays and weekend should be given second priority. First of all, the civil servants must not forget the commitment they had made during the time of their swearing. They should be loyal and dedicated to their duties and responsibilities without any selfishness. The government also need to try to understand and realise the weak points existing in our administrative system and apply measures to reform accordingly.

As change is necessary in administrative reform process, it is also equally important to be considered that a change should not be just for the sake of change.

Better Ride Only When She Is By His Side

By Mukti Rijal

RIDING, buses, tempos, microbuses to commute from one part of the city to other is not very easy. The peak hour rush gives one a very bad taste. One cannot make inside the conveyance if one takes no effort to summon the energy one can exert from within oneself. The hassles one has to endure after getting squeezed in are limitlesss. You are left to fend off yourself. You have to be a humblest soul and renegotiate with your fellow travelers for every breath you take. You have to be politest lest one burst upon you with volley of abusive remarks accusing that you stumbled upon his or her feet shoved or hurt etc. A slight physique clash or contact might be a cause of unsavoury verbal exchanges or rough deals. Even the exchange of blows may not be an unsual sight.

The childish rough conduct of the conductors compound the problem of the bus, minibus or micro riders. Generally, it is a job in which juveniles are employed. Minors or rickety kids are put to work in Safe tempos and micro buses. These kids or minors are not attuned to conducting the conveyances. They behave as if they are miniature adults and attempt to take charge of the buses. Yeh Dai Bhada Diu Ta comes the command as soon as one steps into the buses or the public carriers. They prick or provoke you if you fail to comply with their command no matter the inconveniences or discomforts you are in. You are told to wobble from one end of the bus to the other so that more passengers would be piled in. You have to dance at the tune of your juvenile master. Child labour is prohibited in law and notices and hordings warn that child labour is a punishable offence. But there is no arm of law working to check it when the children are emplooyed in the job which the adults alone can carry out.

One two occasions this scribe found the spouses teamed up as driver and conductor. The husband was driving the micro bus while the wife seated beside the husband at the front seat was calling out the commuters. The driver looked more stable and confident. The wife dealt with the passengers in polite and responsible tone. The passengers got disciplined and spoke no words that are abusive and lewd. The speed of the microbus was smooth and consistent-neither slow nor fast. The woman conductor allowed in the passengers equal to the seats provided inside. It was the microbus ride that offered pleasant service this scribe ever had in microbuses for the last few months.

Now vehicles plying on the streets are aplenty. One can choose buses, minibuses, safe tempos and microbuses to travel in the city. Tired of quaint and old buses making several halts to collect passengers, travelers generally choose minibuses. Minibuses did not really provide better choices as they were just the lesser evils only. The Safa tempos however provide really better alternative as they speed along without several halts. They generally allow in the passengers if could be accommodated comfortably. The introduction of microbuses has altered the balance of the public vehicles. Microbuses have left all the vehicles plying on the road behind and grabbed the important market chunk. Big buses are not packed well and often seen plying with half seats occupied only while minubuses have also got the jolt. Even the Safa tempos have found less response. Microbuses are no better in the quality of services. Only that they are fast and reach you to the destination in the quickest possible time. This has ensured them an advantage over other vehicles.