Decentralisation
A New Cycle Of Debates

By Mukti Rijal

A NEW cycle of discussion and deliberation on decentralisation and local self governance has been initiated. It is good to note that decentralisation has received wider attention and deliberation on various aspects relating to policy building and implementation has been carried out in different forums. Recently associations of local authorities organised interaction programme especially to deliberate on the merits of a bill which has been proposed and floated for discussion. The bill intends to amend some of the crucial provisions of the Local self governance Act contending that the prevailing act needed reform and revisit. The Municipality association of Nepal has been the first to convene a gathering to discuss the proposed bill. The gathering endorsed the provision aimed at downsizing the numbers of the elected officials at the local government level and vesting more power and authority in the chief of the local government units. The association of district development committee/Nepal held a programme in which Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba took part and gave his remarks. The ADDC/N progarmme attracted a critical gathering of the stakeholders and actors to deliberate on the issues affecting the decentralisation process in the country in his observation at the interaction Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba did not indulge in tall talks but remarked that the strengthening decentralisation and local self governance will alone help contain the social discontent and dissatisfaction in the country. He said "Participation of the people periodic election is not enough for strengthening democracy. People should be consulted and their participation secured in each and every stage of development so that schemes suited to their needs and realities are implemented and sustained."

It is to be noted that the process of strengthening democracy and self governance got initiated in 1994 when the incumbent primeminister Sher Bahadur Deuba was holding the same position as the chief of the coalition government. High level decentralisation coordination committee was formed then under the chairmanship of the prime minister himself with a view to examine the prevailing decentralisation framework and recommend ways and means to strengthen the process of local self governance in the country. The committee endorsed a report that suggested far reaching changes in the decentralisation framework in the country. The report recommended among others, to bring about radical changes in the structure, functions and mechanism of decentralisation. The report mooted for a devolutionary arrangement with a view to endow more functions and responsibilities in the local government institutions including VDCs, DDCs and municipalities. The report also provided recommendation to enlarge competencies and mandates of the local bodies especially VDCs and municipalities to settle disputes of local nature assuming role of an alternative disrupte resolution forum.

Based on the recommendation of the report, the local self governance act was formulated. However, the act did not borrow the structural scheme recommended in the report. The chairman in-council concept suggested in the report was superseded by the direct election for the chief of the local bodies.

This direct election of the chief of the municipalities and VDCs with consequent absence of relationship and linkage between the executive and deliberative organ of the local government institutions has been perceived as a problem faced by local government institutions in the country.

The proposed amendment bill to the local self governance act focuses to execute structural change and reform so that a semi-presidential type structure is established at the local level. It seems that local body office bearers have bought the idea and they are in agreement with the initiative undertaken to change the provisions in the act. However, there are apprehensions that the move to amend the act itself may scuttle the process of changing the sectoral laws overlapping with the provisions of the local self governance act. This was feared at the interaction programme organised, the other day, by the National Association of VDCs in Nepal (NAVIN) in which political party representatives and government officials took part. However, there was a consensus that some improvement needs to be carried out so that local bodies become more functional and effective.

There is also an apprehension raised from civil society quarters whether the proposals for change would introduce instability in the on going decentralisation process in the country. Frequent changes might not allow the process to stabilise more time would be spent on discussion and deliberation instead of much needed implementation. As decentralisation and democracy go together, it is time to place emphasis on implementation, not debates and deliberates. We have enough of them.

Gods And Human Gods

By Prakash Dahal

SINCE legendary Manjushree (the Chinese traveller) dried up the waters of valley cutting Chobhar hills with his mighty sword and crowning Dharmakar as the first King of the land, the valley dwellers never faced any serious water menace. The Chobhar gorge flows away rain water before it could wreak potential havoc in the land of Pashupatinath.

The monsoon rain may go berserk and turn Krishna bheer - the hanging cliff- loose on the highway or move the indiscriminately deforested hills to bury the bipeds and quadrupeds alive, Kathmanduites don’t really have headache.

Their buildings and masons, hotels and resorts, may have tempted lumbermen in denuding the hills but Nature has no score to settle with them. She sheds her wrath every year on creatures living nearby by sweeping them away routinely and dumping them on the Bay of Bengal. They say, their skulls and skeletons combined with soils have helped surface an island somewhere there.

To Kathmandu valley where the hills are still green, no cat and dogs can rain trouble albeit the drains clogged up at times in Maitidevi, Baneswore and a little more places produce ponds and lakes forcing pedestrians roll up their pajamas and wade across the knee-deep waters.

The torrential rain in Kathmandu is a proven blessing in disguise. No one but Kathmanduites know how they benefit from it. July, August and September, the monsoon season, three months of the year, they can see their holy Bagmati over-flowing with sacred waters. The toxic chemicals cleansing the New Zealand wool for our carpet merchants can no longer dye the water black and blue nor can the city’s sewage disposal made in holy Bagmati can unhygienically defile the sacrosanct waters.

The floods and the currents hide them all much like an ageing woman hiding her wrinkles under lipstick and powder.

The holy men, blessed with thirty-three crore Gods and Goddesses, dirty it because no one is there to give them a finger. Aussies and New Zealanders don’t say that they wouldn’t supply their fleece and yarn if they defiled and desecrated the holy rivers. The Germans, English, Canadians and Americans warn that they would throw the stuff out if they smell child labour in it but they don’t give a fig for their hurling toxic waste in holy waters.

When it doesn’t bother the Aussies or New Zealanders nor European and Americans about what price the holy rivers in Nepal is paying for warming their drawing rooms and cozy cabins, or filling coffers of the unholy merchants of the holy land, why should it bother anyone at home?

They know that one day the same Germans and the Scandinavians who rolled up their sleeve to clean Bhadgaon or helped remove polluting Vikram tempos from Kathmandu valley, will come and clean Bagmati. Because, nobody can metamorphose the sewage and
toxic waste into Gangajal. That doesn’t mean they can’t do anything. They can make tall talks, peppermint promises and even rinse dirty linens on each other’s head.

Nepalese believe in the theory- let things worsen to the extreme, help come their way. The have no reason to worry because they know that- things are made to be unmade, and they are unmade because they were made.

When Shiva the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent divine doesn’t bother to shift his abode from the unholy banks of holy Bagmati, why should it disgust others?

But, the same is not true with Kathmandu’s roads. Every year, the unruly rains wash away the little roads built for rolling Indian and Japanese auto-mobiles owned by herd of more equal than others. The rain bites them making potholes and several big and small holes holding puddles of water.

They nearly always mend it giving it the patches and stitches it needs. Priority, however, dictates the terms, here too. At times, even the roads plying diplomats’ cars fall behind the priority order. And, they have to take their grumbles to some newspapers.

The soil too makes a difference! The soil of the King’s way seems to live in perfect harmony with the concrete and cement overlaid it. They hardly see pot holes on it or the rain ever disfiguring it. The flaw perhaps lies with the soil of Baneshore, Lazimpat, New road and Ratnapark where no matter how perfectly they apply concrete and bitumen both in terms of quality and quantity, they wear away every time the monsoon rain hit the road.

Regardless of deceitful soil and treacherous rain, they keep on mending it. They know that Pashupatinath may keep his eyes, ears and nose closed, but the living Gods rolling on Prado and Pajeros will not enjoy the jolts the potholes will give them.

Unlike the thirty-three crore Gods and Goddess there are plenty of living Gods who keep their ears, eyes and nose open.

Indrajatra: The Festival Of Hindu Rain God

By Dhurba K. Deep

INDRA, traditionally regarded as the most powerful Hindu rain god is highly respected in Nepal. Rigveda, the earliest known Hindu scripture is full of Indra’s hymns whose number might run into thousands. Some oriental scholars have assigned the date of this text ways back to two thousand years B.C. When viewed in this light Indra definitely appears to be the most popular and powerful Vedic deity indeed.

One of the main reasons of his being so popular from the early Vedic age down to this day is definitely his being closely associated with agriculture and rain. In the Vedas he has been repeatedly described as a great giver of rain and food grain. He has also been depicted in the same text as the valiant fighter, the destroyer of devils and the drought and so on.

It is quite interesting to note that one of his very old name is Purandra which means a great destroyer of enemy states. The Rigveda is very enthusiastic about describing him as a great destroyer of ninety nine puras or the city states In the history of ancient Aryan civilization one can find many interesting references to his being a very adventurous king always bent upon doing away with the Asuras so to say the non-Aryan tribal chiefs who are said to have been very cynical about the Vedic ways of life.

The purans also speak very highly about the significance of Indra, the Vedic hero. There are plenty of fascinating puranic episodes dramatising numerous battles Indra had to fight at times with his enemy Asuras or states.

The Bhavishya purana very emphatically describes the significance of this festival. The Mahabharata also speaks very highly about the meritorious aspects of this festival. According to this great Hindu epic, Chediraj Vasu was the first king to introduce this festival for public celebration. This great epic has mentioned about all those kings who celebrated this festival with great faith and feelings. It is also written in the same text that the kings who maintain the tradition of celebrating this festival will be lucky enough to see the lovely rivers of milk and honey flowing incessantly thoughout their kingdoms.

One of the most fascinating features of this festival is the ritualistic raising of a fifty feet long ceremonial timber pole with a very regal banner hanging down from the pole-top which is to symbolise the victory banner of Lord Indra. The ceremony of raising this impressive pole takes place at Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu on the twelveth day of bright forth night of Bhadra month (Aug/Sept) which officially heralds the advent of a week-long Indrajatra festival. However the third day of this festival is celebrated with great interest and enthusiasm. It is on this day that His Majesty the King accompanied by many high ranking government officials graces the occasion with great pleasure. The central venue for this ceremony is Basantpur Durbar Square which lies just the opposite from the famed temple of Kumari, the living goddess. It is very difficult to say that time the ceremony exactly starts. Because it always depends on when the Kumari Puja of a very esoteric nature would be performed. In any case we can usually guess that it generally starts sometime around midafternoon.

When Kumari is mounted on the festival chariot the King ceremoniously appears in the Gaddi Baithak hall. After the ceremonial receiving of Tika by His Majesty the King from Kumari, Ganesh and Bhairava in the gesture of showing respect for this time honoured tradition, the beautifully decorated four wheel festival chariots of these living deities would move on and pass through many important points of Kathmandu city. This ceremony is marked with all kinds of traditional music going on in the air while the festival enthusiasts enjoy themselves watching this event with great interest and awe.

Indrajatra though celebrated throughout the Kingdom in one way or other, the city of Kathmandu, above all, is most enthusiastic about the celebration of this occasion. Indrajatra is a big occasions for the religious minded Nepalese farmers to express their thankfulness to Lord Indra for the timely rain made available for them to work in the field. Although this kind of ceremonial acivity can be seen almost in every neighbourhood of Kathmandu valley. However, the main venue for the festive hapennings is Hanuman Dhoka area in Kathmandu. Some of the fascinating temple treasures that would be displayed here (only once a year) include the gigantic images of Shwet Aakaash Bhairav (Hathu Deo) at Hanuman Dhoka, Neel Aakaash Bhairav (Aaju Deo) at Indra Choak and of course a very fine life size statue of Indra duly installed on the high wooden rustrum near Kasthamandap temple. And another highlights of this occasion are the Mahakali dance from Bhadgaon, the Bhairav dance from Halchoak and classical Dasavtar dance from Kathmandu itself which are staged right in front of Kumari temple on an age old open air platform.