Lasting Peace People's Expectation

By Shirish B. Pradhan

NEPALESE people have felt a sigh of relief as the country witnessed the cease-fire announced by the Maoists and the government with a view to ending the seven-year-old insurgency. However, to attain lasting and durable peace successful conclusion of the on-going peace process is a must. Thus, the present political situation is very much fluid and everybody should make sincere efforts towards resolving the present crisis for greater national interest.

Conduct

Both the government and the Maoists have exchanged their codes of conduct and the document will be given a final touch in a few days to pave ways for formally moving ahead the peace process. Both the sides have agreed to sit down together and sortout the differences through holding dialogue in a peaceful manner. It seems the Maoists have realised the futility of escalating violence and terror as the means to achieve their goals. All the sections of the country including the political parties and the civic society have in one voice pointed out that the talks should be constructive, fruitful and positive and it should find a way out from the present political crisis facing the country.

There cannot be any problem between two Nepalese, that cannot be resolved by sitting together at a table through peaceful negotiations on the basis of mutual understanding, and good will. Our actions should be guided by broader national interest and welfare of all the Nepalese while dealing with such vital issues. No one should make the peace process hostage to his or her prestige and vested interest. In such negotiations all will gain and no one will lose. We want peace, stability and development and if the talks lead to the desired objectives then why should we worry about other small things? War, and terror have never solved any problem, be it political, economic, social or other.
The Maoists have also accepted that Monarchy and democracy are the present day realities, which cannot be ignored during the peace negotiations. They seem to have abandoned daydreaming about declaring Nepal a Communist republic through dialogue, which is practically impossible. They have time and again reiterated their commitment towards the achievements of the 1990 democratic movement, which is a positive symptom. They have accepted the pluralistic society and they seem to be ready to adopt multi-party democracy at the moment. In this context there seems to be little differences between the Maoists and the pro-democracy parties, which are committed to the present Constitution based on the twin principles of multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy.
The theories propounded by Karl Marx and Mao-Tsetung in the 19th and 20th century cannot be exactly put into practice in today's era of globalisation and liberalisation. Of the two pillars of Communism, Soviet Union has already collapsed and China is also turning into a capitalist country adopting liberalisation and democratisation. Thus, we must learn lessons from the history and change ourselves according to the need of the hour. The Maoists should not be rigid about their demands. They should understand that ballot is more powerful than bullet in the present democratic world. The Maoists seem to have realised this fact as their top leader has in a recent statement said that talks and negotiations can also be part of their struggle. If they realise the fact, then the time is not far away when they will join the mainstream politics and take part in the task of nation building.
Human Rights, sovereign source of power vested in the people, rule of law, constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy are the fundamental principles, which cannot be ignored while finding political solution to the problem related to the insurgency. Both the Maoists and the government must not ignore these realities while engaging themselves in peace negotiations. People's rights, freedom and their well being are the basic things, which no political organisation should ignore. In fact, democracy is not doing whatever one likes to do, it is but to respect others' views and protect others rights. In democracy, all the forces including the political parties and the Maoists can co-exist and operate without any difficulty.

Political parties should also cooperate with the government to initiate the peace process. All the parties have welcomed the move to restore law and order and maintain peace in the country with open heart. Thus, it is their duty to extend all the necessary cooperation to the government in resolving the crisis.

Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand has time and again sought active cooperation from the political parties in the ongoing peace process. He has also stressed on the need to involving all the parties in the peace talks. In fact, every conscious Nepali must take part in the peace process directly or indirectly. A national debate should be initiated regarding the peace process so that a strong public opinion is created in favour of peace and democracy, the pillars on which the development of modern Nepal will rest. Intellectuals, politicians, professors, lawyers, journalists all should participate in the debate over the peace negotiations to make it democratic, transparent, fruitful and result oriented.

During the peace process the issues related with victims of the Maoist insurgency should also be given due attention by the concerned parties. The Maoist victims' demand for justice cannot be ignored and the government needs to work out schemes to disarm and accommodate the militants as well as rehabilitate the victims of the insurgency and their families.

Careful

By concluding the peace process successfully we must prove that Nepalese people themselves are capable of handling such types of conflicts. The recent cease-fire was also the product of our sincere efforts and goodwill and understanding reached between the two conflicting parties. We do not need any third country involvement in our peace process. However, international community is keenly watching the peace process. Therefore, we must be careful enough to move ahead the peace process smoothly and attain success.

Addressing Employees' Grievances

By Uttam Maharjan

AN ORGANISATION is a group of people working together in a synergistic way to fulfill the organisational goals. Being people-centric, an organisation is often being bombarded by people's sentiments, feelings, opinions, interactions and even idiosyncrasies. People's norms, values and parceptions do not remain static; they keep on changing with changing times and with a break in corporate culture.

Rules

An organisation has set rules on discipline, ethics, work procedures, the working environment and so on. Sometimes, new rules have to be developed for various reasons. Such rules may not commend themselves to everybody in an organisation. This may, therefore, engender dissatisfaction among employees, resulting in untoward backlashes. Such backlashes are called grievances in organisational parlance.

Classical management used to blame low-level employees for any negative consequences they had to face. They believed that discipline and the code of ethics were meant for low-level employees only; they considered themselves to be immune from any strictures. Now with a break in this outdated management concept, a new concept of management has emerged, which treats both high-and low-level employees on an equal footing. This concept considers employees' grievances to be a normal process in sharp contrast to the old concept, which treats them as unwanted byproducts of employees' perverse mindset. In fact, employees' grievances could provide useful inputs for the improvement of an organisation. Modern management practioners are well aware of this fact.
Yet, there is no dearth of top-level managers who consider employees' grievances on a negative note. Such managers are obsessed by the 'I am right and you are wrong' misconception. They strongly believe that they can get work done through their employees by an means-suppression, intimidation and coercion. Such managerial methods will have a bad impact on the employees as well as the organisation as a whole. Treading on employees' corns means hurting their ego and self-esteem. When offended, employees will be de-motivated and their zeal for work diminishes. In other words, they will work perfunctorily or they may adopt the go-slow or slow-down approach to work. This will hamper the productivity of the organisation.

In extreme cases, dissatisfied employees may go on strike or resort to lockouts to press their demands. This will bring all production activities to a standstill, threatening the very existence of the organisation. So, grievances are the thin end of the wedge that can have domino effects on the organisation.

It is prudent of top managers to impose rules and regulations on all employees, including themselves, to run their organisations along a smooth track. They must, therefore, hark to grievances and solve them as quickly as possible. For this, they should adopt some resolution tools. Management should have proper information about grievances. They may be verbal or written. A good communication system is helpful in passing on grievances from bottom to top so that management can take quick decisions to solve them. After such grievances come to their notice, they should act on them without delay. The grievances should be dissected from various angles to ensure that they are genuine. Afterwards, alternative methods of resolution should be developed and, selecting the best alternative, action should be implemented to solve the grievances.

This method seems to be simplistic. But sometimes, grievances cannot be solved in such a simple manner. This is because they may be complicated, requiring involvement of higher levels of management, unions and even arbitrators like a conciliation board and the Ministry of Labour. Sometimes, management may stampede itself into making wrong decisions in the name of solving grievances. At their times, they may brush aside grievances without thinking about future consequences. Both of these actions on the part of management may have far-reaching implications. An organisation that is in a bind cannot prosper under any circumstances. Management should, therefore, take employees' grievances positively and solve them by mutual discussion.

It need not be reitered that employees are the pillars of any organisation. Only satisfied employees can enhance the productivity of their organisation. Dissastisfied employees bring the organisation to rack and ruin. If management can please their employees, they can please customers. As such, it is of foremost importance for management to please their employees first. After all, job satisfaction is a great motivation for employees. It could lead to life satisfaction.

Management must take employees' grievances as a guideline for innovation and change and as an effective tool for boosting the morale of employees. They should think that grievances are a normal process and so is the solution thereto. If management will listen to employees' grievances, employees will listen to them. This will promote management-employee relations on mutual trust.

Explosive

It may be noted that unresolved grievances may lead to conflict in an organisation. So, it is judicious on the part of management to listen to and solve employees' grievances before it is too late. When grievances have grown explosive, it will have an internecine effect on management and employees as well as other stakeholders.

Babas' Yogic Show

By Bhimsen Thapaliya

THE demonstration of yogic powers by Baba sages during this year's Mahashivaratri at the Pashupatinath area came to light in vivid glimpses, thanks to the media. The most attention-pulling among the pictures in both words and graphics was perhaps the phallic miracles of the naked Naga Babas hailing from India.

What more appealing glimpses could the visitors to the holiest Hindu pilgrimage site expect to see than the one where the ash smeared naked sage performed the astonishing stamina of his genitals? He rolled his flexible genitals firmly into a stick and to the great amazement of the crowd of spectators, made one of his pals stand on the stick. Something must have gone wrong to his yogic concentration when he had difficulty to hold the weight of a fully grown man with the help of his organ. Though he suffered some injuries, the accidental loss of balance was blamed rather than his yogic powers.

It was indeed a rare moment at Pashupatinath to be bemused before a sage who challenged modern sportsmen and acrobats with remarkable physical stamina. There have been records of strong men pulling a jet or a truck single-handedly but it is a rare instance to spot a man in meager diet who could lift a man using his organ like a muscular crane. The potent power of a reproductive organ is the gift of nature but the stamina one develops through relentless practice and yogic meditation is quite a feat.
When the sage appeared without clothes in the Pashupatinath there was not a slight connotation of obscenity and indecency. Instead, people around him watched him with a sense of awe and reverence. The sense of obscenity depends on the intent of baring. The yogic saga was different in the sense that it was not meant to titillate and arouse anybody sexually. He is naked throughout his life with a meaning and not to hurt sentiments, nor to spread the message of immorality. He showed how potent the phallus is in terms of energy and stamina. It is an extraordinary attainment beyond the usual reproductive acts. There is a lot of meaning in worshipping Shivalinga, the phallic symbol of Lord Shiva.

Mahashivaratri, the great night dedicated to Lord Shiva is a great event in terms of two unusual things- the nude Baba and hashish smoking. The nakedness is accepted as a reverence to Lord Shiva's phallus, or the Shivalinga. Hashish becomes acceptable as it is the favourite smoke of Lord Shiva. Shivaratri in the changed context of time has now become an exceptional night. Both posing oneself nude and smoking hashish are socially and even legally banned. But both are accepted on this ceremonial night in this holy place.

Nepal as a only the Hindu Kingdom of the world has the ample reason to take pride in being host to so many Hindu pilgrims who travel long distance to participate in religious activities at Pashupatinath on this sacred night. According to media reports, the festival organising committee not only arranged for happy stay of the pilgrims but also provided them with logs for ritual fire and symbolic quota of Ganja. In addition, the sages who remained in the limelight were also provided with cash support to meet their pilgrimage expenses.

Though the hashish quota were meant for only the sages, Kathmandu youths and even western tourists tried to take advantage of the religious opportunity. Media pictures showed crowd of young men battling to get a puff from the clay pipe of the Babaji. Foreign tourists were also seen to have built a special rapport with the Babas to take the cherished puffs.