Peace Process And Political Parties
Call For Unstinted Cooperation

By Paras Kharel

AMONG the key features of democracy are promotion of freedom, social harmony, tolerance and economic development. Without social harmony and rule of law, the desired goals of democracy will only be a mirage. A democratic society encourages and tolerates a culture of diversity. A multiethnic and multicultural society like that of Nepal needs to constantly take these into consideration as a matter of both principle and practice. Diverse interests in our society are natural, as is the case in other countries as well. The need is to ensure unity in diversity.

Forum

In this regard political parties have a pivotal role to play. Serving as a forum for diverse ideas, they contribute to strengthening of democracy. The world of politics is in essence a free market of political ideas representing different shades of opinion. The like-minded get organised under a party umbrella, and a plethora of such parties represent the interests and voices of a broad cross-section of the society. Hence the importance of political parties for a pluralistic society. In addition, democracy depends upon lively, free and fearless debate and discussion via political parties.

Given such importance of political parties, not surprisingly Nepal also saw nearly three decades of struggle for political pluralism that resulted in the restoration of multiparty polity in 1990. A new constitution, promulgated the same year, guarantees in the preamble itself multiparty democracy for "the widest possible participation of the Nepalese people."

With their role highlighted in the constitution, it enjoins upon the political parties to work for public interest, developing sound political culture plus espousing norms and values that consolidate the tenets of democracy. However, the last 13 years of multiparty democracy have witnessed them fail miserably on various fronts. Corruption soared to dizzying heights eating into the vitals of the economy. Throwing all democratic norms and values to the winds, the political parties did nothing to prevent or check institutionalised corruption, nepotism and cronyism. People were regarded as mere stepping stones to power and it became a habit among political leaders to promise much and deliver little or nothing. All the while, the concerns and grievances of an average Nepali were hardly addressed or redressed.

Hopes of wide-ranging socioeconomic reforms that people had entertained while ushering in multiparty democracy proved illusory. An ever-increasing section of the population continued to reel under abject poverty and all its inherent side-effects. In short, only a perverse electoral democracy prevailed but functioning democracy failed to evolve.

It was against this background that the Maoist movement surfaced seven years ago. The prevalent political malpractice and the tendency of parliamentary parties to ride roughshod over the wishes of the public provided a fertile ground for the so-called people's war that claimed over 7000 lives, and injured and displaced enormously more. As a consequence, the conflict dealt a severe blow to the economy of this poverty-stricken country.

In any democracy, a certain degree of conflict might not be unnatural, what with different interest groups trying to fulfil their own agendas. At times, conflict is essential to bring to light burning issues and problems in a society. However, the thrust should be to resolve it by serious debate and discussion followed by concrete actions before it aggravates and degenerates into violence. This calls for timely measures aimed at addressing and alleviating the problems faced by the downtrodden, the poor, and the marginalised groups. Surely, political parties can contribute a lot to resolving such conflicts, provided they display a zeal and commitment to that effect.

Now that the government and the Maoists have agreed on a cease-fire and talks are likely to begin anytime soon. The nation is at a crucial crossroad. A sense of relief pervades the entire kingdom. Political parties now have to rise to this historical opportunity in bringing about lasting peace-the foremost wish of all Nepalese. So far, apart from welcoming the cease-fire, that too halfheartedly, the major political parties have not demonstrated much willingness to participate in the peace process. Apparently failing to come to terms with the changed ground reality, they are obstinately sticking to opposing the October 14 royal measure, which in the first place must be credited with bringing the rebels to the negotiating table. That they have not been able to agree on exactly what would rectify the so-called violation of the constitution is a clear indication that they are still bogged down by petty party and personal interests, and are not protesting on the grounds of principle.

Before it's too late, political parties must immediately confirm their participation in the on-going peace drive. A good way to start might be attending the all-party meeting that the Chand-government has repeatedly called for but which they have been steadfastly boycotting. Now is the opportune moment for political parties to sink petty interests and differences, and rise above immediate gains for the larger cause of democracy and public welfare. Owing to their vast organisation and network nationwide, they can effectively mobilise people, from grassroots level and upwards, in guiding the peace process to its logical conclusion.

In sum, there is no doubt that political parties have collectively failed in the past 13 years. They now have an opportunity to make amends for their past mistakes and steer Nepal into a promising future where an active role for them is guaranteed. Or else they will have only themselves to blame for being consigned to the dustbin of history.

Approach

The peace process and agenda for talks should see to it that the voices of all sections of society are truly reflected, be it in terms of representation, decision-making mechanism or fruits of freedom and development. Such an approach should contribute to conflict reduction, if not prevention altogether.

Conflict Management For Development

By Sharad K. Shrestha

CONFLICT is a peculiar word. It has to be clearly understood by all in an organisation or society. Now-a- days conflict is everywhere in the world mainly in relation to the political situation of a nation. It has to be managed or mitigated by leaders through dialogues or conversations with the concerned people. Development cannot take place without its proper management and resolution. Conflict is a major issue for the people of developing nations in most of the activities. All of us should have to pay special attention in this regard. No one can proceed without the effective management of conflict.

Yardstick

In the present scenario, poverty has become the main reason for the conflict in the developing nations. Poverty alleviation would be helpful in the management aspect of conflict. Our Tenth Five Year plan has stressed on poverty alleviation in view of development. Mutual understanding among stakeholders is a must in the present situation. Conflict management has become a yardstick for development.
Proper utilisation of natural resources is also a major task. Such action would contribute in the proper management of conflict. Public awareness is another essential factor for its management. Such management cannot exist without awareness of people in the present context of Nepal.
Conflicting state exists when people perceive differences. Conflict in an organisation takes place if there is a perpetual difference among the stakeholders.

Conflict differs from competition in a way that conflict is directed against another interest groups whereas competition aims at obtaining the goals without interference from other interest groups. But in many cases, competition has led to conflict due to the availability of limited resources/opportunities.

Conflict is perceived as incompatible differences resulting in some form of interference or opposition. It takes place in three ways, namely personal, interpersonal and organisational.

The three different views relating to the concepts of conflict are traditional, human relations and interactionist view of conflict. The traditional one is related to malfunctioning in an organisation by creating negative impacts like destruction, irrationality and violence. Human relations view of conflict is an inevitable outcome in an organisation, it has to be considered as the positive force towards achieving the efficiency in the organisational work. Interactionist view of conflict argues that conflict in an organisation is a requisite for effective performance.

In the present context, understanding the process of handling the conflict is also equally important for a manager as his/her tasks and responsibilities are challenging to deal with various types of organisational issues. Nevertheless, a logical process of conflict management covers the process of understanding source of conflict, results of conflict, techniques of assessing the desired level and actual level of conflicts and their resolution techniques. The process is essential to minimise the conflicts in an organisation and ultimately to run it smoothly in order to bring achievements or meet defined goals.

Most obviously, the sources of conflict include goal incompatibility and priority differences, structural relationships, the existence of scarce resources, personality clashes/communication distortions and perceptual differences. Two consequences of conflicts prevail in an organisation such as functional and dysfunctional.

Functional/constructive conflicts support the organisational goals and vice versa. All conflicts may not be negative as per the modern management. Some of them may also help stimulate change in the organisation, enhance communications and transparency, foster creativity and innovation, clarify institutional policies and achieve fact - finding mission.

A manager can use some of the conflict stimulation techniques as and when necessary in course of enhancing the organisational dynamism by changing the organisational culture, bringing outsiders in the organisation, restructuring the organisation and encouraging competition. As every conflict may not be conducive to enhance organisational work efficiency, it should be controlled by means of using conflict resolution techniques like confrontation, co-ordinate goals, expansion of resources, avoidance, smoothing or problem-solving, compromise, forcing etc. There is no single best technique to resolve conflicts. Rather it largely relies on the source/nature of conflicts.

It is suggested that techniques such as confrontation, forcing, structural adjustment and expansion of resources are employed for communication difficulties, conflicts based on personality differences, conflicts caused by structural relationships and scarcity of resources. All the above techniques in respect of conflict management, must be given high focus for organisational growth in the present condition of Nepal. It is also essential to know the nature and type of conflicts as stated earlier so that it can be managed accordingly as per its requirements. All leaders should also focus on the relevant aspects while managing conflict.

Dialogue

The national development can only take place through the progress of a society or organisation. Now time has come to manage social and political conflicts through conversations and dialogues in a systematic way.

Thanks To A Little
Support From JICA

By Ambar Mainali

BOTH the students and the teachers at the Bharatpur Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Chitwan were impatiently waiting to welcome the press and the officials from the Japanese Embassy on a sunny morning. The teachers were standing at the school gate with garlands to welcome the embassy officials. The Nepalese who are known for their hospitality even during ordinary circumstances are more caring and hospitable when the occasion is a special one.

They were equally aware of the presence of the press and offered flowers turn by turn to the press people who were kind of embarrassed to get so much attention and honour from the school kids and the teachers alike. Bed Prasad Aryal, the headmaster of one of the oldest schools in Bharatpur was running everywhere there trying to ensure that everything was in order and the guests would hopefully return with smiling faces.

The media people were recently taken to the school to have a look at the Primary section constructed with the financial and technical cooperation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Principal was all praise for JICA. Without its help the Primary section of the school would probably have taken years to complete.

The encouraging part was that after JICA showed interest to extend cooperation for the building construction even the local community came forward to build a tank for the storage of drinking water. The school principal was optimistic that more assistance would come in the days ahead as the school needed an assembly hall and a compound wall.

The newly constructed building and the old building stood in contrast to each other. The new building unlike the old one allowed a lot of air circulation because of its height. The classrooms were spacious and there were windows for cross ventilation.

The classrooms in the old building were congested, the windows were small and there wasn't enough light. The school designed by JICA was scientific and comfortable. JICA has till date constructed 2,958 classrooms under the first phase of the Basic and Primary Education Programme (BPEP).
Under the first phase 2,958 classrooms have been constructed. The total number of districts covered in the first and second phase is 17. Besides the construction of classrooms, JICA has also extended assistance for the construction of toilets, water supply unit and resource centres.

The students at the Bharatpur Madhyamik Vidyalaya were aware about the help they had been given to have a comfortable classroom. Going through news reports it was quite disheartening to learn that the second phase of the BPEP programme comes to an end in July 2004. What is more upsetting is that 20 per cent of the children in Nepal still do not have any schools to attend.

In this backdrop, the government's effort to knock the doors of the donors needs to be regarded as praiseworthy. It goes without saying that the BPEP has turned out to be a successful project in Nepal. Ever since the project was launched ten years back the school enrollment ratio has gone up and the school drop out rate has also become slimmer.

What is more promising is that the government during the World Education Forum held two and a half years ago in the Senegalese capital of Dakar had shown the confidence to meet the international goal of Education for All by 2015.

Now that the commitment has been made, no stone should be left unturned to pool resources from different donors towards achieving the envisaged targets.