The Road to Democracy

By Ramesh C Arya

Stepping down is not easy. Much more so if it is from the position where a family holds the birth right for its newly born members to be ranked as a colonel and higher up. The autocratic family of the Ranas ruled the country for 104 years until democracy finally prevailed upon the country.

On behalf of His Majesty (Shree Paanch), they had been running the state and crowned themselves as Shree Teen. The road to democracy, where people are more powerful than anybody else, was obviously not a smooth one. The rough road has several ups and downs. Like a tree, democracy takes time to mature. Its seedling is first planted underground. After the incubation period, it stands out as a feeble plant. At its infancy it is crushed several times but due to the persistent effort, it gradually stands up stronger and stronger to take shape as a tree and offers shade to the people. The struggle passes through several stages. But in the Nepalese democratic movement, three important ebbs, however, stand out. They are (a) underground operation of the youths and their the martyrdom, (b) people's open participation at the satyagraha movement and (c) bold decision of King Tribhuvan. The three appear to be the parts of a chain reaction where one triggered the other and finally toppled down the Rana regime.

The martyrdom of the youths was an event, which had a very short incubation period. The fiery youths had the meeting of minds. The five youths form the Nepal Praja Parishad in 1993 BS. They started arousing the people through their quiet pamphleteering against the selfishness of the Ranas in the third month of the year 1997 BS. Besides the five core members, the other youths hardly knew each other as members of the same organisation and fighting for a common cause. They were arrested in the seventh month of the year, charged, given the harshest treatment ands finally hanged/ shot down on the charge of being Rajdrohi (acting against the state). The four such martyrs were Ganga Lal Shrestha, Shukra Raj Joshi Shastri, Dharma Bhakta Mathema and Dashrath Chand Thakuri.

Ranas thought, the execution would terrorise the people and they would be as subservient as they were. The latter were not. But they did change their strategy. The martyrs were executed in the dead of the night. And the youths visiting the sacred place of their execution returned with solemn and determined vows that they would carry on with the liberation struggle initiated by the brave martyrs until the fall of the Ranas. Rightly had Ganga Lal announced: Hundreds of Ganga Lals will be born out of this place!

Seven years after, in 2004 BS, hundreds of the lovers of democracy came up in the open against the Ranas demanding citizens' right through their satyagraha march on the main roads of the capital and rushed to the prime minister's palace. The movement had active support from the teachers and students of schools and colleges and, for the first time, the Nepali women also joined the movement with the anti-Rana banners. On one side, where people were getting united and pressurising the Ranas to behave in a democratic fashion, the Ranas were divided. Prime Minister Padma Shamsher announced bringing out a new constitution to the people "within eleven days". But Mohan Shamsher, the heir to the Prime Minister, on the other hand wanted to crush the people. Within the feudal family, the process of disintegration has set in. Some of their cousins such as

Krishna Shamsher, Bijaya Shamsher were more educated and far-sighted. They were in favour of gradually stepping down. Some of them settled in Bangalore and others at Dehradoon in India. Padma Shamsher, the soft-hearted Prime Minister, presented the Sambhidan (constitution), left for India for good.

King Tribhuvan had been supporting the activists. While Compounder Chandra Man and martyr Dharma Bhakta Mathema were tortured and put under trial at the Ranas' court, the King had boldly admitted that they had worked at his initiation and thus and tried to defend them. The Royal family had very good public support of the people. But he could do very

little from within the confines of the Royal Palace. In October 1950, all   the 17 members of the Royal Family voluntarily came out of the four walls of the Royal Palace and entered the Indian Embassy. Five days later, the Royal Family left for Delhi in India in the Indian Air Force plane. The Ranas installed Prince Gyanendra as the King. They tried recognition to the young King and, as usual, rule in his name. But the move did not get any recognition from any part of the world, even from Gt. Britain.

At Delhi, the King could freely meet with the Nepalese people and the Indian leaders who were supporting the Nepalese move for democracy. The people's liberation army, the Mukti Sena, revolted against the Ranas.

They attacked the regional offices, (the Gosawaras) and treasury offices in the terai and the hilly areas. The operation was at its peak in October and November. King Tribhuvan addressed the countrymen over the All India Radio, Delhi in the third week of December in 1950. The Ranas were now under heavy pressure. Ultimately, in the second week of January 1951, Prime Minister Mohan Shamsher surrendered with a declaration. He quoted the Constitutional Rule made effective (?) from the first Baisakh 2005 BS and announced conducting general elections and set up a 14-member cabinet which will have 7 members representing the people.  The other day, King Tribhuvan welcomed the announcement as a positive step towards establishing democracy in the kingdom.

His Majesty returned on the 4th Falgun and declared the return of Democracy three days later and announced running the administration of the people by their elected council.

Achievements of the Beijing conference

- Babita Basnet -

Until before 1995, women's empowerment and equality was not considered a critical issue for development in Nepal. Though there used to be some traces of it, the thought that women also could make significant contributions in different fields of the society could not occupy the minds of many in the contemporary world. At that time, because of the lack of a strong forum and a constructive guideline, the problems had to be dealt in rather a conventional and weak manner. However, after the 1995 Beijing Conference, some affirmative changes have been observed in Nepal as well. The Beijing Conference categorized twelve different "Critical Areas of Concern" for women, and this has triggered serious discussions here. Gender equality has become a major issue, on the pretext that, in some programs and gatherings the participants are deliberately chosen to create a 'gender balance'.

In the 1997 Local Elections, the government introduced the policy that each political party must have at least one female candidate in the elections for each ward of the Village Development Committee. This resulted in 40,000 women being elected nationwide in local elections. The government of Nepal has taken this as a positive gesture and a stepping stone towards Development and Empowerment of Women from Rural Areas.

Though there was no dearth of domestic violence inflicted upon women, many considered it as 'Personal Matter' and kept it behind curtains to the extent possible. But that has changed considerably after the Beijing 95' meet that emphasized much upon the Domestic Violence against women. Thanks now the people have started talking against it openly. A noticeable change indeed. A husband beating his wife, a daughter-in-law burnt alive (for bringing less dowry in marriage), a woman accused of being a witch etc. used to be a regular scenario, that didn't bother anyone except the victims. But, now people have become offensive about it. There are several instances of cases being filed in the court.

Several NGOs are working on the area of violence against women. Currently, two NGOs SANCHARIKA SAMUHA (Forum of Women Communicators) and SAATHI with the help of UNIFEM conducted a media campaign on the said subject. They are also closely monitoring the media in regard to different incidents of atrocities towards women. In general, now women have started to speak out about the violence that they face in their day to day lives. And, the trend that, women should not and need not endure any barbarity of any sort, is slowly being developed.

In Nepal, the ministry for Women Affairs and Social Welfare was formed after the Beijing Conference. The ministry is presently dealing with problems like Women's Health, trafficking of women and girls (the serious issue of Nepali women being sold to brothels in India and other countries) Women's Property Rights etc. The Nepali women do not have legal right on their paternal property. And now, many organizations and people are advocating for acquiring this right. This can also be considered as an achievement of the Beijing Conference. Apart from these, government and non-government organizations are running different project sources. Recently, the government has decided to conduct a nationwide program on "Empowering Women to Earn Their Own Livelihood".

In regard to health, one major issue is that Nepal has the highest Mortality Rate of Women during childbirth. There has been no considerable decline in the mortality rate. However, steps are being taken to reduce it. Such as, sterilized Medical Kit for use during delivery is distributed in the villages throughout the nation. Previously, the use of unsterilised razors etc., led to infections like deadly Titanus, which killed many newly born babies and mothers also.

There has been an increase in women's participation in the Media as well. The growth has not only been quantitative, but qualitative also. Thus the portrayal of women in the media has improved to some extent.

Nepal recently participated in the Beijing follow-up program the "High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting" held in Bangkok (26th Oct. - 29th Oct. 1999). In Bangkok, Nepal had stated that, there had not been a smooth progress in the country after the Beijing Conference, because of the political instability and hoped that since now Nepal had a stable government of the Nepali Congress, special efforts would be made to implement the twelve critical areas of concern. Nepal is now preparing for the special session at the UN headquarters. New York, (5th Jun. - 9th 2000), Called "Women 2000 Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century". The Ministry for Women Affairs and Social Welfare is reviewing the work accomplished in collaboration with some NGOs.

Let's hope that the Special Session at the UN on Beijing + 5 in June 2000 brings more positive changes in the lives of Nepali Women and that they will be able to proudly savor the fruits of the 21st Century -  the century of Women, the century free of gender discrimination, and the century of Equality". (The author of this article is the editor of a vernacular weekly-Chief editor).

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