I n d e p t h    A n a l y s i s
Emphasis: Correcting aberrations!

Kathmandu: - UML General Secretary Madhav Nepal’s choice of words at a party gathering last week deserves focus. While the standpoint on the need for change and unanimity is government appears the same, he has mentioned the need for a government representative of all "forces" to forge unanimity in dealing with the current problems.

Equally significant is the fact that the congress led five-party threat for a "decisive" agitation has begun its meeting with glitches at the very outset.

The partisan media continues to pursue long-standing party demands that fueled the previous failed agitation. But there does appear to be an expectant move regarding a change in government. The RPP is not likely to defer its leadership standpoints that the Thapa government is the obstacle to positive movement. Last week saw the appointment of Keshav Raj Bhandari to the vacant constitutional post of Election Commission regardless of the partisan media trying to draw attention away from the partisan recommendation by significantly, Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa of "Bhoj Raj Pokharel". Thapa’s overt pressuring of his lone nominee had equally significant, partisan backers pressuring the monarchy on grounds of their interpretation of the constitution.

Equally significant is the nomination last week of an ex-supreme court judge to the Press Council. The partisan media seemingly oblivious of the council’s judicial role has not welcomed this correction of an aberration of the Nepali democracy. It had seemed strange that the reintroduction of democracy was also marked by the manning of the Press Council post by overtly partisan personnel. Significantly also, it is reliably learnt that the Thapa government had been initially lobbying for its own partisan preference.

These subtle indications suggest that the process to correct the partisan aberrations in our democracy is underway. The introduction of the new police laws gives enough room to expect similar corrections in the administration designed to prevent the misuse of the government machinery in the forthcoming elections to assure that the polls to be conducted will be fair.

In reaction, the habitual allegations that manipulations are underway to disadvantage the political parties’ might well be expected. Typical of our democracy is the public discourse launched by our political leaders on what essentially is subjudice. The decision by the supreme court to review the question of appeals regarding the reinstitution of the dissolved parliament is blatantly being influenced by political sector on what the decision should be with nary a protest on the legitimacy of such discussion on a subjudice case.

Clearly, the rear guard action of the five party agitation can be viewed as just that. The expectant public, while agreeing on the need for a unanimous approach to the current problems is in no mood to be waiting for this approach to evolve. Time is getting late to solving the problems.

Telegraph/FES media seminar concludes:
If democracy is to exist, the existence of a free and pluralistic media system is necessary- Nepali academicians

Kathmandu: All is not well with Nepali democracy and the media too has far lagged behind in strengthening the system now in place and hence the victim has been the development of this country.

So said Nepali intellectuals of international standing at a media seminar organized by The Telegraph Weekly in cooperation with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, December 3, 2003, at the Radisson Hotel in the Capital.

The Nepali academics, mostly from the Political Science Department of the Tribhuban University, senior media men, former Nepali Ambassadors, and members of the civil society unanimously expressed their deep concern over the existing chaos and political uncertainty in the country and appealed the Nepali leaders to act in a manner as is demanded from them in a democratic society. They also urged the media men to assert their roles in order to safeguard the eroding values and the beliefs and help build a strong nation through their impartial and non-partisan views.

The academics also made it clear that a democracy to subsist, the existence of a free and pluralistic media system was one of the foremost conditions. They, however, admitted that Nepali media continued to face numerous hurdles and contradictions that hinder in bringing about a dynamic information-saturated social structure, strong enough to sustain the democratic polity and the freedom that comes with it.

Intellectuals gathered at the seminar spelt out two basic maladies that have plagued the Nepali media namely, the long felt absence of a truly independent and competitive media in the private sector, and the other, the dominant role of the State owned and controlled media, both print and electronic.

Some hoped that the Nepali media will assert its role as powerful instruments of public opinion in keeping with the norms of a liberal, free and pluralistic democratic setup.

Others expressed surprise over the government which claimed itself a democratic one, was still controlling the media which went clearly in contradiction with the established belief that a democratic set up did not operate the media.

Yet another section of the Nepali scholars noted that the political parties and their media supporters remained deeply divided on matters of national interests, be it in the foreign policy issues or related to agreements on water resources.

"Two schools of thought on such grave issues is dangerous", said intellectuals.

Other scholars opined that democracy and development are interlinked and maintained that democracy was a sort of political development.

Attending participants told in clear terms that since our values and belief systems affect our political behavior and since our political behavior affects our democracy and since democracy here has been so interlinked with constitutional development, it is clear that our values and belief systems affect our constitutional practices, whatever the shape, size or content of the prevalent constitution.

In his welcome address, the chief editor of the Telegraph Weekly, Mr. N.P.Upadhyaya told that how the Nepali people were being ruled got reflected from the fact that most of the champions of this democratic order of the 1990s were either in police custody or were awaiting CIAA summons. He also said that the media too through its partisan reporting instead of educating the masses, is in effect confusing the population who have been denied political participating in the system of governance.

Chief guest at the seminar, Prof. Prem Raman Uprety, advised the Nepali media to focus more on improving the decision making process and its implementation. He suggested the Nepali media to focus less on individuals rather on the system and the social culture that breeds such individuals. (See page 2 for Uprety’s full text-ed).

Editor Hari Lamsal who is concurrently the President of the FNJ’s Kathmandu district made it clear that development efforts will land no where unless the politics becomes nation oriented. He also said that media must not overestimate its role. "We too belong to the same society and not above the law", Lamsal said.

The FES media advisor, Mr. P. Kharel, made scathing remarks on those who day in day out mention that Nepal progressed faster than what it had been in the era of the erstwhile regime. "Development is a process that is never static", said Kharel.

He also hinted that not only the Nepali media but the Nepali academic sector too remained divided on nation’s pertinent issues. According to him, Nepali intellectuals too were aspiring for lucrative posts by clinging to this or that political paraphernalia. "This has got to be stopped", concluded Kharel.

Professor Anand Prasad Shrestha made his presentation in the first session of the seminar.

"In a fast changing world of mass media, both at home and abroad, it is imperative that we reexamine the values and goals, reformulate the media approach to development planning and restructure the policy framework", opined Mr. Shrestha.

Shrestha maintains that the political scenario of the past thirteen years has not been encouraging in effect. According to him, this period brought political instability born from power politics.

"Democracy restored now hangs in a precarious balance", Shrestha maintains.

Professor Shrestha revealed at the seminar that at a time when the five party agitation and the Maoist insurgency are continuing simultaneously, it is therefore, not the least bit surprising that the Thapa government is signing agreements, one after another with India. According to Mr. Shrestha, Thapa government has already signed an agreement with India on Upper Karnali and reports have it that it is all set to sign Koshi high dam project and the Kamala hydropower irrigation project by giving India the upper hand over Nepalese waters.

The first session was chaired by Professor Surya Lal Amatys.

Mr. Shrish Rana presented his paper in the second session.

Mr. Rana in course of his presentation questioned should or should not we in the media judge our own performance on how close we come to Nepali realities in our portrayal of facts?

According to Mr. Rana, for development to take place, therefore, participation becomes crucial. " For the section of the society to participate, an adequate degree of identification among the populace, a felt need to participate would seem mandatory", says Rana. Political analyst Rana links the two words, identification and participation with each other which according to him were inseparable. ( Rana’s paper will be printed on December 17 issue-ed)

Mr. Rana’s session was chaired by Mr. Ajaya Ghimire, the founder Principal of the ACE Institute of Management.

SC’s new initiative create ripples in political sector

Kathmandu: Two schools of thought suddenly erupted in the political circle regarding the statement made by Indian Prime Minister Bajpayee on Nepali affairs.

The first supported the Indian statement stating that any good advice from any quarter should not be taken otherwise. The other school of thought that Bajpayee’s statement amounted to a sort of interference in Nepal’s domestic affairs.

The two schools of thought continue to reverberate in the minds of the Nepali intellectuals.

Equally true is the fact that the talk of Madhav Nepal’s secret trip to Lucknow, India to meet the Moist leaders, remains a hot topic even after fortnight of the said trip. Interpretations galore indeed.

It is not surprising therefore that Madhav Nepal is taking up yet another trip to Bangkok in a day or two for reasons unknown to us all. Could Lucknow be linked to Bangkok?

Koirala’s threatening comments on the monarchy continues and will perhaps continue ad infinitum.

Madhav Nepal has emerged, or at least he poses to be so, as a mediator in between the three contending/opposing forces; the agitationists, the monarchy and the Maoists. Sources inside the UML do agree that the three poles ought to become bipolar to get out of the present mess.

Deuba appears all pleased with certain developments that have taken place in the recent days and it is not for nothing that the Nepali media now see reasons to talk to Deuba.

Smaller parties housed in the agitation see the bigger parties cheating them for power-gains.

The King is still silent and his Loyal Prime Minister Thapa has hinted that he will not resign at least till Islamabad SAARC Summit due early January next year.

Given all these scenario, the nation continues to be in a deadlock, however, with signs now of a change.

The initiative to untangle the stalemate has been taken up by nonelessthan the nation’s Supreme Court.

In a surprising move taken last week, the nation’s apex court apparently has decided to analyze as to whether its own previous decision for the approval of the dissolution of the parliament had brought the prevailing political and constitutional maladies?

The court is all set to review its own previous decision. With this has started speculations in the political circle as to what if the house is restored and what if it backs its own previous decision.

Koirala has reasons to be happy for it is he who has been demanding trhe restoration of the parliament. It is he who strictly believes that once the parliament is restored, the derailed constitution and the system will come to order and begin functioning as usual.

Deuba too apparently thinks that if the parliament is restored, he would be made prime minister for it was he who was made victim of the conspiracy of his political colleagues now housed in the five party alliance against regression.

Madhav Nepal, a consensus candidate then, too appears in a fresh mood for he considers himself still a consensus candidate.

For the laymen, the restoration of the parliament will end the present confusion and allow the system to come back to its rails.

The international community too has taken the court’s new initiatives in good faith hoping that at least the restoration would provide Nepal a way out of the existing imbroglio.

Analysts appear confused over the fresh stance taken by the Supreme Court. They question as to how the court can quash its own previous decision? Will not that mean that the full bench that arrived at a unanimous decision and favored the approval of the dissolution made a faulty decision? Will not the restoration of the parliament by the SC at this juncture prompt men here and there to question the very logic of the approval of the dissolution of the parliament then? Will not it mean that the SC by taking up the case after sixteen months of the parliament is ridiculing its own decision?

Similarly, question could also be asked if the SC considered its own decision to be a faulty one which brought this chaos in the country , why not it took up the matter at an early stage so that damage to politics, country and the constitution could have been minimized?

And what is the guarantee that the restoration would bring everything to order? What is the guarantee that the Maoists would come to the table? Will the restoration facilitate the talks in a more representative manner?

All put together, what could be said is that undoubtedly the restoration of the house would set the ball rolling in a democratic way. However, any quick solution to the existing Nepali issues will not be possible even if the SC restored the parliament.

The possible scenario after the restoration of the parliament would be: marathon race for the Premier post; the squabbling and in all likelihood the initiation of a sort of horse-trading; an all-party government or an all pervasive sort of government with or without Prime Minister Thapa; the differences on how to tackle the Maoists issue and last but not the least, the conduct the elections prior to the solution to the Maoists imbroglio or after an elected government assumes power at the center. Add to this the sudden interest by some quarters on how Nepal should be run in case the house is restored.

But then yet, politics demands dynamism. It is far better to be in a state of dynamism instead of remaining in a static form.

A subjudice case as it is, it would be futile to bring the whole affair into a debate. What is for sure is that the SC decisions would be legal and binding on all.

South Asian Economic Union in offing

Kathmandu: Better late than never, the Secretary General of the SAARC, Ambassador Q.A.M.A Rahim has courageously admitted that the speed of the SAARC process had been slow compared to other regional bodies.

"Our progress may have been modest", says Ambassador Rahim but yet consoles himself and the people of the SAARC region by stating that "the future need not be the same".

His Excellency Rahim made these remarks Monday evening while celebrating the SAARC Charter day at the premises of the SAARC Secretariat.

According to Rahim, the "pronouncements made during the Kathmandu Summit to give effect to the shared aspirations for a more prosperous South Asia and to work for the realization of the vision of a phased and planned process eventually leading to a South Asian Economic Union" is a testimony to our collective will to move forward.

The impending Summit in Islamabad could be a watershed development for the region for varied reasons, added SAARC secretary-general.

SAFTA treaty if signed in Islamabad might pave the way for the eventual creation of a SA Economic Union; the SAARC social charter if signed at the next summit might take care of the issues of poverty reduction, empowerment of women, youth mobilization, human resources development and the likes; the report drafted by the reconstituted Independent Commission on Poverty Alleviation if approved at the summit level might go a long way in our collective struggle against the scourge of poverty in the region and the next summit is to consider the establishment of three regional centers in three countries namely, SAARC Cultural center in Colombo, Center for Coastal management in Maldives and the SAARC Media center in Nepal, continued the SAARC Secretary General.

The chief guest of the ceremony, Nepal’s Prime Minister Thapa said that the "mixed-bag of achievements and shortcomings notwithstanding, the sense of oneness and the attestation of the necessity of the cooperation at the regional level, that has burgeoned among the people of SA along these years is the true achievement of SAARC.

On the same occasion, Thapa clearly hinted his detractors that he would not resign from the current post at least till the Islamabad Summit.

If he is talking sense then it means that Thapa’s political enemies will have to wait one more full moth to watch his outgoing ceremony. But what is the guarantee that even after the SAARC Summit he will tender his resignation. After all Thapa is a different political stuff who holds several political cards under his sleeve round the clock.

Service provider and poor delinked says WB

Kathmandu: A Workshop on "World Development Report 2004: making Services Work for the Poor" was organized at Yak & Yeti by the Kathmandu based Nepal Office of the World Bank.

On the occasion, highlighting the salient features of the WDR: 2004, Mr. Jeffrey Hammer, a expert on the said topic, said though most of the times projects fail due to various reasons there are always examples of success stories.

Not having a good coordination between the service providers and the poor, things have gone upside down resulting in no change in conditions of the poor. Empowering poor people, making their voice heard to decision-makers and strengthening incentives for service providers could be some solutions to solve the pertaining problem.

To improve service delivery, the report recommends institutional changes that will strengthen relationships of accountability, between policy makers, providers and citizens.

But how? According to the report, this could be achieved by putting poor people at the center of service provision: by enabling them to monitor and discipline service providers, by amplifying their voice in policy making and by strengthening the incentives for providers to serve the poor.

Dr. Shankar Sharma of the NPC also spoke on the occasion.

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