Indo-Bhutan Relations: Some Issues of Concern

- Tashi Choden, Bhutan

Background on Indo-Bhutan Relations

Recorded historic relations between Bhutan and India date back to 747 A.D., when the great Indian saint Padmasambhava introduced Buddhism in Bhutan, which has since then permeated all aspects of Bhutanese life. Aside from such shared cultural and religious heritage, other areas of interaction developed during the British rule in India, which include several Anglo-Bhutanese skirmishes and battles that were consequently followed by treaties and agreements. It was within this period of interaction with the British that trade between Bhutanese and Indians was also recorded to have taken place for the first time (1873).

China's invasion of Tibet (1910-12) and subsequent claims made on Bhutan resulted the signing of the Treaty of Punakha in 1910 with British India. Although this treaty served to expel any claims that China might have tried to make, it did not define Bhutan's status technically or legally Bhutanese, this was a source of uncertainty over its relations with India at the time rule that British rule was nearing an end. After India's independence in 1947, 'standstill agreements with Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet were signed to continue existing relations until new agreements were made; for Bhutan, its status became clearer following Nehru's invitation for a Bhutanese delegation to participate in the Asian Relations Conference in 1947. Following this, the negotiation for an Indo-Bhutan Treaty started in the summer of 1949.

The basis for bilateral relations between India and Bhutan is formed by the Indo-Bhutan Treaty of 1949, which provides for, among others, "perpetual peace and friendship, free trade and commerce and equal justice to each other's citizens." The much speculated Article 2 in the Treaty, in principle, calls for Bhutan to seek India's advice in external matters, while India pledges noninterference in Bhutan's internal affairs.

The geopolitical scene in the entire Himalayan region and Indian sub-continent underwent great change following the proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the takeover of Tibet by the People's Liberation Army in 1950. These events, plus the presence of Chinese troops near Bhutan's border, the annexation of Bhutanese enclaves in Tibet and Chinese claim, all led Bhutan to re-evaluate its traditional policy of isolation; the need to develop its, lines of communications with India became an urgent necessity. Consequently, Bhutan was more inclined to develop relations with India, and the process of socioeconomic development began thereafter with Indian assistance. For India's own security too, the stability of Himalayan states falling within its strategic interest was a crucial factor to consider. With border tensions between India and China escalating into military conflict in 1962, India could not afford Bhutan to be a weak but for buffer state or "extended frontier" with China.

Issues of Concern

While India and Bhutan share an extraordinarily warm friendship, issues such as the state of relations with China continue be a cause of some concern to both countries. Considering the importance of Bhutan's economic relations with India, the liberalization policies in India and its implications for Bhutan is an additional development to take into account. More recently, the illegal presence of militants using Bhutan as a base and hideout while rebelling against the Indian government resulted in the Bhutanese army taking military action to flush out the insurgents.

Relations with China

In light of the contentious state of Indo-China relations, it is no secret that Bhutan with its strategic location figures into India's security interests. Therefore, whatever course Indo-China relations may follow in the future, it is likely that these bear implications for Indo-Bhutan relations as well. While it may not be realistic to expect that Indo-China relations will normalize in the immediate future it is not something that should be considered impossible over the Course of time. Some confidence building measures are being taken by both sides, for example by discussing the boundary issue with regular exchange of high level visits, and with agreements made to enhance cooperation in areas such as culture, trade, science and technology. In the long term, normalization in Indo-China relations and consequently, the degree to which strategic considerations influence India's policy towards Bhutan is a possibility that should be considered. And even as current geo-political and geo-economic realities ensure that India will continue to be one of the most critical elements in Bhutan's foreign relations, Bhutan has to consider the reality of China to its north. As such, Bhutan maintaining friendly relations with China without undermining its own relations with India is a challenge that deserves careful consideration

India 's liberalization policies

Up until the 1990s, Bhutan has enjoyed more or less protected status in its trade relations with India. With economic liberalization on the rise in India, however, Bhutan is facing a gradual loss of this status, and unless Bhutanese industries are able to remain competitive they could lose their market share in the increasingly open market in India. Bhutan has already felt the impact of the reform in India's subsidy policies that has resulted in a gradual phasing out of subsidies and decrease in its budget for assistance to Bhutan. Bhutan will also have to face the effects that would be brought on by India gradually moving toward privatizing its power, petroleum and other traditional public sectors.

Military operations against Indian militants

Over the last decade or so, the illicit establishment of camps by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), National Democratic Front of Bodos (NDFB) and the Kamtapuri Liberation Organization (KLO) militant outfits in the dense jungles of south-east Bhutan has been a matter of concern and security threat for Bhutan. In addition to hampering businesses and the implementation of development activities in many parts of the country, the presence of these militants was a potential cause of affecting the friendly relations enjoyed by Bhutan and India.

In consideration of the close ties between Bhutan and India, and recognizing that the militants (despite their actions) are nonetheless Indian citizens from the neighboring Assam and, West Bengal, the Bhutanese government repeatedly urged the militants to leave the country peacefully. But in spite of the Bhutanese government having spent almost six to seven years to find a peaceful solution to the problem, it was apparent by the last months of 2003 that the militants had no real intention of leaving Bhutan until their own objectives had been fulfilled. (IFA/FES)

New Social Movements in Nepal

- Dev Raj Dahal

Most of the contemporary social movements have emerged outside the mainstream political system, political parties and formal institutional life. Today they are reshaping the political and communicative boundaries of nation-states. Their debate centres on both the state and non-state activities and they tend to engage all who are affected by the issues of public interest they advocate. The space for social movements in society has become a source for challenging constitutional status quo and for preparing the community for social transformation. Inspired by the non-hierarchical, participatory form of democracy, human rights, social justice, environmental preservation and peace, the social movements have opened up a space for vertical (caste, class and gender) and horizontal (professional groupings and intra-ruling class) interactions in society for articulating public needs and concerns that remain unsatisfied by the governance systems. Due to deepening social polarization created by the hegemony of the political class dominating the systems, the social forces attempt to open new routes to political access, communication, participation and activism so as to extend democracy to the marginalized. In this sense, social movements have emerged as better catalysts of democratic functioning in authoritarian societies and are more than the "collective behaviour," which emerges in response to problematic situations—anomie, riots, demonstrations, agitation, etc. These new social movements are beacons of post-modern, post-industrial or post-capitalist society because they aim to de-traditionalise modern society by establishing the sanctity of living species and conserving the natural bases of human life.

The contemporary social movements have localized and pluralized the concept of legitimacy and normalized a new form of collective action aiming to alter the medium of knowledge, communication and the structure of social, economic and political power. Both as a response to the information revolution and the inability of traditional political system to respond to popular needs and aspirations, such movements are attempting to create new political space and forms of power for participatory forms of politics. In this sense, they reject the subordinate development of certain groups in society and link their struggle for social justice against the unjust structural and constitutional foundations of national order, which seem increasingly unable to provide security to its citizens. The quality of discourse in the thought and actions of social forces has instilled among them new forms of consciousness where they feel that the national state is subordinated to the imperative of national and global capital and unable to act in the interest of its citizens. This consciousness is transforming people from being spectators to actors. In some cases, such movements have helped to rectify the situation of gross maldistribution in access to power, wealth, education and other institutional resources of the state, market and civil society by removing the condition of marginality, bringing a coalition of social struggles of peripheries into the centre of discourse and challenging the system constructively.

Proceeding from the different conceptions of social power, they have built a new web of connections extending across the national borders and overwhelming the power of the state to manage politics, economics and society. As it is very difficult to capture and generalize various types of social movements, such as human rights, ecological, ethnic (janajati) and nationalities, religious and regional groupings, only a few that are constantly struggling to establish just order in society are discussed. Not all of them, however, can be said to be democratic in aims because some of them link modern politics to the evidence of history, psychology and anthropology. Especially, proliferation of clan and lineage based pre-modern associations of solidarity among the high caste Bahuns, Chhetris and Newars and ethnic Magars, Rais, Limbus and Thakalis are being redefined and strengthened in the modern Nepal context. Nepal is a country of minorities with no ethnic group making up more than 18 percent of population. The aadibasi or indigenous people's movement also draws attention to the misery and destruction of ecology and culture and, consequently, evokes anti-modern, ethnocentric reactions. Many of the groups are struggling to sustain their physical, economic and cultural survival.

A respect for diversity and difference is one vital element of good society. Only a complex society can accommodate many layers and levels of people's needs and aspirations. One, however, cannot conceive a stateless society. And unrealistic demands coming from spontaneous forms of social mobilisation often directed against the state has weakened its authority. The future of new social movements depends on the example and the capacity set by their leaders for effecting social change. The organizational quality, agenda framing process, communication, social mobilisation and linkage building have also significant bearing on their growth and development. If the old-style social movements do not incorporate the contentious interaction of diverse groups of un-represented constituents they will create a set of potential losers who, in the long run, might become powerful force to resist the structure of domination. New social movements have emerged as a critical response to the negative aspects of the globalisation process because it undermined the legitimacy of the public sphere and the notion of public good. But, this globalisation has linked the new social movements of the periphery closer in their relations to the political centre and helped to deepen the nexus of people to democracy and multiple public spheres independent of state power and domination. It is, therefore, reasonable to suppose that new social movements have been provoked by the domination of society by the capital, the state and undemocratic technological, political, economic and social institutions. Inclusive form of governance can synergise the social struggles for social transformation and attain broad international acceptance.

All the Nepali political parties have special focus on the empowerment of women and uplift of Dalits. But, this is not sufficient to mediate the interest of the state and society for coherence unless adequate policies are adopted to minimize suffering in society through welfare measures and demonstrate the power of politics to serve public interests. The success of new social movements rests on their coherence in seeking balanced socialisation by which their sectoral demand-orientation helps to attain collective goods. New social movements purport to allow the power of society to self-organize, communicate and effect collective action. In a way, they set out to emancipate society from its own ideological and institutional rigidity, tend to deepen the social base of politics and widen the responsibility of the state towards people by enlarging the choices so that even ordinary citizens can participate in the society's productive life and develop feelings of identification with the state. Their ultimate success is proportionate to their power of movement integration, collective goal orientation, and adequate incentives for the participants, leadership quality and the ability to absorb continuously changing aspirations of the younger generations. The best way to repair Nepali democracy is to revitalize the multiple social movements and energize their collective action. For full text log on to http://www.nepaldemocracy.org

Commercialization, an unrecognized boon

- Rajeev L. Satyal

"Oh, god everything is so commercialized now a days, even the education! Stop commercializing education."

- A cheap clamor by politicians

"From now onward, "commercial sex workers (CSW)" will be referred to as "Female sex workers". Why insult their profession by calling it "commercial" and undignify it.

"Oh, we are not commercial organization; we are non-profit, social organization"

-A proud proclamation by an NGO.

"Sorry, we do not award contracts to for -profit- organizations"

-One of many international development agencies

So much hatred for commercialization.

In developing countries like Nepal the term "commercialization" is being perceived and presented as an anti-social process, the business people as anti social element. In the process, the very backbone of the country that could make country prosper, the business community has been gravely underrated. Even the Country’s Prime Minister does not hesitate for a second to publicly demoralize business community. It has become more like a cliché to talk against everything related to commerce, sending a wrong message to the public, and our future generation in the process.

On the other hand there is ultra obsession for terms like "socialization", "social works" and "social workers". That is why at some point, even the most successful businessmen, industrialist or entrepreneurs underrate their own profession and chose to project themselves as social workers. The society has been wrongly over-projecting social workers as heroes and business people as villains of the society clearly discouraging commercial activities in the country. This has reflected in everything including the government policy. The role and value of social organizations, social workers etc have always been overrated and are acknowledged far more than businessmen and entrepreneurs. This is evident from the fact that the organizations, which declare themselves as "non-profit", are picked more easily by international agencies and donors than the organizations that honestly declare themselves as "for-profit". It therefore should not be so surprising that a more numbers of "not-profit" organizations (such as I/NGOs) are registered than commercial organizations in Nepal.

The term "non-profit" has become a popular cliché in the I/NGOs world. In fact it has become more as a profitable tag for organizations to attract flow of international grants/fund. Its high time, donors and international agencies open their eyes and recognize that there is nothing like " non-profit organization" or "voluntary’ organizations in this world. No organizations can run without fund and every organization must save some surplus between what they get and what they spend in order to sustain their organizations. We should encourage even our existing I/NGOs who are already engaged in development work to adopt business techniques and approach in managing their projects for better output. Every organization must be allowed to make a profit to sustain themselves after projects end. We should stop calling the I/NGOs INGOs, and start treating them more like "Professional Service Organization" that provides efficient and effective services, with some reasonable fee or profit, instead of pretending to be a charitable and non-profit.

What we do not know that we do not know is that it is only through commercialization that Nepal can take prosperity to the grass root level; not the socialization or politicization. The country can achieve prosperity only if there is equal and equitable division of commercial opportunities, skills, and wealth among all the classes of people to prosper.

If we see in retrospect, whatever little development Nepal has achieved over the years have been mainly due to commercialization, privatalization and increasing marketing of consumer goods and service. Commercialization of schools has increased access of better educations to more people, commercialization of telecommunications, electricity and other source of power have allowed even the relatively poorer population to access to such facilities, commercialization of computer and its software have empowered even the lowest social economic class to better equip to improve their lives. Commercialization of airlines has provided better and cheaper flights; the commercialization of transport services has given relief to public, commercialization fruit and vegetable has increased their consumptions benefiting both the consumer and farmers and ultimately the public in terms of improved health. Due to increased commercialization, the lives of people have notably improved a lot, in Nepal and around the world.

We have failed to understand that an open and transparent commercial activity serves the people’s need better than corrupt and pretentious social work and social organizations. Its time that we all come of out of the long spell, break our stereo type underlying assumptions that has filled our brain with negative attitude towards profit, privatalization and commercialization. Lets promote commercialization to improve the lives of people and to increase prosperity.

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