In The News (54)

"Before I packed up my luggage to go to my home in Saptari for Dashain—our greatest festival— I called my mother from...

Posted by Khushbu Dhoti Mishra on Thursday, October 15, 2015

Public Outrcy (Oct 15): Mass protests Birgunj

This week in PUBLIC OUTCRY (Oct 15): As anger boils in the southern plains of Nepal over the new charter & mistreatment by government, we capture the massive but harmonious protests in Birgunj. Historic numbers of disgruntled minorities gathered from throughout the region to continue the 'border blockade'. The emerging wisdom is that the groundswell of anger & despair has spread into a mass movement backed up by deep polarisation. Please Watch & Share!Subscribe YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxTD28Lk9GLwE8hsMQD3rpA

Posted by Madhyadeshi +Plus on Thursday, October 15, 2015

Across Madhesh, there is a bonding of searing pain, hurt and tumult that envelops families and communities in a shroud...

Posted by Kanchan Jha on Friday, October 16, 2015

The word "MADHES" should not be replaced with "TERAI". #MadhesIsOnlyMadhesNotTerai

Posted by Lokendra Yadav on Friday, October 16, 2015

हम भी है जोश मे...

Posted by सदभावना पार्टी on Friday, October 16, 2015

Posted by Rato Pati on Thursday, October 15, 2015

Posted by Lokendra Yadav on Thursday, October 15, 2015

काँग्रेसलाई प्रधानमन्त्रीको लोभ देखाएर तीन दलको सम्बन्ध तोडायौंः राजेन्द्र महतो
राजनीतिक नेतृत्वलाई आन्दोलन सुम्पिनु हुँदैन थियो – सन्तोष साह (अध्यक्ष, टुडेज युथ एसिया)
Rights body asks Nepal to probe deaths during statute protests
Errors and lies

the political bosses of CPN-UML, Nepali Congress and UCPN (Maoist), save for Baburam Bhattarai and Gagan Thapa, have failed the litmus test to lead a country as diverse as Nepal ...... During the second CA elections, the UML and Congress made multiculturalism, federalism, multilingualism and inclusivity the foundation of their campaigns, both in the Tarai-Madhes and the hill-mountains, against the Maoists’ and Madhesis’ ekal pahichan (single identity) campaign in their manifesto. When they secured almost two-thirds majority in the elections, they ignored the promise of identity, manipulated the draft of the constitution in their favour and refused to incorporate the already negotiated and enshrined rights of the women, Madhesis and Janajatis in the Interim constitution.

Reach out
“Like We Are Not Nepali”
Protest and Police Crackdown in the Terai Region of Nepal
भीमसेन थापा र “देशभक्ति”को त्रासदी
मधेशी विद्यार्थीमाथि कुटपिट
मधेसी भनेर हेप्ने ? ७० वर्षको संघर्षलाई पैसामा बेच्दैनौंः दीप नारायण साह, सांसद, नेकपा एमाले

हिजोदेखि मलाई पनि निकै दबाब आएको छ । कसैले मन्त्री दिन्छु भन्छन्, कसैले कति पैसा चाहियो भन्छन् । भारत, कांग्रेस र बाबुरामका मान्छेहरुको दौडधुप बाक्लो भएको छ । ....

अहिले नेपालमा पूर्ण बहुमतका साथ वामपन्थीहरुको सरकार बन्ने अवस्था आएको छ ।

हामीले वर्षौंदेखि देख्दै आएको मुक्ति र परिवर्तनका सपनालाई साकार गर्ने दिन आएको छ । ..... प्रचण्डसँग डराएर, प्रधानमन्त्री पनि हुँदिन, पार्टी अध्यक्ष पनि हुँदिन भने भनेर बाबुरामले गरेको गल्ती यति ठूलो छ कि त्यसलाई भन्ने शब्द नै छैन । यिनै बाबुरामका नजिकका मान्छेहरु अहिले वापमन्थी गठबन्धनका विरुद्ध भारतले उचालेको कांग्रेसलाई समर्थन गर्न लबिङ गर्दैछन् । .... नाम लिन चाहन्न, तर यो खेलमा कांग्रेस, भारत र बाबुरामका मानिसहरुले मधेसका सांसदहरुलाई बढी प्रलोभनमा पार्न खोजेका छन् । उनीहरुको चलखेलले उनीहरु मधेसी जनताको नाममा आफ्नो स्वार्थ सिद्ध गर्न खोजिरहेको झन पुष्टि भएको छ । ..... साह नेकपा एमालेबाट महोत्तरी–५ बाट निर्वाचित सांसद हुन ।

Snaking Lines Grow as Nepal Confronts Fuel Shortage

miles of double- and triple-parked cars, buses, trucks and motorcycles along the ancient city’s avenues. The lines snarl through narrow streets and block main intersections on the ring road. ...... Drivers stretch out in their back seats, snoring. Others join impromptu card games on car hoods or pass the hours with their cellphones. Food vendors cook and sell water on the pavement. ........ In a surreal scene that began days before the fuel was delivered, tens of thousands joined the lines. ..... “I came with my motorcycle two days ago,” said Keshav Thapa Magar, who said he needed two liters, or half a gallon, of gas a day to commute to and from work. His tank was just below the two-gallon mark....... “My cousin, my brother and I rotate sitting and waiting on line day and night so I can go to work,” he said. “We can’t risk losing this spot.” ...... By Thursday, the long lines were back, apparently because of rumors that private vehicles would again be allowed to fuel up. ..... On the diplomatic front, Indian officials have suggested that all border crossings would open if Nepal’s government accommodated the protesters’ demands. ..... as the lack of fuel cripples relief efforts, the country faces a new humanitarian crisis, particularly as cold weather sets in. .......

Everyone living in this city of 3.5 million is feeling the strain.

..... Nepali friends joke that their health is improving on the “Indian fitness program.” ...... Like many in Nepal who can afford to be, I am a hoarder. Since I arrived here over two years ago, I have grown accustomed to frequent shortages of fuel, and my garage is stocked with additional propane and diesel. ...... In Kathmandu, 90 percent of businesses rely on the Internet .... If the I.S.P.s go down, this country disconnects from the world. ....... Western diplomats have called it a “bilateral issue” between India and Nepal, though they have also acknowledged that Nepal is on the edge of a humanitarian crisis if the situation does not improve and that rioting could also occur. ...... The Red God was on his way home, to his temple that the earthquake had destroyed. He is homeless, like three million Nepalis. But by completing his tour of the city and going home, many believe he will bring good fortune to the country. .... And then he added

Nepal’s best-known and most-used expression. “Khe garne?” Translation: What can I do?

प्रधानमन्त्रीको लोभ देखाएर तीन दललाई फुटाउन सफल भयौं : महतो
राष्ट्रपतिको चुनावमा चलखेल हुन थाल्यो : ईश्वर पोखरेल
'सरकार र संसदलाई बन्दी बनाउने षड्यन्त्रको गन्ध'
चाडपर्वलाई आन्दोलन तुहाउने तुरुप नबनाउँ

अहिले समाज ज्यादै नै धुवीकृत भएको छ। पहाडी समुदायका अधिकांश मानिसहरूमा राष्ट्रियताको मामलामा नारायणमान बिजुक्छें प्रवृति देखिएको छ भने संघीयताको मामलामा चित्रबहादुर केसीको प्रवृति। त्यस्तै अधिकांश मधेशीहरूमा सिके राउतप्रतिको झुकाउ बढ्दै गएको छ।

Hazardous hypocrisy

Even when we ignore Nepal’s founder king Prithvi Narayan Shah’s naming of his new kingdom as ‘asali Hindustan’ as against India’s Muglan (the realm of the Mughals), India has remained a constant reference point for Nepali ruling class to define itself. This schizophrenic self-definition has manifested itself, at least since the rule of Jung Bahadur (1846-1877), as private prostration and public protestation to the benefit of the ruling class and the detriment of the masses. .......

for the Madhesis, the blockade came as a literal lifesaver because 40 protestors had lost their lives in 40 days when the Nepali security forces commanded by the three-party-gang fired their bullets mostly at their heads. Immediately after the blockade, the killing ceased. And so, the Madhesis welcomed India with placards and posters to the horror of Nepali-speaking nationalists who dubbed the Madhesis as India’s agents in Nepal.

....... Jung Bahadur cultivated the British by supplying hill tribesmen for its imperial Army and treated Nepalis as little better than chattels. King Tribhuvan welcomed India when it saved his life, freed him from the Ranas and restored the empowered throne to him. The anti-Rana democrats in 1950, anti-Panchayat forces in 1990 and anti-Gyanendra conglomerates in 2006 all welcomed India’s support against the feudal and autocratic Ranas and the Shah kings. India was friends with the Maoists during its insurgency (1996-2006) against the Nepali state. The Nepal Army welcomed Indian intervention to save its recalcitrant, loudmouth Army Chief from getting sacked and Madhav Kumar Nepal welcomed India when it helped him become prime minister. ........ when Nepal tried to commit suicide by killing Madhesis indiscriminately, India saved Nepal and itself from a world of troubles by winking blockade at the border points, which suddenly stopped the killing of Madhesis. If India had not intervened, the killing spree would have most likely continued given the attitude of the three parties. Consequently, the Madhesi leaders might have gone underground, waged an armed struggle and further disrupted supplies (given they have relatives and a friendly population on the Indian side). The Janajatis—such as Limbus, Magars, Tamags—cheated as they feel by the treason of Prachanda-led Maoists, would have eventually joined the armed struggle. We can only imagine what might have happened next

Why trying to help poor countries might actually hurt them

by trying to help poor people in developing countries, the rich world may actually be corrupting those nations' governments and slowing their growth ...... much of the $135 billion that the world’s most developed countries spent on official aid in 2014 may not have ended up helping the poor. ...... how foreign money changed the relationship between a government and its people. ......... economists have long observed that countries that have an abundance of wealth from natural resources, like oil or diamonds, tend to be more unequal, less developed and more impoverished ....... wealth can strengthen and corrupt a government. ....... plenty of examples in which the United States gives aid “for ‘us,’ not for ‘them’” – to support our strategic allies, our commercial interests or our moral or political beliefs, rather than the interests of the local people. ...... To get to the powerless, you often have to go through the powerful. ......

what people in developing countries need most -- “an effective government that works with them for today and tomorrow”

........ The old calculus of foreign aid was that poor countries were merely suffering from a lack of money. But these days, many economists question this assumption, arguing that development has more to do with the strength of a country’s institutions – political and social systems that are developed through the interplay of a government and its people....... What these countries need even more than money is effective governance, something that foreign aid can undermine, the thinking goes. ....... more effective aid practices. ......

we should focus on doing less harm in the developing world, like selling fewer weapons to despots, or ensuring that developing countries get a fair deal in trade agreements, and aren't harmed by U.S. foreign policy decisions.

....... our attitude toward foreign aid – that developed countries ought to swoop in and save everyone else – is condescending and suspiciously similar to the ideas of colonialism. The rhetoric of colonialism, too, “was all about helping people, albeit about bringing civilization and enlightenment to people whose humanity was far from fully recognized” ....... many of the positive things that are happening in Africa – the huge adoption in cell phones over the past decade, for example – are totally homegrown. He points out that, while the world has made huge strides in reducing poverty in recent decades, almost none of this has been due to aid. Most has been due to development in countries like China, which have received very little aid as a proportion of gross domestic product and have "had to work it out for themselves."