Nepal News (14)

Posted by Hridayesh Tripathi on Monday, March 14, 2016

I an trying not to think of Nepal but what can be more exasperating than this.Province 2 is the only unit with a non...

Posted by Prashant Jha on Monday, March 14, 2016

You can agree or disagree with Nivedita Menon's views - but there is no doubt that she is one of the finest teachers and...

Posted by Prashant Jha on Sunday, March 13, 2016

मैं आज महोत्तरी जिला अदालत पहुँचा । जलेश्वर बन्द था जो अपरान्ह तक जारी रहा । जगह-जगह ७ स्थानों पर बैनरें लगी थी । हैन्डब...

Posted by Brikhesh Chandra Lal on Monday, March 14, 2016

मधेस अझै उपनिवेश : ठाकुर
मधेसी मोर्चा नेताले गृहमन्त्री राजनाथ भेटे, अधिकार प्राप्तिको आन्दोलन जारी छ : उपेन्द्र यादव

मैत्री समाजको निम्तोमा दिल्ली उत्रिएका नेता ठाकुर, यादव र ह्दयेश त्रिपाठीलगायत नेताले आइतबार गृहमन्त्री राजनाथ सिंहसँग भेटवार्ता गरेका थिए । वार्तामा सहभागी नेता त्रिपाठीका अनुसार गृहमन्त्री सिंहसँग नेपालको राजनीतिक मामिला र मधेस समस्याका बारेमा चर्चा भएको थियो । ..... मैत्री समाजको कार्यक्रममा भाग लिन काठमाडौंबाट नयाँ शक्तिका खिमलाल देवकोटा, मानव अधिकारकर्मी दमननाथ ढुंगाना, पूर्वराजदूत विजयकान्त कर्ण, राप्रपा नेता सुनीलबहादुर थापालगायत दिल्ली आएका छन् । समारोहमा नेपाल मामिला जानकार एसडी मुनि तथा अशोक मेहता, सांसद डीपी त्रिपाठी, पूर्वराजदूत शिवंशकर मुखर्जीसमेतको उपस्थिति थियो ।

ठाकुर र यादवको दिल्ली यात्रा लम्बियो ।

दिल्लीमै रहेका एक मधेशी नेताका अनुसार मोर्चाका दुई शिर्ष नेताहरुको हुने सम्भावित केहि उच्चस्तरीय बैठकका कारण ठाकुर र यादवको भोली मंगवलवार फर्कने कार्यक्रम रद्ध गरिएको छ । स्रोत भन्छन, हिजो उहाहरु दिउसो त्याहा पुग्नु नै भयो, आज दिनभरी कार्यक्रममै व्यस्त रहनु भयो, उता भेटघाटको कार्यक्रम भोली देखि केहि हुने भएकाले ठाकुर र यादव आफनो पुर्व निर्धारित फर्कने कार्यक्रम रद्ध गरेका छन ।

ओलीको चीन भ्रमणमा मधेसी–जनजाति दलको विरोध

Has air pollution made Kathmandu unliveable?
With smog five times worse than the levels which prompted Paris to ban cars, the capital of the supposedly pristine mountain nation of Nepal is choking.

Behind the oxygen mask, his eyes have the panicked, haunted look of a man who can’t breathe. ...... Nepal’s air quality ranks 177th out of 178 countries, according to Yale’s 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), better only than Bangladesh. As a physician working in one of Kathmandu’s main teaching hospitals, I see a disproportionate amount of patients with respiratory ailments who are admitted to the wards on a daily basis, the victims of dirty air. Walking to and from work along the crowded, exhaust-choked streets, I sometimes wonder how more people are not sick. ...... Those new to Kathmandu frequently complain of sore throats and itchy eyes within a few days of arrival. ...... during surges in Kathmandu traffic congestion, the level of small particulate matter can measure over 500 micrograms per cubic metre, or 20 times the World Health Organisation’s safe upper limit. ....... For smokers with COPD, one of the only effective interventions that improves longevity is to quit smoking. But Ajay and those like him have no cigarettes to give up. The air they breathe is making them sick. For them, the question of whether the city will become unliveable is moot. It already is.

Nepal's failed development
Nepal is one of the best examples of failed development aid - so why do the donors keep pumping more money in?

A decade of Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 killed 17,000 people and hindered economic activity. Yet during the conflict GDP growth fluctuated within a similar range to before and after. Infrastructure was destroyed, but there wasn't much in the first place and - thanks to public corruption - much of it has been rebuilt twice-over. The quality of village schools and health posts was as wretched before the war began as it is now, almost a decade since it ended. Nepal suffered conflict, but many Asian countries that have developed more successfully have suffered worse. .........

For the most part, of course, the country's rulers are to blame - and they have conducted themselves in a similar manner for decades.

...... the government is run as an extractive enterprise, in which the various parties and factions are built on pyramids of graft, commissions, and the sale of offices. Useful public institutions such as the education ministry, the university, the electricity board, the national airline, or the airport, have been hollowed out and left semi-functional. ....... In the private sector, the party bosses give political backing to cartels, syndicates and "mafias" which, for example, manipulate prices and operate monopolies in the drinking-water, food, transport and energy markets. They profit from the fact that the health and education sectors are dysfunctional. ..... Despite the donors' talk of Nepal being "fragile", there is in fact notability stability at the heart of the state, both in the way it works and the individuals who run it. Most have careers at the top spanning decades, and many are the children or relatives of other powerful people. ....... The donors are also wrong to believe (as they often do) that the government "doesn't understand" what it is doing, or "needs educating". When it comes to serving their own interests, and those of their core constituents, the country's leaders are successful. Unfortunately for most Nepalis, providing "development" for the wider public is often in conflict with those interests. ...... Despite rampant mismanagement, and a splurge at the end of every year timed to escape scrutiny, around a quarter of the funds reserved for capital investment remain unspent annually. ......

The public perception is of a great deal corruption not only in government, but in the development industry itself.

..... The main reason for recent progress in poverty alleviation is clearly remittances from migrant labourers, which have risen rapidly to be worth around 25 per cent of GDP. Nepali workers go abroad because the domestic economy is ruined, and the money they send home is spent on private health and education, because the donor-supported public sector is useless. ....... Nepal's problem is not a want of aid or technical advice. It is political. And if the donors are to be part of the solution, they must be brave enough to publicly demand meaningful action against the entrenched public corruption, the cartels, "syndicates" and "mafias" which are keeping the country poor

मधेशी मोर्चाको यस्तो छ बेइजिङलाई सन्देश

‘ओली सरकारले आन्दोलन रोक्ने नाममा मधेशमा नरसंहार नै गरेको छ, भन्ने जानकारी लिखित रुपमा चीनलाई गराउँदैछौ, महासचिव सुमनले भने, ‘आफ्नो देशको विकास कार्य, जनतालाई राहत, भूकम्प पीडितलाई पुनःवासलगायतका काम छाडेर विदेश भ्रमण गरेर जनतालाई भ्रममा पार्न लागेको कुराको जानकारी चीनलाई गराउने छौं ।’ ...... मधेश आन्दोलनको बारेमा भारतलाई पटक–पटक जानकारी गराएका मधेशी मोर्चाले चीनलाई आधिकारिक रुपमा हालसम्म पनि जानकारी गराएको छैन । सुमनले भने, ‘औपचारिक रुपमा जानकारी नगराएपनि अनौपचारिक रुपमा चीनलाई पनि मधेश आन्दोलनको बारेमा जानकारी गराएको दावी गरे । ...... प्रधानमन्त्री ओलीको भारत भ्रमणको विरोध गरेकै कारण दुई देशबीच कुनै सहमति हुन सकेन यहाँसम्म कि एउटा संयुक्त विज्ञप्ति समेत आउन सकेन, त्यही अपेक्षा चीनसँग रहेको महासचिव सुमनले बताए ।