केपी ओली को हिन्दी र कुर्ता, धरहरा र देश

केपी ओली ले हिन्दी बोल्न थालेको छ। केपी ओली ले कुर्ता लाउन लागेको छ।

यो त खतरनाक मान्छे पो त। उ धरहरा चढ़यो भने धरहरा ढलने। उ देश चढ़यो भने देश ढलने कुराको संकेत हो त्यो।

केपी ओली ले कुर्ता लाउनु शुभ संकेत हुन सक्दैन।

कुनै पनि देशप्रेमी नेपाली ले केपी ओली लाई देश चढाउने काम गर्न मिल्दैन। गाउँ का जनता सचेत छन, काठमाण्डु का नेता खै कुन्नि।

In The News (8)

बामदेवलाई गृहमन्त्रीबाट हटाउन ओली निवासमा छलफल

पहिलेदेखि नै गौतमको कार्यशैलीबाट असन्तुष्ट भएपनि पछिल्लो समयमा महाभूकम्मको विपत्तिका बेला उनको भूमिकाले पार्टीको मात्र नभई आफ्नै व्यक्तिगत छविलाई समेतलाई धमिल्याउने काम गरेको निष्कर्षमा अध्यक्ष ओली पुगेको स्रोतको दाबी छ । विपत्तिको यो घडीमा कार्यबाहक प्रधानमन्त्रीको समेत जिम्मेवारी सम्हालेका गौतमले जति गर्न सक्थे, त्यसमा सिन्को भाँच्नेसम्मको काम नगरेको र सरकारको दोषको भार एमालेले बोक्नु परेको भन्दै ओलीले गौतमलाई हटाउन छलफल चलाएको बताइन्छ । विपत्तिका बेला काम गर्नेभन्दा भड्किला अभिव्यक्ति दिने गौतमको कार्यशैलीबाट एमाले नेताहरु बेचैन भएको बुझिएको छ । ...... कमिसन आउने विषयमा उनको नांगो हस्तक्षेप देखिएकाले उनलाई दर्खास्त गर्ने विषयमा कुरा भएको ....... हतियार खरिदमा हुने कमिसनको खेलमा गृहमन्त्री गौता चुलुम्म डुबेको एमालेको एक नेताले बताए । हतियार खरिद गर्दा तीन वटा देशसँग गोप्य कोटेशन आव्हान गर्नुपर्छ । जसले सबैभन्दा सस्तोमा कोटेशन गर्छ, उसैसँग खरिद गर्नुपर्ने हुन्छ । तर, यो पटक गौतमले त्यो ऐन नै संशोधन गराएर एउटै देशबाट कोटेशन आव्हान गरेहुने बनाए । ...... यसो गर्नुको खास कारण उनका व्यापारिक साझेदार दीपक भट्टलाई खुसी पारेर उनीमार्फत आफूले कमिसन खानु रहेको एमाले स्रोतको दाबी छ । चीनियाँ हतियारका कारोवारी भट्ट गृहमन्त्री गौतमको खास मान्छे हुन् ।

Would like India to help us restore the glory of Nepal: Envoy

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) came in for a special praise from Nepalese Ambassador Deep Kumar Upadhyay for their rescue operations in his country following the killer quake last month, who also sought assistance from India in rebuilding the quake-ravaged country. ...... The Home Minister said Nepal is a part of "Bharat parivar" and India stands committed to stand by it. "Nepal is a sovereign nation and we consider it part of Bharat parivar (family). We will be standing where ever the Nepalese want us to stand by it." ...... Giving brief of the NDRF operations for nine days in Nepal under 'Operation Maitri', Director General of the force O P Singh said that

out of the 16 people found alive, 11 were rescued by his men

. ..... The specially-trained force rescued 11 persons, retrieved 132 bodies and provided medical aid to 1,157 injured and sick victims.

The Best Way to Help Nepal Recover From the Quake? Go There on Vacation

Ganga Sagar Pant, CEO of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), says there is no reason for Nepal’s tourism — currently contributing around 10% of GDP and jobs — to grind to a halt. “The world must go on,” he said. “The tourism products are still there — mountains, flora and fauna, jungles, trails.”

Nepal earthquake: UN says it has only received fraction of necessary aid

a race against time to deliver relief supplies to remote areas – some of which are accessible only on foot – before the expected arrival of heavy monsoon rains next month. ..... “Someone has to open the tap....We cannot run our responses on credit cards. Those who have offered help need to make good on their pledges.”

That other jolt from Nepal’s earthquake

Many years after the great Ethiopian famine of 1984, a British television reporter—a veteran of many conflicts and disasters—conceded with remarkable candour that his reports may have inadvertently ended up reinforcing racial stereotypes about Africa. By repeatedly showing images of white charity workers coming to the aid of helpless starving Ethiopians—ignoring African workers for instance—journalist Michael Buerk and cameraman Mohamed Amin’s reports may even have caused a loss of self-esteem among blacks in Brixton and other London neighbourhoods, where they already suffered from racial discrimination at the time. ....... From being the land of wildlife born and roaming free, diverse Africa had become the continent of dying babies. ..... Last week, social media in earthquake-hit Nepal was set abuzz with criticism of the way the tragedy was being reported by Indian television channels, which were busy focusing on the relief and rescue work being carried out by Indian disaster relief forces. A Nepali cartoon showed an Indian television cameraman peeking out of the pocket of an Indian disaster relief worker. The Twitter hashtag #GoHomeIndianMedia went viral in Nepal, before being picked up by the Nepali mainstream media and travelling to India. ........ Indian television may have helped raise awareness of the Nepal earthquake. .......

But Indian television—news as well as fictional serials—is a bit like Hindi-language films: factual documentaries, largely, do not exist, and everything is black-and-white in colour. Forget nuance, balance and objectivity and, most of all, forget reasoned and informed debate.

....... Eight people, all shouting at the same time while wagging their fingers at the camera, may well be how television news in India wants to style itself and attract advertisements. If that is how debate is meant to be aired in a particular cultural context—debates in Parliament can be similarly noisy—then who is anyone to tell them otherwise. ........ The problem happens when they step outside familiar ground. Nepal, for instance. Anchor after anchor has spoken about how familiar they are with this country, yet few have really studied its politics, history, society and economics. ....... Few Indian journalists are hired for their specialization, few develop specialisms at work, say South Asian politics and culture. Why bother—aren’t they all a bit like us. Does anyone even speak Nepali? The result is loose talk of conspiracies—that foreign office favourite—apparently hatched by “anti-Indian sections in Nepal”. ....... The problem occurs when they cover international news, or even South Asian news, which has been scaled down the order of priorities for years, so that even for conflicts in countries such as Afghanistan or, to a lesser extent, Sri Lanka, much of the Indian media has taken its news from global media outlets—primarily, the big western wire services, American and British newspaper syndicates, the BBC and CNN. Anyone who has ever visited Nepal and mixed with Nepalis will know the amusement and slight irritation that Indian television news causes there. One prominent Indian television reporter told me from Kathmandu it’s not all Nepalis—it’s just “the intelligentsia and media”. ........ “Look, there’s been a race from day one, on who would be the first channel to get to the epicenter of the earthquake. And the government of India brought these reporters along, like embedded journalists, trying to copy the Yanks. .... “The Indian guys were hobnobbing with the Indian journalists. The local journalist was left out, and that’s why this whole thing happened. The local media were given access only a week later. ....... “On the one hand, it was like an Indian PR exercise. On the other hand, just about every one of the Nepali journalists has been affected by the earthquake in one way or the other. They have been camping out, living in tents. But still, the way they (Nepali media) have covered the disaster, they’ve really stood out in my opinion.” ....... Every reporter wants to save a baby, every reporter wants their army to pull someone out alive, every reporter wants to be the first on Ground Zero. A temple stood in the midst of rubble, we were told—over and over again. ....... This is the problem of parachute journalism, and there is nothing new in it. We have all done it. Western media have practised it for decades but they have also become acutely aware of the problems this can sometimes cause—chiefly bad journalism. Which is why you see more and more local journalists working for international media the world over. Sadly, news across Indian television channels is a mere platform to hyper-ventilate with hyper-nationalism.

What India can learn from Nepal

Nepal is this conflict-ridden poor country that hasn’t been able to frame a new Constitution for eight years now, has ego issues with India, plays the China card before New Delhi ..... Nepal’s image as a country that can’t manage itself is reinforced by the constant political instability in Kathmandu, because the politics is too bitter. ..... If we could, we’d be surprised that there are ways in which Nepal’s polity is more progressive than India’s. ..... Nepal has gone from war to peace, monarchy to republic, theocratic to secular state, a monolithic hill-centric nationalism to inclusive citizenship, and is slowly moving from unitary to federal state. These are processes, Jha argues, that countries and societies have taken decades to achieve. ...... Consider, in contrast, how India’s various conflicts, in Kashmir, the North East and the tribal belt, have been dragging on for decades, with New Delhi “managing” rather than seeking to resolve them. ..... Bringing the Maoists to the table was no mean achievement, one that India came around to supporting. ........ It is curious, for instance, why Nepal has almost no internet censorship, a claim no other South Asian country can make. Internet censorship, more than even press censorship, is a sign of how free a society is........ Nepal is also the only country in South Asia with no restrictions on community radio. Anybody can set up a local community radio station. News and politics are allowed. There were 263 operational community radio stations when the earthquake struck; 20 of them have been destroyed. ... Unfortunately, India is too afraid of radio, and does not give community radio licenses to anyone other than small NGOs and universities. India doesn’t even allow news on FM radio. ..... Nepal is the only country in South Asia where homosexuality is not criminalised. .. In 2008, Sunil Babu Pant became a member of the first constituent assembly (2008-2012), thus becoming the only openly gay politician in South Asia. ........ The first constituent assembly was described by the United Nations as having set a “gold standard on inclusion of minorities.” A third of its 601 members were women, Dalit representation was up from 0 to 49 in just a decade.

Alibaba's Jack Ma Joins Nepali Billionaire Binod Chaudhary's Rebuilding Efforts In Quake-Hit Nepal

Through his charitable arm, the Chaudhary Foundation, the billionaire is contributing $2.5 million in efforts to reconstruct 100 schools and 10,000 houses. The Foundation will pay the cost of 1,000 homes and raise money from other wealthy donors for the remaining 9,000 units. ...... Jack Ma’s Alibaba Foundation has agreed to fund 1,000 homes and will be sending a team of 10 executives to Nepal, reports Chaudhary. The Indorama Foundation, the charitable arm of Indian-born Indonesian plastics tycoon Sri Prakash Lohia, has pledged funds for 1,000 homes. ..... Alibaba’s Ma, whom Chaudhary met a year ago, was quick to respond to his request for help. So too his friend Lohia. ..... The houses to be constructed are expected to cost

$750

each and are being designed by Seeds India, an Indian non-profit, which has done similar work in northern India and Habitat for Humanity, which already operates in Nepal.

Destiny Dev Bungie Raises $400,000 (So Far) for Nepal Earthquake Relief



Does this ‘Nepal’ image make you want to build these children a home? Think again

An estimated 1.7 million children have been directly affected by the disaster, and the viral photograph seemed to perfectly encapsulate their situation. Desperate, vulnerable and alone. ..... We feel sympathy and pity, and these emotions create a power dynamic. They are helpless, we can help. They are vulnerable, we can protect them. ...... The standard response to images of displaced or at-risk children after a disaster overseas, is to build and support orphanages. It seems like an easy way to ensure children have a roof over their heads, and hopefully food and education, too. It was a response to the tsunami in 2004. It was a response to the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. It was even the response to the 10-year civil war in Nepal that ended in 2006.

It was the wrong response.

...... In Haiti, an estimated 80% of children in orphanages have a living parent. Some Haitian “orphans” were even adopted by American families, only for it to be revealed that they were not real orphans. Foreign aid can end up unnecessarily denying vulnerable children the chance to live with their families and instead condemning them to a lifetime of institutionalisation. ......... In many countries across the world, including Nepal, children are deliberately separated from their parents and trafficked to orphanages. As in any situation that attracts a large amount of cash, the willingness of foreign donors and volunteers to support orphanages can be exploited for profit motives. Aid money can be unknowingly lining the pockets of corrupt businessmen and fuelling the commodification of children. ........ “We are now deeply concerned that the earthquake will accelerate [child trafficking] beyond our worst nightmares. Aid money is flooding in to the country, children’s homes are offering hundreds more places for children, and not enough is being done in the rural areas to stop the flow of children away from their families into profit-making orphanages.” Children who have been separated, displaced or orphaned are among the most vulnerable in society. If we stand by while they are trafficked into institutions – many of which keep children in woefully inadequate conditions and some of which are dangerous – we will fail them. ........ It is always disempowering to hear that things are more complicated than originally assumed. That good intentions can backfire, that obvious solutions create even worse problems. We are being warned against rushing to Nepal and giving the “wrong kind” of aid. ..... we are mustering support for nuanced and considered responses that aim towards real solutions that we would accept in our own countries.

Nepal earthquake survivors turn to rebuilding homes and lives

Six years ago, Paru Shrestha's family tore down their old home in the Nepali town of Sankhu and replaced it with a modern, five-storey house. It probably saved their lives. .... Ten days after the 7.8 magnitude quake, many people were still searching debris for the bodies of loved ones, or struggling to recuperate from injury and trauma. ...... But many survivors do not complain simply because they know other Nepalis are suffering, too. ..... The quake has affected 8 million of Nepal's 28 million people, with at least 3 million needing tents, water, food and medicines over the next three months, said the United Nations. About 519,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed. ...... "If we can't rebuild our homes, we'll be displaced. We can't let that happen," said Madan Shrestha, 35, a bookseller who is not related to Paru. But most Nepalis cannot afford even to demolish their damaged houses, never mind build new ones.

Earthquake Strains Nepal's Already Shaky, But Potentially Powerful, Electricity Sector

Now, with many villages and municipalities here about to enter their second week without power — and with little expectation that the outages can be addressed quickly, given the extent of damage to the nation’s already fragile delivery infrastructure — many communities could be facing a long, slow journey just to get back to a crude baseline of regular power shortages. ...... More than a dozen hydropower plants — the chief source of electricity generation in the country — have suffered damages as a result of 7.8 magnitude earthquake, reducing the country’s domestic power production capabilities by as much as much as 30 percent ...... At least six other power projects that were under construction by NEA and a variety of smaller independent producers, have suffered damages. ....... at least eight private generating facilities remained completely offline. ..... “The number of all damaged distribution transformers may be in the many hundreds or even thousands,” Bhat said in an email message. “Reports of such damages are yet to be collected from remote areas where communication is yet to be restored. Similarly, distribution lines — including distribution poles, insulators and conductors — are damaged in large quantities. The exact quantity is yet to be confirmed.” ........ The rapid deployment of small-scale, increasingly independent hydropower projects in dozens of remote communities had helped to reduce the portion of Nepal’s 28 million inhabitants without any access to electricity in recent years to between one-quarter and one-third. ......

one of the critical needs besides food and shelter is electricity for lighting and mobile charging

...... someone from his village comes down to the nearest town with 70-80 mobile phones every alternate day to do mass charging ..... a Nepalese solar firm, Gham Power, which is working with other businesses and stakeholders to identify areas most in need of power and dispatch solar charging and lighting kits as quickly as possible ..... With more than 2 percent of all global water resources at its disposal, Nepal has long been poised to be a self-sustaining electricity powerhouse. A prodigious monsoon season and vast water stores of the Himalayan glaciers feed thick arterial river flows up and down this mountainous nation, representing as much as 83,000 megawatts of hydropower potential — enough to overhaul a woefully underdeveloped economy and turn Nepal into a powerful regional electricity supplier. ...... Beset by political bickering, however, the nation has only managed to harness less than one percent of that potential thus far, and the recent earthquake is only likely to set things back further — though China and India will be keen to get things on track as quickly as possible. With burgeoning middle-class and electricity-hungry populations of their own, both countries have been eyeing Nepal’s hydropower sector in recent years

Here’s how broke college students are helping Nepal recover from disaster

crowdsourcing information, in real time, that people need on the ground. ..... Sevier used social media to draw in more than 60 volunteers – during final exams, no less – to learn the mapping software. “They were really excited to have a chance to help,” she said. ..... It only took about 20 minutes to an hour to learn how to do it, she said, and now she keeps seeing students working on the maps around campus, at the library, at coffee shops. ..... an international charity is using the maps to help guide its decisions in Nepal

Nepal earthquake rocks its economy

preliminary economic losses from the Nepal earthquake likely to reach and possibly exceed $5 billion. That would equal at least 25 percent of Nepal's GDP. ...... the IMF expects the Nepalese economy to "decelerate" in the short term as the nation deals with the loss of essential revenue from tourism and absorbs higher costs for imported goods. ..... preliminary reconstruction costs in Nepal could climb above $5 billion .. "Their tourism economy has obviously come to a halt. I don't know when it would be realistic for tourists to again visit Nepal." ...... less than $3.50 is spent per capita annually in Nepal on property and casualty insurance, versus the nearly $2,300 spent each year in the U.S.

Nepal asks India to provide only much-needed items

Kathmandu has asked Indian agencies not to send items like water or clothes, and focus instead on supplying tarpaulin sheets and dry rations for its citizens rendered homeless by the unprecedented disaster. ....... "I am proud of the NDRF. They have carved a niche for themselves as an able rescue force,

having rescued alive 11 of the total 16 people and recovering 133 bodies in all. This, when rescue agencies from 34 different countries had been working in Nepal

," Singh said. ...... All 780 NDRF personnel engaged in the rescue mission are back home

Israel lauds India’s efforts in rescuing nationals from Nepal

no known Israeli national is stranded as of now. "We only lost one Israeli youth who got buried in the debris. His body has already been flown back to Israel."

Related articles

• Nepalis slam Indian media coverage on quake
• Nepalis slam Indian media coverage on quake
• Why Did Nepalese say #GoHomeIndianMedia?
• Indian media is under fire for 'PR' coverage
• Chicagoans raising money for native Nepal after earthquake
• Indian media's 'insensitive' Nepal coverage

BibekSheel Nepali: Earthquake Response Task Force

A few suggestions (first, great work, as in great work on the ground, but also great work putting together this video --- almost equally important):

• Put out shorter clips (3-5 minutes) almost daily, mostly to do with work on the ground. Your public Facebook page is your hub. 
• Always conclude by asking for donations. Make it easy for people to donate. 
• Target the global Nepali diaspora, but don't ignore the locals. Set up a missed call mechanism perhaps?
• "Sell" the numbers. Moving around information is almost as important as moving around food, water tablets and basic medicine. Show the world you have a great bang for the buck. Impact per dollar, if you will. 
• Don't restrict yourself to Nepali donors. Anyone anywhere on the planet can donate. In fact, consider spending 1% of your proceeds on Facebook ads. Or get donors to sponsor that. 
• The short term needs are food, water purifying tablets, and basic medicine, and tents/tarpaulins. The immediate long term needs are house reconstruction. Build the big picture by gathering information from every possible source. How many are impacted? How many have need? How are the needs being met? What is the unmet need? Show that you are doing good work, but it is a drop in the ocean. That you provide a great bang for the buck (low overhead), but you face a resource crunch. 
• Getting that information out there, those concrete numbers, would  be a big help. Ordinary Americans (and Indians and British and Japanese and others) will donate directly to you if you communicate well. Facebook is that platform. 100% real time online transparency is the weapon to use. 
• This video is great, but also upload another one with English subtitles. 
• If you can show the world that what you are doing is 20 times cheaper than the foreign governments and agencies trying to provide end to end solutions, that just might end up being your top contribution. That might not get you the foreign government funds, but ordinary Americans (and Indians and British and Japanese and others) will step in. 
• Good work is not enough, it also has to scale. Looks like you went from 50 to 500 to 1100 volunteers. Go to 5,000 to 50,000. It has to be that fundraising is the only constraint. And that fundraising has to be on a war footing, and global. Nepalis who participated in your virtual #withNepal event now need to help you with this. You rope them in by creating your daily 3-5 minute video which always end with a strong pitch for people to donate. 
• Also play a watchdog role. People in the affected areas should learn to call you to say things like "I am from such and such place, this is the scale of devastation, and we have not received any help yet" or "Help came but went to all the wrong people, the true needy did not get it." Those audio recordings could be part of the video clips. Raw audio. 
• Work closely with the group (I believe KLL) that is doing the crowd sourced map. That is the closest thing to 100% online transparency we have right now. 
• Always try to communicate the big picture. As in, there is a need for 500,000 tents, we have sent out 1500, other organizations and agencies have sent out 200,000 as of ___________ and we believe there is an unmet need of _________ tents. 
• The hotline is an awesome idea. 
• Create one task force just for a robust online discussion on what might be the best options for reconstruction of houses. What is everyone else saying? What are some of the best ideas in the local context? What is the need on the ground? What kind of help can be expected? What might be some of the local self help ideas? What mistakes are to be avoided? 
• You say resurgence. What do you mean? 
• Now might not be the best time. But keep collecting all possible data/information that can be seen as evidence of incompetence and corruption on the part of those in power, and at the right time, maybe in a few weeks, when one round of help has already reached most of those in need, start a political campaign where you say we can do better. And there the membership through missed call needs to go national. Because those who messed up can not be allowed to stay at the help for five years. And this Relief/Reconstruction/Resurgence will be at least a five year marathon. Give people an alternative. A sound political alternative. In short, plot a political offensive. 
• Also act a watchdog to foreign governments and agencies. Challenge some of their mental frameworks. Challenge them on the maximum bang for the buck. What is their ROI (Return On Investment)? Is it poor? Share that with their taxpayers. Give them options to work through organizations like yours. 
• Which are the Top 10 organizations? With the maximum impact, efficiency, transparency? 
• Do not ignore Kathmandu valley. The valley also has need. It also has resources. And it might be your "Delhi!" The political stepping stone. 
• Start an Adopt A Family program. You connect a sponsoring person or family globally to a family in need in Nepal. The help is for house  reconstruction and basic livelihood needs. 
• Reach out to Elon Musk. Ask him to pitch in. If he does, the media publicity that will generate will bring in much more from many people. Ask Musk to build a Mangal Tower in Kathmandu in place of Dharahara. Free WiFi across the Valley. FYI: Musk has a soft spot for the Khan Academy. You should be able to tug him. 
• The goal of the daily 3-5 minute video is fundraising. That's it. Let there be no doubt. 
• Go directly to platforms like Indiegogo for the same. 
• The last 10 seconds in the video are not well done. If someone wants to donate, all the information should be right there. Your PayPal account ID, your Western Union ID, bank account. No? 
• Summary: Great work, keep it up, scale like crazy. 

Related articles

• Elon Musk, Chip In
• Elon Musk makes minimum wage at Tesla
• Photos of Nepal Before & After the Earthquake
• Nepal earthquake destroys Kathmandu valley's architectural treasures
• How to Donate to Nepal Relief Efforts
• How to Donate to Nepal Relief Efforts
• Kathmandu Valley Lies in the Dark, Waiting for Relief
• Sanders Pulls In $1.5 Million from 35K Donors

The Government Under A Cloud

Could Nepal’s messy politics hamper relief efforts?

Big earthquakes happen in Nepal roughly once a century. More than 7,000 died in the last one in January 1934, a life-defining caesura for those old enough to remember it ..... Nepal’s ability to co-ordinate efforts unfortunately look likely to be hampered by unresolved political issues and a lack of strong leadership. ..... It might be tempting to think that delays over writing Nepal’s long-awaited constitution don’t matter, that life can go on as normal without political resolution (and many Nepalis, bored with the games of political musical chairs in Kathmandu, had begun to think just that). But the earthquake shows just how vital it is to have political institutions that work, both at the centre and, even more importantly, at the local level. ..... Panchayat rule was milder than the preceding Ranas – it was more nationalist and developmentalist and spoke the language of democracy and equality. But it was ruthless with opponents, banned political parties, and, in practice,

institutionalised ethnic and social exclusion

...... Even when hostilities ceased and parliament was reinstated, the old game of sharing the spoils in a series of coalition governments continued. The hard work of thrashing out what a new reconstructed federal state would look like was repeatedly put off to the last minute. ..... Earlier this year, the prime minister himself torpedoed any chance of compromise and the timely declaration of a new constitution, as success would have meant handing over his job to his UML counterpart, as part of a coalition deal. ..... The fact that Koirala is 75 and and physically weak does not help in producing a vigorous response to the crisis. The lack of strong, co-ordinated leadership at the top is evident. ..... Apart from coming up with a constitution, there is a great deal of unfinished business from ten years of civil war, which will inevitably be put off still further by this natural disaster. One important example is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is supposed to look at serious human rights abuses that occurred during the war. Another, which really should have been dealt with by now, is local elections.

उद्धार र राहतमा भेदभाव भएको छैन: सरकार

पछिल्ला खोज तथा राहत काठमाण्डू, गोरखा र सिन्धुपाल्चोकमा बढी केन्द्रीत रहेको भन्दै अति प्रभावित दुर्गम पहाडी गाउँहरुमा पनि राहत पुर्याउनुपर्ने आवश्यकता औल्याएको थियो। .... अबको ६ हप्तापछि सुरु हुने भनिएको वर्षायाम अघि नै भूकम्प प्रभावित सबै स्थानमा दिगो उद्धार तथा राहत पुर्याइसक्नुपर्ने जोड राष्ट्रसंघको रहँदै आएको छ।

सहयाेग रकम दातृ निकाय आफैं खर्च गर्ने धुनमा

मुलुकलाई राहत र पुन:स्थापनाका लागि रकम आवश्यक भइरहेका बेला अधिकांश दातृ निकाय भने सिधै गैरसरकारी संस्थामार्फत खर्च गर्न खोजिरहेका छन्। सरकारले सहयोग रकम प्रधानमन्त्री दैवीप्रकोप उद्धार कोषमा दाखिला गर्नुपर्ने अनिवार्य व्यवस्था गरेपछि लबिङमा लागेका दातृ निकायले सोमबार परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालयमा भएको छलफलमा यसलाई प्रमुखताका साथ उठाएका थिए। ..... दातृ निकायले हालसम्म रकम कबोलेर करिब ३ अर्ब रुपैयाँबराबरको प्रतिबद्धता जनाइसकेका छन्। तर, कुनै पनि रकम प्रधानमन्त्री दैवीप्रकोप उद्धार कोषमा जम्मा भइसकेको छैन। सरकारले अहिले मुलुकभित्र दुई वा दुईभन्दा बढीबाट उठाइने रकम र विदेशी सहायता कोषमार्फत परिचालन गर्नुपर्ने व्यवस्था गरेको छ। दातृ निकायले अनौपचारिक रूपमा सरकारको खर्च गर्ने संयन्त्र कमजोर भएको र जवाफदेहिता पनि नरहने दाबी गर्दै कोषमा रकम दाखिला गर्न चाहिरहेका छैनन्।

Nepal's disastrous politics could hold back its recovery

Over the past nine years, Nepal has had eight prime ministers. The country still has no permanent constitution. And the same vested interests that once shaped its civil war, have become entrenched once again in its politics.

Bureaucratising relief

according to one international rescue and relief worker, in the four days after the earthquake, over 200 international teams had arrived in the country. Coordination for any functioning government would be an uphill challenge. ...... But this is not just ‘any government’ and it has never been the most ‘functioning’ even before the earthquake ....... an issue of a ‘lingering lack of governance’ ..... The state, based on inherited feudal structures and cultures of government, has built upon and expanded patronage networks prioritising the distribution of state funds among elites (read the now resurrected all-party-mechanisms [APM]) and has continued to treat inhabitants as subjects and not rights-bearing equal citizens. ........According to an international relief worker, in the immediate days following the earthquake, the Israeli rescue and relief team had been ready to take off in its helicopter at the airport at 6.30am. However, they were made to wait until 9am when the bureaucrat whose signature they required to be able to fly in the helicopter, arrived for work. Such permissions are still required on a day by day basis. When every second counts to save lives, especially in the early days of rescue, the feudal state mechanisms ambled, and ambles, on; literally causing death by bureaucracy. ......... The same feudal logic informs the holding up of vital relief supplies at the airport. Home Ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal is quoted as saying the inspection of all goods from overseas “is something we need to do”. At a time of emergency, that what the government ‘needs to do’ is save lives appears to be missed. An international source stated that a few days ago, a Japanese team had arrived ready to spring into action at 7am but were forced to wait until they received their goods 12 hours later. How many lives could have been saved in that time? ....... Official clarifications that organised relief materials and ‘individual’ relief materials are not taxed, but the latter require additional paperwork and post-work confirmation have been useful. However, doubts have been raised on the actual implementation of these rules. That taxes on tents and tarpaulins were only lifted on Friday raises the issue of how Nepali custom officials had defined relief materials before this date and what had and had not been consequently taxed. There are reports from the eastern part of the Tarai of taxation on relief materials crossing the border by land. ....... “The taxes the state is forgoing is not trivial…It wants to ensure that the implicit state subsidy is targeted towards genuine relief. Do not underestimate the scale of cheating that goes on when there is no monitoring or voluntary code of honour in place.” .......

here the ‘business as usual’ mentality holds sway in the face of the biggest tragedy the nation has faced in decades. Concern over loss to the national treasury trumps the need to save lives. Underlying the monetisation and clear devaluation of people’s lives is the logic of a state that seeks not to serve citizens, but to accumulate power to justify its existence along feudal lines of authority.

...... “Lying by the road in the village was a pile of supplies under tarpaulins. These had been delivered by the government the previous evening. However, the officers at the small police station there had not been authorised to distribute them, so they lay untouched.” ........ it has been the internationals and the non-state sector (with the exception of the Nepal Army) which have played key roles in responding to the needs of the people. With few exceptions, the state has so far performed miserably in the aftermath of the earthquake. While there is a real need to not undermine state authority, and indeed to build state capacity, it must be made clear that rebuilding/strengthening a feudal state is not the goal. The feudal legacy embedded in an antiquated bureaucracy and reinforced by a political elite centered on power and its preservation, must be fiercely critiqued and resisted by all citizens. Prioritisation of the lives of citizens—not the policing of restrictive rules in a time of emergency—should be central. The expedient delivery of relief materials from the airport and other locations to citizens in need must take precedence.

Related articles

• Inside the logistics hub at Kathmandu's airport
• Israel criticized for touting Nepal rescue while Gaza is still in ruins
• What's The Best Way To Help Nepal Right Now?

The Perfect Time

English: Kathmandu. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When the tragedy hit, I was too far away - 10,000 miles - to be able to claim trauma. But I was in shock for a few days. I could not believe. The Dharahara toppling was too powerful a metaphor for all the damage that might have happened before the reports came in.

One of the decisions I took was I was not going to make political statements for a few weeks. But very soon I realized the Corruption And Criminal Complex (CCC) on the ground was in no mood for a timeout. Quite the opposite, it was gearing to go on a hyperdrive. And I have come to the conclusion that this actually is the perfect time to be talking politics. Because the CCC is hellbent on messing up the relief work. And if that happens, the world is not going to pour in money for the reconstruction work. And so now is the time. Nepal should not see a Haiti repeat. There also one of the first local moves was to collect all the incoming money into one account. After that the local elite went on a looting spree. That messed up the reconstruction possibilities.

And so now is the time for all concerned Nepalis to step in and hold the local political class accountable. Money will not be a problem. Money will come in, if not from governments then from ordinary citizens across the world. But that faucet will turn itself off if 100% online transparency is not ensured for all the money coming in.

Relief supplies left stranded at the airport: that also has a parallel in Haiti. The local elites there did that to send a message to the international donors. Don't send us stuff. Send us cash. It worked. They started sending cash. Cash is much easier to loot. There's all sorts of creative accounting you can engage in.

The one bank account all money is supposed to go to: that also has a parallel in Haiti.

Foreign governments are not above the 100% online transparency idea. When they pledge $10 million, what they mean is $5 million will go to their own nationals they need to hire, another $3 million will go to buy stuff in their own country. Of the remaining $2 million, the local elites will gobble up about $1.5 million. 500K is no pocket change, would you say?

Sushil Koirala is not that innocent. He might have walked into the Prime Minister's Office with only three cell phones to his name. (Why three?) But the PMO stinks. There is a large coterie of people who need Sushil to stay PM and come back as party president, because otherwise their wells start running dry.

Bamdev Gautam is the epitome of the Corruption Criminal Complex (CCC). The guy stinks through and through. If you want the worst for the Bahuns of Nepal, you would wish for them to have Bame as their leader forever. This guy vandalizes the entire administration. His underlings can't get promotions unless they show up at his residence with suitcases. His ties to the mafia are open, when he is in power, and when he is not in power. He wants the Home Ministry each time because that is where he is the most useful to the mafia.

KP Oli is uneducated and corrupt and verbose. That is an amazing cocktail of stink. His house is bigger than the Prime Minister's residence. And he won his first election only recently. He sure is no businessman.

Ram Sharan Mahat might be an economist, but he is a corrupt economist. He bought a new car for the Finance Minister, a very expensive one, only a few months back. It was not because the Finance Minister did not have a car. On the books it might look legitimate, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. When in New York last time, he organized a gathering of Bahuns to tell them, "We should corner the Madhesis and the Janajatis to the max!" This guy is not only corrupt, he is also a racist. Those are not two separate character flaws. They go hand in hand.

The list goes on and on.

They are already messing up relief work. They will thoroughly mess up the reconstruction work unless something is done by the concerned Nepalis across the world.

This is not only the perfect time to be talking politics, this is also the perfect time to be talking corruption. This also is the perfect time to be talking federalism. Precisely because Sindhupalchok is a Tamang (Janajati) stronghold did help took forever to get there. In a federal setup, there would have been lesser need to look to Kathmandu for help.

A commitment to 100% online transparency put in place by a bill passed by the national parliament will also make sure Nepal stays hot news through social media, because it is only a matter of days before some idiot blows up some cafe somewhere and global media moves on, and Nepal is forgotten by the world.

Related articles

• Elon Musk, Chip In
• 'Going back home won't be the same'
• Earthquake rocks Nepal
• Nepal Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 758
• Nepal's famous Dharahara Tower becomes site for selfies after devastating earthquake
• Massive Earthquake Leaves Trail of Destruction in Nepal, But Aid is Slow to Arrive
• Shock turns to anger as Nepalis wait for earthquake help
• In Nepal, lift spirits through music
• How to help earthquake victims in Nepal
• Nepal quake toll rises to 6,621