India Bashing
थारु कल्याणकारिणी सभाको राष्ट्रिय भेलाको तयारी पूरा, भावी रणनीति तयार पारिने
तराइ आन्दोलन सफल होस्, भारत जिल्ल परोस्
मधेसबाट फर्केर : ओलीको बोलीले चर्केको आन्दोलन, उनैले सक्छन् सल्ट्याउन
१० लाख लिएको आरोप लागेका मोरङका सांसद भन्छन् ‘राज्यलक्ष्मीसँग चर्काचर्की पर्यो’
“If we do not stem the rot now – it might be too late”: Admiral Ramdas’ open letter to PM Modi
China Breaks India Monopoly on Nepal Economy as Investment Grows
China this year overtook India as Nepal’s biggest foreign investor, funding power plants, noodle factories and meat-processing units in one of the world’s poorest countries. Trade is also booming: Nepal’s commerce with China has outpaced that with India by 17 times since 2006, eroding the influence of New Delhi’s leaders. ...... Local markets are flooded with China-made goods such as Hindu idols once sourced from India. .....I am Madheshi / Tharu: मलाई नेपालीपनको पाठ सिकाउनेहरुले आफु कति नेपाली छन्India accounted for 53 percent of Nepal’s trade last year, down from 60 percent in 2006, when a Maoist insurgency ended. China’s share of Nepal’s commerce has risen to 31 percent from 3 percent in that time
...... Nepal is boosting yuan holdings to 15 percent of foreign-exchange reserves, equivalent to its stocks of the Indian rupee..... Some 6,000 rivers fed by Himalayan glaciers could be harnessed for more than 80 gigawatts of capacity, according to Nepal’s Investment Board,enough to power a third of India
. It has tapped less than 1 percent of that potential while suffering blackouts for as many as 16 hours a day. .......“Nepal can become a rich country by selling electricity to India,” Narendra Modi told Nepal’s parliament in August during the first visit by an Indian prime minister in 17 years, while offering a $1 billion credit line to fund development. “We do not want free electricity; we want to buy.”
...... In the biggest deal ever from an overseas investor, Bengaluru-based GMR Group said Sept. 22 it would build a 900-megawatt hydropower plant, estimated to cost $1.4 billion, to export electricity to India. State-run SJVN Ltd. signed an agreement this month for another plant on the same river, which is estimated to generate more than $3 billion over 25 years........ blackouts will end in three years as new projects come on line, boosting growth in the $20 billion economy by as much as 2 percentage points each year from 4.5 percent now....... While it’s too early to say if Chinese trade will reach parity with India -- particularly with only one all-weather road between the countries -- the signs are promising ..... The number of Chinese visitors has tripled in recent years.
Impacts of India’s Transit Warfare against Nepal
How cycling set deprived Indian girls on a life-long journey
The Ghost of Sikkimization
Whenever the problem of citizenship or other social-justice agenda for Madhes is raised, a certain group actively start pandering the fear of ‘Sikkimization of Nepal,’ changing the public discourse from legitimate demands of the oppressed to a paranoia of threat to national existence. These people often sideline the historic fact thatमधेसी मोर्चासँग वार्ता, प्रारम्भिक माग पूरा गर्ने सहमतिwhen King Tribhuwan requested Pandit Nehru to assimilate Nepal as a state in India, Nehru politely declined the offer.
...... Sikkim constitutes of three ethnicities: aboriginal Lepcha, Bhutiya and Nepali speaking people. The aboriginal Lepcha and Bhutiya were the Permanent Establishment of Sikkim and ruled over the Nepali speaking diaspora without giving them proper representation in the state mechanism. The social-injustice and discrimination was the Achilles’ heel through which the 12th King (Chogyal), Palden Thondup Namgyal, was brought down by the oppressed Nepali speaking people.......Sikkim’s conventional nationalism was defined such that the Nepali speakers could not fit in that definition. This issue itself should teach us to build an inclusive Nepal.
...... Historically, Sikkim was under constant threats from Nepal, Bhutan and British India.The Deb Raja of Bhutan usurped south-east Sikkim, while King Prithivi Narayan Shah annexed Limbuwan, Ilam and Taplejung. Gurkha armies constantly harried the peaceful Buddhist kingdom of Sikkim to seize slaves and cattle.
Unable to resist, Sikkim requested the British to intervene the expansionist aggression of Nepal. The British saw this as an opportunity to open trade route to Tibet. Hence, the Treaty of Titalya was signed in 1817 after the conclusion of 1814-16 Anglo-Gurkha war which made Sikkim a protectorate of British. Sikkim remained crushed between the resolve of British to open a trade route to Tibet and China’s stern warning against it. This led to another Anglo-Sikkim war of 1861 resulting in a new treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the British Government. This treaty cunningly transformed Sikkim into a client state of the British, reducing it to a princely state of British-India. A political officer was deputed in Sikkim by the British Raj to guide the government of Sikkim. The nature of relationship between Independent India and Sikkim remained the same, even after the British left. ........ After Independence, India helped Sikkim economically, increasing its revenue from Rs. 600,000 in 1950 to Rs. 4.1 million in 1954. ...... India and Sikkim were enjoying their mutually respectful friendship until India and China went into war, and when Sikkim broke some rules laid down by its protector. The suspicion was set when Chogyal mooted the idea of ‘The Himalayan federation’ of Sikkim, Bhutan, Tibet, and Nepal. The then PM of Nepal, Tanka Prasad Acharya, foreign minister of Tibet and King of Bhutan were enthusiastic about this proposal. India saw this federation problematic as it may inspire Buddhists of north-east frontier or Kashmir to demand separation from India and join the Himalayan Federation. .........We can compare present day anti-Madhesi remarks of Oli to that of Krishna Chandra’s.
........ The Sikkim Congress captured 31 out of 32 seats. This left many Sikkimese skeptical but they did not expect Lendup Dorji to erase Sikkim from the world map. ....... As per the agreement of May 8th, 1973, between the Chogyal and the agitating political parties, ‘Government of Sikkim bill’ was presented to the legislators of Sikkim. The most significant of which was section 30. (c) “…seek participation and representation for the people of Sikkim in the political institutions of India”. The Sikkim’s elected assembly further enlarged the scope of the clause by adding “… and parliamentary system of India”. On June 20th, 1974, all the MLAs signed it in less than a record time of 15 minutes without any detailed discussions. The 32 legislators, who signed the bill, were given the name Battise Chor (32 thieves) by the Sikkim public.With signing of the bill, Lendup Dorji became the chief minister.
....... Under crushing majority of Congress, Indira Gandhi silenced the dissent voice in Indian parliament against the merger of Sikkim and India. A new article was inserted in the constitution’s first part which enabled the merger. Indian’s parliament passed the Constitution (38th Amendment) Bill and adopted Sikkim as India’s 22nd state. The merger was criticized by China and Pakistan. Ironically, Pakistan had merged two principalities of Hunza and Swat and China had done the same with Tibet. To legitimize the merger of India and Sikkim, a referendum was conducted, the authenticity and legality of which is not above scrutiny. It was announced that out of 63% voter turnout,97% supported the merger.
संविधान संशोधन जरुरी : सभामुखमोर्चाबाट प्रस्तुत पाँचवटा पूर्व सर्त पूरा गर्ने सहमति भएको छ।
.... अान्दोलनका क्रममा मृत्यु भएका सबैलाइ सहिद घोषणा गर्नुपर्ने, मृतक परिवारलाइ क्षतिपूर्ति दिनुपर्ने, घाइतेको निशुल्क उपचार गर्नुपर्ने, दंगाग्रस्त क्षेत्र, निषेधित क्षेत्र र कर्फ्यु अादेश हट्नु पर्ने र अान्दोलनका क्रममा पक्राउ परेका नेता कार्यकर्तालाइ रिहाइ गर्नुपर्ने मोर्चाको सर्तहरू सरकारले पुरा गर्ने सहमति भएको
म र मेरो मरस्य्हा मनस्थिति
मधेसी मोर्चा र सरकारी बार्ता टोलीवीचको बार्ता निष्कर्स विहीन, अगामी बार्ता १२ गते हुने
सरकारी बार्ता टोली र संयूक्त लोकतान्त्रिक मधेसी मोर्चाको बार्ता टोलीवीचको बार्ता बिना निष्कर्स सकिएको छ ।परराष्ट्र मन्त्रालय सिंहदरवारमा आज भएको बार्तामा मोर्चाले राखेको मागको विषयमा छलफल भए पनि कुनै ठोस निष्कर्स निस्कन नसकेको हो । स्रोतका अनुसार आजको बार्तामा मोर्चाको मागमा छलफल भए पनिDark lands: the grim truth behind the 'Scandinavian miracle'दुबै पक्ष लचक हुन तयार भएनन ।
we have an insatiable appetite for positive Nordic news stories. After decades dreaming of life among olive trees and vineyards, these days for some reason, we Brits are now projecting our need for the existence of an earthly paradise northwards. ....... Take the Danes, for instance. True, they claim to be the happiest people in the world, but why no mention of the fact they are second only to Iceland when it comes to consuming anti- depressants? And Sweden? If, as a headline in this paper once claimed, it is "the most successful society the world has ever seen", why aren't more of you dreaming of "a little place" in Umeå? .......... they also work fewer hours per year than most of the rest of the world. As a result, productivity is worryingly sluggish. ..... the Danes also have the highest level of private debt in the world (four times as much as the Italians, to put it into context; enough to warrant a warning from the IMF), while more than half of them admit to using the black market to obtain goods and services. ......they have the fourth largest per capita ecological footprint in the world. Even ahead of the US.
Those offshore windmills may look impressive as you land at Kastrup, but Denmark burns an awful lot of coal. ........ the reality of prime-time Danish TV is day-to-day, wall-to-wall reruns of 15-year-old episodes of Midsomer Murders and documentaries on pig welfare....... The Danes of course also have highest taxes in the world (though only the sixth-highest wages – hence the debt ......they effectively work until Thursday lunchtime for the state's coffers, and the other day and half for themselves
. ......... the Danes have the highest cancer rates on the planet ..... the trains most assuredly do not run on time ...... economic equality – which many believe is the foundation of societal success – is decreasing ...... the proportion of people below the poverty line has doubled over the last decade. ......Denmark is becoming a nation divided, essentially, between the places which have a branch of Sticks'n'Sushi (Copenhagen) and the rest.
Denmark's provinces have become a social dumping ground for non-western immigrants, the elderly, the unemployed and the unemployable who live alongside Denmark's 22m intensively farmed pigs, raised 10 to a pen and pumped full of antibiotics (the pigs, that is)....... Danish policeman refuse to display ID numbers and can refuse to give their names. ..... The Danes are aggressively jingoistic, waving their red-and-white dannebrog at the slightest provocation. Like the Swedes, they embraced privatisation with great enthusiasm (even the ambulance service is privatised); and can seem spectacularly unsophisticated in their race relations(cartoon depictions of black people with big lips and bones through their noses are not uncommon in the national press).
And if you think a move across the North Sea would help you escape the paedophiles, racists, crooks and tax-dodging corporations one reads about in the British media on a daily basis, I'm afraid I must disabuse you of that too. Got plenty of them........a disturbing Islamophobic sub-subculture in Norway
..... Ask the Danes, and they will tell you that the Norwegians are the most insular and xenophobic of all the Scandinavians, and it is true that since they came into a bit of money in the 1970s the Norwegians have become increasingly Scrooge-like, hoarding their gold, fearful of outsiders. ...... Though 2013 saw a record number of asylum applications to Norway, it granted asylum to fewer than half of them (around 5,000 people), a third of the number that less wealthy Sweden admits (Sweden accepted over 9,000 from Syria alone). In his book Petromania, journalist Simon Sætre warns thatthe powerful oil lobby is "isolating us and making the country asocial".
According to him, his countrymen have been corrupted by their oil money, are working less, retiring earlier, and calling in sick more frequently. And while previous governments have controlled the spending of oil revenues, the new bunch are threatening a splurge which many warn could lead to full-blown Dutch disease. ....... Like the dealer who never touches his own supply, those dirty frackers the Norwegians boast of using only renewable energy sources, all the while amassing the world's largest sovereign wealth fund selling fossil fuels to the rest of us. As Norwegian anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen put it to me when I visited his office in Oslo University: "We've always been used to thinking of ourselves as part of the solution, and with the oil we suddenly became part of the problem. Most people are really in denial."........ the Finns, a most pragmatic, redoubtable people with a Sahara-dry sense of humour. But would I want to live in Finland? In summer, you'll be plagued by mosquitos, in winter, you'll freeze – that's assuming no one shoots you, or you don't shoot yourself............Finland ranks third in global gun ownership behind only America and Yemen; has the highest murder rate in western Europe, double that of the UK; and by far the highest suicide rate in the Nordic countries.
..... The Finns are epic Friday-night bingers and alcohol is now the leading cause of death for Finnish men. "At some point in the evening around 11.30pm, people start behaving aggressively, throwing punches, wrestling," Heikki Aittokoski, foreign editor of Helsingin Sanomat, told me. "The next day, people laugh about it. In the US, they'd have an intervention." ....... the place appears to be 99% trees. The view was a bit samey. ...... Finland's is a reactive, listening culture, burdened by taboos too many to mention (civil war, second world war and cold war-related, mostly). They're not big on chat. Look up the word "reticent" in the dictionary and you won't find a picture of an awkward Finn standing in a corner looking at his shoelaces, but you should. ......."We would always prefer to be alone," a Finnish woman once admitted to me. She worked for the tourist board.
...... envious, stiff, industrious, nature loving, quiet, honest, dishonest, xenophobic. ....... "Swedish women try to moan as little as possible during childbirth and they often ask, when it is all over, whether they screamed very much. They are very pleased to be told they did not." Apparently, crying at funerals is frowned upon and "remembered long afterwards". The Swedes are, he says, "highly adept at insulating themselves from each other". They will do anything to avoid sharing a lift with a stranger, as I found out during a day-long experiment behaving as un-Swedishly as possible in Stockholm. ....... Effectively a one-party state – albeit supported by a couple of shadowy industrialist families – for much of the 20th century, "neutral" Sweden (one of the world largest arms exporters) continues to thrive economically thanks to its distinctive brand oftotalitarian modernism
, which curbs freedoms, suppresses dissent in the name of consensus, and seems hell-bent on severing the bonds between wife and husband, children and parents, and elderly on their children. Think of it asthe China of the north
. ........ and as with Norway and Denmark, the Swedish right is on the rise ......Sweden was one of the most bloodthirsty nations on earth for much of the last millennium
...... Swedish ultra-feminism has emasculated their men, but they will struggle to drown their sorrows .....ruthless pragmatism ("The Russians are attacking? Join the Nazis! The Nazis are losing? Join the Allies!").
..... Schools rein in higher achievers for the sake of the less gifted; "elite" is a dirty word;displays of success, ambition or wealth are frowned upon.
If you can cope with this, and the cost, and the cold (both metaphorical and inter-personal), then by all means join me in my adopted hyggelige home.
