Sunday, June 19, 2005

Prachanda's Meaningful Statement

This is another thing I like about these Maoists: they will put out press statements in PDF format. My source of their such statements is the INSN site, that Dinesh (Prasain) and his colleagues run, arguably the best, and perhaps only, site of its kind. The Maoists have the INSN on their mailing list.

After this statement, I will no longer try to seek dialogue with Baburam. My questions have been answered. The ground has been laid. Now it is time for business. And that has to be conducted by the representatives of the seven parties. Commentators like me need to stand guard and keep commenting.

Some observations I make:
  1. The Maoists are not like the LTTE, not like the Khmer Rouge, not like the Shining Path. The Nepali Maoists are rather unique.
  2. Of the three camps, they are the most open book. Their organization is the most secretive, but their ideology is the most open book. Compare that to someone like Girija. He is oh so accessible, but half the time not even Girija knows what Girija is thinking.
  3. The Maoists will not give up on their long term goal of a communist utopia, but then that is like saying the Nepali Congress will not give up on its ultimate goal of totally eradicating poverty in the country, nor the other parties. Such goals do not get in the way of the business at hand.
  4. The Maoists do mean rule of law, and multi-party democracy. It is a major disservice to the peace process to doubt their commitment on these fundamental issues.
  5. And they do feel like they have finally found common ground with the seven parties on the idea of a Constituent Assembly.
And that brings me to my newest request. Folks, get into dialogue mode. Talk directly. If Baburam and company are still in Delhi, let them engage the exiled Nepali leaders there. Try some face to face communication. Get on the phone. Meet.

I can understand groups not being able to hold talks when they have no common ground. But that is not the case with the Maoists and the democrats no more.

Why? Because the very idea of a Constituent Assembly hinges on dialogue. Start now. Especially when the third camp - the Monarchists - people are nowhere close to getting into dialogue mode. The only way to tip the balance is for the Maoists and the democrats to engage is some major league dialogue.

Get down to work! That is what it boils down to.

Once such dialogue gains momentum, the Monarchists will also come around to it. They will not be able to stand the isolation.

That is how peace will be made.

I keep offering my Proposed Constitution as the meeting point for all three camps, and I do so again.

Talk, damnit!

In The News
  • Prachanda Statement
  • Maoist Control Right Under Kalapani United We Blog
  • Kathmandu looks beyond Delhi for arms Calcutta Telegraph, India
  • Deuba's detention is "unconstitutional" Hindu, India
  • Maoists hijack bank vehicle, loot Rs 0.6 million PeaceJournalism.com, India
  • Dude, Where's My Parliament? Samudaya.org, AZ
  • Joint Declaration Common Agreement And Commitment People's Democracy
  • Exhibition stalls emptied after King left Kantipur Online, Nepal The much-publicized “Promote Nepal 2005”, exhibition, inaugurated by King Gyanendra in Doha, during his Qatar visit on Tuesday, was emptied soon after the King came out of the exhibition..... There was no significant participation of Nepalis though there are more than 100,000 Nepalis working in Qatar.
  • Experts hail vision for Nepal as transit economy PeaceJournalism.com, India
  • Nepalis near Indian border said using Indian cell phone service Monsters and Critics.com, UK
  • Indian national arrested for supplying Nepal Maoists Monsters and Critics.com, UK
  • Three Nepalese Maoists arrested Outlook (subscription), India
  • King Gyanendra firm on his roadmap Telegraph ..... On two separate occasions last week, His majesty King Gyanendra has firmly reiterated his continuing commitment .... He chose to underline the importance of the judiciary in interpreting the constitution. This is a pointed reference to the tendency of the politicians to interpret the constitution on their own....... the King's moves under Article 127 and 27. ..... the King followed up on his Friday's statement calling for talks with the political parties stating that discussion should center around how the political sector proposes to deal with burning national issues such as peace, corruption, good governance and fiscal discipline....... the King, has been succinct that the restoration of the parliament is unconstitutional and the King's constitutional role can't defy the constitution..... the only constitutional possibility of restoring parliament which is through the elections...... the King has said nothing new ..... the arbitrary closure of FM Radios, the stoppage of government advertisements ...... the government's silence on the proposed press law amendments ..... The King has made it clear, here too, that these regulatory moves have yet to come to his table. Until then, perhaps, the media will be allowed to agitate....... King Gyanendra has abundantly made it clear that he would proceed his way come what may...... King Gyanendra opines that why it is so that only the monarch has to remain in the boundaries of the constitution? ..... maintained that he would not "restore" the parliament as demanded by the political parties for he thought it would be an act thoroughly "unconstitutional" ...... a fierce political confrontation in between the monarch and the political parties is in the cards ...... until and unless the King restored the parliament, no talks with the King were possible...... King is not apparently going to budge an inch from his standpoints ..... The fact is that Nepali leaders would submit themselves to foreign powers willingly but would summarily neglect the Nepali power that is a national power in the hands of a Nepali from head to toe...... Koirala's love for Delhi durbar is so intense that he preferred to land in Delhi straight from Hong Kong after attending to a Chinese invitation instead of coming to Kathmandu...... An innocent Koirala perhaps does not know that how the Indian establishment is extracting benefits from his innocence....... Analysts say that Koirala as a Nepali has every right to confront with a Nepali King for a cause that is genuinely Nepali. But to invite enemies in the solution of Nepali cases or seeking their clandestine favors would be suicidal...... Friends can be changed, not the neighbors. This is Nepali tragedy, a permanent one indeed.... Rule through ordinance: In my view, it’s not a good system to rule through ordinance. But the country now is being governed by rule of law and not by the rule of the jungle..... On Protests: We understand in which season and month protests are conducted....... King Gyanendra is all set to pay an unofficial visit to United kingdom immediately after his trip to Quatar, Doha......... Dr. Bhattarai, a highly intellectual personality as he is, does not allow his rival space to breathe and retorts with equal intensity and magnitude. ...... Analysts in Kathmandu conclude that some sort of fierce personality clash is currently going on in between the two giants of the insurgency and the two appear not to reconcile with each other on their respective positions on the presumed India factor..... Let's wait what the Indian newspapers have yet to reveal in this regard.
  • Need For Tolerance And Persuasion Keshab Poudel Spotlight With the arrogance of power, people at the establishment side are inciting civil society members and politicians saying that they are just a bunch of people with no public support....... American ambassador to Nepal James Moriarty is criticized by a section of people in the ruling as well as in opposition side for pursuing the idea of reconciliation. ...... Even the leader like B.P. Koirala was criticized by them for his call for reconciliation between patriotic monarchists and patriotic democrats....... The government ministers are accusing the opposition leaders and opposition leaders, civil society, media; lawyers are challenging the authority of the government through street....... “We will punish those who violate the law and regulations. If police use force to maintain law and order, there is no question of violation of human rights,” said vice chairman Dr. Tulsi Giri. “The duty of the government is to protect the law to guarantee the rights of the citizens.”....... “This government is unconstitutional. There is no need to respond to statement like those given by a ghost of Panchayat era,” said Oli. “It is everybody’s right to oppose this unconstitutional government.” ..... if political leaders like Girija Prasad Koirala – who has been championing the genuine cause of millions of Nepalese like democracy and freedom - is begging support from Indian prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, why can he not tolerate the arrogance, if there is any, of the King of his own country...... not only took to him to a foreign capital but also made him knock the doors of all shades of politicians of a chaotic democracy of a big neighboring country.... Former deputy prime minister Acharya, who is now isolated from main stream politics, has been very unstable ...... An agitation of lawyers may carry the news for next day but that is it........ “We don’t have time to read and listen to the voice of person like Dr.Giri, whose appointment is unconstitutional. We don’t care what first vice chairman Giri means,” said CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal . “Our struggle is with King Gyanendra as he has to choose the course.” .....
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Constituent Assembly Will Still Be A Lot Of Work In The Form Of Political Dialogue


The seven parties did a wonderful thing when they came up with their four point agenda: (1) revive parliament, (2) all-party government, (3) peace talks with Maoists, and (4) constituent assembly.

But now they are stuck on it.

Reality has to be faced. Strategies and tactics are supposed to be dynamic things.

It boils down to doing homework. It is called political dialogue. You can do it now, or you can do it after (1) and (2) have materialized. You can not change the king's intransigence. But you can work on your unwillingness to talk. To each other and to the Maoists.

The party leaderships need to talk to their own young cadres. The new generation is seeking fundamental reform. These are not Maoists. These are people in the seven parties. And the four point agenda just is not enough for them.

Then there are the Maoists.

The seven parties have been invited by the Monarchists for muninicipal elections and by the Maoists for local elections in 10 western districts.

I think the seven parties should do all they can to engage the Maoists in dialogue.

You can wait until you have a Constituent Assembly. Or you could start work on a proposed constitution right now. The document does not have to take final shape as yet, but agreements and disagreements can be worked on right now.

So I think it is wonderful that the seven parties have launched the Nepal Democracy and Human Rights Advocacy Centre in Delhi with the express intention of holding talks with the Maoists.

In The News

    • Nepal parties to boycott planned municipal elections Reuters AlertNet, UK

    • Nepal rebels say will not target civilians Reuters AlertNet, UK ...... Nepal's Maoist rebels said on Sunday they would stop targetting civilians in their bloody campaign to overthrow the Hindu monarchy ...... Our party has issued special instructions to all cadres, (our) People's Liberation Army and other units not to carry out physical attacks on any unarmed person until another decision ...... People found to be government informers would be detained and tried in Maoist courts ...... a day after Nepal's seven mainstream political parties urged the Maoists not to kill their workers and disturb their pro-democracy campaign against King Gyanendra

    • Opposition to boycott Nepal elections Japan Today

    • Nepal advertises for new weapons BBC News The Royal Nepalese Army said it was looking for various types of arms, ammunition and explosives, armoured personnel carriers, tanks, aircraft, helicopter gunships, communications equipment, optical instruments and security equipment.

    • Nepal education officers said to have held clandestine meeting ... Monsters and Critics.com, UK Indications are that the Maoists will withdraw their strike from educational institutions, following a clandestine meeting held between the government education officers and top Maoist leaders on Friday [17 June]..... the committee held talks with Lalit Dhanal, central member of the student union of the Maoists..... The Maoists showed some flexibility in the issues they had raised

    • Nepalese army seeks new sources for arms:- Webindia123, India

    • Nepalese Army seeks arms from foreign suppliers Press Trust of India Nepalese Army has invited foreign-based manufacturers and distributors for supplying defence equipment

    • RNA asks foreign arms suppliers to provide weapons Kantipur Online, Nepal

    • UN stresses on Nepal’s conflict resolution Kantipur Online, Nepal conflict could never be resolved by suspending democracy and civil rights.... Nepal is on the verge of becoming an economically difficult state..... Afghanistan, where the conflict, once fragmented, gave rise to small armed groups

    • Nepal Maoists deny killing policemen's wives, son(LEAD):- Webindia123, India Radha Devi Singh, 42, was the wife of constable Man Bahadur Singh, Durga Devi Aiyar, 22, was the wife of constable Upendra Aiyar, and Laxmi Shah, 23, was the wife of constable Keshav Shah..... Laxmi's one-year-old son Dipendra was also killed ..... But the rebels issued a statement, denying any involvement in the "inhuman, criminal" act.....Prabhakar alleged that the killings were a result of "internal quarrel" within the security forces...

    • EU asks Nepal Maoists to return to talks:- Webindia123, India The EU presidency issued a statement in the wake of the communist guerrillas ambushing a civilian bus

    • Maoists positive over seven parties’ call NepalNews "Now, although late, the parties have given commitment to constituent assembly, absolute democracy and an end to the despotic monarchy." “In consideration with the historic demand of the movement against authoritarianism as well as the request of the seven political parties, we hereby give special direction to all organs of the party, the People’s Liberation Army and the new people’s government, not to carry out physical attack on unarmed persons even if they are criminals”

    • Seven parties back Deuba’s resistance against Royal Commission NepalNews Leaders of the seven-party alliance, which is waging a pro-democracy movement, Sunday met former prime minister and the Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba at Police Academy in Maharajganj where he has been detained since last two months.... Madhab Kumar Nepal .... CPN (Marxist Leninist) general secretary CP Mainali, People’s Front Nepal chairman Amik Sherchan and other central leaders of the alliance also met Deuba collectively today whereas Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala “could not afford time” to meet the beleaguered former PM.

    • Royal Nepalese Army asks foreign arms suppliers to enlist with it NepalNews the RNA has asked foreign suppliers to make available their company’s profile, ISO certificate of their products and has made it mandatory to inform it about their local agents within 30 days.

    • Democracy and peace: challenges ahead Nilambar Acharya NepalNews The talk about the dialogue between the "constitutional forces" has no practical sense without first returning to the constitution itself....... Russia of Stalin, post-Shah Iran, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Taliban's Afghanistan ..... Nepal's modern social and political forces have to act without vacillation ..... Seven political parties have proposed a road-map to democracy and peace on May 8, 2005. It is a non-confrontationist, conciliatory and reformist proposal ...... No proposal can be more modest than the one put forward by the seven political parties for bringing back the derailed constitution to the track by reviving the House of Representatives....... Three more years for February regime without elections and without democratic control are apparently needed to erect absolutist structures in place of the democratic ones..... while one side is enough to make a war, two sides are needed to make a peace...... unacceptable government cannot produce acceptable elections..... the joint statement issued on July 30, 2003 by former chief justice Biswanath Upadhya and six other persons including myself involved in the making of the present constitution...... talk about unavailability of explicit and well-formulated wordings in the constitution for reinstatement of dissolved House...... the last ten days of October 1990 when the Palace produced a parallel draft of the constitution that was not acceptable to the political parties...... Democracy is not a gift to the people but is their inherent right...... Multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy are not equal in their strength, in their role, in their durability and in their universality. Multiparty democracy can exist without monarchy, but constitutional monarchy cannot survive without multiparty democracy..... Rule by proclamations, decrees, ordinances, making arbitrary appointments, creating structures like non-party government headed by the king himself and without prime minister, Royal commission for control of corruption, creating posts like vice-chairmen of the Council of Ministers, zonal and regional administrators, making royal will as the source of authority, obstructing the reactivation of the constitution are the manifestations of absolutist course of monarchy. The constitution is not what the palace feudal complex or the authors of February regime and their serfs say. The constitution is what the constitution says. It is not a secret document, everyone can consult it and make his or her own judgment. Besides, there are universal principles of multiparty democracy, which have been flouted...... What will they do if the monarchy, contrary to any sane logic, continues to insist on its absolutist course? How long will they confine themselves within their modest programme?

    • Maoists holding local elections from Sunday: Report NepalNews ..... Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is holding local elections in its “base areas” from Sunday, a pro-Maoist newspaper reported..... Janadesh weekly ...... in ten districts in western Nepal described as `special zone’ by the Maoists...... on June 19 and 22 in Rolpa, Rukum, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Gulmi, Baglung, Myagdi, Arghakhanchi and Kapilvastu ...... chief and deputy chiefs of Village People’s Government (VPGs) and chiefs of Ward People’s Government will be elected through these elections. The (Maoist) Election Commission has started the election process from May 29 and several candidates have already been elected unopposed ...... the Maoists had called mainstream political parties to take part in the elections ....... a strong possibility of some “independent candidates” getting elected to the local bodies. People supporting the royal regime and frauds have been barred from taking part ..... keenly wanted the parliamentary parties to take part in the elections.......

    • Maoists Are Financing Their Revolution With Himalayan Viagra Nepali Times Every able-bodied person is up on the mountains collecting yarsagumba..... This unique Himalayan fungus that grows like a worm out of the soil after the snow melts is in high demand internationally. Called ‘Himalayan viagra’ for its alleged potency, prices have shot up as China becomes more affluent....... yarsagumba is the district’s lifeline .... nobody wants to miss this opportunity, they have to earn enough now to last them the whole year... In the absence of government, the Maoists have now monopolised revenue collection from yarsagumba in Dolpa..... Rs 180 million revenue from yarsagumba taxes...... One kg of yarsagumba costs Rs 5,000 in Dolpa and Rs 18,000 by the time it gets to Nepalganj and $3,000 by the time it gets to Shanghai..... “It is very difficult to see the yarsagumba, you have to have very keen eyes” ...... Although no one admits it, all civil servants, traders, NGO workers and shopkeepers pay the ‘revolutionary tax’...... Teachers and students are made to dig bunkers and trenches to thwart an ‘Indian invasion’.

    • Maoist Meetings Jana Aastha 15 June A Maoist delegation under Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Baburam Bhattarai has been busy meeting Indian political party leaders in Delhi and Nepali politicians currently in Delhi. Most were face-to-face, while a source said Girija Prasad Koirala spoke to the Maoists on the phone. But the Maoist met UML leader Bamdeb Gautam who reached Delhi via Lucknow. Among others that the Maoists met are: NC-D leader Pradeep Giri, Chandra Deb Joshi and Krishna Prasad Sitaula from the NC, Unity Centre Masal’s Prakash. However, the Maoists did not meet Masal’s Chief Mohan Bikram Singh but his Spokesperson Chitra Bahadur KC who reportedly poured his angst against the Maoists. The rebel group leaders also had informal sessions with diplomatic representatives of India, America and Britain. The political leaders who met the Maoist duo told them the crisis could not be solved through violence but only by working with the king to bring the army under jurisdiction of parliament. According to one leader present at the talks, the Maoists were not sure that the Indians trusted them.

    • Regional Security Or Democracy? Both by Dipta Shah Nepali Times Aside from the apparent divide within the Maoist leadership, the most important post-February First development within Nepal has been the formulation of the seven-party alliance. This is a feat we haven’t witnessed since 1990...... American policy-makers appear to have selected the only viable path to achieving both security and democracy simultaneously by refusing to fall prey to the prevailing polarisation..... Bhattarai’s alleged engagements with CPI-Marxist leader Prakash Karat could be a positive development. ......India’s status as a regional power is inextricably tied to her performance as a regional stabiliser is a reassuring realisation -especially for Nepal where Indian moves are constantly misconstrued as evidence of imminent invasion...... Admission of guilt is insufficient if the only alternative is indefinite agitation. Rigid positions are untenable if room for inclusive politics is decimated. Propagation of petty gossip and name-calling is counterproductive when the ability to absorb and interpret is lacking. Using threats as political leverage when their ramifications are not fully understood is risky and there is a danger that such threats may become self-fulfilling prophecies.

    • Trial And Terror Nepali Times Indian and Nepali politicians tried in New Delhi last week to convince Maoist ideologues to join the mainstream through a constitutional compromise. But the comrades know that as soon as they put down their bombs, they will be chased out of the villages.... sustainable peace-building... needs visionaries.
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Sangram Morcha: A New Political Party (1993)




I worked on this book in 1993. It was supposed to launch a political party.

Sangram Morcha: A New Political Party (1993)

Instead it sent me off to the Sadbhavana, more accurately then not yet formed Nepal Samajwadi Janata Dal: supposedly I was too strong on the Terai rights issue for the founding members to stick around. And it also got me an admission to the University of Chicago, but the money part did not work out, so I went elsewhere, later. "Not for your numbers, but your actions and words."

I guess I get to tell Comrade Baburam, Sir, you are not the only one with a book, though mine is not as long. But then yours is not online either. And I must admit yours has much more depth, from what I hear, it is much more rigorous.

In The News
  • Game of Golf Stirs Up Criticism of US Role in Nepal Washington Post, DC Arrested in a crackdown on civil liberties, politician Ram Mahat was languishing in his jail cell last month when a guard slipped him a daily newspaper. There on the front page, he said, was an article that made his blood boil....... It reported that the U.S. ambassador, James F. Moriarty, had played golf the day before in Katmandu with Crown Prince Paras ......"he saw this as a good opportunity to get a personal impression of Paras since they had not conversed before." ..... Critics also accuse the embassy here of exaggerating the threat of a Maoist takeover...... the Maoists are active in 70 of Nepal's 75 administrative districts..... 2002, when Deuba, the prime minister, dissolved parliament, called for new elections and then sought their postponement...... The officials expressed doubts about the parties' demand for a restoration of the dissolved parliament, which the king has dismissed as unconstitutional, and expressed support for the king's plan to hold municipal elections, which the parties have dismissed as window dressing....... as if the embassy is making excuses for a monarch who, in their view, is largely to blame for the political crisis
  • Ratna Park as political theatre Kathmandu Post, Nepal Ratna Park and the Media Park are the achievements of democratic Nepal
  • Bagmati calls for action, not empty pledges Kathmandu Post, Nepal
  • Once foes, now co-workers Kathmandu Post, Nepal Dozens of former security personnel and ex-Maoist rebels are co-workers in the coal mines of the Jaintia hills of Meghalaya.
  • Parties decide to boycott Municipal polls Kathmandu Post, Nepal
  • Nepal parties vow to boycott civic polls Peninsula On-line, Qatar
  • Nepalese say no to Nepal! The Statesman, India the number of Nepalese returning to their villages and towns from their Indian jobs has decreased dramatically
  • Gender disparity in SLC performance ‘alarming’ Himalayan Times, Nepal the percentage of girl candidates in 2060 BS was still only 42 per cent and the pass rate was just 17 per cent.
  • A music concert in Nepal’s capital nearly turned into a chaotic ... United We Blog, Nepal
  • Japan has continued to extend various kinds of assistance to Nepal PeaceJournalism.com, India
  • Economic growth slides down to 2% Gulf Times, Qatar
  • Nepal Maoist conscript surrenders, says children 'massively used' ... Monsters and Critics.com, UK She admitted that she was involved in the Khara attack that occurred a few months ago..... she said the Maoists have used many children in their warfare. "Though they do not take children in offensive operations, they are massively used for other works" ....
  • Nepal soldiers asked to stay away from buses:- Webindia123, India
  • Chinese help for Nepal's army under UN guise?:- Webindia123, India can defend the delivery on the ground they have been bought by the army and are supposed to be used abroad for UN operations...... a team to train soldiers in international human rights laws.
  • NEPAL: Police intervene into peaceful demonstratons; dozens ... Asia Pacific Media Network, CA
  • SLC result nil in 10 schools in Mugu Kantipur Online, Nepal
  • Nepal's war wounds PeaceJournalism.com, India
  • Youth leaders call for restructuring of state Kathmandu Post, Nepal "Equal focus must be given to how to make the democracy a pro-people system by effecting drastic changes in the country's socio-economic and political structure,' said NSU leader Gagan Thapa...... "As long as the present unitary structure of the state exists, armed struggle will always prevail." ..... "It's (constitution's) rationale has finished now." .... Shanker Pokhrel, central committee member of CPN-UML ..... "Changes in party leadership won't do enough for reforms as candidates are still chosen by leaders to contest elections instead of by the electorate." ..... Pradip Raj Poudel, another student leader, said the seven-party alliance's common agenda of reforms still lacks a concrete roadmap for ensuring meaningful reforms in society. "The challenge to sustainable democracy can recur in the future,' Poudel added...... Nabindra Raj Joshi, former deputy mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, advised political parties not to delay the launch of reform programs.
  • Govt's act on FM radios manipulative Kathmandu Post, Nepal
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Saturday, June 18, 2005

Activist Judges Could Save The Day


I often think about this. What could bring to an end this political paralysis?

Could it be Girija? But then the guy is so one dimensional. He does not seem to feel the importance of back channel communications. He has already said the Maoists need to cease violence if they want to talk to him, so his part with the Maoists is done! That is how he thinks.

Could it be other political leaders? Girija dominates.

Could it be the Maoists? They are more secretive than even they need to be. They put out statements. Their capacity for dialogue is limited.

Could it be the king? The guy is in no hurry. He is more in a mood to wait out the stalemate than to speed things up.

I think if the Supreme Court justices got proactive, they could end up playing a decisive role. All they have to do is make the royal government members feel like they are not above the law. They could start out by declaring all attempts to take away civil liberties are unconsitutional. Bureaucrats may not take away people's rights. That could slowly snowball into their reviving the parliament, unilaterally.

When the legislative has been washed away and the executive hijacked, the judiciary should step forward and save the day.
  1. Nepal apex court issues notice to royal government Outlook (subscription), India
  2. Present Subedi before the court: SC Kantipur Online, Nepal
  3. Produce re-arrested Subedi: Apex court Kathmandu Post
  4. Shahi faces contempt of court again Kathmandu Post
  5. SC to home minister: Furnish written reply Kathmandu Post
  6. Challenge against FM radio news ban filed in Nepal's Supreme Court Monsters and Critics.com, UK
  7. People's Front Nepal leader rearrested after freed by Supreme ... Monsters and Critics.com, UK
  8. Contempt of court hearing Gorkhapatra, Nepal
In The News
    • Nepal parties will boycott polls BBC News, UK

  • Nepal Porters, in Labors of Hercules, Carry Double Their Weight Bloomberg Porters in Nepal routinely carry double their body weight in loads balanced with a head strap ..... White Europeans carry about 25 percent of their weight on average .... trips of 62 miles (100 kilometers) or more ..... the male porters generally weighed about 114 pounds (52 kilograms) and the women about 93 pounds. The men carried 220 pounds or more and the women about 66 pounds to 77 pounds on average ...... We can carry something like 25 percent of our body weight and an African, 60 percent and a Nepalese on average 100 percent of body weight ......
  • Nepalese Porters May Be World's Most Efficient Haulers National Geographic A typical Nepalese porter carries a load nearly as heavy as he is. When he does, the porter burns less energy per pound than a backpacker would need to shoulder about half the same weight.... More than 500 men and about 100 women carried about 30 tons of material to the market that day .... "they're [generally] not very well equipped [and] have very bad shoes." ..... "On a steep incline," Heglund said, "they'll walk for as little as 15 seconds and rest for 45." ..... their "enormous loads" set the Nepalese apart, Kram added. "It's a good scientific puzzle, how they [conserve] energy when walking." .....
  • Nepalese parties developing forum in Delhi, trying for dialogue ... Monsters and Critics.com The seven agitating political parties have decided to develop Nepal Democracy and Human Rights Advocacy Centre, which is based in New Delhi, as an international forum of the Nepalese...... The political parties are busy raising funds from Nepalese and the international community. Leaders of the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), the Nepali Congress (Democratic), Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Anandi Devi), Professor of Jawahar Lal Nehru University S.D. Muni et al are involved in the development of the forum..... the forum is trying to start dialogue with the Maoists.
  • Pankaj Mishra: The People's War INSN In a few frenzied minutes, he killed his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, a brother, a sister and five other relatives before putting a pistol to his head. Anointed king as he lay unconscious in hospital, he died two days later, passing his title to his uncle Gyanendra....... the bookshops, trekking agencies, cybercafés, bakeries, malls and restaurants were empty..... the vendors of carpets, Gurkha knives, pirate DVDs and Tibetan prayer flags ..... He said that Maoists had bombed the private school he sent his children to; he worried that his servants might join the guerrillas, who controlled 80 per cent of the countryside and were growing strong in the Kathmandu Valley....... What the country needed now, he declared, was a strong and principled ruler, someone who could crush the Maoists. He said that he missed Dipendra: he was the man Nepal needed at this hour of crisis...... Dipendra’s three years as a schoolboy in Britain had radicalised him. Just as Pandit Nehru had discovered the poverty of India after his stints at Harrow and Cambridge, so Dipendra had developed a new political awareness in England. He had begun to look, with mounting horror and concern, at his homeland. Returning to Nepal, he had realised that it would take more than tourism to create a strong middle class, accelerate economic growth, build democratic institutions and lift the ninth poorest country in the world to the ranks of modern democratic nations. As it turned out, he had been thwarted at every step by conservative elements in the royal palace....... Frustration in politics rather than love, the businessman claimed, had driven Dipendra to alcohol, drugs, guns and, finally, to regicide...... conspiracy and rumour have long fuelled a particularly secretive kind of court politics...... the press has little influence over a largely illiterate population easily swayed by rumour..... King Gyanendra appeared on national television to blame the palace massacre on a ‘sudden discharge by an automatic weapon’......the new king himself, who was allegedly involved in smuggling artefacts out of Nepal, and on his son, Paras, much disliked in Nepal for his habit of brandishing guns in public and dangerous driving – he has run over at least three people in recent years, killing one. More confusingly, the Maoists claimed that they had an ‘undeclared working unity’ with King Birendra, and accused Gyanendra, and Indian and American imperialists, of his murder....... atmosphere of secrecy and intrigue ..... February, when Gyanendra adopted the Bush administration’s rhetoric about ‘terrorism’ and assumed supreme power..... When I arrived in Kathmandu, fear hung heavy over the street crossings, where soldiers peeped out from behind machine-gun emplacements. Men in ill-fitting Western suits, with the furtive manner of inept spies, lurked in the lobby of my hotel. Journalists spoke of threatening phone calls from senior army officers who tended to finger as Maoists anyone who didn’t support the king. Many of the people I wanted to meet turned out to be in prison or in exile. Appointments with underground activists, arduously made, were cancelled at the last minute, or people simply didn’t turn up...... 20,000 M-16 rifles from the US, 20,000 rifles from India, helicopters from the UK..... the high mountains, ravines and rivers – almost perfect terrain for guerrillas..... the emblems of Western philanthropy – new computers, armed guards, shiny four-wheel drives in the parking lot – that I had seen in December in Afghanistan..... a bizarre feeling of normality prevailed, best symbolised by the vibrant billboards advertising mobile phones (banned since 1 February) .... in a local newspaper, a Dutch investor described the Nepalese as an ‘extremely corrupt, greedy, triple-faced, myopic, slow, inexperienced and uneducated people’, and declared that he was taking his hair-replacement business to Latvia....... Western diplomats and United Nations officials – darting in their SUVs from one walled compound to another – speculated about a possible assault on the capital by guerrillas..... the middle-class Nepalese, denounced by the Maoists as ‘comprador capitalists’ ..... a country where almost half of the 26 million people earned less than $100 a year and had no access to electricity, running water or sanitation; a country whose small economy, parasitic on foreign aid and tourism, had to be boosted by the remittances of Nepalese workers abroad, and where political forces seen as anachronisms elsewhere – monarchy and Communism – fought for supremacy...... a recipient of religions and ideologies – Buddhism, Hinduism, Communism – from India; even today, the country’s 60 ethnic and caste communities are regarded as little more than a picturesque backdrop to some of the world’s highest mountains....... As in the so-called princely states of India, the British were keen to support despotic regimes in Nepal, and even reward them with territory; it was one way of staving off potentially destabilising change in a strategically important buffer state to Tibet and China..... a source of cheap mercenaries. Tens of thousands of soldiers recruited by the British from the western hills of Nepal fought during the Indian Mutiny, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and in the two world wars. The Gurkhas also helped the British suppress political dissenters in India, and then, more violently, Communist anti-colonialists in Malaya in the 1950s...... The end of the British Empire in Asia didn’t lead to rapid change in Nepal, or end its status as a client state...... In the 1950s and 1960s, as the Cold War intensified, Nepal was the forward base of the CIA’s operations against China.... Few among the so-called international community protested when, after a brief experiment with parliamentary democracy in the 1950s, King Mahendra, Dipendra’s grandfather, banned all political parties...... The representatives of the Panchayat, largely from the upper castes, helped themselves to the foreign aid that made up most of the state budget, and did little to alleviate poverty in rural areas. The king also declared Nepal a Hindu state and sought to impose on its ethnic and linguistic communities a new national identity by promoting the Nepali language...... What leads the sensitive prince to drugs and alcohol often forces the pauper to migrate. Millions of Nepalese have swelled the armies of cheap mobile labour that drive the global economy, serving in Indian brothels, Thai and Malaysian sweatshops, the mansions of oil sheikhs in the Gulf and, most recently, the war zones of Iraq. Many more have migrated internally, often from the hills to the subtropical Tarai region on the long border with India..... Mukti Raj Dahal, the father of the underground Maoist leader, Prachanda ..... Though he is tormented by stomach and spinal ailments, he exuded calm as he sat on the verandah of his two-roomed brick house, wearing a blue T-shirt and shorts under a black cap, a Brahminical caste mark on his forehead....... selling food fried in peanut oil and tea in sticky clouded glasses ..... the army marching men out of overcrowded prisons and executing them. My companion, a Nepalese journalist, was nervous. He knew that the soldiers in the countryside attacked anyone they suspected of being a Maoist, and journalists were no exception. Many of the soldiers barely knew what a journalist was...... few places in Nepal untouched by violence – murder, torture, arbitrary arrest – and most people live perpetually in fear of both the army and the Maoists, without expectation of justice or recompense...... He appeared both bemused by, and admiring of, his famous son, whom he had last seen at the funeral of his wife in 1996....... how his son had got interested in Mao or Marx in such a place as Chitwan, which had no bookshop or library...... Prachanda had got involved with Communists when he couldn’t find a good job with the government and had to teach at a primary school in his native hills of Pokhara....... Prachanda comes across as an ideologue of another era: he’s an embarrassment to the Chinese regime, which is engaged in the un-Maoist task of enriching Chinese coastal cities at the expense of the hinterland, and feels compelled to accuse Nepalese Maoists of besmirching the Chairman’s good name...... the haphazard schooling, the useless degree, the ill-paid teaching job in a village school, all of which seem to lead inexorably to a conflict with, and resentment of, unjust authority....... Educated, but with no prospects, many young men like Prachanda must have been more than ready to embrace radical ideas about the ways that an entrenched urban elite could be challenged and even overthrown if peasants in the countryside were organised....... in the 1950s, a famous Communist leader called M.B. Singh travelled in the midwestern hills and acquired followers among the Magars, one of Nepal’s more prominent ethnic groups now supporting the Maoists...... ‘class enemies’ – big landlords, policemen, bureaucrats –...... The Indian government responded brutally, killing and torturing thousands....... successive Indian governments have steadily reduced subsidies for agriculture, public health, education and poverty-eradication, exposing large sections of the population to disease, debt, hunger and starvation. Almost three thousand farmers committed suicide in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after the government, advised by McKinsey, cut agricultural subsidies in an attempt to initiate farmers into the world of unregulated markets..... In recent years, Naxalite movements, which have long organised landless, low-caste peasants in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, have grown quickly in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – where an enfeebled Indian state is increasingly absent – to the extent that police and intelligence officials in India now speak anxiously of an unbroken belt of Communist-dominated territory from Nepal to South India....... As fractious as their Indian counterparts, the Nepalese Communist parties split and split again over petty doctrinal or personality issues...... In the early 1990s, however, few people in Nepal could have predicted the swift rise of Prachanda and the obscure faction he led...... hardly anyone noticed when on 4 February 1996 the Maoists presented the government with a list of 40 demands, which included abrogating existing treaties with India, stripping the monarchy of all power and privileges, drafting a new constitution by means of a constituent assembly, nationalising private property, declaring Nepal a secular nation and ending all foreign aid...... the Maoists began their ‘people’s war’ by attacking police stations in six districts four days before the deadline...... much of the new power and charisma of the Maoists came from their ability to launch audacious attacks on the police and the army...... The military wing of the Maoists initially consisted of a few ill-trained men armed with antique rifles and homemade weapons.......also attacked roads, bridges, dams, administrative offices, bridges, power plants – anything they felt might aid the counter-insurgency efforts of the government...... looting police stations and buying from the arms bazaars of India ..... In November 2001, the Maoists launched 48 attacks on the army and the police in a single day, forcing the Nepalese government to impose a state of emergency. More than 5000 people died in the next 15 months, the bloodiest period in Nepal’s modern history...... Their cadres – estimated to number as many as 100,000 – travel to deprived areas ..... It’s clear now that what happened in 1990 was less a revolution than a reconfiguration of power, sanctified by elections, among the old royalist oligarchy and an emerging urban middle class. Many courtiers and sycophants of the king managed to reinvent themselves as parliamentary politicians, often joining the Nepali Congress, the political party that ruled Nepal for all but one of the next 13 years....... both of which continued to be led by upper-caste men motivated largely by a desire for money and power ...... Elections were held frequently, and a procession of governments – 13 in as many years – made Nepalese democracy appear vibrant...... In 2002, Dalits, low-caste Hindus, had an annual per capita income of only $40, compared to a national average of $210; fewer than 10 per cent of Dalits were literate...... absolute poverty continued to increase in the late 1990s, even as Kathmandu Valley benefited from the growth in the tourist, garment and carpet industries, and filled up with new hotels, resorts and villas..... The Maoists in Nepal had their first ready constituency among rural youths, more than 100,000 of whom fail their high school examination every year. Unemployed and adrift, many of these young men worked for other political parties in the countryside before becoming disillusioned and joining the Maoists...... he seemed to be ‘passing his days’ ..... he still used them despite having left the Maoists because he had no other vocabulary with which to describe his experience of deprivation and disappointment....... he had joined the Nepali Congress in 1992, when still in his late teens, and become a personal aide to a prominent local politician..... They received no money for their services, but slept in the politician’s house, ate the food prepared for his family, and travelled with him to Kathmandu. Mohan said that it was a good time, the early years of democracy. He liked being in Kathmandu, especially with someone who had a bit of power. But he couldn’t fail to notice that the politician returned less and less often to his constituency in the hills and often refused to meet people who came to his door asking for jobs, money and medical help. He was surprised to hear that the politician was building a new house for himself in Kathmandu. Soon, he felt he was not needed, and one day the politician’s wife told him to eat elsewhere........in 1995, one of his friends introduced him to the Maoist ‘squad commander’ in the region ..... Operation Romeo .... an instance of ‘state terror’ ..... The police, according to the report, invaded villages in the Rolpa and Rukum districts, killing and torturing young men and raping women...... He said the Maoists were simply another opportunistic political group; this was why he had left them. They were interested in mobilising ethnic communities only to the extent that this would help them capture ‘state power’; they weren’t really interested in giving them autonomy...... Using rocks and hammers, they often broke all the bones in their victims’ bodies before skinning them alive and cutting off their tongues, ears, lips and noses....... Criminals had infiltrated their movement, and some Maoists now made a living from extortion and kidnapping..... constrained in their political thinking by revolutionary methods and rhetoric created in another time and place. Prachanda, for instance, is convinced that ‘a new wave of revolution, world revolution is beginning, because imperialism is facing a great crisis.’ ....... When the subject is not world revolution but the specific situation of Nepal, he can be shrewdly perceptive....... Few journalists venture out of their urban bases .... the nervous soldiers at checkpoints ...... a few men quietly informed us that Maoist guerrillas were hiding in the nearby forest, where no security forces ever ventured and from where the Maoists often escaped to India ....... The scene in the square appeared normal at first – women scrubbing children at a municipal tap, young men drinking tea, an old tailor hunched over an antique sewing-machine, his walking stick leaning against his chair – but the presence of the Maoists, if unacknowledged, was unmistakable...... He didn’t know who had built the bamboo gate; it had simply appeared one morning..... The parents of the victims had exhumed their corpses from the shallow graves in which the army had quickly buried them and discovered that two of them had been wearing their school uniforms. Like much else in Nepal, this would not appear in the newspapers....... The Maoists have shown themselves willing to negotiate and even to compromise: in July 2001 they dropped their demand that Nepal cease to be a monarchy....... any Maoist concessions to bourgeois democracy are unlikely to please Gyanendra, who clearly wants to use the current chaos to help him hold on to his power...... the Maoists are far from achieving a military victory; and the Communists in India are unlikely to extend their influence beyond the poverty-stricken districts they presently control....... the nature of a democracy that is protected by an autocrat...... the turnout of voters does nothing but empower and legitimise a native elite willing to push the priorities of its Western patrons.......
  • Republicanism: How About A Real Public Debate? INSN In the aftermath of King Gyanendra’s February 1 takeover of full executive powers, the Nepali Congress, too, has signaled that its support for constitutional monarchy is, at best, driven by expediency...... Fifteen years later, the palace stepped in to claim a role it believed it never had relinquished under the tripartite agreement...... Discussions have focused too narrowly on how the palace might react to an adverse result. How would the mainstream parties and the Maoists respond to an outcome not to their liking? ..... may be ready to shed some of their doctrinaire policies and rhetoric in exchange for legitimacy ..... The Nepalese Maoists continue to espouse aspects of the Cultural Revolution — including class conflicts and retribution – which modern-day Chinese communists would prefer to forget...... India, extreme left-wing insurgencies grip some 40 percent of the country’s 593 districts..... Growing cooperation between the world’s two most populous nations cannot mask the reality that they are also competitors. The limits to conciliation have been on display for some time....... Despite India’s full recognition of Tibet as an integral part of China, Beijing has hardly shown unequivocal reciprocity on the issue of Sikkim, the Himalayan kingdom India annexed in 1974. China’s reticence on India’s candidacy for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council provides yet another illustration of this complex relationship........ China wants the Nepalese government to stay clear of any foreign (Indian or the U.S.) influence that could make trouble in Tibet. To further the goal of status quo in Tibet, China is integrating Nepal into the Tibetan economy, and laying a highway that will connect the two...... a permanent U.S. delegation to talk with China one a variety of international issues, including Burma, Nepal and Sudan....... the Pentagon likely would not mind having another emergency air base or logistics center close to Pakistan and Central Asia..... “The U.S. military has bases in Pakistan, throughout Central Asia, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines, and it has relations with Mongolia, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Nepal is another link in the chain” .... Rhetorical threats must not be allowed to take the place of substantive discussions. The accusation that King Gyanendra in this day and age is bent on reviving autocracy is an insult to the intelligence of the Nepalese people...... Sanjay Upadhya, a Nepalese journalist based in the United States, has been a Fulbright Scholar at New York University
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Proposed Constitution


Proposed Constitution

Preamble
  1. Nepal is a federal kingdom, a total, transparent democracy, with the sovereignty resting with the Nepali people.
Article 1: The Legislative Branch
  1. There is to be a lower house, the Pratinidhi Sabha, with 180 members, 60 per state, and a upper house, the Rajya Sabha, with 60 members, 20 per state, all of whom are to be directly elected through constituencies demarcated such that the largest has a population not more than 5% of the smallest, geographically in close approximation to a circle or a square, and protected from partisan gerrymandering by an autonomous Election Commission. The constituencies need not respect district boundaries. Three constituencies for the Pratinidhi Sabha will make one for the Rajya Sabha. The entire Sabha is dissolved en masse when its term nears expiration.
  2. All matters of national importance are to be decided by the national parliament through a majority vote unless otherwise stated. Parliamentary procedures are to be laid out or revised with a 60% vote margin.
  3. The legislatures are to elect their Speakers and Deputy Speakers. The legislatures shall assemble at least once every four months, and as often as necessary.
  4. No parliamentarian may be arrested while the parliament might be in session except for felony charges. Their speech in parliament is protected from any and all oversight, legal and otherwise.
  5. A simple majority of the parliament will pass the budget. All budget proposals must originate in the Pratinidhi Sabha.
  6. All bills must be posted online in three languages - Nepali, Hindi and English - for at least one week before they may be voted upon.
  7. All regional and international treaties that Nepal might enter into will have to pass a 60% majority in the parliament.
  8. Political parties may not engage in fund-raising activities. Instead each national party, described as those that garnered at least 5% of the votes in the previous nationwide elections, will get an annual sum that will be directly proportional to the number of votes it earned. That money is to be used for party-building and electioneering activities. Details of expenses are to be posted online in the three languages to the last paisa on at least an annual basis.
  9. The Election Commission holds secret ballot elections for party leadership for each national party. Tickets for all elections are distributed by parties through democratic methods involving members at or below the said level in the organization.
  10. The Election Commission puts in place ceilings as to election expenditures. Independent candidates may not raise money, but may spend their own money that may not exceed the amount of the party candidate spending the most money. Once elected independent candidates may not join a national party for at least one year.
  11. Every person on the state's payroll - elected officials, bureaucrats, justices, police, army personnel - is to submit a Family Property Statement, to be posted online and archived and updated annually. Upon exiting the public sector, they may discontinue the practice, but the archives will remain, and the updates will resume should the individuals re-enter public service.
  12. Details of all expenses incurred by the state, to the last paisa, are to be posted online in the three languages. All contracts offered by the state to the private sector are to be bid for in a similar transparent manner from beginning to the end. All job applications and promotions in the public sector are to be similarly handled in a transparent manner.
  13. All formal political deliberations at all levels of government are to be posted online in as real time as possible in the language that was used at the venue. Efforts are to be made to make the same available in Nepali, Hindi and English. All votes are to be similarly made public.
  14. Every elected official at all levels of government is to get a decent monthly salary.
  15. Anyone above the age of 16 is a legible voter. Members of the Pratinidhi Sabha will have to be at least 23 years of age, and that of the Rajya Sabha at least 25 years of age. The terms of members of the two bodies shall last four and six years respectively. All elected officials are to have been citizens.
  16. Acts of impeachment require a vote of 65%. This constitution can be amended by the same vote margin.
  17. The parliamentarians may not increase their salaries in a way that might affect the members of the existing class. The same applies to the salaries of members of the cabinet.
Article 2: The Executive Branch
  1. The legislative party leader of the majority party in the Pratinidhi Sabha becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may elect members to the Cabinet that might or might not be members of the parliament.
  2. When a majority might be lacking, the largest pre-poll alliance, or the largest single party, whichever might be larger, gets invited to form the government, and is given 30 days to prove majority.
  3. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the Supreme Court and other constitutional bodies like the Election Commission (EC) and the Commission to Control Corruption (CCC) to be confirmed by a 60% vote in the parliament. The commissioners serve 6-year terms.
  4. The army, to be called the Nepal Army, is not to be larger than 0.1% of the national population and is to be downsized accordingly within 5 years of this constitution getting promulgated. The Prime Minister is the Commander-In-Chief of the army.
  5. The central bank is to be autonomous, and the governor, to serve a six-year term, is to be appointed by the Prime Minister, subject to a 60% vote in the parliament.
  6. All appointments made by the Prime Minster, except for his or her personal staff, will need a majority vote in the parliament for confirmation, unless otherwise stated.
Article 3: The Judiciary Branch
  1. The judiciary will reflect the composition of the government, from village/town to district, to state to the national level. Towns and cities with more than 25,000 people will be served with more than one court, the number to be decided through a formula by the state government. There will be a layer between the district and the state levels, the Appeals Court, 10 per state. The system is to be peopled like the civil service, on merit.
  2. The Prime Minister makes nominations to the national Supreme Court. The Chief Minister makes nominations to the State Supreme Court. Both are subject to their respective parliaments for 60% of the vote. Justices to the Supreme Court are to serve to the age of 75 or upto their voluntary retirement.
  3. The state and national Supreme Courts interpret the constitutionality of laws passed by the parliaments when thus challenged, but such interpretations may be overturned by the parliaments through a 65% vote.
  4. The parliament, federal or state, may not diminish the salary of a sitting judge.
Article 4: The States
  1. The current "zones" and "development regions" are to be abolished, but the "districts" are to be retained. The country is to be divided into three states, roughly of equal population, Eastern, Central, and Western, to be called Purbanchal, Madhyamanchal, and Paschimanchal, that are to include all three geographical regions, Terai, Pahad and Himal. Each state is to have a Pratinidhi Sabha, 120 members, and a Rajya Sabha, 40 members.
  2. The districts will have their own governments, forming a third layer, named Zillapalika. It is for each state to design the formation and functioning of its component district and town/city governments. The village units are to be called Grampalika, the town units are to be called Nagarpalika, and the city units Mahanagarpalika, and will form the fourth layer of government. District, town/city and village elected officials are to be at least 21 years of age.
  3. The federal government will directly transfer 10% of its annual budget to the 25 poorest districts measured by per capita income. This does not prevent further federal expenditures on those districts.
  4. The income tax structure is to be as follows: 50% federal, 30% state, 10% district, and 10% village/town/city. The income tax is to be collected by the federal government, and funds transferred by the same to the other levels of government as per this formula.
  5. The education system shall follow a tri-lingual policy up to Class 10, beyond which it is for each individual institution to decide on their own as to the language of instruction. The first language is to be the student's first language, the second language is to be Nepali. For those for whom Nepali might be their first language, the student may choose any language spoken in Nepal. The third language is to be English, the contemporary language of science and commerce. This policy applies to schools in both the private and the public sectors. The language of instruction for all other subjects to Class 10 will be a decision to be made by the individual school boards for the public schools and by the owners of the private schools.
Article 5: The Monarchy
  1. The monarch is the guardian of the constitution and the one who formally invites formations of governments from the parliaments and formally inducts governments.
  2. The first born, son or daughter, is heir to the throne.
  3. The monarch's immediate family - defined as parent(s), wife, children, and grandchildren, and others in direct lineage, the monarch's siblings and their children, and above the law - is to get annual allowances from the state at the 1991 levels. The amount may not be reduced by the parliament. The monarch may request the parliament increases to the allowance through the Prime Minister at any time. Such allowances are not to be taxed, although businesses owned by members of the said family will be subject to taxation and the law.
  4. The monarch may decide to retire at an age of his or her choosing, or not.
  5. It is a state goal to open up enough holdings of the royal family with consent from the monarch to tourists so as to offset the state expenditure on the monarchy through revenue from tourism. Rituals may also be designed and included.
  6. The monarch may opt to appoint a Prince/Princess for each state, to be called Prince/Princess of Purbanchal/Madhyamanchal/Paschimanchal from among the members of the royal family, or not. The monarch may also choose to appoint members that might have married into the family. Such appointments may be rescinded by the monarch at any time. The title comes with extra allowances from the state and a state-funded residence in the state capital. The spouse of the appointed royal family member gets the accompanying title.
  7. Members of the royal family may marry individuals of their choice, not necessarily from certain families, or from within the country.
  8. The monarch will give the annual State Of The Kingdom address, the speech to be crafted by the Prime Minister summarizing the achievements in the public and the private sectors over the past year and outlining a vision for the future years.
  9. It is for the monarch to decide as to who in the political arena or the media to meet for private or public audiences. The monarch may also send political directives of advisory nature to the parliament throught the Prime Minister at any time, none of which is to be binding.
  10. The monarchy may be abolished with a 75% vote in the national parliament.
Article 6: The Individual
  1. The individual is the most important component of the state and is to be protected and celebrated.
  2. Every person has a birth right to freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of religion, a right to a speedy, public trial, and a right to privacy, a protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. No person may be tried and punished for the same crime twice. No person will be compelled to testify against themselves. No person will be deprived of life, liberty or propety without due process of law. Private property may not be taken for public use without due compensation. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended. No ex post facto law shall be passed. No warrants are to be issued, except upon probable cause, and should specifically describe the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. A person charged with a crime is to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his or her favor, and is to have the Assistance of Counsel for his or her defence.
  3. Every person born in Nepal is a citizen of Nepal. But this does not prevent people not born in Nepal from seeking Nepali citizenship.
  4. Every person is equal under the law. Any law that might conflict with that fundamental premise will become null and void as soon as this constitution takes effect.
  5. No person shall be taxed more than 40% of their income by all levels of government put together. Those in the bottom 40% income brackets are not to pay any direct taxes.
  6. No business may be taxed more than 30% of its income, and businesses in the bottom 30% income brackets will not pay any taxes. All business expenses are tax write-offs.
  7. The sales tax may not exceed 10% and is to be collected by the state.
  8. Elections at all levels are to be organized on Saturdays.
  9. No citizen of age may be barred from voting for whatever reason.
  10. It is a stated goal of the state to make possible lifelong education for every person in the country through creative partnerships between the private and public sectors, and through creative uses of the internet. The state shall also attempt to provide universal access to secondary education and primary health care, free of cost. The secondary education provision applies to people in all age groups.
  11. The state shall attempt to provide universal access to micro-credit to all in the bottom 40% income brackets.
  12. All persons that might enter into agreements, either in the private or the public sector, to access credit will have the option to declare bankruptcy as a last resort. Money owed by an individual, as opposed to by a business or a corporation, may not be passed on to the next generation. Indentured servitude is an illegal form of collecting money owed by an individual or family. Money owed may not be paid for through manual labor. Any person, group or organization, lending money on interest, the total of which is larger than Rs 20,000, to be indexed to inflation as calculated every five years and rounded to the nearest thousand, is to register as a small business owner, and will be subject to taxation and regulation.
  13. All educational institutions, public and private, must have at least 10% of its students on need-based full scholarships. Institutions may also opt to have 5% on such full scholarships, and 10% on need-based half scholarships, or 5% on full, 6% on half, and 6% on one-third scholarships. But at no time should the proportion of full scholarships dip below 5%.
  14. Employees of the state in the education and health sectors will be paid salaries that are at least 10% larger than to those with similar qualifications serving in other fields.
  15. An accurate, scientific census is to be conducted every 10 years, and scientific projections are to be made for the intervening years.
Article 7: Capitals
  1. Kathmandu is to remain the national capital.
  2. Udaypur Valley, Chitwan Valley, and Surkhet Valley will respectively serve as the capitals for Purbanchal, Madhyamanchal and Paschimanchal.
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