Friday, August 04, 2006

Paying For Democracy


Proposed Constitution

Draft 1

President, Rs 100,000 a month,
Vice President, Rs 70,000 a month,
Cabinent Members, Rs 60,000 a month, 20 Ministers, Rs 1,000,000

Total Rs 1,170,000 per month

National Parliament

Lower House, 180 Members, Rs 30,000 a month, Rs 5,400,000
Upper House, 60 Members, Rs 35,000 a month, Rs 2,100,000

Total Rs 7,500,000 per month

Three State Parliaments

Lower Houses, 360 Members, Rs 20,000 a month, Rs 7,200,000
Upper Houses, 120 Members, Rs 25,000 a month, Rs 3,000,000

Total Rs 10,200,000 per month

Three State Executives

Three Governors, Rs 50,000 a month, Rs 150,000
Three Cabinets, 15 each, 45 Total, Rs 40,000 a month, Rs 1,800,000

Total Rs 1,950,000 per month

75 District Chairpersons, Rs 20,000 a month each, Rs 1,500,000
District Level Elected Officials, 20-30 per district, Rs 15,000 each, Rs 375,000

Total Rs 1,875,000 per month

Village Mayors, 4000 Total, at Rs 10,000 each, Rs 40,000,000
Town And City Mayors, 40, at Rs 20-30,000 each, Rs 1,000,000
Wada Chairpersons, 4000 * 9 is 36,000, at Rs 7,000 each, Rs 252,000,000

Total Rs 293,000,000

27 million people. Likely 13 million votes. At Rs. 5 per vote earned by a national party. Rs 65 million per year.

Total Rs 12 million per month

Grant Total 327,695,000 per month.

This looks a little too rosy. This is the expensive scenario. Cost cuttings are needed.

Proposed Constitution

Draft 2

President, Rs 60,000 a month,
Vice President, Rs 50,000 a month,
Cabinent Members, Rs 35,000 a month, 20 Ministers, Rs 700,000

Total Rs 810,000 per month

National Parliament

Lower House, 180 Members, Rs 30,000 a month, Rs 5,400,000
Upper House, 60 Members, Rs 35,000 a month, Rs 2,100,000

Total Rs 7,500,000 per month

Three State Parliaments

Lower Houses, 360 Members, Rs 20,000 a month, Rs 7,200,000
Upper Houses, 120 Members, Rs 25,000 a month, Rs 3,000,000

Total Rs 10,200,000 per month

Three State Executives

Three Governors, Rs 50,000 a month, Rs 150,000
Three Cabinets, 15 each, 45 Total, Rs 40,000 a month, Rs 1,800,000

Total Rs 1,950,000 per month

75 District Chairpersons, Rs 20,000 a month each, Rs 1,500,000
District Level Elected Officials, 20-30 per district, Rs 10,000 each, Rs 250,000

Total Rs 1,750,000 per month

Village Mayors, 4000 Total, at Rs 7,000 each, Rs 28,000,000
Town And City Mayors, 40, at Rs 20,000 each, Rs 800,000
Wada Chairpersons, 4000 * 9 is 36,000, at Rs 4,000 each, Rs 144,000,000

Total Rs 172,800,000

27 million people. Likely 13 million votes. At Rs. 2 per vote earned by a national party. Rs 26 million per year.

Total Rs 2 million per month approx.

Grant Total 197,010,000 per month.

This looks better, but it is still a lot. But we have to remember the federal government does not pay for all. The state and district governments pay also. And we have to compare this expense to the expenses on the monarchy. Democracy is worth the price. We inculcate a culture of full time politicians from the grassroots onwards. This structure will also help us get strongly anti-corruption.

Proposed Constitution

At The Village Level

Village Mayors, 4000 Total, at Rs 7,000 each, Rs 28,000,000
Town And City Mayors, 40, at Rs 20,000 each, Rs 800,000
Wada Chairpersons, 4000 * 9 is 36,000, at Rs 4,000 each, Rs 144,000,000

This is where a big chunk of the expense is coming from, especially at the Wada level. Perhaps we can reduce the costs by envisioning part time Wada chairpersons who get paid Rs 2000 a month, or even Rs 1000 a month.

Wada Chairpersons, 4000 * 9 is 36,000, at Rs 2,000 each, Rs 72,000,000
Grant Total 125,010,000 per month.
Wada Chairpersons, 4000 * 9 is 36,000, at Rs 1,000 each, Rs 36,000,000
Grant Total 89,010,000 per month.

As you can see, the costs go down dramatically when you envision part-timers for Wada chairpersons.

The question is, will and should Nepal pay Rs 89 million a month for democracy? That right there is big reason why the monarchy has to be abolished. It is the money, stupid.

Abolish the monarchy, abolish the army, pay for democracy instead.

Abolish The Monarchy, Abolish The Army

In The News

High-level Commission summons Katawal, Rana NepalNews
Sign ceasefire, human rights code of conduct before CA polls: RJP chief Thapa
Eight children killed from armed conflict during ceasefire: Report
Industrialist shot at in Birgunj A group of armed assailants in motorcycles shot Agrawal near Ghadigharwa Pokhari of the district, while on a morning walk at around 6.30 in the morning...... The paper was left by Indian criminal Chotelal Sahani's group. The group had carried out similar attacks against other industrialists of the district before.
Nepal not to rush for entering into HIPC, MDRI: Finance Minister Dr Mahat Mahat has said that Nepal would expedite reform measures for the betterment of the national economy rather than rushing to enter into the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI)....... HIPC was launched by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a comprehensive approach to debt reduction in highly indebted poor countries and MDRI was launched in 2006 as an important supplemental initiative for debt relief and progress towards the millennium development goals based on a G8 initiative in 2005....... Nepal currently has over Rs 234 billion outstanding foreign debt while domestic stands at Rs 84 billion as of July 16..... a total of 40 countries, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa, are now determined eligible to receive debt relief under the HIPC initiative. .... countries who have entered the HIPC initiative have registered disappointing economic growth, adding, “As Nepal holds tremendous potential to achieve a double digit growth in the changed context, entering into HIPC would be a deterring factor.” ....... “After entering the HIPC, foreign aid flow is likely to be stopped in Nepal’s potentially competitive areas such as hydropower and electricity
Try guilty army men in civil Court: Rights body
Probe commission grills CoAS Thapa; ‘We only followed state orders
Tourist arrivals by air up by over seven percent: NTB
The country’s future is dark - By Kunda Dixit Nepal’s electricity demand is increasing at 60 MW a year ..... The coming winter and winters till 2013 will see power cuts lasting 8-10 hours a day even if new projects are undertaken right away. Still, at the Ministry of Water Resources and the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) it is difficult to detect a sense of urgency. ...... there will be a 150MW shortfall during peak hours in the dry season. .... Loss from the grid due to pilferage and technical reasons is 24 percent, one of the highest in the world. Reducing this by half would be equivalent to installing a new 60MW powerplant. A campaign to get consumers to switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent lamps could reduce nationwide energy demand by another 40MW........ Implementing seasonal tariffs for industries would earn NEA Rs 2 billion a year selling flood energy that would otherwise be wasted and time-of-day pricing would reduce peak demand by another 20MW. Even on the generation side, the situation needn’t be so precarious. A dozen determined private Nepali investors are already adding about 30MW a year with local financing...... The project that can come onstream earliest is the 309 MW Upper Tama Kosi .... wants to increase Upper Tama Kosi to 450 MW and export monsoon power to India. ..... so there is no repetition of the Khimti debacle in the early 1990s when a government that wanted to show its investor-friendliness gave away too many concessions, including dollar denomination and an escalation clause on high tariffs........ If the final decision on Upper Tama Kosi is taken at the end of this year and construction starts in 2007 it will still take five more years to come on line. “We have to be fast,” says Gyanendra Lal Pradhan of BPC. “If we start today we may be able to stop load shedding in seven years. If we don’t, we’ll have power cuts till 2016.” ....... A 220 kVa transmission line from Khimti to Dhalkebar is nearly complete and when extended to the border will allow export of flood energy to India and import of electricity from the southern neighbour in winter when India has a surplus and Nepal has a shortage......
Demanding For Election Date - By Keshab Poudel demands like announcement of the date for the elections of Constituent Assembly, interim constitution, formation of interim government and dissolution of present House of Representatives and actions against the security personnel involved in oppression of People’s Movement II ...... their major demand calling for the announcement of the date for the election of CA is a common demand of people of all walks of life...... some regressive elements are hatching conspiracy against the elections of Constituent Assembly ...... “Members of House of Representatives and some leaders of seven parties alliance are, knowingly or unknowingly, working to encourage regressive forces. If the date for the elections is announced, all of us will go to the village to campaign for democratic republic.” ...... Leaders of mainstream parties want to prolong present transition period without announcing the date for elections. ...... Some vested interests in power at present are interested to have an interim constitution without popular representation as long as possible...... K.P. Sharma Oli. “We cannot hold the free and fair elections as long as the management of the arms and ammunition of the Maoists.” ...... In his recent meeting with prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, US ambassador to Nepal James F. Moriarty reportedly stressed the need to stop the rebels from joining the government until they laid down arms. The Himalayan Times reported that Moriarty told Koirala that “ Washington was very very concerned about what could happen in Nepal at a time when the government has been struggling to deal with the rebels sternly.” ...... Once the election is held, many of the confusions, worries and tensions of the common people will have a just and democratic redress ..... A truly popular government backed by a fresh opinion of the people would subside frustration and pessimism which is rampant at present. ....... If the genius is available to draft an interim constitution within 15 days, it would not be impossible to find out a team of elections commissioners who cold hold the elections within next four months. .......

Dishanirdesh

Keith Bloomfield, Shekhar Koirala Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Visitors

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Thursday, August 03, 2006

Hindi Is At The Core Of The Madhesi Identity


Hindi is spoken by less than 1% of the people in Nepal as their first language. But it is that language more than anything else that is the bedrock of the Madhesi identity.

Pahadis in power for decades have tried to reduce the Madhesi community to the component castes and subcastes. Until recently the big parties talked of Dalit, Janajati and Mahila, but not of the Madhesi. Now they are starting to.

Pahadis talk of the casteism in the Terai, as if casteism were not an issue in the Pahad. Pahadis talk of sexism in the Terai as if sexism were not an issue in the Pahad.

More Madhesis are assertive today than was the case 10 or 15 years ago. But that assertion falls far short. The Sadbhavana party has not benefited from that assertion. A few Madhesis that are beginning to say a few things are still in the early stages of political consciousness. There is talk of being dissatisfied. But there still is not that vision of total equality.

Equality would mean the country would become a republic, and there would be a 50-50 chance a Madhesi would be President. Equality would mean a party like the Sadbhavana would grow into all 75 districts. Large swathes of the Janajati would adopt the Sadbhavana as their own by overcoming their Pahadi chauvinism.

Equality would mean half the judges in the country would be Madhesi, half of the Nepal Army would be Madhesi. A Madhesi would soon rise up the ranks and become Army Chief.

But people have a hard time thinking those thoughts. Even the conscious Madhesis have not taken that final step of thinking equality. The idea that Madhesis are not fully Nepali, less Nepali and more Indian, has been internalized. The idea of someone in dhoti kurta running the country has not ignited in the imagination yet. It just does not feel natural. It has never happened. A Newar yes, but never a Madhesi.

If there are six million Madhesis without citizenship papers, it must be because they are Indian. I have heard that suggestion from the mouths of some leading activists.

The word Nepali has never included a Madhesi like me. A new Nepal is being born. The term Nepali now has to include the Madhesi. For that the Madhesis have to remain vigilant.

There are Maithili, Bhojpuri, Awadhi and Tharu speakers. But it is Hindi that is the link language, it is not Nepali. Mahendra tried to impose Nepali on the Madhesis, but it has not worked, because it is so unnatural.

The Pahadis who have been lording over the Madhesis for generations will tell you, why do you not talk about Maithili instead, why do you talk about Hindi? They say that with the air of people who have given Maithili its due place ever. The 1990 constitution said people could organize primary schools in their mother tongues. As in, if it is Nepali, the state funds it, if it is Maithili, the local community will have to fund it itself. Maithili was not allowed to be used in the Janakpur municipality. Licenses for proposed Maithili FM radio stations were disallowed.

And they still say why don't you talk in terms of Maithili instead? It is not because they care about the Maithili language. It is called divide and rule. It is classic power play.

Linguistic diversity is at the center of diversity issues in the country.

Hindi as the link language does not marginalize Maithili, and the other Terai languages.

Hindi On Par With Nepali

That is the only way to go. The Madhesi-Pahadi dynamic is the fundamental social dynamic in Nepal. Putting Hindi on par with Nepali is the only healthy way to forge ahead.

The Desi Identity

Nepal has to make common cause and work to make Hindi the sixth UN language. Power lies in numbers. And for that the Nepalis have to learn to claim the Desi and the Asian identities, and the Blac identity.

So the Pahadis don't do it just for Madhesis but also for themselves.

Proposed Constitution

April Convention: Creating A Glowing Core
Girija, Resign
Hridayesh
Andolan Again
Congress Unification: Not Possible, Unnecessary
Direct Elections, One Seat For Every 100,000 People, Reservations, Primaries
Federalism: Competing Maps
Brikhesh Chandra Lal: Representation In Constituent Assembly
FDI, NRN, Upendra Mahato, $100 Million Fund, Dual Citizenship
C.K. Lal: NRIs In Nepal
ANA Convention: My Hamro Nepal Speech
Interim Constitution Draft
Why It Is Important To Me The Congress Takes Up A Federal Republic
Madhesis, Social Justice, And The DaMaJaMa Equation In Nepal
Rameshwor Shah: Inclusive Constituent Assembly
June 17 Madhesi Gathering In New York City
MaMaMaMa
Frustration, Chemical Imbalance, Mental Imbalance
UML Inching Towards Federalism
Bahun, Chhetri, Sunni
Jay Prakash Gupta
June 7 Madhesi Rally In Janakpur
Monarchy, Army, Federalism
MaDaMaJa
Dr. Binay Shah
Democracy Diwali At The Nepali Mandir
Dr. Ram Krishna Shah
One Central Committee Member For Every Million Nepali
मधेशीसँग संख्या छ, शिक्त छैन
No Short Cuts: Madhesis Will Have To March
Chitralekha Yadav: Speaker
Madhesi Rights: Total Equality
My Most Controversial Blog Post To Date: On Madhesi Issue
Aire Gaire Natthu Khaire Pahadis
First ANTA NYC Event, Times Square Marriott
ये तो क्रान्ित है

On The Web

Hindi Language and Literature
Hindi Links
BBCHindi.com
Hindi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hindi Lesson 1Ukindia
Hindi Movie Songs
मुख्य पृष्ठ - विकिपीडिया
Google
Hindi Program at Penn
Hindi Electronic Dictionary
Hindi Songs Collection
Hindi songs from Raaga.com - hindi songs, videos and latest movies
Sify Hindi: India's most comprehensive news site on india, in ...
Jagran - World's largest Hindi portal -US Mirror
VOA News - वायस आफ़ अमेरिका Voice of America Hindi
Open Directory - World: Hindi
Ethnologue 14 report for language code:HND
Hindi Songs Lyrics
Hindi Milap Online
Yamada Language Center Hindi Fonts
Rare Old Hindi Songs By Classic Movie Club
Say Hello in the Hindi Language
Naidunia: First Hindi Newspaper on the Internet
BollywoodLyrics.com: Home of hindi song lyrics and english ...
Hindi Script Tutor
Hindi Bollywood Songs - Real Audio Video MP3
Welcome to Rediff.com
Hindi alphabet, pronunciation and language
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The Four Spiritual Laws - Hindi
Indian Languages Portal - Hindi Main Page
God's Simple Plan Of Salvation - Hindi
DW-WORLD.DE - हिंदी
Hindi Home Page
Hindi - Music India OnLine
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Khoj - Directory for hindi
::भारत-दर्शन हिन्दी साहित्यिक ...
Hindi
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Hindi Mp3 Collection
HindiNest.com is published weekly as a Hindi Web Magazine. The ...
ECTACO Translation Software for Hindi. Windows, Nokia, Sony ...
yourDictionary.com . Indo-Iranian Languages: Persian, Farsi, Hindi ...
Ethnologue report for language code:hin
Reading and making Hindi characters
Free Hindi Ringtones
Hindi Bible
Hindi Web Sangh
Hindi
Open Directory - World: Hindi: समाचार
Word AnyWhere: Hindi English and Other Indian Languages Dictionary
Food Standards Agency - Hindi publications
SAMACHAR -- The Bookmark for the Global Indian
hi: Content
Hindi Society Singapore
Hindi Grammar
मुख्य पृष्ठ - विक्षनरी
Hindi Guru
Shabdkosh.com - Online English Hindi Dictionary
Free Hindi Ringtones, Bollywood Ringtones, Hindi Songs online ...
University of Oregon Yamada Language Center Hindi Urdu Course
Animals in sounds in Hindi
Hindi Song Book
UPenn Page for Hindi Alphabet
Hindi Authors: The South Asian Literary Recordings Project ...
Bharatvani online Hindi teacher
hindibhasha.com - Hindi Learning Resources on the Web