Breakthrough

Breakthrough Reported In Arms Management Negotiations In Nepal Playfuls.com, Romania
Nepal Maoists agree on arms management: report India eNews.com, India
Nepal Maoists agree on arms management: report Telugu Portal, India
Breakthrough reported in arms management negotiations in Nepal Raw Story, MA
Nepal Preace Process: Breakthrough On Arms Issue, UML Has New ... United We Blog, Nepal
Breakthrough on arms issue Kantipur Online, Nepal all of the rebels' weapons will be stored and locked up in the respective cantonments where the combatants are cantoned, before the Maoists join the interim government. The Maoist leadership will keep the keys to the stores. But the UN will install fixed cameras to monitor the storage and will have the right to make inspections whenever it desires. ...... an element of reciprocity: Equal number of weapons belonging to the Nepali Army will be stored and locked up at the barracks and the UN will inspect these as well. Until the constituent assembly elections takes place, both the Maoist combatants and Nepali Army personnel will be confined within their respective cantonments and barracks. ........ A cabinet sub-committee, which might potentially evolve into a separate ministry over time, will be formed to take up the issues of restructuring and reform of the Nepali Army, integration of the Maoist combatants into the army and reform of the whole security system. It will also develop a comprehensive plan to "right-size" the army and to rehabilitate the extra combatants from both sides into society. ........ The parties and the Maoists have also agreed to form a powerful commission that will study and explore the options and modalities on restructuring the Nepali state to make it more inclusive and progressive. ..... agreed to form a 23-member interim government in which the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and the Maoists will get five ministries each. The rest of the ministries will go to the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and fringe parties. ...... the interim legislature will have 300 members with more or less equal representation for the NC, the CPN-UML and the Maoists. The NC, CPN-UML and other parties will nominate all the sitting lawmakers in the House of Representatives and the upper house to the new legislature. ...... the Constituent Assembly (CA) will have 425 members. 205 members will be elected from the current constituencies and the parties will nominate 204 members in proportion to the popular vote they garner in the CA elections. The prime minister will nominate the remaining 16 members. The parties have agreed to decide the future of the monarchy through the first meeting of the constituent assembly.

I think this political breakthrough puts October 31 almost in the same league as April 21. April 21 was when we ended the king's dictatorship. October 31 is when finally the eight parties saw light, like I had predicted they would. Finally they are now worthy of the trust of the Nepali people, although that trust is going to have to be renewed all the way to the country getting a new constitution. This is a major milestone and a cause for celebration.

The Summit Talks Will Succeed (October 6, 2006)

But I am alarmed that these leaders have not done right by the Madhesi people on the question of the constituent assembly itself. Perhaps now time is ripe for a full fledged Madhesi movement.

UML Regression On The Madhesi Question
Federalism: Four Layers Or Three Layers
Email To All Madhesis From Rajendra Mahto
DaMaJaMa Coalition: The Morcha Concept
Madhesi Rights
Three Emerging Poles
Janajati, Madhesi: Too Vague, Dalit: Not Assertive Enough
Rajendra Mahto: नागरिकता विधेयक खोतल्दा
Hands Off The Madhesi Activists
ANTA NYC Gathering In Prospect Park
Citizenship Acquiring Process Eased
50-30-10-10: Four Layers Of Government
Madhesi Self Hate
Language Policy
Global Federation Of Indigenous People Of Nepal
Janakpur Gherao
Mainstream Jay Krishna Goit Also
Madhesi Caucus In Interim Parliament Needed
Hindi Is At The Core Of The Madhesi Identity
Girija, Resign
In Solidarity With The Kamaiya Movement
C.K. Lal: NRIs In Nepal
Madhesis, Social Justice, And The DaMaJaMa Equation In Nepal
June 17 Madhesi Gathering In New York City
MaMaMaMa
Frustration, Chemical Imbalance, Mental Imbalance
Bahun, Chhetri, Sunni
Jay Prakash Gupta
MaDaMaJa
Democracy Diwali At The Nepali Mandir
Dr. Ram Krishna Shah
मधेशीसँग संख्या छ, शिक्त छैन
No Short Cuts: Madhesis Will Have To March
Chitralekha Yadav: Speaker
Declare Constituent Assembly On First Day Of Parliament
Madhesi Rights: Total Equality

The leaders have messed up on the modalities to the constituent assembly, but there is time. They are going to have to revisit this issue soon enough. The current 205 constituencies are a conspiracy against the Madhesi community and will not be allowed to stand.

As I watch these Pahadi netas, I become more and more convinced that there is no alternative to a full-fledged Madhesi movement. They keep shortchanging the basic issue of Madhesi equality. On that they are all one. Girija, Madhav and Prachanda all speak with one voice on that one. These Bahuns can not be trusted with Madhesi rights.

All Members To The Constituent Assembly Must Be Directly Elected
Dalit Diaspora Calls For 20 Percent Reservation
Interim Parliament: 101 Members Total
Direct Elections, One Seat For Every 100,000 People, Reservations, Primaries
Constituent Assembly: 300 Seats Of Roughly Equal Population

• All members to the constituent assembly have to be directly elected.
• There have to be at least 300 seats.
  
• Those seats have to have near equal population. No compromise on this one.
  
• There have to be reserved seats for the DaMaJaMa. 33% to the women, of those 2/3rds for the Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi women. 17% for the Dalit, Janajati, Madhesi.
  

This is ammunition for a movement in the making.

In The News

Russia interested in Ktm-terai expressway Kantipur the expressway between Hetauda and Kathmandu
India likely to accept Nepal Standard
पुनर्संरचनामा जातीय सवाल
इतिहास बदल्ने महान् अवसर
एमालेद्वारा तीन भिन्न अडान
टुक्रिएको राप्रपा जनमतसंग्रहको पक्षमा

UML Regression On The Madhesi Question

Nepal Preace Process: Breakthrough On Arms Issue, UML Has New ... United We Blog, Nepal UML’s stands come at a time when all parties have almost reached consensus on major issues. UML stands are following: 1. The voting list of the referendum of 2037 BS should be the basis of distributing citizenship. [A bill with the provision of providing citizenship to all people born before or in 2046 is under consideration in the parliament. Earlier, UML agreed on the bill. When the cabinet passed the bill, no UML ministers raised voice against that.] 2. A referendum must be held to decide the fate of monarchy. [The summit talks on Bhadra 24 had decided that the first meeting of the CA would decide the fate of monarchy: to continue it or not. Nepali Congres is strictly against the referendum arguing that going for voting will give opportunity for the king to play the game. Even Maoists are now against the referendum saying that April Uprising was the biggest referendum in which people expressed their vote against monarchy. The party thinks that to have voting again on the same issue will be ‘regressive’.] 3. The whole country must be taken as one constituency and proportionate voting procedure must be opted. UML thinks that with this procedure, the agendas of parties will get importance than the individual contestants. This will, UML thinks, will strengthen political parties’ representation in CA. [Parties in the last summit had almost agreed on holding elections via mixed voting method. That means 205 (out of 425) members will be elected from current constituencies and parties will nominate other 204 in proportion to the popular vote they get. The Prime Minister will nominate the remaining 16 members.]
Koirala Should Lead Us All: UML leader Adhikari Himalayan Times, Nepal
CPN UML General Secy talks contentious issues with Maoist Supremo Mero Sansar, NY
CPN-UML not to join Republican Front proposed by Maoists Zee News, India
Moriarty meets UML chief Gorkhapatra, Nepal

This asinine stance of the UML on the citizenship issue raises many large questions. Of all the large parties, it is the central committee of the UML that is most eskewed towards the Bahuns. They are the one who have most excluded the Dalits, Janajatis and Madhesis in the top ranks of their party, Madhesis more than most.

And now that Bahunbaad is exhibiting itself. If the 60 lakh Madhesis who have been denied the same do not get their citizeship papers then Nepal will see another movement larger than the April Revolution.


Madhesis Unite: A Two Point Program To The Constituent Assembly
(sent to NepalNews.com)

Prithvi Narayan Shah colonized the lands of the Madhesis and every ruler since then, autocratic or democratic, has only maintained that status quo. There is little hope from those in leadership positions in the large parties today. These are people who are more likely to express solidarity to the Nepali speaking Bhutanis and Indians than to the Madhesis of Nepal.

The constituent assembly elections offer hope for the Madhesis to become part of the Nepali identity for the first time ever, but that can not be taken for granted. Rights are earned, they are snatched, they are taken. Rights are seldom offered as gifts. The April Revolution itself is a great example to that basic tenet.

The Madhesis all over Nepal and spread across the globe are going to have to organize around a common minimum program, to be achieved through negotiation with the eight parties, and failing so, through massive street agitations reminiscent of the April Revolution itself.

There are Madhesis in all eight parties, although not in large enough numbers or in top leadership positions that might reflect the Madhesi composition of the national population. I would argue the Madhesi-Pahadi dynamic is the number one social justice issue in Nepal. There is anti-Madhesi prejudice within the women's rights movement, within the Dalit rights movement, and within the Janajati rights movement. There is anti-Madhesi prejudice in the media.

We have to form a Madhesi Caucus in the interim parliament. All Madhesis regardless of party affiliation would join this caucus. And we have to form a Madhesi Mahasangh. This would be the umbrella organization for all Madhesi organizations and NGOs in the country. And the Association of Nepali Teraian in America, ANTA, has to rename itself to ANT, and launch branches in all countries where there are Madhesis.

Together we have to bang heads and come up with a simple common minimum program that all Madhesis can get behind for the purposes of the constituent assembly. The eight parties had and still have many differences, but they got together to push the king aside. We have many differences among us, but we have to get together to attain total equality for the Madhesis in Nepal.

I am alarmed that the big parties in Nepal have been playing foul on the citizenship paper question. I am alarmed that they are about to hijack the whole constituent assembly process to maintain the staus quo. The 1990s were a sham decade for Madhesi rights. There is no going back.

We have to make sure we do not allow our energies to be dissipated into dead end causes. Violence is a dead end cause and out of question. A separate country for the Madhesis is another dead end. We live in an era of regionalization and globalization where countries are getting ready to form economic unions.

But I do propose nonviolent militancy. We have to get offended and agitated by the stark racism the Madhesis have had to experience in Nepal for generations. That has to come to a total end. We are not putting up with it anymore. Enough is enough.

Forming a Madhesi Caucus in the parliament is key. Should the party leaders get in the way, the Madhesis in all political parties should be ready to walk out of their parties and take their mass bases with them to launch a new political party from scratch. That threat has to be maintained. And it has to be carried out if necessary.

I propose we get around a two point program.

The first is citizenship papers for the six million Madhesis who have been denied the same. You are eligible for the papers when you are 16 years of age. So in the year 2006, the year 1990 can be an okay cutoff year. Any year before that as a cutoff year is unacceptable. It is for the state to find out who those six million Madhesis are and organize teams that go into all the villages to distribute the papers. This is to be a one time thing and has to be done. And it has to be made easy. All villages and towns should have eight party governments and all people who get recommended by at least three members of such local governments should get the papers. There should not be any provision to punish those three should something go wrong. Nepal is not America, and India is not Mexico. Indians are not dying to come to Nepal. The thrust is the other way round. Face it.

The second is to have the country demarcated into constituencies of near equal population for the constituent assembly, and have all members to the constituent assembly directly elected. On this there can be no compromise. Only if we can have this arrangement will we force all parties and all party leaders to cater to the political needs of the Madhesis, be it federalism or language rights, or strong local governments, or fair budget allocations.

There is talk of not holding direct elections and instead having something called proportional representation where people vote for a party, and that party gets a number of seats proportional to how many votes it earned, and the party decides who gets those seats. That will make the parliamentarians subservient to the Pahadi Bahun party bosses. The Madhesis will not get a fair number of seats, as can be seen in all the government appointments by this government since April.

There is also talk of retaining the 205 constituencies demarcated by the 1990 constitution. That is hogwash, and has to be opposed with all might.

If we can secure these two things - citizenship papers for the six million Madhesis, and have the country demarcated into constituencies of near equal population for the constituent assembly, and have all members to the constituent assembly directly elected - then I believe we can have the rest based on the foundation of these two, the rest being federalism, and language rights, strong local governments, and fair budget allocations.

My message to Madhesis worldwide is, organize, organize, organize.

(Paramendra Bhagat is the founding president of Hamro Nepal, the world's first digital democracy organization, and Chairperson of the Nepali Convention 2007, to be organized in New York City in May. He blogs at http://demrepubnepal.blogspot.com and can be reached at paramendra@yahoo.com)

Audio: Madhesi Rights 1, Madhesi Rights 2, Madhesi Rights 3

Playing Hardball With The Maoists: Negotiating From A Position Of Strength
Langhali Association: Govind Thapa Magar
Dinesh Tripathi In Austin
Solve The Bhutani Refugee Crisis: Send Them West
Federalism: Four Layers Or Three Layers
Girija: A Ceremonial Monarch Wannabe
BK Rana: Paper On Kusundas
March And Rally For Full Immigrant Rights
Hamro Nepal Constitution
Maoist Transformation From Parallel State To Political Party: An Essential Precondition
Seven Party Delegation
Rename The Mahendra Highway After BP Koirala
Email To All Madhesis From Rajendra Mahto
Summit Talks And Obstinate Congressias
Summit Talks And Maoist Nonsense
Summit Talks: Four Heads Talking
Mero Sansar Videos
Televise The Summit Talks
The Summit Talks Will Succeed

Google Video: Madhesi

Bindeshwar Shah On Madhesi Rights
Madhesi Gathering In Prospect Park 1
Madhesi Gathering In Prospect Park 2
Nepal Democracy 6

Seven Party Delegation At Yak
Aftab Alam, Nepali Congress 1
Aftab Alam, Nepali Congress 2
Ratneshwar Goit, CPN (UML)
Anil Jha, Nepal Sadbhavana Party 1
Anil Jha, Nepal Sadbhavana Party 2
Anil Jha, Nepal Sadbhavana Party 3

Visitors

1.	31 October	12:58	Pacific Bell Internet, Irvine, United States
2.	31 October	12:58	DHL Systems, Inc., United States
3.	31 October	12:59	University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States
4.	31 October	12:59	Salem College, Winston Salem, United States
5.	31 October	13:01	MCI Wholesale, United States
6.	31 October	13:05	Verizon Online, United States
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28.	31 October	13:20	Queens Borough Public Library, Jamaica, United States
29.	31 October	13:23	EarthLink, Inc., United States
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34.	31 October	13:24	University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
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44.	31 October	13:37	The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Jersey City, United States
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47.	31 October	13:42	British Telecommunications plc, United Kingdom
48.	31 October	13:42	PPD Inc., Wilmington, United States
49.	31 October	13:43	SBC Internet Services, United States
50.	31 October	13:45	University of NC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, United States