Thursday, November 05, 2015

In The News (16)

मधेसमाथिको विभेद नहटे मुलुक टुक्रिन्छ : शरतसिंह भण्डारी
राजविराज : राष्ट्रिय मधेस समाजवादी पार्टीका अध्यक्ष शरतसिंह भण्डारीले मधेसी समुदायमाथिको विभेद कायमै रहे मुलुक टुक्रिन सक्ने बताएका छन् । ...... मधेसी जनता सच्चा राष्ट्रवादी भएको र सधै सिङ्गो राष्ट्रको पक्षमा रहेको भन्दै भण्डारीले सदियौंदेखिको विभेदले उत्पन्न आक्रोश शान्त नपारिए मुलुक छुट्टिनसक्ने र त्यसको दोष तीन ठूला दलले लिनुपर्ने बताए । ....... उनले भारतलाई गाली गरेर नै राष्ट्रवादी हुने होड चलेको आरोप लगाए । सरकारसँग मधेसको माग पूरा गर्ने आधार नरहेको बताउँदै उनले पहिले दुईतिहाई पुर्‍याएर स्पष्टरुपमा अगाडी आउन सरकारलाई चुनौती दिए । ..... सरकारले वार्ताका लागि पत्र पठाएको जानकारी दिँदै अध्यक्ष भण्डारीले उपलब्धीमूलक वार्ताका लागि पहिले दुई तिहाई पु¥याएर स्पष्टरुपमा अगाडी आउन सरकारलाई जवाफ पठाएको बताए । ...... संविधान बहिष्कार गरी मधेस आन्दोलनमा रहेका अध्यक्ष भण्डारीले भने,

‘मधेसको माग सम्बोधन गर्न संविधानको पुनर्लेखन वा संशोधन गर्नुपर्छ, त्यसका लागि चाहिने दुईतिहाई मत ओली सरकारसँग छैन ।’

...... समस्या समाधानका लागि भारतलाई गाली गर्नुभन्दा आफ्नै नागरिक मधेसी समुदायको माग पुरा गराउनेतर्फ ठूला नेताहरु गम्भीर हुन नसकेको उनको आरोप थियो । ..... आन्दोलनलाई निष्कर्षमा पुर्याउन एकजुट हुनुपर्ने आवश्यक्ता औल्याउँदै उनले अन्य मधेसी शक्तिहरुलाई गम्भिर हुन पनि आग्रह गरे । ...... भारतले नाकाबन्दी गरेको प्रमाण नभएकाले नेपाल सरकारले अघोषित भनिरहेको जनाउँदै उनले भारतीय सीमासम्म मालवाहक सवारीसाधन आएपनि नेपाल भित्रन नपाउनुको कारण भारत नभई मधेसी समुदाय रहेको जिकिर गरे । ...... आन्दोलनलाई निष्कर्षमा पुर्‍याउन सबै मधेसी शक्तिहरु एकताबद्ध हुनुपर्नेमा जोड दिए ।


झापाका थारुले जलाए सात प्रदेशको खाका, आन्दोलन सशक्त बनाउने
थारुले आन्दोलन सशक्त बनाउनुको विकल्प नरहेको बताउँदै साना-ठूला नाकामा अवरोध सिर्जना गर्ने तथा राजमार्ग र हुलाकी मार्गमा आन्दोलन चर्काउने उल्लेख गरे। ..... मधेशी र थारुको आन्दोलन प्रकृति र माग समान रहेकोले कार्यगत एकता हुने ठोकुवा गरे। ..... यसअघि थाकसले बारा, रौतहट, सप्तरी र इटहरीमा भेला र अन्तर्क्रिया गरेको थियो।


Trade Embargo Wreaks Havoc : Nepal Is Paying the Price for Standing Up to India
A 58-year-old diabetic, Hara again made the rounds of every pharmacy in Katmandu on Sunday, desperately searching for Dianil, the drug that keeps him alive--one of several critical commodities that have been stuck at the Indian-Nepal border since the embargo began March 23. ...... "I am suffering now," Hara said feebly at his final unsuccessful stop of the day, Ashok Medicine Pharmacy. "If it doesn't come soon . . . well, it's just like that. One cannot say the word." ...... Thousands of motorists and impoverished peasants lined up for as long as 12 hours throughout the capital city, waiting for weekly rations of 1 1/2 gallons of gasoline and three quarts of kerosene, vital staples for transport and cooking that have been the principal commodities blocked at the Indian-Nepal border. ..... Women and children clinging to battered kerosene cans said they hadn't eaten a cooked meal in a week, and local officials at ration stations said the three-quart kerosene ration handed out Sunday will last each family only a few days. ....... Most of the city's transport is paralyzed, and university campuses remain closed ..... On Saturday, the nation's pharmaceuticals industry appealed urgently for chemicals to make such vital medicines as Dianil. Other industries, dependent on diesel fuel, remained at a virtual standstill. ...... So desperate is Nepal that nearby Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest nations, announced Sunday that it will "lend our neighbor a helping hand" by sending 1,000 tons of petroleum to Katmandu. ...........

Nepal, a Hindu nation that has enjoyed favored treatment from its far larger and more powerful Hindu-majority neighbor, has grown increasingly concerned about its own security and sovereignty in recent years, after Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered his troops into two other small South Asian neighbors, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

..... Nepal decided last year to purchase military equipment from China, its neighbor to the north and a historic foe of India. ..... The Nepalese government also announced that it was imposing restrictions on Indian residents and business people here, who in the past have enjoyed the same freedom that tens of thousands of Nepali migrants have enjoyed in India....... And India is the lifeline for imports from third countries.....

for the Nepali government, the test will be how long its people can hold out before street violence erupts.

...... In official Nepalese quarters, however, the reaction was far sterner, an indication, analysts said, of the neo-nationalism that led to the current conflict with India. .....

"The Nepalese will never feel the same toward India after this is over," said the senior Foreign Ministry official, who asked not to be identified by name.

Posted by Krishna Pokhrel on Thursday, November 5, 2015
Posted by Krishna Pokhrel on Thursday, November 5, 2015

नेपाल र चीनबीच व्यापारिक सम्झौता, तातोपानी र केरूङ सहित थप सात नाका सञ्चालनमा ल्याउने

Posted by Setopati on Thursday, November 5, 2015
Posted by Bolaram Pandey on Thursday, November 5, 2015

जेनेभामा कुरा राख्दैमा ‘नाकाबन्दी’ अन्तर्राष्ट्रियकरण हुँदैनः भारतhttp://www.ratopati.com/news/12150/

Posted by Rato Pati on Thursday, November 5, 2015

#कुहिएकोफर्सी झर्छ! अब धेरै छैन!!

Posted by Souvidhya Manoz on Thursday, November 5, 2015
Posted by Pawan Jha on Thursday, November 5, 2015

सरकार गठन भएको एक महिना हुन लाग्दा पनि मन्त्रिमण्डल विस्तारबाहेक अन्य उल्लेख्य काम गर्न नसकेका प्रधानमन्त्री केपी ओली आफ...

Posted by OnlineKhabar on Thursday, November 5, 2015

Insightful TKP editorial on 'Naya Shakti' http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2015-11-05/poles-apart-1023457.html

Posted by Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on Thursday, November 5, 2015


Bhattarai’s ‘new force’ will struggle to hold middle class, marginalised groups
Yet we do welcome the initiative to build a new political force and acknowledge the need to engage the nonpolitical professional class in politics, instead of deeply partisan party crowd, which often seems hopelessly out of sync with the general public opinion and popular aspirations.
जेनेभामा कुरा राख्दैमा ‘नाकाबन्दी’ अन्तर्राष्ट्रियकरण हुँदैनः भारत
संविधान जारी गर्दा चुकेका प्रमुख दल
आज संविधान जारी भएको डेढ महिना व्यतित भइसक्दा पनि देशव्यापी रुपमा नेपाली जनताले संविधान प्राप्तिमा सन्तोष मान्दै हर्षोल्लास मनाउने कुरा त परै छाडौँ, जीविकोपार्जनका लागि नै पनि संघर्ष गर्नुपर्ने विरक्त लाग्दो स्थिति पैदा भइदिँदा मानवअधिकार र मौलिक हकका यस्ता व्यवस्थाहरु खल्लो र ओझेलमा परेको देखिएका छन् । हामीले आर्थिक, सामाजिक अधिकारको कुरा गरिरहँदा आज अधिकांश जनता आधारभूत आवश्यकताको वस्तु एवं इन्धनलागायतका अत्यावश्यक दैनिक उपभोग्य सामग्रीको अभावमा दैनिकी सञ्चालन गर्न नसक्ने अवस्थाबाट प्रताडित हुनुपरेको स्थितिमा छौं । ....... संविधान निर्माणको आधारभूत सिद्धान्त संविधानसभाले प्रारम्भ मै तय नगरेको अवस्थामा संविधान निर्माण गर्दा अवलम्बन गरिने आधार भनेकै अन्तरिम संविधान थियो । अन्तरिम संविधान २०६२।६३ को जनआन्दोलन र मधेश आन्दोलनलगायतका आन्दोलनका भावना र उद्देश्यलाई आत्मसात गर्दै संविधानसभाबाट अनुमोदित र संशोधिन एवं परिमार्जित गरिएको थियो । एक प्रकारले अधिकतम् सहमतिको सर्वस्वीकार्य दस्तावेज अन्तरिम संविधान हुन पुगेको थियो र करिब ९ वर्ष सोही अनुसार देशको शासन व्यवस्था सञ्चालित भयो । मैले बराबर भन्ने गरेको र प्रमुख दलहरुको जानकारीमा पनि पुगेको कुरा के छ भने – अन्तरिम संविधानभन्दा अझ अग्रगामी संविधान बनाउनु त उत्तम कुरा नै भयो,

तर अन्तरिम संविधानले व्यवस्था गरेको मूलभूत कुरालाई छाड्न मिल्दैन, जसबाट समस्या बल्झिन जाओस् र असन्तुष्टि एवं वञ्चितीकरणको लाञ्छना लागोस् ।

..... आज आन्दोलन भएको करिब ३ महिना पुग्न लाग्दा पनि समस्या समाधानको सङ्केत देखा नपर्नु दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण भएको छ । ..... सम्बद्ध पक्षसँगको वार्ता र संवादको इमान्दार प्रयासबाट नै समस्या समाधानको उपाय निस्कने हो ।

समस्याले यति प्रभाव पारिसकेको छ कि अब यो विषयमा जनताको सहनशीलताको बाँध टुट्ने अवस्था भइसकेको छ ।

..... अकारण निमुखा जनता घुन पिसिए झैं दुःख र कष्टले नपिसिउन् किनभने, यसले कसैलाई पनि राम्रो र भलो गर्दैन । ...... वार्ता र संवादबाट नै वर्तमान असहज स्थितिलाई अन्त्य गर्न र वास्तविक सम्बोधन गरिनुपर्ने समस्याको पहिचान र तदनुरुप सम्बोधन गर्दै समाधानतर्फ अग्रसर हुन आन्दोलनरत पक्ष र सरकार लगायत सम्बद्ध सबैसँग आग्रह गर्दछु ।

विचरा दाताका झन बिचारा बाध्यताहरु । इन्धन क्राइसिस भा देसां कति कुर्ने । रकम खर्चै गर्न गारो ।

Posted by Souvidhya Manoz on Thursday, November 5, 2015
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Prashant Jha: Nepal’s Contested Constitution

Nepal’s Contested Constitution Deepens Crisis at Home and With India
Prashant Jha Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015

Rather than resolve its ongoing political crisis, Nepal’s new constitution has produced a polarized internal landscape and complicated relations with its most important neighbor, India. The product of a peace process that brought insurgent Maoist rebels into mainstream politics, the new constitution was promulgated on Sept. 20, institutionalizing a federal, democratic and secular republic.

But it failed in its core task of bringing the country’s various ethnicities—there are over 100—and social groups together. Many social groups, especially the Madhesis and Tharus of southern Nepal, are deeply unhappy with its provisions on inclusion, political representation, federalism and citizenship, and have been leading a mass movement against it for more than two and a half months, leaving the country paralyzed.

India is also upset at the crisis at its doorstep, and is putting pressure on Nepal’s political leadership to make amends. But

in Kathmandu, the protest movement against the constitution is being dismissed as an Indian-sponsored plot, while ultra-nationalist sentiments run high and the government’s willingness to correct course is unclear.



At the root of the divisions is the fact that

the country’s political structure has never reflected the remarkable ethnic and social diversity of Nepal, producing deep inequality.

Power has been monopolized by the Hindu upper castes based in the mid-hills of Nepal who, although they constitute less than one-third of the country’s population, dominate politics, bureaucracy, the army and even civil society and media. Madhesis, who live in the southern plains region known as the Terai, have historically not been treated as equal citizens and are even viewed as a “fifth column” due to their extensive ethnic, linguistic and kinship ties across the border with India. Janjatis—the indigenous peoples of both the hills and plains—have historically been subsumed by a centralized state, with their culture and languages marginalized, and remain underrepresented in politics. Women, meanwhile, have lived under a traditional patriarchal society, with gender discrimination institutionalized in law. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the Dalits, the “untouchable” caste who are stripped of dignity, opportunity and any participation in the mainstream.

Nepal’s formal democracy of the 1990s, which followed 30 years of an autocratic monarchy, did not adequately address these inequities, which led to the outbreak of civil war from 1996 to 2006. Maoist insurgents mobilized excluded segments of society, waged guerrilla warfare and made elections for a constituent assembly and the abolition of the existing monarchy their central plank.

In 2006, the Maoists agreed to end the violence and participate in mainstream democratic politics; the older parties dropped their support for a constitutional monarchy and decided to embrace the agenda of restructuring the state through an elected constituent assembly, opening the doors to political change.

There were two clear fault lines in this period: the battle between monarchy and democracy, and the battle between Maoists and non-Maoists. But there was a third, less-visible fault line: Nepal would either remain a non-inclusive state where political power was concentrated in the hands of a few; or it would become inclusive, multicultural and federal in character, with political power distributed among its social groups, while taking steps toward an egalitarian order. This was the question the constituent assembly had to resolve, but which it repeatedly failed to, despite several missed deadlines.



But after the devastating earthquake in April, political equations changed. Top political leaders realized their failure to adequately respond to the humanitarian crisis had damaged their credibility. A breakthrough on the constitutional impasse, which had lasted too long, became necessary. The tragedy also offered a pretext to others to drop some of their demands and shift tracks. The Maoists, who had until then sided with the marginalized social groups, agreed to support a draft constitution fielded by the two other top parties—Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist)—making Nepal a federal democratic republic with a parliamentary system. It would also be secular, albeit with a pronounced Hindu tilt.

The resulting document alienated the ethnic Madhesis in the Terai, as their share of seats in both houses of parliament would be reduced due to the formulas used to determine representation. The new constitution also dropped a key provision from the interim constitution of 2007 for “proportionate inclusion” of Madhesis and other historically marginalized ethnic groups in state organs, while further diluting the principle of quotas by adding a host of other groups, including dominant upper castes, as eligible for representation.



Meanwhile, the constitution’s citizenship clauses require the offspring of mixed marriages to get Nepali citizenship by naturalization only when the father is a foreigner. In turn,

naturalized citizens are not eligible for a range of public positions, including president, prime minister, heads of security agencies, chief minister and more. In addition to violating gender equality, the provision appears driven by the fear—many see it as paranoia—of Indians marrying into Nepal and taking over key positions, given the extent of cross-border marriages in the Terai.



Adding to opposition to the constitution was its gerrymandering of provincial demarcations, which favors the hill groups that have long dominated Nepali politics.

Terai groups wanted the country’s 20 plains districts divided into two provinces, one in the east dominated by Madhesis and the other in the west dominated by Tharus, an indigenous group.

Instead, while leaving eight districts in a plains province, the constituent assembly merged 12 districts with various hills provinces. The result was an eastern Madhesh province deprived of resources, and the Tharus reduced to a political minority in western Nepal.

The decision to push the constitution through despite protests against it, with police then killing and harassing demonstrators, only added to the unrest. The constitution’s technical legitimacy cannot be contested. After all, an elected constituent assembly by an overwhelming majority passed it. But its political legitimacy is under grave threat, given the climate in which it was passed.

To make matters worse, it has added to tensions with India, which had consistently urged the Nepali leadership to strive for the broadest possible agreement, taking into account the grievances of the dissenting forces. After the constitution passed, Madhesi leaders in Nepal stepped up their protests and declared they would block the India-Nepal border, disrupting the flow of goods to pressure Kathmandu to address their grievances.

The blockade—which Nepal claims has been imposed by India, and India claims is the result of the insecurity within Nepali territory—has prevented fuel and other essential commodities from entering Nepal.



The movement in the Terai against the constitution reflects genuine anger, and if its moderate demands are not addressed, there could be further radicalization and even a secessionist movement. That is a scenario New Delhi wants to avoid at all costs. Despite India’s temporary unpopularity in Kathmandu, it is nudging Nepal’s leadership to make the difficult decisions necessary to accommodate the opposition.

Nepal managed its transition from an autocratic monarchy and civil war to peace and a republic. The constitution represents the culmination of this process. But it holds the seeds of discord within it. Before it can be enforced, it has to be amended.
Prashant Jha is an associate editor with Hindustan Times in New Delhi. He is also the author of “Battles of The New Republic: A Contemporary History of Nepal.”

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